Transparent

I hate putting gas in my car. On a lucky day, when I am low on fuel, Nate takes it away and it comes back full. Pure magic. I've been running on fumes and we took my car to the grocery store on Saturday night. Nate fires up the car, looks at me with his eyebrows raised and asks me, "were you hoping I would take your car today?" Am I so transparent? I love that we have been together for so long that we have our relationship figured out, but I don't like that he is learning all my tricks. I must need to switch up my feminine tricks. So today I puttered down to the gas station and put some gas in my hungry car. And I survived! But hopefully next time, Nate will put gas in it for me! :]

Getting older

How do I know I am getting older? My kids love letting me know. I am so thankful for all their observations. (Insert sarcasm) Today in church I was making Nate give me a back rub and I was looking down a little. My skin on my neck may not be as tight as it was when I was 18, but Sammy reaches up and grabs my neck skin and tells me it is "raggedy". I beg your pardon! It isn't that bad. Nate thought it was hilarious. Until they turn on him. So if you will excuse me, I need to go do my neck tightening exercises.

A Great Example

My daughter Megan is such a great example to me! She came up to me after school on Friday and asked me if I knew what she had been doing all week. She then told me that she is trying to include everyone at school and playing with new people. Wonderful! She then told me that she went up to the people that she has been struggling with and apologized to them for offending them and asked them to be her friend again! Wow! And at 10 years old. I am so proud of her. She is growing up WAY too fast, but I love how she is maturing and turning into such a lovely young woman! I have a lot to learn from her.

Week 13

I would like to pay tribute this week to womanhood. I am so happy to be a woman! (side note-I could sure go without raging hormones!) I love being a wife and mother, I love fulfilling these roles. As I went to the Young Womens broadcast last night, I felt comfort in knowing that I am one in millions united in trying to be better women. I love having the guidance of the gospel as I raise my two daughters to be great women. I love being partner to my husband and how well we work together. I love being feminine and gentle. I am so grateful to all the wonderful women who have influenced my life!

Moab

Mother Of All Bacations! Yeah, that's right. Moab, Utah the bestest, most beautifulest place on Earth. A lot of you have probably never heard of it right?

It is in Southeast Utah. If you enjoy biking, hiking, rafting, jeeping, the great outdoors, or spending time with family, this is the destination for you!
We started going when Sammy was 2 years old, and we have been back several times a year. It is a place my entire family enjoys going so it is a great family reunion spot. Even though they all live within 15 minutes of each other. So I guess it is my family reunion spot:] We have so many wonderful memories of our trips to Moab. This year Nate and my brother Jeff won't have their Jeeps :[ sooo sad, but I have a feeling that we will still have a great time!

We are heading that way again for Memorial Day. I'm getting excited!

Motherhood

I usually try to keep the tone light on my blog, but tonight I need to talk a little about being mom. I love my kids. I love being their mom. But sometimes it is sooo frustrating! Sammy and I had a great day at her field trip. The three of us had a great afternoon together. Nate had a church softball game tonight, and he said if the girls finished their dinner and their homework was done, he would take them with. Megan was done with both. Sammy was not. Sammy wasted almost an hour fiddling around instead of eating and doing her homework. Sammy was none too happy to be left home with me tonight. After 45 minutes of boobing, she decided she needed an ice cream from Sonic. I told her I wasn't going to Sonic tonight. I will ride my bike, I will take my scooter, I will walk. No Sammy, no one is going to Sonic tonight. No I will not wake you at 6 in the morning to take you. Finally Nate gets home. No, he will not take her to Sonic at 8:30 at night for ice cream. The cherry on top, he erased her favorite movie off the DVR. He saw she was finished watching it, and not thinking anything about it, erased it. Yeesh. So she started sassing me and Nate told her that she needed to be mad at him. Yeah right. Finally I told her that if she couldn't be nice, she needed to leave the room and be crabby somewhere else. She immediately interpreted that into she would move out forever and no one loves her and she doesn't belong in the family. She then proceeded to call both sets of grandparents and vent to them. I don't know what was said and that's okay. I'm actually glad that she called them instead of flying into a rage like she has done in the past.
I love my little Sammy so much. She can be very difficult to manage sometimes. I have a hard time knowing what she needs at times. I don't always have the right words for her, Heaven knows I'm trying. As wonderful as she is, she challenges me in ways that I am ill prepared for. I feel like I am talking into a black hole at times. I just hope she knows how much we all love her.
It has been a difficult couple of days with her. Right now I can hear her and Megan giggling away in bed together. I'm glad she has Megan as a big sister, she is a great influence on her. Thank you grandmas and grandpas for taking the time to talk to her tonight.
Side note---I am not feeling any guilt. There is enough guilt in motherhood. I know I am doing my best, so I can't feel guilty. WooHoo for me!

