Going Home

We are on our way home from the good ol' town of Burley and after a few days of running into old friends, chatting with relatives, rearranging parts of my parent's home, standing in line at Wal-Mart at 4 in the morning, a tour of my grandpa Beck's and Grandma Mimi's (different sides of the family) old college, and constantly worrying about the list that I have been compiling over and over again in my head of things that need to be done when I get home, we are on our way back to the land of Moses Lake. Traveling in the car with Stephen reading his usual magazine while driving and both my babies sleeping I am taking this time to once again fret over the things that need to get done when I get home. :)
we had a fun time with family and worked in a few chores while at it. Thanksgiving dinner was delicious as usual, at Grandma Mimi's house, but once again missing a main ingredient of Papa Doodle. My uncle Al (owns a good Pizza Shoppe in Burley, seriously best pizza ever and I'm not just saying that, I actually crave it) was making fun of my little brother about this big watch that he was wearing and he said, "yeah, you're like Doodle!" and I thought that was the best compliment I had heard from him in a long time. (He's a pretty sarcastic guy :) I don't like not having Papa Doodle sitting in his chair. We were also missing Tim and Debbie and family, Kortni, Jakobi didn't come until way later and Brit and her family as well. So for the actual dinner family was quite sparse, but we had some good conversation and just sat and looked at "black friday" ads. Stephen had a great idea on Friday to take my Grandpa Beck and tour the old Albion College where he went to school in 1929-31. My Grandma Mimi also attended school there, but she was not able to go out there with us. It was fun to wheel grandpa around the old grounds and walk into the buildings and hear his stories. They have renovated one of the buildings and it is really nice, but the rest are really run down and actually quite dangerous with rotting floors and spray painted hallways. There are not working lights, but we grabbed a flash light and took grandpa into the old gym. He told us that he worked as the janitor for that building and the women's dean would always get him in trouble by running her finger along the floor and showing all the dust he missed. There was a pile of the old floor boards in a corner and I grabbed some and hope to make him a frame with his graduation picture in it. My Gpa Beck had surgery on his cataracts and can see a lot better now. Beck (who is named after Grandpa Beck) went up to him in his wheel chair and just kept saying, "hi, Grandpa," and holding his hand. Talk about tear jerker. Grandpa actually called the next day and wanted to talk to Beck, but he was napping. he told me to tell him that he had "made his day." Watching my Grandpa like that is hard. He's 98 and yes, still kicking, but when our Papa Doodle passed away, it was a shocker to me and I wasn't ready, so I hate to leave and think of how that could be that last time.... My dad and Uncle go and stay with him back and forth, and I am not there to see him change to his ups and downs on a daily basis, so I can only imagine how my family there watches it happen.
Okay, enough of a depresser. :) My nephews are all getting big, Broxton, who is a month older than Pais, has been crawling and now walking along furniture, daredevil of a guy! My parents got a big ol plasma TV that my sister, Jakobi wrestled out of some people's hands at wal-Mart and I had a crazy experience tracking down the $30 Leapster that I wanted to get Beck for his birthday. I walked right past them in the mad rush and then found one, bought it and it was the wrong one ($70, newer version) so i took it back and while in line found another one, the right one, in the return cart, but was ringing up wrong because it was not the "blitz" item, so I left disappointed, but had to return because I lost my phone, left it at the customer service counter, and decided to talk the manager into giving me the non "blitz" leapster for the "blitz" price because it was the same one and I over heard them saying that they had honored it to other customers, so in the end I did get that silly Leapster! (hand held electronic game) Holiday was good, I love to see my family and I ran into some old friends, I got to go shopping! whoo hoo! and Paisley didn't have any teeth come in, so I am counting it as a success. :)
Wal-Mart Black Friday shopping!

Thankful

Dia de Gracias! Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I gotta do the "I am thankful for stuff," so I will just write a little list:

1) My family, including my smart, always thinking husband, and cute, mostly smiling children

2) My home, I feel as though my house is my home, I have everything I need there (as long as Stephen is home from work! :)

3) rainy days, it seems I have always loved the gloomy days, I love to stay home and keep the curtains closed with the lights all off or dim and just cuddle up with my babies and cook something in a crock pot and listen to the rain outside

4) My hobbies, they really keep me sane and happy, always keeping my hands and mind busy

5) internet, keeping connected with friends and family and finding answers to my questions at the click of a mouse

Happy Thanksgiving to all and I pray that it is a happy and safe one!

