2 Full Days of Matt Crane - YIPEE

We had Matt all to ourselves for 2 ENTIRE days this week. That is a HUGE deal at our house. We were all home Christmas Day and the day after Christmas without him having to go anywhere. It was a wonderful treat.

The day after Christmas was a nice clear, crisp day with Christmas Day's storm long gone. We needed to get some more wood chopped and hauled so that is what we did. Matt chopped and the girls and I hauled wood to the deck. The girls were such troupers, but after an hour Kendal keep saying "Feezing mom, feezing" so she got to go in and get warm. Her little hands were bright red ice cubes!

Last winter the trampoline was my snow gauge. I could measure how much snow we had by how far up the tramp the snow got. Last year it lacked about 2 or 3 inches from reaching the top round bar. Hopefully Mother Nature will be a little more merciful this winter!

What a wonderful little Christmas break we have had so far. Kelsey can't believe she still has one more week without school. The poor thing misses school. So does Kendal. She wore her backpack to church today hoping to go to school. We will see what this week brings us with no school and LOTS of fun gifts to play with!

Who wants to come to physics class with me?

When I was a senior in high school, I had Mr. Petersen's physics class first period. Since there was only one physics class offered, most of my fellow senior classmates were in that class also. It was a fun class. Since physics was first hour and I seem to have some very vivid dreams, we would quite frequently be talking about our dreams the previous night while class was starting. Well, I had a few good dreams last night, so lets pretend we are in Mr. Petersen's physics class again.

Yesterday I was working on a quilt top for Baby Cha Cha, my friend's little girl named Charlee. Kendal used to call her Cha Cha, now it is Chalee, with no R. Anyway, so I was working on that yesterday, I also looked at a couple of quilting magazines yesterday evening, and right before bed I was surfing the internet looking for charm pack quilt patterns. So... the first of a few very vivid dreams last night was about fabric. It was one of those abstract dreams where not much makes sense. There were just random shapes of fabric floating around my mind trying to find somewhere to fit together, like a giant puzzle. Thankfully it was not a frustrating dream, but very blissfully fabricy. From there it turned into an applique quilting dream. This could have very easily have become a nightmare for I am not an applique fan, but for some reason appliqueing in my dreams was wonderful. The results were beautiful.

Okay, here is where it gets good. (Jones, this is for you.) Imagine Angelina Jolie in black leather pants taking out a bad guy from 400 yards on a beach. That was my next dream and I think the reason I am sharing this with you is because I looked as good as Angelina Jolie and I had on black leather pants. Like I said, it was a dream. So this was a great secret agent dream. I was in charge of finding new secret agents and putting them to the test. I had to come up with their secret missions and see if they could pull them off. The kicker of this dream is who I recruited for my secret agents- are you ready for this? My cousin Amber - she was VERY excited to become a secret agent. She was loving the excitement of it all and I think she must of liked wearing black leather pants too! My friend Brittany T who lives here in Heber City - she was very nervous, but she was good. I have to admit that her long black flowing hair looked great with her black pants too. I also TRIED to recruit my friend Krista, but in my dream she was in the hospital after having just delivered twins. My boss said I should give her a week or two to recover before I assigned her her first mission. The other great one I recruited was Julie Coleman, a cute quiet, 17 year old that lives near me. She was amazingly deadly. In my dream all 4 of us were getting on a plane headed to Mexico for their first tests as secret agents. It was an exciting dream. I was so good. I remember packing a bag for our trip and trying to think of what I would need. I was not thinking blow dryer and clean clothes, I was thinking guns and techno gadgets.
Well, so there is that dream. I thought it was great. I realize I must be hung up tight black pants because that is all that fits my 6 months pregnant body!