Let's go fly a kite!

We enjoyed some breezy weather this week, and the kids were able to get in some kite flying! It was a beautiful afternoon spent outside! We didn't get them very high, or up for very long, but the kids enjoyed the challenge!

Field Trip

Today Sammy and I had the fun opportunity to mosey on down to the Rockin' R Ranch. They had a TON of fun activities planned for the kids and we had such a great time!

We practiced our roping...We panned for gold!

A fun filled day, one of the best field trips I've been able to go on! I'm very happy that I have the chance to go and experience these fun times with my kids!





We sang and sat in cowboy saddles...



We had a horse drawn carriage ride. It was the first carriage ride I've ever been on where they actually had the horses running! It was a bit of a surprise, for a second I thought they may be out of control. Usually those rides go sooooo sloooow. It was fun!

We went in a teepee and practiced grinding grain with rocks.

Long hot summer

It's gonna be a loooong hooooot summer...

This is hanging in the shade on our patio. I took the picture at 4:00 in the afternoon. If it is like this in March, I hate to think of July...

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter weekend! Saturday dawned beautiful and Nate got a lot of yard work done :] with Megan's help. It looks awesome. After all the work was done we got down and dirty and got those eggs dyed! Nate kept one out and when we were all done, he combined all the dye and put his egg in to soak for over an hour. It was pretty cool, a dark dark purple.


Sunday dawned waaaaay early. The Easter Bunny is out of the bag at our house, and Sammy wasn't really happy to have that bit of information. I think she was relieved to find out that the holiday can be just as fun. She woke us at 6:57. You have to realize, this is the kid that we usually have to wake up on Christmas. Between the Easter baskets and the egg hunt, we were done by 7:13! I had to crack up at Megan, the first egg she found on the hunt she tossed it in her basket, and it went right over the basket, just like those kids on America's Funniest Videos! So I took myself back to bed until 9:30. As I was laying there relaxing I took notice of my senses. The window was open so I could smell the orange blossoms, the birds were chirping, the yard smelled fresh from all the yard work. It was a beautiful morning. That is how I imagine what the morning of the resurrection must have been.
We had such a beautiful lesson in Young Womens from Margail, not only is she a natural teacher, but she really invited the Spirit in, and I know all the girls felt it. Nothing going on after church, just some napping from a couple of us! I hope everyone had a wonderful day!

Week 12

He is risen! He is risen!
Tell it out with joyful voice.
He has burst his three days’ prison;
Let the whole wide earth rejoice.
Death is conquered; man is free.
Christ has won the victory.

Come with high and holy hymning;
Chant our Lord’s triumphant lay.
Not one darksome cloud is dimming
Yonder glorious morning ray,
Breaking o’er the purple east,
Symbol of our Easter feast.

He is risen! He is risen!
He hath opened heaven’s gate.
We are free from sin’s dark prison,
Risen to a holier state.
And a brighter Easter beam
On our longing eyes shall stream.

I feel so very blessed to have the knowledge and the love of my Savior. I am so grateful for the loving sacrifice that he made for all of us. I am grateful that we all have the opportunity to devote this day in remembering the resurrection of our Savior. I love my Savior, I am happy to turn to Him in times of happiness and sorrow and know that he is with me at every twist and turn that life offers me.

