Happy Birthday AMANDA!

Amanda's birthday week started with our traditional Mrs. Backers cake! The kids and I went to the bakery on Saturday when Mike went to Priesthood meeting. They enjoyed their gingerbread cookies again. They even passed up the Halloween sugar cookies. The girls did say these gingerbread cookies were a little stale. You know, I have always thought that about the cookies I get from Mrs. Backers. Our homemade ones are way better.....but back to birthday week! We celebrated as our little family on Sunday.

On Monday, Grandma and Papa Gibson came up to celebrate since this was Amanda's actual birthday. We had a great homemade cake and Amanda wouldn't smile for the camera, so I just take the picture anyway! G&G gave her two books: The Secret Garden and Black Beauty. Amanda is a great reader and it is fun to see her into the chapter books that I used to love to read. She also got the High School Musical 2 board/CD game. So, we played a round of that and the kids loved dancing to the music.

Papa and Sydney and Brandon wearing 'hats' Papa, you are a good sport!

Amanda also had a great day at school/ballet and soccer as everyone sang to her and she got a special seat cover for her school chair that she said was 'comfy'.....

Amanda is having a 'Hannah Montana' friend birthday party on Friday. She has it all planned out and is really excited....I'll post pictures later.

It's hard to believe this child that made us parents is 9 years old! We love her so much and are so proud of the young lady that she is! We love you Manda Panda!

Conference Weekend

I'm always a little sad when conference is over. Maybe it's because during the 2 days worth of speakers, I usually get to hear something, as opposed to the 3 hours of church on Sunday, where I usually get to hear zero. But, it is more than that. It's getting to hear from our Prophet and other leaders. The message in their talks is always so simple to understand and inspires me to want to do better in my life.

The other things I like about conference weekend are the get-togethers. A week ago my Mom and I got together to go to the Relief Society meeting in the conference center. It was pouring rain and the only umbrella we have is a Disney princess pink one. But, I used it and didn't feel too stupid. As soon as the first song started, both my Mom and I were in tears. We are just that way.....touched by beautiful things and then our eyes start to leak! We topped off the evening with dinner at The Dodo...ummmmmmm, delish!

Mike always goes to Priesthood session downtown with his Dad and his brothers. This has been a tradition ever since I've known him. This year, his Dad was out of town, but promised to buy the boys dinner still. All the local boys went, plus Brock (who is 14) and afterward they went to Flemings for dinner...telling themselves that 'Dad would tell us to get whatever we want!' They did and they had a great time.

When Mike goes with his family, I usually take the kids and go with my family. My Mom has been hosting the girls night for awhile. We now stay at her house and order dinner in as there are too many little ones running around. My kids and I were soooo sad that we didn't make it this time because it was pouring rain ALL day and with our flooding problem at our house, I couldn't leave. We would have come home to a flooded basement. We are in talks with a contractor to fix it, but it won't be a quick fix.

We did have a minor injury today, though. On our second walk of the day, we went to the playground in the common area. The kids were playing and all of a sudden Amanda was screaming. She had been climbing on part of the playground and it came off! It took her down hard as well as giving her a fat lip, bleeding gums or teeth somewhere...we couldn't tell where, a red mark on her cheek, black and blue bump between her eyes and a huge bump right on top of her head! Poor thing! I'm hoping she doesn't look so beat up in the morning as it's her birthday tomorrow!

So, goodbye conference weekend! Mike asked me if I thought President Hinckley would make it to April conference and I said yes. Pres. Hinckley was cute at the close of his talk saying he is now 97 years old and hopes to make it to the next one. I'm betting he'll make it to 100!

Amazing, isn't it.

I just wanted to make sure I wrote this down, so I could remember to share this testimony with my children in future years when they will fully comprehend.

When President Hinckley announced Henry B Eyring was being called to the 2nd Counselor in the First Presidency, I thought to myself....I know that.

I knew that he was going to be called.

Not as a premonition~

not in a smug I told you so way

but as a silent confirmation of what just took place was right.

I reflected back to last conference as I heard Elder Eyring speak and the powerful yet humble testimony he bore and how it made me take notice. I felt in my heart something would change.

As the speculation from a reporter on the news last night ran through her list of 'who could be called' and 'why he could be called,' I thought, I know it's Elder Eyring.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who had this confirmation. We spoke to Steven shortly after the announcement and he echoed that he felt Elder Eyring would be called.

I know Heavenly Father was touching the souls of His children to just let them know,

this is right.

Date night!

This photo has nothing to do with this post, but I really like it. It's a picture of someone's backyard. I'm hoping my backyard will morph into this someday! So peaceful...