Another dream last night - My good friend Brad from high school wanted to surprise his wonderful wife Camille and buy a house while she was gone. I am not sure where she was gone to, but far away for awhile. Brad told me about a house that he was looking at and wanted me to come and see it. He told me "It is just a nice little house with only 3 bedrooms." I said to him "Well, does it have a basement? You can add more bedrooms if that is what you need." He replied "Yes, but there seems to be a little insect problem in the basement." I laughed and said "You can take care of a bunch of bugs pretty easily - that really isn't a problem if you like the house."
So Brad takes me to the house that is for sale that he would like to buy for my friend Camille. For some reason that is hard to explain other than it was a dream, about 5 or 6 of my friends came along with me and Brad to the house. Jen, who is house hunting was one of them. (Jen, you did not have black leather pants on, sorry!) It was a HUGE house. It was a 3 story home with a walkout basement and a great backyard. We got into the house through the backyard basement door because there was no door. It was just an open doorway. We all walked in and immediately had our breaths taken away. It was gorgeous. The furnishings were beautiful, the drapes were beautiful, the flooring was fabulous. We walked through the basement area and there were 4 kitchens. I walked up the stairs and there were 2 more kitchens and I didn't make it to the upper level because I was yelling at Brad that he needed to buy this house. 6 Kitchens? Not sure why, but everything was just so beautiful in this house. The layout was amazing and it was just a great house. When all of my friends and I got back together on the basement level, I noticed a rhinoceros beetle. Then I noticed like 50 of them. I said to Brad, "These are nasty little bugs, you HAVE to get rid of them soon or you will have a huge infestation and Camille will have weevil in every single one of her kitchens!" Just as I said that, there were bugs EVERYWHERE. It was like an Indiana Jones movie - bugs crawling everywhere. I screamed "Come on, get out!! Now! Those beetles are poisonous" just as one of my friends reached over and touched one. By this time all kinds of bugs were crawling up our legs and covered the floor. We ran for the doorway that had no door and the entire backyard was covered in bugs. That was the end of my dream and I remember thinking to myself "I have to tell Brad to tell this real estate agent to get a door!"

There was one more dream, it was early this morning right before Matt left for work and it involved me living upstairs in a little wooden cabin with a tiny wood burning stove and I was eating chocolate and oranges. That is all I remember. I think the chocolate and the oranges were my Christmas present for looking SO GOOD in my black leather pants!

Well, thanks for visiting Mr. Petersen's physics class for the day with me! Oh the memories just come flooding in when I think about that class and all of my old classmates. What good times.

Tacky looking stockings

Matt and I started our Christmas stocking tradition when we were first married and going to school at USU in Logan and it continues on. Each year we get another little trinket to decorate our stockings. Some years the trinkets have a little special meaning, and other years it was just for decoration. Kelsey asked me a few days ago "Mom, my stocking decorations will never catch up with yours will they?" I said "No, not until I die and you can add more to yours." She didn't like that answer.

This year the trinket I am going to sew on to all 4 of our stockings (we all get the same trinket each year) on Christmas Eve is a little bell. They are super cute bells and they have a little meaning to them - noise. This is the year that Kendal has been able to make noise, good noise, talking noise. She has come so far this year and we are grateful for her speech progress. She can get her point made pretty well now and it is nice we can communicate more and more. Just tonight she said to me "top it mama, top it." I asked her "What do you want me to stop?" as I was rubbing her foot. She pulled a face and pushed my hand away from her foot, then gave me a kiss so I wouldn't feel so badly.

It is fun to look at our stockings and remember a certain year. Like 1999, the year we fished. We have a fish button for that year. We fished 3 times a week all summer and ice fished like crazy all winter. There is a red maple leaf for 1998 when we visited Canada and lived in Corvallis, OR where the maple trees are GORGEOUS in the fall. There is a gingerbread house for 2002, which is when we bought and moved into our home here in Heber City. 2001's trinket is what looks like a rolled up gold tin funnel. This is from when we lived in Cortez, CO and loved to watch the Ute and Navajo Indians dance for us in the town square on Friday nights. Many of the girls wore these tins on their dancing dresses. Most of our trinkets do have meaning because we have so much to be grateful for and great things that happen to our little family.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas. I hope you are able to enjoy it with people you love and make some great memories. Please remember the little baby Jesus that was laid in a manger by a loving mother and father and that is the reason we all get to celebrate this wonderful time of year.

I Spy Quilt is Finished!