Spring Break

Spring Break....what a fun week. Well, I guess the end of it was fun. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday Megan wasn't feeling well. I think it was her allergies. So we pretty much hung out around here. I got my room all done! WooHoo! Tuesday night I had a Young Womens activity and we were going to the Mesa Temple to see the Easter Pageant. Sammy was invited to go with one of her friends to see it, so I decided to take Megan with me. She was very happy to be one of the big girls. I love the Easter Pageant. It is very beautiful and covers the story very well. It is only an hour and I think that is perfect. I remember going to the Manti pageant, and I swear that thing was 7 hours long.
Wednesday Sammy went to a friends house to play, but an hour later she called and wanted to come home because her belly hurt. So the throwing up began. Yummy. She felt better by Thursday, but she was dizzy and weak. We had plans to go to the zoo, but I figured that was a bad idea. I'm a terrible mom, but we really needed to finish up some Easter shopping, so I rented her a stroller and we hit Superstition Springs mall. We actually had a great time. The kids were a lot of fun. They had a check up at the dentist that afternoon and I am happy to report perfect check ups!
Friday we went to the Science Museum with Erin. It is a fun museum, but I think every day care center in Phoenix was there on Friday. Yeesh. We'll need to go back when it isn't so busy. During a school week I guess.
I have to admit, I have been neglecting my kids cultural eduction. They had never seen Sound of Music. I made sure to record it and they won't stop singing 16 going on 17. Poor Nate might start throwing up if he hears it again. But we've had a lot of fun dancing to all the songs.
All in all, a great week! (it went by really fast) I hope you all survived Spring Break!

Neighbors with benefits

So, are you ready to hate us and be wildly jealous? Our neighbor across the street owns an Edible Arrangements store. Look what we got for Easter! We had chocolate dipped bananas for Christmas, and this beautiful bouquet for Easter. What a nice guy!Sammy immediately claimed all the chocolate bunnys, and I think as I have typed this, all the pretty little pineapple flowers have already been eaten. I should hurry in there if I want some!

Have a sense of humor, will ya?

I run to Fry's today to get a few things...you know this and that, yet it cost you $65.00. As I am paying, I make a crack to Megan that groceries are getting expensive and I may have to stop feeding her and Sam. The check out guy looks at me all serious and tells me that he is pretty sure that is against the law. Oh really? Guess I'll have to come up with a new plan to save money. I could give up Dr. Pepper. No, bad idea.

Paging Dr. Megan.....STAT!

Poor Sammy is sick. Throwing up. I've been patting myself on the shoulder because beyond a cold, none of us have been sick. She said her tummy hurt, but she had to go to the gastroenterologist today. I thought maybe it was related to that issue. Literally five minutes before we need to go, she throws up. Should I cancel the appointment? Nope, it is too hard to get an appointment there. Bless her heart, she threw up in the car, and then in the parking lot after the Dr. She said it feels like she is going to explode. I'm actually thinking it may be food poisoning. She had Subway last night with a friend and that is when she started to feel yucky. Leave it to Megan, the classic oldest child. At the doctor's office they had a lot of books showing the intestines and what can go wrong with them. When we got home she fashioned a doctors kit out of tin foil and she has been diagnosing all of us all day. She made a stethoscope, one of those things you bonk on your knee to test reflexes, a scalpel, and light to look in your throat, and the most important of all....a lollipop. I have cancer in my guts. (That is the official terminology) Nate had something wrong with his cacophogus. Whatever that is! But she has been taking excellent care of her little sister, reading her stories, getting her drinks, and helping her wipe her mouth after throwing up. She is such a great helper! Good thing too. I was dry heaving myself as I was holding Sammy's hair back. Give me blood any day. I just can't handle vomit.

