A Thanksgiving Poem

I had to do sharing time yesteday. I decided to do the lesson on gratitude/thankfulness and compare our lives today with the lives of the pioneers. I think it turned out pretty well.

Here is the poem I read and gave to all the kids that summed up the point I was trying to get across.

I Think of Pioneers

Sometimes when I must walk to school, it seems a long, long way. I get to feeling tired and would like to stop and play. But then I think of pioneers who walked by sun and star; And suddenly my little walk doesn’t seem so far.

Sometimes on cold, dark winter nights I crawl beneath the sheet and wish I had a cozy place to warm my chilly feet. But then I think of pioneers who camped outside all night and only had a fire’s glow to give them warmth and light.

Sometimes when I am hungry and want something good to eat, my mother gives me carrots when I’d rather have a sweet. But then I think of pioneers who thanked God and were glad for anything at all to eat—my carrots aren’t so bad.

Sometimes when I have chores to do and I would rather play, I think of pioneers and know they worked most all the day. And so I guess I can’t complain about things that I must do, for when I think of pioneers, I’m very blessed—aren’t you?

By, Sandy Halvorson

Happy Thanksgiving.

36 facts for 36 years.

1. November 7th is my birthday
2. I had braces when I was teenager even though you can't tell now.
3. I went to Europe for 3 weeks with my high school choir.
4. I have 3 brothers, a half brother, 4 step-brothers and 1 step sister.
5. I rolled a brand new car 3 times.
6. I found out I was pregnant with Emma lying on a gurney in an E.R.
7. I went on a mission to Tacoma, Washington.
8. I went to Snow College in Ephraim, Utah.
9. I hate birds.
10. Everyone in my immediate family has a name that starts with "M".
11. When I was 3-11 years old my family owned a grocery store in rural Utah.
12. I was "Little Miss Market" in a 24th of July parade.
13. I don't eat melon of any sort.
14. I make lists constantly.
15. I have a terrible time with computers.
16. I met Matt in May of 1997, we were engaged on July 4, 1997 and married Sept. 27, 1997.
17. I have never been to Canada or Mexico.
18. My great-great grandfather is a full blood Indian.
19. I ditched school a lot in high school.
20. I have driven a semi-truck before.
21. My first job was working in a "Click photo booth" in the middle of a parking lot.
22. I have never colored my hair, ever.
23. I like watching Motocross racing.
24. My favorite movie is "The Man from Snowy River".
25. My favorite sports are softball and volleyball.
26. I didn't discover I had a half brother until I was 25.
27. I have been on a church history tour back east 2 times.
28. I have Thorasic Outlet Syndrome.
29. I love wild flowers.
30. In high school I would go to bed at 9pm.
31. I was 16 and on my first date when I kissed a boy for the first time.
32. My favorite animal is the platypus.
33. One day I hope to go to Australia to see a platypus.
34. Quakie Aspens are my favorite tree.
35. I talk to myself a lot.
36. I wanted to grow up and be a History teacher.

There you have it. 36 somewhat weird, interesting facts about me.

A day in the life...

I have a friend who documents her day once a month with pictures and commentary. I thought I would try it but minus all the pictures.

7:30am The day started out with getting the kids up for school. Making them breakfast which consisted of instant oatmeal and a glass of juice. I made their lunch and put a joke in it like I do everyday.
Once the kids were gone it was time to tackle some house cleaning. I started in the kitchen. Dishes, sweeping and mopping the floors. Then a bit of dusting and vacuuming. Bathrooms were on the list but I was running out of time before I needed to shower and get ready to take Brandon to speech class.

11am: I take Brandon to his speech class at Emma and Jake's school. While he is in his speech class I volunteer in Emma's classroom.

11:45am: Brandon comes out of speech class and his teacher tells me we need to talk...that is never good news. She tells me Brandon is having behavior issues in class. What? I wont go into the details but it was mostly him being stubborn, no hitting or anything like that. She tells me to talk to all of Brandon's other teachers, ie. Nursery and playgroup and she will talk to his other speech teacher and see how he behaves in her class.