So a month or two ago I posted that I was going to make an I SPY quilt for Kelsey's 1st grade teacher for Christmas. Well, here it is. This is just the quilt top. I ended up using big squares - 14 inch ones because I figured that would fit a first grade behind pretty well. It turned out being about 98 inches by 98 inches total.

I finished it and double batted it for EXTRA softness and yesterday I wrapped it up in a cute box and took it to school so Kelsey could give it to her teacher. Kelsey was excited, I think I was too. I hope she likes it!

I have been working on another project. I posted this picture in October and told you that I had to make 2 more of these loops, cut them all up and realign them into more strips and sew them back together. Well I did just that.

The problem is that the quilt top turned out to be about 7 feet long and only 3 feet wide! There is no changing it either because of the way the pattern works. My options are to go buy more fabric of the 23 different kinds I used - hoping to find it all again, make a quilt that fits a beanpole, or chop it in half and make 2 baby quilts. Nice work Rachel! Oh well, live and learn right?

The pattern is a fun one though. Maybe one day I will make another one that actually fits something and has a purpose!

Almost everything has its place

I was raised in a home where you slept in your own bed. I hate to admit it, but our home is not that way. Matt was raised in a home where you slept where you fell, just kidding, but almost. I guess we are inheriting or becoming a true Crane home, against ALL my 'everything has a place including my children' mentality.

This is my family last night and this is where they stayed until morning. For Matt that was 6:00 and for the girls it was 7:35. I took this picture on my way to bed. It just about killed me to leave the girls out there, I wanted to take them to their own beds. When I talked to Matt today, he said he loved sleeping out there with the girls, the Christmas lights, and the fire. Does it mean I am getting old and soft because I am caving in on something I thought I would never do? I AM getting old and I AM getting soft -that is for sure. I am almost 6 months pregnant and VERY soft! The girls had a great time sleeping out there, I should be happy they fell asleep so quick and stayed so warm!

ANOTHER difference between male and female genders, at our house anyway

Kendal had a nice cold a few weeks ago and then for some great reason both of my girls caught a yucky throw-up bug over the weekend. They threw up most of Sunday night and Monday. They both stayed home from school yesterday which just about killed Kelsey because she had it in her mind that she was going to get perfect attendance this year. Anyway, during these little wonderful wintertime episodes of sickness, I have seen a very PROMINENT difference between good ol Matty and I. Maybe this occurs in all husband/wife, mother/father, female/male relationships, but very much in ours.


When Matt sleeps, he is gone. Truly gone. I bet the guy could sleep through a volcanic eruption and not even know he was sleeping in hot lava. Hey, maybe that is what happened to the folks in Pompeii! They slept right though being covered in 10 feet of hot ash.


So Kendal's throw up adventure began on our drive back to Heber City in Provo Canyon on Sunday evening- yuck! It continued until her guts were completely empty which was around 10:00 pm. She wanted to sleep in "mama's bed" so I laid out some blankets so I wouldn't have to change my sheets and wash my blanket and comforter. I went to bed with her and I laid there listening to her breath. I fell asleep pretty quick but with EVERY little move of her body, every little teeny tiny cough, every actual change in breathing pattern, I woke up. Matt on the other hand, gone. He slept on the hide-a-bed in the living room because he didn't want to get vomited on I guess. So around 4:00 am I hear Kelsey's little patter of feet, a moan, and I knew what was happening. She made it to the toilet thankfully. I made it in there in time to hold her hair back, flush, and wipe her mouth, WITHOUT waking Kendal of course! Matt, gone to the world beyond.

Kelsey got up 3 times to run to the toilet and Matt had NO IDEA. He cannot hear footsteps let alone let the shining light of the bathroom or the sound of sick children rouse him. On one occasion that I was up with Kelsey, I heard Kendal also making the yucky noises. With the image of my white comforter being compromised, I hollered at Matt "Matt, I really need some help here. I think Kendal is throwing up." He jumped up, "What? What? Oh, I need to put another piece of wood in the stove?" Gone, like I said.

When I was nursing my babies and the bassinet was in our room, I used to get so upset when he would say all chipper in the morning "Boy, she slept so good last night. She didn't even wake up to eat once!" My baby would be 3 weeks old and I would give him a dirty look and he would know he was WRONG!