Family Fun

On Saturday the girls and I headed out to do some shopping. Sam wanted to spend some birthday money on things to get her room organized. I had no problem with that. So we headed to IKEA, where she thought it was wonderful. She has always stayed in the kiddo area, never been inside. Hopefully she can keep up on the organizing. Then we headed to Arizona Mills to try and find some Easter dresses. No luck in the dress department, but we had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. You seriously would have thought that I had taken them to Disneyland. They kept hugging and kissing and thanking me. Nice payoff I thought.
Nate decided we should do a family night on Saturday, he wanted to go to Peter Piper Pizza, as did Sam. I did not. I admit I was the Peter Piper Pooper. I just hate their pizza so much. I voted to go to the grocery store to try and get out of eating dinner there. I lost and I was very happy that I did. We had a great time. Nate won over 300 tickets on his second token. By the end of the night we had 1200 tickets! We decided to get these glasses.
I'm so sexy, I know you can't stand it. We walked over to Frys after the PPP wearing our glasses. Whew! I was sporting a headache after wearing them for a few minutes.
Today we continued our quest for dresses. Finally we found them at Mervyns after 3 hours. I'm happy with them, however, Megan needs a little jacket or sweater to wear with hers. Hopefully I can find a cute one before Sunday! The girls were really good, I had fun with them.
I took my paint back to Lowes today. After 40 minutes, I have a new paint. I guess after I bought the first 2 gallons, the paint company came in and tweaked the paint machine, so when I went in for the last gallon, things were different. Hopefully it won't be too noticeable!

Budget Decor

I've been wanting to do something with the window in our guest bedroom. I headed to IKEA where I found these fun curtains for $4.99! The rod is from Lowes for $3.00 and the most expensive part? The flowers cost me $6.00. A new and fresh look for under $15.00!

Painting project

So I have spent the past week painting my room. No big deal. It has been a big project, but that is okay, I've needed a good project. I am really happy with the end result. Yesterday I was almost done when I ran out of paint. No big deal, I just had the corners to do on two walls, and I decided to continue the painting into the bathroom since it is all open and connected. So I go get my new paint, proceeded to finish off my room and started on the bathroom. To my HORROR, I realized that the new paint is slightly darker than the first two gallons. It looks awful! I didn't notice as I was painting, I just thought it was darker because it was wet. Now I need to go back to Lowes, hopefully they can match my original paint, then I can fix it. As I was lamenting this to Nate and showing him how awful everything looked, I detected a bit of a snicker coming from him. I started whining, but he told me I would be laughing if it had happened to him. He is right. So I will laugh, and hope for a quick fix! So what do you think, is it noticeable? Ha ha

Week 11

Yeah, that's right. Chapstick. I've been using Cherry Chapstick everyday for more than half my life. I am probably chemically addicted to it. If I could take one cosmetic with on a stranded island, I would take my Chapstick. Who needs lip gloss when this is in your pocket? I always use them until they are totally gone. There is always one in my purse. I love this stuff. I'm so happy it was invented!

Reading Rainbow

This week I have found the time to finish two wonderful books. Granted, driving home from Utah afforded me a lot of extra time. My sister in law gave me Water for Elephants for Christmas. I finally worked through my pile of books and got it. Loved it! I couldn't put it down. I admit, I was a little puzzled by the book before I started reading it. There wasn't a summary, so I really didn't know what it was about. I would highly recommend.

Last night at about 1:00 I finished the Memory Keepers Daughter. We are reading it for book club. I thought it was beautifully written. Read it in about 4 days, it made me think.

Tonight I started reading the Kite Runner. I hope I can handle it. I don't know much about it, but I'm sure it will tug at my heart strings. I'll let you know!

Recorder Season

Megan is in 4th grade. I've always known that this means she will get a recorder, heck I even shelled out the $3 for one. I didn't realize the reality of her bringing it home. You know in Rudolph, when his nose lights up and it squeeks and squawks? That is what it sounds like at our house. Our poor animals are running around wondering what has happened. I realize it will get better, we are only on day 1. Maybe we should invest in ear plugs....Just think, next year she gets to join band or orchestra!

Easter is coming (faster than I thought)

So today I had a knock on the door from the UPS man. To my amazement there is a HUGE silver box on my doorstep. And it isn't a boring delivery either. We got our Easter surprises from my mom! I started thinking it was awfully early, but you know what? Easter is NEXT WEEK! Wow. We were going to baptize Sam next week in Utah, but since we just were there for the funeral, we decided to baptize her here in April. So I guess we are making everyone come here instead. Good plan eh? We really appreciate everyone that is taking the time and money to come, we realize it is a lot to ask. Anyway, thank you mom for the gifts!

