Thanksgiving...Help!!!!!!

I am hosting Thanksgiving this year and I am nervous. The turkey, I can so do, but it is the stuffing that is killing me. We all know my personality and that I am a tad obssessive and have a little issue with perfection and I need to know how to make stuffing from scratch. I personally do NOT like stuffing, it is soggy and gross, but my sister-in-law would like some and I am here to please. Please help me by sending me all of your stuffing secrets! I am totally lame and am buying a pumpkin pie from Costco along with my traditional pumpkin cheesecake that I cannot live without! It is possibly the most delicious thing that I have ever tasted in my whole life, besides a good cheeseburger, but I digress. If you have ever made stuffing or if your Mom has a great recipe, please send it to me pronto! Thanks!

Hate It!!!!

I hate Earnhardt Dodge with a passion that I cannot fully describe in words! The only noise I can make is not discernible in letters and is probably not appropriate as are the words that I could describe. After waiting an 1 1/2 hours, I finally ended up paying to rent a car, which I won't expand upon, then after 5 hours of waiting I called to see when my car would be done and he told me to head on over, it was just done. I got there and was told they had fixed the recall parts, but not my stupid seat belt that I took it in for in the first place!!! They have to order the part, so I have to GO BACK!!!! AGGGHHH!!!! My deadly windshield wiper, was top priority and took forever to fix, who knows the havoc that it could have wreaked as I drove recklessly through the streets of Queen Creek! It could have flown off, streaking through the air and slicing into someone else's vehicle; or possibly caught fire incinerating my entire van in the blink of an eye. Not to mention that it might have turned on full speed and wiped my windshield into oblivion. The possibilities are really endless! I tried to be nice and talk to a manger about the crappy customer service that I had received, but was told it was my fault and that it wasn't changing any time soon. To make it so much better, I am stomping around, throwing my car seats down and getting into my van, when the alarm goes off in front of everyone. I must have looked really bad, because a man came out and asked if I would like some help....the words that flashed through my mind would have singed his pants off! They might have tried that line a little earlier. I just filed a complaint with Dodge and that is helping me feel a little bit better, but not much! It totally makes me envision my alter ego going down there and tagging their buildings or burning something down, but my mature, humble side is trying to talk my alter ego out of it. I will let you know who wins!

Love it!

The first of my two loves is a sarcastic, facetious love. I just love it when I have to take my car in for maintenance and it takes years! My 3rd row seat belt wasn't retracting, so I called and made an appointment that shouldn't take more than an hour. Now I am waiting after having to rent a car because it is a detailed process that I cannot understand because I am a female that involves taking the whole back panel off of my van. Stupid! The second thing is really a love of mine. I absolutely love when the conference issue of the Ensign comes out and I get to re-read all of the talks! It is so nice to be able to focus and read when my kids are asleep. It makes me feel so peaceful and calm about everything going on in the world. It makes me feel like I CAN overcome my trials and be happy. I am so excited that we have conference twice a year, so that I can recharge! I love it!

Grrrrr!!!!!

So yesterday I decided that I was going to change my background to have a festive Thanksgiving background. Well, needless to say, it did not go as planned and I managed to completely erase all of my music, links to blogs and my slide show. I was so frusterated I might have thought choice words in my mind. I have gotten a lot better at not letting them slip out when I am really mad, but I will admit I sometimes still think them, which I am sure is just as bad. Anyway, so I have spent the last hour figuring this all out. I had to randomly put addresses into blogger to try to find all of you. It was not easy and I am never going to try to change anything ever again, so get used to seeing this background and it is the only one you are ever going to see. Now, everything is back to normal, I only had one contact that I couldn't find and have no way of getting back. I can cut my losses on that one, I have everyone I really want.

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The Adventures of Cat and Sarah

Our beautiful pumpkins that we got for free in Greenbluff. We used markers this time.

Supergirl and Batgirl with there pumpkin buckets.

Batgirl Catherine

The cutest Supergirl I've ever seen!

Playing with chalk and making hopscotch boards. I will try to post a video, it was hysterical!

Grampie eating olives off of Sarah's fingers.

Cat at the Chewelah city park playground.

Sarah with her hat over her eyes at the playground.

Sarah chasing the chickens at Walter Farms in Greenbluff, Wa. There was the best little farm with tons of stuff for the kids to do. Sarah managed to sit and stand in chicken poop which I didn't discover until I picked her up and got it all over me...yuck!

Grampie makes the best horsie in the world! And rides are free.

Uncle Joel with the girls and their pumpkins that he helped them carve. He worked so hard to get Sarah to like him, but she just flirted and acted coy ( she's only 2, what will happen when she is 16?)

This horse at Schnepf Farms thought that it was a rodeo pony! Before we had even started walking it bucked and went on his two back legs. Sarah was sooooo scared and wanted off, but she made it through the ride! The second time he tried to buck her off she thought it was much more funny! I did not....stinkin pony!

Catherine Grace on her very calm, white, beautiufl pony. She was so excited to finally ride a horse, it was her dream come true!

The girls at Schnepf Farms.

This was the funniest night. I made wings for Brady and the girls; Brady and Sarah finished and Cat was still going strong. I got tired of getting up to get her more so Brady put the pan in front of her and she went to town. She looks so gross in this picture, but it was so funny to see her all messy and eating like a little T-Rex.

This is the ball castle that Brady bought for the girls before we left for Wa. They jumped and jumped and wanted it on all the time. It stayed up in our living room for a while before I finally had Daddy put it away. They think they have the best Daddy ever and I have to agree.

We ended up having to put little hook locks on the pantry because when I wasn't watching Sarah would climb to the top and eat all of the gum that we have in there. She is such a little monkey! She got put in time out, got a couple spanks, and she still would climb up and eat a whole package of gum. Grrrr!