I seriously think I can hear my children perfectly when I am long gone asleep and be awake AND coherent in less than 1/2 second. I can hear irregular breathing, the sound of their bed frame when they roll over, EVERY cough, the pitter patter of feet to get a better toy to sleep with, the sound of covers being kicked off - which I promptly put back on, and possibly even the sound of dinner passing from the stomach to the small intestine. Matt can't even hear the screams of nightmares let alone the toilet flushing with a sick little girl hovering over it. I think I better get the man's ears checked. It would explain ALOT!

Mothers, is this a curse or a blessing?

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree

We headed to Sevier County over the weekend to get a Christmas tree - finally! Don't get me wrong, I surely didn't want my tree in right after Thanksgiving, there is no way that will EVER happen. I like to put in a tree around the 10th, that is perfect for me. My festive house is in need of the tree to finish it off. Anyway, we got a tree and played in the snow with cousins. It was a fun, COLD afternoon.

This is Kelsey and April being pulled behind the truck. Kelsey hid her face really well because it was getting frosted!

I even got on for a minute with Kelsey. She sat backwards and we faced eachother when the sun was hiding. It was so cold!

Kendal loved watching her cousins ride the sleigh from the back of the truck, and I finally talked her into getting on the sled. She loved it.

This is Kelsey and the twins, Adri and Alissa. The kids were such troupers in the cold!

Here is our tree! Hooray!! I wish the natural flocking could stay on at home! Our house sure smells good though!

Just had to show the cute Christmas presents I finally finished today for my nieces. Kendal thinks they are great, hopefully the cousins will too.

Alissa's is full of those crazy velcro/folder/matching games and Taylor's will have some High School Musical fun stuff in there. I just haven't found it yet. I really enjoy MAKING the Christmas presents I give, I wish I could make something for everyone I give to. It makes it a little more special and personal I think. If I made everyone something I would have to start in May and there is just NO WAY I am thinking about Christmas in May!

Wicked Witch of the West

Yesterday morning I was the worst mom in the entire world. I am not sure what got me that way, but there is no denying that I was absolutely horrible to my sweet Kelsey. She is SO SLOW at getting things done in the morning and getting ready for school it drives me crazy! I got on her case BIG TIME yesterday and I was horrible to her. I knew at the time that I was being a bear, but that didn't stop me from acting that way. Just the previous night I read an email from my neighbor who is on a mission about how he is handling sticky and potentially horrible situations with The Spirit and how well things work out. I thought "Yeah, that is what I need to do, let The Spirit guide me and not get so uptight and impatient with my children." It was nice thinking, but I sure wasn't following ANY Spirit yesterday morning!

I won't give any details, but just take my word for it that I was a nasty mom. When she left for school with NO nice words sending her on her way, I just cried and cried. I felt horrible for sending Kelsey out into the big world in the way that I had. I was worried she would have a nasty day and just be so sad about the way things had gone in the morning and the things I had said.

I got in the shower and cried some more and then I decided I needed to do some apologizing. Kelsey makes me little cards ALL the time and so I decided to make her a card. Lots of crayon colors, hearts, the whole works. It said "To my sweet Kelsey, From Mom. I am so sorry. I love you." I took it to her school and without being seen put it right by her backpack and coat (which were flung on the floor so I knew she was late for school - part of the whole traumatic issue) so that she would see it for morning recess. I came home and cried some more and wondered why in the world did I lose my cool and why can't I be more patient when I know I should.

I dried up and had to run to Kings and get some velcro so I decided to see if there was something there that would make her happy, aka, buy her love back. I found the cutest Littlest Pet Shop game and I bought it. I don't normally do this and with Christmas only being a few weeks away it was a rare thing for me, but I had not felt so horrible about myself in years and years.

I started to get nervous when it was time for her to come home from school and I could see other kids riding their bikes home. She walked in the door and I swear I acted like I was 15 again or something! She came in all chipper and happy and said "hello" like nothing had happened and I had not ruined her entire day and I had not blown my nose 18 times all day from getting weepy over my horrible mothering off and on. I greeted her and started to get teary again and I told her I was so sorry for acting so nasty that morning. She got a little smile and said "Thanks for the card mom. It's okay." I am so grateful for unconditional love from my two girls. They are so forgiving and sweet. We had a little talk and then we played the Littlest Pet Shop game for awhile. I still feel horrible about how sharp, uncaring, and mean I was yesterday, but it is long gone for her. Thank goodness.