Oh, I needed a date night this week! Luckily, our friends from Murray invited us to dinner! We have been going with this group since we moved and it's so nice to hang out with people you have history with (contrast our ward in Kville) and who like us! We went to a new pizza place by Red Rock and it was pretty tasty. Not American pizza, more Italy authentic. Good company. So much fun to catch up and chat with Charles', Irvines, Wilsons, Brousseaus and Solomons. Thanks to Mom and Dad for watching the monkeys while we relaxed.

I really needed it!

Also, a good recipe group on Thursday. Here's a picture of my Scary Spider Cupcakes that I made. They were funny looking, but fun to make. I don't like licorice gumdrops, so I made some spiders from orange gumdrops and I think they look a little more like octopus than spiders!

I'm enjoying this group of gals. Mike was attending a class, so Amanda tended while I ran a few houses down to recipe group. She does a pretty good job, but if I'm gone for over an hour, then the phone calls start.

Not really a good GNO when you are answering the phone every 10 minutes.

Oh, and we took away Mater's manhood. Neutered the boy! We followed the mobile neutering clinic to Taylorsville. They do it for half the price of the vet. Since Mike was going to the class, he took Mater to his parents to be tended until I could come pick him up after recipe group. I couldn't talk Mike's dad into keeping Mater. I sure hope this helps....the dog needs to win some points. The only thing that is keeping him here is Amanda loving him so much. She hand fed him when we got home since he had his 'collar' on. Very sweet!

Pity Party Ahead...

I feel like the planets are aligned against me in my attempts to exercise! I've been super ready to exercise everyday this week and then something big always stands in the way.

Last night, I had a horrible problem with my sciatic nerve again. This episode left me in tears and barely able to walk...at times I couldn't walk. At least it isn't as bad as the time I had it when I was pregnant with Brandon and I was in bed for 2 days. But, it's still bad. My cute hubby did whatever he could, but if you have ever dealt with this, you know you can't have someone help you walk because it hurts worse. Anyway, there is my pity party for the day.

I'm not fishing for sympathy....just documenting. I'm popping ibuprofen today and taking it easy. Maybe tomorrow...

I'm back!

Ok, so I haven't blogged or done much of anything else this week because I've been reading

This:

And This:

And This:

When my cute friend, Nicole, heard that we were going to St. George/Vegas last weekend, she said she had the perfect book for me to read on the way and loaned me her copy of Twilight. Love it! Now it's going to be hard to wait for the next one a year away!

And now, outside it's doing This:

Welcome to winter! We knew it was cold during our 8AM soccer games this morning, but SNOW?

Welcome to Birthday Week!

Present time!

Game time!

Mike has tried to make Birthday a month long, but I trying to get it down to one week. This week is SYDNEY's birthday week! We gave her a little friend party. Way low key and back to good old fashioned backyard fun! She had cute little friends over and we played all sorts of backyard games from Duck, Duck, Goose to Red Light, Green Light and more! She wanted cupcakes instead of cake....YEA for me! For her goodie bags we made candy/prize necklaces. Thank goodness my friend, Nicole, came over and helped me get throught the necklace part. Fun day. A couple of hours later when Mike got home, we left for St. George! But, not before stopping to see Cozette and new baby, Garrett! He's sooooo stinkin' cute!

We left St. George early afternoon to go play in Vegas before the game...which I will NOT be talking about..thank you. Except that I would like to say, if you are going to sit behind me and drink beer, PLEASE do NOT spill it on me and my children! Thank you.

The fam at the Factory! No cheesecake this day....but we are excited when it comes to the town near us!

We went to Ceasar's Palace because that's where Cheesecake Factory is. We haven't been in this hotel before and we really liked it. The kids loved it because there is a FAO Schwartz there and they all got something fun. Now, we will skip the part of us going to the humiliating game...

on the way home, Mike was SO tired and I was tired and my contacts (which do this often late at night) were blurry and we were a bit frightened about getting through the canyon between Mesquite and St. George. Luckily, we were blessed and made it home alive!

Cute Grandma helping Sydney out.
Jace offering his assistance opening Sydney's gift. She refused his offer.
It's twins! Can you believe Cabbage Patch kids are back?
Papa Gib, Andrew (Happy Bday Mr. 16!), Kris, Brock, Grandma A...Happy Bday tomorrow!
Amanda gets a birthday gift from G&G Arv tonight because they will be gone on her birthday. She was so excited!

We were on a time schedule to get back home to Kville today. We were having the grandparents and Kristine's family over for dinner. Her son, Brock, and Sydney share the same birthday! So, we decided to celebrate together. Mike was so tired from driving so much and being up so late (and he really hasn't slept in weeks) that he crashed (fell asleep)! I sent him to take a nap this morning while I cleaned the house and packed up the car. When I woke him up to go, he was a little out of it still. He couldn't believe how out of it he was. Sad, huh! But, we got home in time and we had a nice night and now that it's raining hard...we are flooding in our basement again. Curse word. Thanks to the Grandmas and Grandpas for the fun presents and to everyone for coming over tonight! I don't think I'm ready to start another week, but here we go!