12pm: I take the long way home which means it took me 5 minutes instead of 2 minutes and Brandon falls asleep. Could he have just been tired in speech? Possibly.
While Brandon sleeps I enjoy a quiet lunch. After that I make a batch of cookies for a friend's party Friday night, do a little stitching while they bake and watch CSI:NY recorded from last night.

1:30pm: Brandon wakes up and I make him some lunch. I talk on the phone to 2 different people, one of them being Brandon's nursery teacher.

2:30pm Continue with cleaning the house until the kids get home.

3:45pm: Talk to the kids a little about their day and have them get started on their homework.

4:30pm: I make an early dinner because Jake has a soccer game and we need to leave at 5:30pm.

5pm:Eat dinner with the kids and discover while talking to the kids that Emma won the school election and is now the Student Body Vice-President. I also learn that someone in her class stole her entire lunch. They left the lunch bag but took everything in her bag but her joke I put in there. Nice. The school ended up giving her a free lunch. I thought that was nice.

5:30pm: Leave for soccer fields.

6pm: Watch Jake make 3 out of the 4 goals for his team. Way to go Jake!!

7pm:Drive home and stop at Carl's Jr. for 2 large fries for the kids and I to share when we get home. Call Matt on the way home to tell him Jake made 3 goals. As we are driving home, Emma asks "Mom, what time is it?". I say "It is 7:18". Brandon says "No it isn't mommy, it is 7, 8, 9." I hope that sounds as funny in writing as it did in person. It was funny to us.

7:30pm Eat our yummy fries and then send the kids to the showers while I clean the kitchen again.

8pm: Sit down and watch a 1/2 TV show with the kids and by the time it is over Matt walks in the door. He has been gone for 2 days and we are all glad to see him.

8:30pm: Emma and Jake go to bed while Matt and Brandon play trains for 1/2 an hour. Read Brandon his books from the library that were suppose to be turned in Thursday. OOPS!

9pm:Brandon goes to bed and I get ready for bed. Matt and I watch a 1/2 hour show and talk for a few minutes. He goes downstairs to eat dinner and I read 2 chapters in a book called"So you want to raise a boy". The chapters covering 3 and 4 year olds, seeing if I can figure out what is going on with Brandon.

10pm. Lights out and I am asleep.

Halloween 2009

To start our Halloween festivities Brandon and I went to a pumpkin patch with some friends. We went to this same pumpkin patch last year and had a great time. However, this year he did not want to go on any of the fun stuff he just wanted his pumpkin. He played in the dirt and straw on the ground most of the time. Here he is posing with the pumpkins.This is the one ride he would go on. He rode it several times and despite the look on his face he really liked it. The kids did the usual school parties. I am learning that the older the kids get the less involved parents are in the classroom parties. Which actually makes me kind of sad.
Emma worked at the spook alley at the school's "Safe Street" on Thursday. The rest of us came to check it out after Jake's soceer game.
Halloween night the ward had "trunk or treat" that we went to and actually decorated our trunk for the first time ever. I know sad huh?
Here are the kids in their costumes this year. I have to say the best part of their costumes is how cheap they were to put together this year.
Brandon is a PIRATE. His costume was lent to us by a friend (Thank you Rachael Randall you are awesome!!) and I bought all his accesories for $2.
Emma is BELLATRIX LESTRANGE from Harry Potter. Her costume is a combination of 2 of her old costumes. The only thing I bought was the poster board for her sign and some black nail polish and black lipstick.
Jake is SNAKE EYES from G.I. Joe. His black jumpsuit was recycled from last year and we already had his sword. So his costume was FREE.
The best part is that everyone loved their costumes.

Here they are with all their candy. Thank goodness they didn't get as much as last year.