While I was at Kings, I bought her a $10 alarm clock. We set it last night and when it went off this morning, 20 minutes earlier than normal, she hopped out of bed and we had a super morning. I was not on her case about hurrying and telling her to stop singing or talking and get busy, bla bla bla. It was wonderful. Part of the problem with us being in a hurry in the morning is that I don't wake her up in time. I get up at 6 with Matt, make him eggs and toast, a lunch, send him off at 6:30, get the fire going good again, and then I crawl back into bed. I mean to get back up at 7 or 7:30 so I can wake her up, but my bed feels so good that I don't get up until 7:50 and therefore Kelsey doesn't get up until 7:50 and then it is a mad rush to eat, bath, and get out the door by 8:30. It is mostly my fault, but now that she has her own clock and alarm, this will be better.

I am just grateful that she loves me and it MUCH more understanding and patient than I am.

A miracle has occured!

A miracle has occurred at my house - I left the toaster plugged in last night for the ENTIRE night and my house did NOT burn down. It was a bold step for me, testing the toaster like I did and leaving it plugged into the wall for that long, but I figured it was worth the test. I can rest assured and sleep well knowing that if I perhaps forget one morning to UNPLUG that toaster, that it will probably not burn my house down. But I will still continue to unplug it quickly after every use, but just knowing that if I forget, things will be okay in my sweet little head.

When we were little my dad scared my sister Tori to death with the hand mixer and a carrot. He showed her what would happen to her poor little fingers if they got in the way of the 2 circling mixers by using a carrot and apparently scaring the soup out of her. I was there for the demo but I am not petrified of hand mixers like Tori is. Tori may have been there for the 'toaster talk' my mom gave me when I was younger but I doubt it stuck in her head like it did mine. My mom told me that once when she was little, she, or someone in her family left the toaster plugged in and the wall caught on fire. She was blamed for the episode and has passed onto her dear daughter Rachel the fear of leaving a toaster plugged into the wall. I figure since my house has been electrically wired in the last 10 years things are pretty safe here, compared to whenever my grandma's house was wired! But still, when you come over, my toaster will not be plugged in.

Kelsey took a fun little ceramics class through the parks and rec department. They met once a week 5 times and she made two cute little kittens and also a baby horse, or as she says "a laying down foal." She LOVED the time she had to paint. She is quite my creative child and it was perfect for her. She is so proud of her cats and poor little Kendal wants to play with them so badly!

Speaking of Kendal, when we got home from church today she said to her dad "I'm not a baby anymore." Actually it sounded like this "I not a bebe anmoe." It took us all by surprise and Matt has made such a big deal out of it, that is all we have heard tonight! I told her if she isn't a baby anymore then she needs to pee in the toilet. She does not like that idea!

Look at those cute dresses my girls have on today. They are from my friend Crusan. She dropped off 12 garbage bags of clothes the other day at my house. WOW! Thanks Crusan! We have had a super time going through them, well, not that super for me but the girls have loved trying EVERYTHING on!

$60 update, what an experience!

Okay folks, I need to tell you how the $60 grocery bill goal ended up for the month of November. I went over, dang it! I spent $79.54 at my local Smiths store. Not too bad though. If I hadn't had to buy that stinking cat food I would have been much closer! But it IS winter and they are outside, so they must be fed!
I suppose $80 isn't too bad though. I didn't put much of a dent in my freezer or food storage like I anticipated. I thought I would use a lot more of the 'staples' that I have on hand. I guess I did use some of it because this is what I bought at Smiths - bread, milk, bananas, apples, tortilla chips, eggs, toothpaste, saltines, lunch meat, margarine, hamburger buns, salad roni, pepperoni, tortillas, yams, appple pie filling, salad, and a bunch more milk, bread, fruit, and eggs. I did cave in and bought some Twizzlers once. I couldn't withstand the temptation.
It was a nice little learning experience for me and my family. I make a lunch for Matt every morning that he takes to work. He said "I love that you are doing this $60 thing, but my lunches suck." Then he gave me a nice little kiss and a smile. I will see if I can upgrade those lunches now that December is here.