Stop Oprah!

Ok, my blogging friends! If you read the following which is an e-mail I got from a friend of mine, and agree, please e-mail Oprah. I feel like we need to take a stand against this kind of perversion. My friend, Monica, who also attended, said that she caught Oprah's eye a couple of times (they were in the center 2nd row) and glared at her. Then Oprah said, "This is what's going on in America, folks." I say, NO IT ISN'T! The people she's talking to are a minority and the majority of married couples have wonderful and fulfilling relationships without 'extra-marital affairs, other partners, and pornography. etc' I know she'll listen if she receives enough protest. A show that was taped by Hugh Nibley's daughter with false claims was never aired after an e-mail campaign. Thanks all!


Looks like we haven't convinced her yet. If you will, when you get to Oprah's homepage, click on the blue button in the top left hand corner. Then, 'e-mail us' is at the bottom of the drop down menu. Thanks! Jill
----- Original Message -----
From: Ann M.
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2007 9:20 AM
Subject: Oprahs show titled 237 reasons we have sex
Hello everybody~
Sorry to bother you again concerning this show. I thought we had maybe talked Oprah into not airing her show that we attended the taping of a few weeks back. Yesterday she previewed what would show next week and it looks like it will be airing. Please send her a loud message, persuading her not the air that show she's calling, "237 reasons we have sex". Below is the letter sent last week about our experience with this taping. Please take a few minutes and e-mail her show again if you haven't already. Thanks so much!
Ann M.

As I am usually a big fan, I flew to Chicago to attend a taping of Oprah's show with a few girl friends. Initially it was very exciting and fun, but once they announced the topic (you never know beforehand) that excitement turned to disappointment and embarrassment. The topic was "How to Spice up Your Sex Life". Oprah started by promoting a book By Dr. Pepper Schwartz called "Prime" which deals with her sexual adventures as a 60 year woman on countless one night stands around the world. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/books/324356_pepper20.html. She advocates adding sexual adventures (one night stands, anonymous partners, etc) to your life for women over age 50 whether or not they are married. The show went from bad to worse as Oprah posited that Erotica and Pornography could be acceptable and her guests encouraged people to use porn (movies, magazines, affairs) to enhance their relationships. She then interviewed a couple who was advocating and practicing an "open marriage". Oprah's panel of experts that offer advice for relationships said that they regularly prescribe pornography to couples as a positive means to spice up their sex life and intimacy. At no time, did the panel discuss or did Oprah argue about problems or devastation that these ill-conceived ideas can have on a marriage. I'm writing in hopes that I can convince each of you to help get the word to Oprah that this topic is exactly the thing that is destroying families and individuals in America. We must protect our families from the pornography and filth that is so prevalent today. We have to take a stand and convince her producers that this show should not be shown. Go to http://www.oprah.com/ and click on the link on the left side that says e-mail us. The sooner the better. As of yet, this show does not appear on her upcoming show list. Let's keep it that way. Thanks,Ann M.

Not Again!

Brandon's new shiner...left eye under his eyebrow
Since I grew up with 4 brothers, I know that accidents always happen. Now that I have my own son, I know that accidents constantly happen! Today, we had another Brandon accident.

He was sitting next to Sydney who was playing on the computer, when he fell off the chair and hit the desk. I was outside trying to finish mowing the lawn. That job was interrupted 2 days earlier because Mater bit Brandon's ear and drew blood and lots of tears. I told Mike that I guess I'm not supposed to mow the lawn this week.

Anyway, Sydney came to me in the backyard ushering her little brother with blood dripping down his face. I could tell from across the yard that this would be stitches. So, I called Mike and told him what I thought. He told me he would come up and help me. Honestly, that was the best thing he could have done for me today. For some reason, I was feeling really drained trying to deal with this minor injury. I was so glad to have my hubby there to support me and comfort our son.

Brandon did not like the doctor or the exam table. He's been to too many doctors and knows what is going on. We bribed him with a lot of dum-dum suckers (God bless the person who invented those!) and had to hold him down as he screamed in protest!

When he was all glued up, the tears stopped and we went to Cafe Rio for lunch before Mike headed back to work! Brandon fell asleep on the way home and took a good 3 hour nap today! So, as soon as I got Sydney on the school bus, my house was pleasantly quiet (a rare occurence).

I always feel so bad when my children are hurting. It's hard to look into their sad little faces and try to tell them that everything will be ok. But, you can tell by the time I took these pictures, he was pretty proud of his new wounds!

He's here!

Another new little miracle added to the Gib clan! The baby has no name, but he's gorgeous! Congrats to Roger and Cozette and the girls!