On the Road Again

we are in the car again heading to Burley for Turkey day. Having just spent the week in Othello it feels as though there is no stopping, I unpacked and repacked and taught school this morning and here we go. I actually made my sister Jakobi a quilt (and finished it!) so I can count it as my very first quilt! I am still working on the Twin size one for Paisley. I will put pictures up later, not the most perfect quilt, but I was pretty proud.... Paisley has been quite cranky lately, well, cranky for her, she really is quite an angel baby, knock on wood. Beck got his first tooth at 8 months and she will be 8 months in a little over a week, so we'll see what this trip brings. She loves to be carried around and she loves her little "puffs" treats and these biter biscuit things. Anything food is great and she's done with the blah tasting oatmeal and rice cereal. Pais always tries to grab at everyone's food and hair/clothes/jewelry. She has us all wrapped around her little finger. Beck is talking up a storm and everything in the world dealing with horse/cars/vroom vrooms in mine, and don't you dare try and take it away from him. He has mastered the art of the tantrum, but still remains to be pretty cute. He has quite a strut too and this little run that he does when he is running away from you where he slyly looks back to see if he's gonna get caught. He does it all the time escaping from my preschool class. He's also convinced that he owns the gym. His best friends are his cousins Piper and Alizah and also his cousin Ashton, whom he calls Kashton.
I love the fact that we can use Stephen's lap top and in the internet while driving in a car! Who would have thought? I remember my computer class in the 9th grade and my teacher Mr. Waites was describing the "World Wide Web." I thought he was crazy! The only way he could describe it was like accessing all the information in the world and connecting with people through computers instantly. I thought, "why not just call them?" haha! And now my nephew, Taryn, has introduced me to "prediction text." and man, my texting from my phone has increased quite a bit, now that I don't have to hit the button 3 times to get an "s." Pretty sweet if ya ask me! Well, we are now almost to Burley and Pais is sick of me ignoring her, so Happy Turkey Day everyone!

Twilight

Twilight the movie, worth every penny, flutter of my heart, $4.00 for medium Mountain Dew, and Paisley fussing through most of it, but worth every part..... I haven't seen a movie this good in a long time. When it was drawing nearer to the end I was actually upset because I knew that it was going to be over soon. I thought, "ah man, I gotta leave this theatre and go back to real life?" Then I thought, "hey, I'll make my life as good as I think that Twilight is." No, I am not going to creep into the night and act like a vampire, but I am going to try and make my life better like I think the movies are. Don't get me wrong, I live a great life. I really do have a great husband and awesome kids, but you know how you are watching a movie and then it ends and you're like, "what? this isn't real life?" Well, that's how I felt yet again tonight as the ending credits came on, so here's to Korbi's new life, "sewing, opportunity grabbing, rolling on the floor laughing, making my kids smile, and my hubby grin, doing my hair and wearing make-up to help myself feel better and buying the expensive shampoo and all with a vampire twist." What do ya think? :)

Be prepared for MAJOR cuteness!

Beck (2 1/2 yrs) and Paisley (7 months) got their pics taken a week ago by Jenn Olson at the preschool. This is actually a first where Beck was getting a real school picture taken (even though he's still too young to be in the class (my class) he is actually enrolled!) Aren't they the best pics ever?? Man, as puffed up as it sounds, I've got some good lookin kids. :) Proud? yes....