On the Road Again

We are exhausted from our trip! We will be heading home today and I will post pics soon. My kids are so excited to go on the airplane again. Washington has been good to us, but we are ready to be Az babies again. When I asked Sarah if she was ready to go home, she asked me if we were going to go to Grammy and Grampie's house first for dinner. I told her no and she got really upset with me. I told her we were going on the airplane and she told me she would stay with Auntie Deborah. I thought about it for a minute, but then decided that I would miss her and should probably take her home. What would Brady say if I came home without her! Anyway, we have to get going, so more to come later!

Trial by Faith

I can't remember the exact scripture, but we are constantly being told that when we have our trials it is to make us stronger. I believe this to be true, but sometimes it is really hard to remember. When we are in the midst of a trial, the last thing we tend to remember is that it is for our good. It is so easy to feel overwhelmed and afraid. This is where faith is supposed to come in. My biggest problem is that at moments like this, I have a hard time overcoming the natural tendencies to feel like I can fix it all myself or solve the problem. This time I know that I can't fix the problem and it is driving me absolutely crazy! Please say prayers for my family that we can be given the strength that we need to make it through this time of trial.

Firsts, Lasts and Other Horrendous Moments

Well, first things first, Sarah is officially potty-trained. FINALLY!!! She went a whole week without wearing diapers, so on Saturday, we took her to pick out panties and a treat. Out of all the toys in the toy isle, she picked stickers; not just any stickers though, a huge box of teeny, tiny stickers that are now everywhere. I had them all over the house including in my bed and bathroom, in the kitchen, on most of the surfaces and doors, which landed her in a whole heap of trouble and even one stray sticker on her little pink bum. However, Brady is thrilled to have no diapers. I am not! It is so obnoxious to have a full cart and hear, " Mommy, I have to go potty!" Or be miles from anywhere and have to figure it out. Two year olds have no bladder control so you can't just ask them to hold it either. Sarah also took the cake this week for pushing Mommy to the bitter ends of her patience. She decided she had a special project that required special scissors, so she went upstairs and found the hair scissors and that's right.....CUT HER HAIR!!! I have plenty of nieces and nephews even , who have cut their hair and it always grew back, but I was so mad! Luckily, she actually did a really good job and only cut herself some additional bangs, for which, I am so grateful. The worst though happened today. We had some errands to run, one of which involved a bank in Walmart. The girls were so good, I took them to look at the toys. On our way back out the girls admired some very garish key chains. I told them both no and we moved on. Well Cat did not move on. She stuck one in her pocket. I went to another bank, a store and got almost home before it was made manifest to me. The girls had been arguing about "keys" and I could not figure out what they were talking about until Sarah stole the key chain from Cat, which brought about World War 3 and had me turning around trying to stop it. I saw the stupid thing and was so mortified I could hardly stand it. I turned into a parking lot and proceeded to get the whole story. She wanted it, I said "no", she decided that her want was more than her desire to do the right thing and it ended up in her pocket in our van...that's the short version. I didn't yell, I was very restrained. We turned around and went all the way back. When I told the two ladies at the register we had something that didn't belong to us and demanded she apologize they look at me like I had beaten her and were so rude to me. I return their stupid, ugly," I Love Boys" key chain and they get mad at me. I didn't want it either! They told her it was okay, and that is when I grabbed my kids and stomped out like Momzilla. Grrrrr!!!!! Stinkin Walmart! The last time I go there for a long time! On a bright note, we made Halloween decorations last week for school and I finally broke down and got my kids scissors (and look where it got me). We bought little kits to make yarn pom-pom cats, and chinese lantern that we decorated to look like a pumpkin, ghost and witch. We cut out pumpkins from construction paper and made a chain to count down the "sleeps" as Cat calls them until we go to Grammie and Grampy's house. We also got out the decorations and put them up. No new news on my mysterious illness. The cough is mostly gone, but the upheaval continues. Frustrating! I am very glad to be even a little better. We are happy to have it finally below 100 and staying there. The nights are cool enough for us to go to the playground now and the girls love it! I love it when Brady takes them and I have a couple minutes to clean in peace. I am so excited because right before we leave for Washington, the elementary school by our house is having a book fair! I love the book fair. Oh, I also got to order from the Scholastic book thing that we all had in elementary school. I babysit in the mornings for a teacher and she is slipping me the good stuff. We love books and it is so much cheaper, which enables me to buy more books! Hooray! I am also very excited because soon I will have a garden and a painted living room. Our stake has broken down the church's provident living ideas into monthly themes for our ward. They feel it will better help us heed the counsel of the prophets and make it accessible and easier to manage instead of feeling overwhelmed. We have already done water storage and gardens and this month is focused on getting your 3 month supply in order, which luckily I already had done, so it is giving us more time to get our garden built and planted, plus we have to do the drip system at the same time that we do sprinklers, so we have to wait until we are ready to do them. I am so grateful for all the blessings that we have. It is so nice to have a job that enables us to not stress. Granted, my husband works 6 days a week, but he is a good husband and works so hard to give us the things we want like gardens, sprinklers, paint and a very fun bouncy castle with a ball pit that he found on slick deals for cheap. I am so blessed and happy. So all my grumbling aside, I really do appreciate and see all that I have. I am finally caught up for a while, so until next time, hope you are all well!

Conference

General Conference is one of my favorite parts of fall. I so enjoy getting a chance to be edified by the words of the Apostles and the Prophet! I really was surprised to find so many different talks this conference. My favorite that I heard, was Sister Dalton's talk this morning about virtue. I also enjoyed both of President Monson's talks. He has always been my favorite speaker. I love the easy spirit that comes each conference and how much better I feel after each one. I look forward to April when we will have another chance to hear the words the Lord would have us hear.