Here are my Easter breast implants. What a supportive mom I have. Thank you! Ha ha. That's funny mom, right? She always makes Megan and Sam's presents so cute.

And this adorable bunny. For some reason I can't find any of my Easter stuff in the garage. I probably stuck it all in the wrong bin, so this is my only decoration. :[
Thank you mom and dad!

Par-tay part III

So we had the final segment of the eight year old party this weekend. Whew. Don't tell anyone, but I am relieved to be done. Now we have the baptism and we will be done! WooHoo!
My little princess wanted a barbie cake for her party. No big deal, we'll just let Nate know and it will be beautiful. Not this time! I can DO IT! If you tilt your head a little bit, you won't even notice that she is leaning to the side. She needed a V-8 or something. But all the little girls thought she was lovely and Sam loved it.
We had a gaggle of screaming gigglers over on Saturday afternoon for fun and food. Sammy just wanted to jump rope, hula hoop and blow bubbles. Sounded good to me! I entertained for 2 1/2 hours, they all had a great time, then I sent most of them home. Poor Sarah, the party ended at three, but her mom wrote down that it started at 3, so she showed up at the end. I let some friends stay a while and I think it was 9 before we were back to an empty house. Boy did the kids sleep well that night. So cute, Sammy built this fort out of kitchen chairs in the family room and sleep in it all night! She woke up happy and said she was a little bit stiff. I would think so! And you can see that Megan slept good and deep! The poor thing has been suffering from allergies, now she has started sticking toilet paper up her nose and leaving it there.The weather can't be beat, but everything is in bloom. You take the good with the bad! Another great weekend in the Woodard house. After church today I lounged around in the backyard reading the Memory Keepers Daughter. I am LOVING this book. I love reading outside with the warm sun on my skin and a slight breeze in the air. I took some pictures, don't you love the way I captured the sky in this photo? ha ha. Tomorrow I am going to start painting my bedroom. Can't wait to see how it turns out!
P.S. I have a new addition on my Blogs I Love list. This one is near and dear to my heart, see if you can figure out who it is. This person won't sugar coat but you will enjoy!

Week 10

This week I am very grateful for safe travel. Not only did our family need to drive up to Utah for a funeral, but a lot of extended family traveled from all over the country to attend. Plus, my brother and sister and their families traveled safely to the Caribbean this week. I'm very grateful we didn't have any car trouble. I am also grateful that we can be in a car together that long and still love each other! ;]

Anniversary!

Today is our two year anniversary in our house! I remember feeling soooo relieved to get the keys. When we moved to Arizona, we stayed in an apartment, which isn't so bad; but it is hard to go from a house to an apartment. I was over the moon when we were able to move in! It is so funny when you are shopping for a house. Nate and I had looked and looked, and while there were many we liked, there was always something stopping us. When our realtor pulled up in front of this one, I instantly fell in love. Maybe it was all the palm trees. I've always wanted a palm tree. I just didn't think I would ever get one since I had no plans to leave Salt Lake! Nate isn't so quick to make decisions like that, but as soon as he stepped in the front room we both knew that this was our house. I'm very grateful to be living here, we have made many wonderful friends.
Funny story, (I think) the night we moved in we were so exhausted and worn out from moving furniture all day. Nate and I collapse into bed ready to fall asleep any second when we look up at the dark ceiling......and there are glow in the dark stars all over our ceiling! Who puts glow in the dark stickers in the master bedroom? Honestly. Confession: they are still there! Our room is the only one we haven't painted. I am going today to buy they paint so maybe the stars will end up leaving us. We have had a lot of fun making this house our own. Our house in Utah was 40 years old, so all the improvements we had to make were not the fun ones. In this house we have been able to do hardwood floors, new tile, light fixtures, and paint. Next up? I would love new blinds, I'm not digging the 1997 vertical nightmare. Maybe new carpet in the family room. But there is no hurry. We love our cozy little escape from the world!