Phone update

So Stephen just called the house I am staying at and informed me that my new phone has finally arrived! Yeah for me! After I get Beck and Pais ready we will head in and get it. I picked out a cute green one. :) And also today is our last day out here in Othello, My sis-in-law and her hubby return home in the wee hours of the morning. We have a bunch of stuff to do before we take off again on Monday night for Idaho. ( I think that we are leaving Monday) Hard to believe that Thanksgiving is here, and I am excited to see my family again even though we just saw them a few weeks ago for my nephew Bridger's baptism. Some more news: My twin sister Jakobi is having a GIRL! So I whipped out the top of a quilt for her new little one and hopefully I can at least get it put together before we take off. I still haven't finished my "first" one for Paisley, but that's what I get for my first one being a Twin size. I am slowly and surely doing the meandering on it and hopefully it will be done before she actually grows into it! I also had some fun out here making me some grocery bags. Poor Mary's house shows for my ignoring it as I sewed away. Like I have stated before, this was like my mini vacation! Although Beck is a little monster and would not stop attacking all of his cousins..... :)

Othello

I wish that I had my camera cord with me because Paisley is looking pretty darn cute in an old outfit of Beck's that I feminized by adding a red bow. :) We are in Othello staying with niece Kylie and nephew Taryn while their parents are partying it up in Hawaii for the week with the rest of the family. We always joke that if you decided to not go on the trip that the rest of the family is going on then you will get about 5 phone calls in the next 10 minutes asking you to baby sit. Mary called first and I haven't had the opportunity to stay with her kids before, well, for a period of time at least. I think that it's fun and interesting to stay with people's kids, you get a glimpse into other people's lives. And it's not like it's ever really that awful or anything. It's kind of like being a Grandma, you send em home when you're done. :) I get to be the fun Aunt and buy the cool popsicles. So while the rest of the family (except a few) are in Hawaii, I get to raise a 6 year old, 2 teenagers (a first for me) and Beck's good friend, his cousin, Ashton. Good thing they got some pretty darn good kids or I'd sabotage someone's garbage disposal or something. :) Just kidding. We only got here last night and will stay until next weekend. My biggest fear is not picking someone up when I am supposed to or making them late for school. If they are late they get automatic detention, scary huh? Imagine my guilt!!! So pray for me that I get up early enough, at least to put my boots on and fly out the door with all kids in tow.... :)

Lost Phone

Lost Phone. Alright.... It's gone, I'm believing it now. I thought that it would show up, but I have looked everywhere! I believe it's final destination was falling out of my diaper bag and hitting the sidewalk OR flying off the top of my car, so it's gone and with no home phone or "land line" as they call it, my communication with the outside world is e-mail or coming to see me. So now that all my numbers are gone, feel free to e-mail (sarakb8@hotmail.com) me your number, so if I do get a new phone I have it. No one's number was ever memorized, only programmed into to now long lost sim card.... gosh darn it. Not a good last few months for us...
*new transmission for Stephen
* 2 new tires for Stephen
*lost phone for me
*new brakes for me
*stolen GPS
*Beck's tear duct surgeries
*Stephen got a ticket, neither of us have had one since we got married

I am praying that I don't lose my wallet, knock on wood..... I did leave it at the counter at Wal-Mart today, but the guy chased me down, what a good person. :)

"Hey Thief, I think you're MEAN!"

Yeah, that'll teach 'em to steal from me..... :)

Argh...

You see that cop car right there? Not even just a cop car, the SHERIFF! Well, he's my neighbor, a great guy and his wife and 2 sons. Well, going the other way down the street there are also 3 more cops, we all live on the same street and there are many more in the neighborhood. Well, yesterday I totally thought that I had locked Stephen's car using the remote thing, but guess I didn't and his navigational system, a whole butt load of change, yes, change, maybe 10 bucks in all was stolen along with who knows what else from his car sitting in our driveway with this SHERRIFF car parked not 25 feet away. Man, people have cahonies. Makes me sad to think how bad they must have needed it, but now I'm in trouble. Kind of funny though, the guy (Stephen) that gives me so much crap for being so anal about locking all the doors and windows in our house and his car gets stolen from because the doors weren't locked. Sitting right in our driveway, in full view of everyone. Man, people are crazy......

I have people who like me...

