Pullin' a Stephanie

I'm pulling a stephanie with a multiple post blog tonight! I think she still has first place though.

Anyway, I'm off to bed, gotta get some sleep to keep up with eight 2 yr olds tomorrow. But, here are the other band photos from tonight's concert to take you thru some of the Percussion instruments Gib played. I realized you couldn't really see the new haircut in the caveman one so here's some others. Still no photos of me, gosh, what a bummer. Always the photographer never the model.

Camporee Photos

Mike and Gib went on a Scout Camporee weekend. They were supposed to leave Friday night, but due to a storm, the troop decided to head out early Saturday morning instead. Last year our troop won 1st place and they hoped for a repeat. Maybe they'll know by tomorrow night at the troop meeting.

The troop built a monkey bridge.

Gib's receiving instructions from

Mr. Green, the Troop Master.

The Monkey Bridge after it was assembled.

The Tents

The guys had a good time. Even though Gib's patrol had a little lunch mishap. Something about somebody not showing up with their food. Mike's not sure if "somebody" didn't just forget to plan adequately. But that is how the boys learn. The troop is scout run and scout led, with adults standing by to teach and extinguish fires (literally and figuratively). So there's a big learning curve going on at all times.

All the boys had was leftover eggs from breakfast. Now, mind you, the adults on these trips eat GREAT! And it just kills the hungry boys when their menu ends up, shall we say, skimpy or in this case, non-existent?! Now, Gib's patrol needed to borrow some butter to cook their eggs. And the adults made them all sing "I'm a Little Teapot" WITH actions for it!! Don't feel too bad for Gib though. I misunderstood him and packed a big lunch for him and Mike, but Mike didn't need one. So he ate the extra sub sandwich sack lunch while the rest of his patrol had eggs. I don't think that will bode well for him in the next Patrol Leader election - do you?!

Lyrics to "I Love This Ward"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q85rPq1u9sc


CHRISSIE'S LYRICS TO “I LOVE THIS WARD”
From TOBY KEITH'S "I LOVE THIS BAR"
(the irony alone makes me laugh)


WE GOT WINNERS
AIN'T NO LOSERS,
NO CHAIN SMOKERS OR BOOZERS
WE GOT SEMINARY
MISSIONARY BIKERS,
WE GOT THIRSTY BOY SCOUT HIKERS

AND THE YOUNG WOMEN, THEY DRESS UP LIKE MOVIE STARS
HMMM, HMMM, HMMM, HMMM, HMMMM – I LOVE THIS WARD

WE GOT BAWLERS
WE GOT SCRIPTURE READERS
THE BEST INSPIRED LEADERS
WE’RE ALWAYS HUSTLIN’
TO GO HOME TEACHIN’
OFF AGAIN TO ANOTHER MEETIN’

AND THE HIGH PRIESTS TALK ABOUT THEIR NAPPIN' HOURS
HMMM, HMMM, HMMM, HMMM, HMMMM – I LOVE THIS WARD

I LOVE THIS WARD
IT’S MY KIND OF PLACE
JUST WALKIN' THROUGH THE FRONT DOORS
PUTS A BIG SMILE ON MY FACE
IT AIN'T TOO FAR, COME AS YOU ARE
HMMM, HMMM, HMMM, HMMM, HMMMM – I LOVE THIS WARD

WE ALWAYS GO TO SONIC
AND WARD PICNICS
PRIMARY KIDS SINGING IN PHONICS
YOUNG MEN PLAYIN' HOOP BALL
AND LOTS OF LOOKERS
AND YOU ALWAYS SEE THOSE RELIEF SOCIETY WORKERS
AND WE LIKE TO DRINK OUR KOOL-AID FROM A MASON JAR
HMMM, HMMM, HMMM, HMMM, HMMMM – I LOVE THIS WARD, YES I DO

I LIKE MY HOME TEACHERS (REPEAT)
I LIKE MY FAMILY (REPEAT)
I LIKE TO TAKE EM OUT TO DINNER
I LIKE A G - RATED MOVIE NOW & THEN

BUT I LOVE THIS WARD,
IT’ MY KIND OF PLACE,
JUST TROLLIN’ AROUND THE CULTURAL HALL
PUTS A BIG SMILE ON MY FACE
NO COVER CHARGE, COME AS YOU ARE
HMMM, HMMM, HMMM, HMMM, HMMMM – I LOVE THIS WARD
HMMM, HMMM, HMMM, HMMM, HMMMM – I LOVE THIS WARD (fill in your ward name)

Caveman Band Night

Tonight the band director finally utilizied the true, untapped strengths of his percussion ensemble and let their inner cavemen come out to play (for one musical piece anyway).

Shiny Bright Halo

Usually it's a little tarnished, but my halo is shining ever so brightly these days. I've been doing so many good deeds I'm getting a little sick of myself. It all started with taking my friends mom to the dentist. The next day, another friend's daughter broke her arm at school, so I went to the hospital and helped out with their little girl, Amy Mei, who was turning 4 that day. We left to go get her birthday cake in a huge downpour and got soaking wet, visited two public restrooms, told everybody it was her birthday in our new conversational English, and scored a free teddy bear and a book! Then Scary Nick came over that afternoon and stayed for dinner. The next day I didn't do much but bask in my glorious reflection since Mike and Gib were at a scout camporee, but I did get some gardening done. Today I made cinnamin rolls from scratch for Indy's study til midnite session at school for the AP Calculus exam. In between risings, I went to the material store and got faux fur for a caveman outfit for Gib's band concert. And, this isn't really halo material - but it's gotta be saintly to make cinnamin rolls, a costume, AND mop and wax my wood floors all in one day!