Update

I am no longer cranky. In fact, once the kids were off, I got a lot accomplished! I weed whacked, mowed and blowed. I even did doggy duty, if you know what I mean. I cleaned my bathroom, including scrubbing my shower doors which I hate to do. I finally took Cara's advice and bought Greased Lightning for the soap scum and hard water build up. For the $3 a bottle, it was well worth it. I bought new house plants and planted them. My kids came home happy. We had Sarah and Nico over and they played outside all night. Sam and I read together. So for such a crap morning, it ended up being a worthwhile day.
And just so you know, I have no idea how peanut butter is supposed to get gum out of hair. I know my mom used it on me once, and I googled it and everyone was singing praises; all I know is scissors always save the day.

Cranky

I'm fighting a cold. Not a man cold. A hormonal, cranky beast cold. Maybe it is just the cold medicine I took last night, but I feel CRANKY. Well, last night was challenging, to say the least, so I was pretty tired and I didn't sleep well. My alarm didn't go off today, so I woke up at 8:00 and had to get the girls ready in 20 minutes. Despite the fact that I have done nothing but laundry for the last two days, Megan didn't seem to have any pants to wear to school. And Sam. She woke up with a huge wad of gum mashed into her hair right abover her ear. Here is the weird thing. She didn't go to bed with gum in her mouth, some weird goblin must have snuck into her room and smooshed it into her hair in the middle of the night. So I know that peanut butter will take care of it, but she is having none of it. She would rather cut it out. It is in her scalp. I could just see her being mad at me for the next year as it grew out. So she went to school with gum in her hair. Now here is the part where I give my kids credit. Finally, eh? They got ready and made the bus. I am very grateful for that. Now here is the part where I hopefully shake the grumpiness off.

Utah Days......

We left last Wednesday for Utah. Another looooonnnnng drive. Megan and Sammy were nice enough to clean my window at the gas station. The drive didn't seem so bad this time. We didn't leave until 5:30, and I think the fact that it was dark and we didn't need to see all the depressing Indian Reservations helped speed the process along. We stayed in Page that night. Nate had the great idea to decorate the room for Sammy's birthday, so we woke up at 2 and decorated. Just so you know, it is really hard to work a tape dispenser at that time of night. Sammy was excited to wake up to silly string in her face!
More driving, blah blah blah. Finally we get there. Then it is time to head to my mom's for Sammy's birthday party. Great fun to see everyone. Just in time too. My brother and sister took their families on a cruise early the next morning.
Friday, exciting day for me! Meeting up with my two best friends from high school, Sarah and Alicia. We met up at the Cheesecake Factory, then headed over to the mall, just like the old days! Only now we shop at Childrens Place and Gymboree instead of Express and Contempo. Remember Contempo?
Another party for Sam that night! It is wonderful to have everyone together. Plus, Nate has a lot of extended family in town that I haven't seen in years. We have a lot of fun hearing stories about Nate and Brian when they were boys....Can you believe she ended up with $85 between the two parties?!?


The funeral was very nice. There was a viewing and then we headed straight to the burial plot where Nate had the opportunity to dedicate the grave. It turned out to be very lovely. We were blessed to have the weather hold out for us. About two hours later it started to SNOW! HARD! And take your breath away cold. We went out that night with Amy, Nate's sister. I'm glad we had that time to spend with her, we had a lot of fun.

Sunday was nice and relaxing, time spent with both sets of parents. Still cold outside though. I don't know if I could move back! Monday we drove straight through. We made good time, about 10 1/2 hours. When we arrived in Page and we were on the bridge that goes over the dam, Megan goes, "Hey, we are on the dam bridge!" And she bursts out laughing when she realized how it sounded. "That sounded really inappropriate, but it wasn't!" she giggles. It was pretty funny. They kids were very good in the car, they didn't fight at all on the way home. Unfortunately, that means they get loud and obnoxious. I almost think I would prefer them to fight.
All in all, a great weekend. I'm very happy we were able to go. But....it is always great to be home.