Yep, it's true. There are people out there who like me and think of me. The other day a friend (Jessica) came over and thinking of Paisley, gave me a book that was her daughter's called "My Granny's Purse." Cutest book ever! and then today I got a text from another friend (Beka) and I went and looked on my front porch and WHAM! Life saver! (Mountain Dew with a sack of extra diapers left over from her son and pants for Beck! Score!) How did she know that I was having an "off" day and needed a pick me up??? And you want to know the best part? I visit teach these two ladies, talk about THEM taking care of ME when I should be taking care of THEM! Thank heavens for people who like me. :)

Peeps

Yeah, so I think that I don't really like Peeps that much anymore. I was so bummed that Wal-Mart didn't carry them over Halloween and I don't get to Target much, but then a week or two before Halloween Wal-Mart stocked up, so I did too, eating 5 or 6 boxes before Halloween even came, then I bought some more when they went on sale after the holiday and I got up and ate some last night and ate another box this morning and I think that they are making me sick. Not like nauseous or stomach sick, but I just don't really enjoy eating them that much anymore. Do you think maybe it is just the Halloween ones and I will be back to my normal Peep sugar loving self by the time that Easter rolls around? Because I just ate a Cadbury egg and I don't see myself ever getting over those..... :)

Cabin and movies

While at school this last week, Beck was playing with some Lincoln Logs and then he got all excited after he realized that he had built a "cabin!" While driving home from Idaho last weekend, Beck woke up and looked out the window and saw a bunch of pine trees and started saying, "mom, we go to cabin?" I think that he kind of likes his Grandma Ann and Bobby Boy's cabin...

Paisley LOVES to see her cute, smiley face in the mirror!

My mother-in-law got us all tickets to go see Madagascar 2 in Othello tonight. Beck feel asleep on the way in, but when Stephen got there he got him awake and he watched the whole thing. He said, "mom, my big show!" IT was also Paisley's first movie in a movie theatre. She was awake through 3/4 of it. I had to feed her a granola bar that I had in my bag because she wouldn't quit grabbing at Beck's popcorn, then she threw up all over me, so that was fun. :) Guess she didn't agree with the granola. Probably not one of the best things to feed a baby, but I figured that it was better than popcorn. Thanks Ann!

I should really go to bed...

Maybe now...

Maybe now my life can get a little bit back to normal. I haven't gone to work out all week and it shows, I have drank a whole fridge of Mountain Dew and Beck has watched countless hours of "my show" (cartoons), but Payroll and reconciling for the school and gym are DONE and more importantly my two on-line classes are completed with Final exams turned in and passed! Yeah! I decided to take a Quick Books Payroll class and an Adobe Photoshop class. Why I chose to do them at the same time and then be out of town like every weekend while enrolled in them is beyond me! It seems like very chance that I got to sit down with my Mountain Dew and start on a lesson, Paisley woke up or Beck needed a "juit" (juice) or there was some catastrophe somewhere, or kids screaming everywhere. I feel like I learned a lot, taxes still scare me to death, but man, I can turn a picture into black and white with the click of a button!
Look what I can do!

Election

Well, the big election is over and we have a new President. President Obama. The first African American president of the United States of America. I voted for McCain and he didn't win and that's OK. This is a big thing that everyone is talking about with the 1st African American President and I think that's great, if McCain had won there would have been a 1st for the 1st lady V.P. and whoo hoo for that too. I guess that it's a time for firsts. I was proud to have voted, as I usually have voted since I turned 18. Stephen and I actually sent in out vote last week because we vote by mail. I wasn't really impressed with Obama or McCain and didn't agree with all of their policies and things that they wanted to do or the way that they wanted our country to head, but President Obama is the President of the United States now and I respect that. I didn't vote for McCain because he was white and I didn't not vote for Obama because he was black, I voted for the best candidate that I thought and I think that that is about all we can do. I think that deep down these two men and their running mates just want what they think is best for the country. I pray that there are only those few corrupt people in the world that are actually out for their own and don't care about the rest of us, but I think that both these men are good. I actually really did like Sarah Palin. She seems real, whether she is or not and it's all a show, I dunno, but to me she seems like a real person, and a person that I liked. The first lady, Michelle and Cindy McCain seemed like real nice people too. It will be interesting to see what happens with this presidency considering the things that are going on with the war and the economy and just people's overall bad attitudes I guess. I am not much for politics as you can tell or foreign policy or economic affairs, but it is my life that I am living here, so I figured that I had better jot down some feelings that I've had about this much publicized election and our new President. Best of luck to you President Obama. :)

