Silhouette Cameo Giveaway

Silhouette Cameo giveaway over at http://tatertotsandjello.com/2011/11/bonus-giveaway-silhouette-cameo.html#more-28577

Trying to win a new Silouette
http://tatertotsandjello.com/2011/10/thanksgiving-project-with-the-new-silhouette-cameo-and-giveaway.html/comment-page-51#comment-123247

Silhouette Giveaway

http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/2011/05/may-silhouette-giveaway.html

Silhouette Giveway

{"Enter to win a Fabulous Silhouette craft cutter @jenjentrixie's blog http://bit.ly/chqT0C"}

A bowl full of lemons.: Silhouette GIVEAWAY!!!!

A bowl full of lemons.: Silhouette GIVEAWAY!!!!: "A SILHOUETTE GIVEAWAY!! I was sent a Silhouette Rhinestone Starter kit this month, to try out and giveaway along with a Silhouette SD Mac..."

Happy Birthday Alex!

I just want to wish my first born a very happy birthday! He was long waited for and is a joy in our life!

A shift in the world

I have debated about writing a post for three days now. But I have to get my feeling outs about this shift that has happened in my world. I realize that outside the community that I grew up in it's just another news story. But Friday March 25 about 4:00 I got a call that would rattle me. My mother called which wasn't out of the normal and it was actually about the time she calls me everyday. The kids were playing some game and being their usual loud selves. I answered the phone and said hello and my mom asked me how I was doing (I had been suffering through my usual bouts of headaches/migraines) I said I was doing good, and then there was a pause and I heard the tears in her voice when she struggled to get out the next sentence. "I have horrible news..." Immediately my mind started to reel, my brother had been having some health problems and had recently had what they figured to be a heart attack so I braced myself for that. Then my mother said, "The Hall's are all dead" and she started to sob. That is when I felt the world shift, I couldn't have heard her right I ran into my bedroom and shut the door to get away from the noise of the kids and said "what? who???" She repeated herself and told me quickly that she had received a call from the mother/grandmother in Vegas and that it was already on the news. She then told me that she had to go because she had things she needed to take care off for her and hung up. I stood there in shock not knowing what to say or do. I walked back out into the kitchen and just kind of stood there shaking. Soon I heard the garage door open and Shawn came in, it didn't take him long to realize something was wrong. I ran to him and sobbed out what my mom had told me.

I went on line and tried to read up as much as I could but there really wasn't a lot. It was believed that James Hall had killed Kathy his wife and Erik their disabled son and then killed himself. A double murder-suicide. The words themselves weren't new to me. Being a forensic freak and the daughter of a mortician I had heard about things like this all the time. I watch forensic shows every night before I go to bed. But this was different, this was in my world. This wasn't just another news story that happened to someone else. I knew these people, for about 30 years I knew these people. Kathy was my preschool teacher and a young women's leader, Jim was one of my Sunday school teachers. Erik was friends with my brother. I was a server at Raina's (the oldest daughter)wedding and she was friends with my sister. Their youngest daughter Melisa was my friend, I remember sleepovers in their family room. I remember playing with Melisa and playing with Erik's He-Man toys (an odd memory I know but one that has always stayed with me). Erik had been just days away from leaving on his mission when he got in a skiing accident. The ward and the community came together and prayed and supported the Hall's and Erik in their struggles. Eagle Projects, Young Women's service projects, fund raisers and auctions were held to get the things the Hall's needed.

Even after getting married and moving away I was still connected to this family, through Facebook and through my mom. My mom spent and is still spending countless hours helping the Hall's, as did many other church members, because they were like family. I was updated regularly on how things were going. This last fall things for the family took a turn for the worse when they lost their house. They were forced to foreclose and shortly after is when they moved to a facility in Brigham City.

As I posted on my Facebook page,the only solace that I get from this terrible tragedy is that I know Erik is finally free from the mortal body that has held him captive for all these years (17 I believe). For those of you who don't know the Hall's and are reading this there is something else I want to convey, The Hall's are wonderful and caring people and will be greatly missed.

My thoughts and prayers are with Raina and Melisa and the rest of the Hall family.

Poor Little Zachy

My poor little Zachy, we have been so sick all of us. It takes a lot to take Zach down though! On Sunday we all ended up staying home from church and Zach plopped down in the chair and fell asleep. This is something he only does when he is really sick. I couldn't resist taking a picture of him. The stuff all over his face is from the smoothie I shared with him earlier.

Tupperware Giveaway

Love Tupperware go to http://thecraftmonkey.blogspot.com/ and http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/2011/02/tupperware-giveaway-stack-cooker.html

Preschool

Well it's official Zachary is signed up for Preschool! He has been in a neighborhood co-op preschool this year which has been fun for him. We signed him up at the same preschool that Alex went to and after telling Alex that Alex said "He is going to learn SO MUCH!" I just wish it was more then 2 days a week but oh well!

Library money

Yesterday we got home from church and Alex found a dime on the floor, he picked it up and said "it's my library money!" So of course I was confused and had to ask him what "Library Money" was. He said "it says library on it", now I don't spend a lot of time staring at coins but I was pretty sure that the dime didn't say library on it so I had him hand it to me. I realized he was reading "Liberty" as "Library" so I told him that it said liberty and he got all frustrated with me. "No mom I don't hear a 'Y' in liberty it has to be library so I was trying to explain the y sound at the end and he wouldn't believe me. I am not real great with the whole "phonics" thing so maybe I wasn't explaining it right so for now liberty is library.

Ah man...

So I am morning the loss of my Apple headphones, they have magically disappeared and I am devastated. Why is it a big deal? It really shouldn't be but the fact of the matter is there is this nifty little button on the cord that allows you to pause/play your music (or in my case audio book) and also lets you to change the volume. This feature is very nice when you are cleaning and don't want to have to pull your i-pod out of your pocket, unlock it, go to the i-pod menu and pause it. I mean really! (yes I am that lazy). Sigh... well off to clean...

P.S. looking at the photo I grabbed I realized this is the picture of the nicer Apple headphones. I wish mine had the squishy stuff on them.

What happened?

Alex came home from school yesterday and he had ovbiously had a bloody nose (Zach is my bloody nose prone child so I wouldn't have though anything of it if it was him) Apparently he "fell down the bumpy slide" he didn't seemed to tramatized by it. His teacher did message me later to ask how he was doing. Ah boys...

Patience is a virtue!

Which I do not have. This is one of my biggest tests in life! I have gone to the temple looking for answers and many times have come home with the simple thought of "Patience". This whole subject comes up because I have been sick for what feels like weeks from one thing to another and some of it probably self inflicted (trying to stop drinking caffene, change in medications etc.). My new year started off with a "ugh" instead of a bang. All of this let up to a series of thoughts last night in the middle of the night, when I was lying there trying to decide if my brain was going to explode right out of my skull (sorry for the graphic image but thats how I felt). Why does everything have to be so complicated for me? Why can't A+B=C? Why does everything have to be a series of complex calculations? The answer... patience. Now I don't have major problems and I am greatful for that, my "problems" are simple and are not even on the blip of most people's radar. I don't mean to complain, just venting out of pure tiredness (odd considering I spent basically the last 21 hours in bed) and frustration. I know this too shall pass and things will get back to "normal" hopefully sooner then later but until then, I just have to keep reminding myself... Patience.