By the end of the week my halo will probably be twisted, tarnished, and possibly trashed, since I have 2 days of subbing for the young 2's class at preschool, and helping set up and serve for the Mother Daughter's Activity Day thing on Wednesday.

But wait, there's one more shiny halo thing (oooh, and now that I think about it, it was accepting the new calling and agreeing to this right after sacrament that started the whole chain reaction!). So, I'm in a skit next Sunday for the Visiting Teaching conference. It wasn't like I could say no since I kinda wrote the darn thing. Oh well, one of my favorite's, Last Minute Lucy, was still up for grabs, so I'm her. I've gotta create a hat for my character who lives by the motto, "if it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done!". I hope the skit goes over as funny as it seemed to me when I put it together. It's always a little scary, because I am a great source of amusement to myself, but I find alot of people don't get my sense of humor at church. That reminds me, they didn't do my song at the talent show, but it was OK, because we had all sorts of changes of plans here and I ended up not going anyway. I'll put it up in case anyone wants to see it.

And in case anyone was wondering, if that was all it takes for this girl to think her halo is bright? The answer is: Yup! Pretty much. It's all downhill from here baby!!

New Scary Nick

Taryn and New Scary Nick

Poor Nick - I love that nickname (hahaha)!!

He's a very cool guy and has nice manners. I like him. They took the nature hike to find the bone pile today. Mariah went with them, but they couldn't find it. They did find several ticks though. Yuck.

Mike and Mariah off to the Daddy Daughter Luau
They won the wrap the Mummy in TP contest.

Mike was the Mummy!

Indy and Joe at the Award Ceremony

"Can you believe how stupid this is?!"

Too Old For Lists?!

Yup, it's official. I'm old. I've come to this conclusion because of the following reasons:

1) I can't go a week without a medical complaint. Whoo-hoo, this was a fun week too. A little UTI made itself known this weekend. I don't do so well on antibiotics so I try the cranberry & homeopathic route first. I almost had it beat, but had to go on antibiotics yesterday after 4 days and 3 gallons of cranberry juice. By the way, 3 gallons of cranberry juice creates its own little set of problems. It wasn't a very good day for me yesterday. And I had a migraine on Monday. It was heading for capital M status, but I pulled the Midrin trick 4 hrs into it. I was feeling a little wiped out and cranky with the two issues combined. This month's migraine tally is 5, but only one was mega-humongous. I actually consider April a vast improvement over the previous 3 months. Once the new meds got cranking, I only had 2 little migraines. Between Topamax and the worst of weird spring weather easing off, I hope I get to reclaim my health (and ooooh, possibly my youth?!)

2) My #1 was so long I forgot what else I was going to say......

3) Oh well, I guess this applies - I got called as R.S. Enrichment Leader, and I have to say, this time around, it feels like an old lady calling. I've been in enrichment before (10 yrs worth) but I feel like I had alot more energy and resiliency then. So, PLEASE, I'm begging you, whenever you hear of any ideas, send them my way. I obviously need all the help I can get.

Since my first list didn't work so well, here's a list of some exciting things! Let's see how far I get before I get distracted and forget what else I was going to say.

1) Gib FINALLY got a haircut!!!!!!!! It took forever, but it's done. There's a boy under all that hair. A friend who's a hairdresser took pity on us, probably because her fingers were itching last Sunday just looking at that mop. I took Gib out of school early, and she squoze us into her schedule and cut his hair for an hour. I warned her. He has a ton of hair. He looks very nice. I just wish he could wear it longer; I know, odd for a mother, but I guess his hair is just too thick and there's too much of it, growing in some weird whorly pattern on his abnormally large head. Sorry Gib! That's a Wellpott gene, and you get that from Grammy!! If he'd just style it the way I keep telling him, but no apparently, that part of my Perfect Man Programming hasn't taken hold yet. So he has a "long-short" hair cut now. Anyway, he is dreading all the compliments his teachers will give him (but probably secretly looking forward to the attention). He's also warning me in advance that because his eyebrows can now be seen, he'll probably get in trouble with his teachers since he's not used to censoring them! What a goof.

2) When we turned the calendar page this morning, there was a note to myself (because I am so old I have to write notes to myself) to remind me to sign Mariah up for youth Volleyball. She is so excited!!

3) Taryn is bringing New Scary Nick over after school tomorrow. I sense a photo op. I hear he wants a mohawk now. I don't know, Mohawk Nick just doesn't have that "ring" to it.

4) As part of her Senior Project, Indy needs to complete 25 hours of community volunteer service. We considered a couple options, but her first choice was with WAVES http://www.wavesinc.com/. A coworker at my preschool works there, so I suggested it to Indy because I thought it might give her firsthand experience in the field she's interested in majoring in while at the same time meeting the graduation requirement for her senior project. She just heard back, and the director said she'd "LOVE to have her volunteer this summer" and indicated Indy would probably be in the 3-4 yr old classrooms a couple days a week from 9 am to noon. Indy hopes she loves it enough to continue volunteering there even after her hours are completed for the senior project.

5) Well, this isn't exactly exciting, (a huge relief is more like it) but Mike came back home after leaving for work this morning to remove a tiny tick from the back of Mariah's neck. I am sooo glad he was willing to turn around and come back to do that for us. Mariah was ready to choose the school nurse over putting me through it, so she was happy to have such a nice Dad too. I was brave and watched. It was gross. I hate ticks.

6) It's MAY! While May is admittedly a very exciting month (feels like summer is around the corner, school is wrapping up, etc), it also means a new payday and I can go grocery shopping! I am taking my friend's mother to the dentist (waaaaay out in the country) this afternoon and we are very food-challenged right now. So I'd better get crackin' and stock the pantry before doing my good deed. That will be my entire day. Hope yours is great!