An article that I saw on Jane Payne's blog that she read from the Wall Street Journal that sums up my feelings as well about our departing President Bush whom I thank for his service.
The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace
What must our enemies be thinking?
By JEFFREY SCOTT SHAPIRO
Earlier this year, 12,000 people in San Francisco signed a petition in support of a proposition on a local ballot to rename an Oceanside sewage plant after George W. Bush. The proposition is only one example of the classless disrespect many Americans have shown the president.
According to recent Gallup polls, the president's average approval rating is below 30% -- down from his 90% approval in the wake of 9/11. Mr. Bush has endured relentless attacks from the left while facing abandonment from the right.
This is the price Mr. Bush is paying for trying to work with both Democrats and Republicans. During his 2004 victory speech, the president reached out to voters who supported his opponent, John Kerry, and said, "Today, I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust."
Those bipartisan efforts have been met with crushing resistance from both political parties.
The president's original Supreme Court choice of Harriet Miers alarmed Republicans, while his final nomination of Samuel Alito angered Democrats. His solutions to reform the immigration system alienated traditional conservatives, while his refusal to retreat in Iraq has enraged liberals who have unrealistic expectations about the challenges we face there.
It seems that no matter what Mr. Bush does, he is blamed for everything. He remains despised by the left while continuously disappointing the right.
Yet it should seem obvious that many of our country's current problems either existed long before Mr. Bush ever came to office, or are beyond his control. Perhaps if Americans stopped being so divisive, and congressional leaders came together to work with the president on some of these problems, he would actually have had a fighting chance of solving them.
Like the president said in his 2004 victory speech, "We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America."
To be sure, Mr. Bush is not completely alone. His low approval ratings put him in the good company of former Democratic President Harry S. Truman, whose own approval rating sank to 22% shortly before he left office. Despite Mr. Truman's low numbers, a 2005 Wall Street Journal poll found that he was ranked the seventh most popular president in history.
Just as Americans have gained perspective on how challenging Truman's presidency was in the wake of World War II, our country will recognize the hardship President Bush faced these past eight years -- and how extraordinary it was that he accomplished what he did in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.
Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.
Mr. Shapiro is an investigative reporter and lawyer who previously interned with John F. Kerry's legal team during the presidential election in 2004.

Halloween

Halloween and Idaho

The Stake Halloween party was last Thursday and it was packed! This is the only night that Beck actually wore something resembling a costume. He was a kitty, we borrowed it from Kortni because he didn't want to be the dragon costume that I had gotten him. He loved the candy of course and after "his girls" showed up he smiled a bit more, but still not very happy about the whole costume thing. This has become known as "my bag." "mom, where my bag?" always great concern for where his Trick-or-treat bag was and with good reason because it was filled with lots of goodies!We drove most of Halloween to make it to Burley in time for trick-or-treating. We made it at 7 PM and went out with Britni, Collin, and their boys, the ninjas and a puppy dog. We tried to go in town, so that the boys could experience actually walking from house to house, instead of in the country where you drive, but there weren't very many porch lights on. Then Kortni and Brandon pulled into town and we managed to find a little neighborhood that still had some candy left.Then it was off to Grandma Mimi's.Beck, Paisley, Hanna, Bridger, Broxton, Jax, Alizah, Piper, Branson. After this picture I misplaced my camera and suffered from a self induced ulcer :) looking for it all weekend when I had actually put it in Beck's Trick-or-Treat bag and his the bag from him because he wouldn't stop eating his candy, so after I gave in and gave him the bag back I found my camera, but that was not until late last night. Oops. So I missed all the pictures of the kid's at Bridger's baptism and the whole reason why we went to Burley. It was a great baptism and Bridger looked so big and grown up. He got his own set of scriptures and I made him a scripture bag and gave him a book to fill out about his baptism and he went right to work writing in it. I will add pictures to this post later because Britni's mother-in-law let her borrow her camera and I snapped away. After finding my camera I took some pictures of Broxton and Paisley before we took off this morning. He is crawling and traveling around everywhere!