Another little update - I borrowed Tori's Breaking Dawn book from her when I was at her house on Thanksgiving. I read it over the weekend and I am glad I finally read it. I wanted to know what happens to Bella after I went and watched the Twilight movie. It was a good book, but not at all how I expected it to end. I am STILL a Jacob fan, he wriggled into my heart in the first book and sealed it in the third book. The fourth book just helped me like him more. So now I can get back to sewing and cleaning this house!

Pass the Torch

When I tell people that we went to my sister's house in Utah County for Thanksgiving I usually get this response "Oh, well, that was good I guess. Too bad you couldn't be with all of your family." Or at least something like that. Then I have to tell them that my parents and also my brother and his family were there - we were ALL there and it WAS a great time.

Our family is a little different than others I come to realize more and more. For 30 some-odd years we had Thanksgiving at my mom's, grandma's, or an aunt's house with a lot of our extended family. Don't you think that is enough Thanksgivings for moms, grandmas, and aunts to prepare? My mom gladly passed on the torch to us and I am grateful. Actually, I think I may have TAKEN the torch from my mom! But my generation, at least myself, ought to learn how to do Thanksgiving Dinner. Why can't we learn to cook and seat a crew?



My parents have 6 grandkids, plus the one making my behind grow to a grotesquely large size. Here is the KID TABLE, minus baby Brogan. Kendal got to sit in his chair and loved it. The kids had a good time and were pretty good kids.



My dad and Kendal reading a book.


Me, with a full yam belly. It surely wasn't a turkey belly, I love the tators, yams, and stuffing way to much to waste much time on the turkey. Gimme carbs, gimme carbs!!

Tori, our wonderful and gracious hostess with sweet little Brogan. Tori and Jared did an amazing job.

My brother, Grizzly Adams, his wife Angie, and Tori. I gave him such a hard time about that beard. I was ready to tackle him and take a razor to his face, but with me in my fragile yet fat state, I am no match for my brother. Any other time I could so take my fire fighting, backpacking, chainsawing king, iron-man brother, any day. I might need Tori around for a little tag teaming though.

This is Glen trying to see just how tough Brogan really is. I wanted Brogan to grab a hold and not let go, but I think he must have been too mesmerized with the shades to grab the facial hair. Check out Matt in his turkey nap in the background. Oh, Thanksgiving!

Waylon is so nice to Kendal. While the 3 older girls were playing, he helped entertain Kendal with his CARS something game. I have no idea what his device is called, but Waylon was nice enough to change the game from WAR to CARS. What a good guy he is.

It was a fabulous Thanksgiving. Thanks Tori and Jared, it was wonderful. Even if our family is messed up, I still love them. Glen and Angie, it is your turn in 2010!! (I can spread that torch around at my own discretion!)

Worth Blogging

I finally have something worth blogging about - Matt and I went on a date!
That is a big deal for those of you who are not around us very often. I have been thinking for a long time and the last time Matt and I, just the two of us, went somewhere together just to go somewhere was seriously before Kelsey was born. That is more than 6 years! I promise I am not exaggerating.
Anyway, Matt usually has Tuesdays off, so yesterday after we took the girls to school, we went to breakfast. I know, some of you were thinking a BIGGER date, but I will take what I can get - baby steps here. We had a wonderful breakfast and we were able to talk about Christmas presents without worrying about too keen of ears, we talked about our upcoming schedules, and we just talked and ate a great breakfast. It was wonderful. And you know what he said "We should do this more often." I nodded my 6 year agreement!
I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving and hope all your travels go well. I filled up the car with gas yesterday for $1.68 a gallon. It was great! Instead of $50 to fill up the car, it only took $18. Anyway, have a super Thanksgiving and you crazy BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPERS, throw some elbows for me!

I talked to my mom yesterday on the phone and she asked me if I was sick or if my computer was sick. Neither was the answer. I just have nothing to say this week. Imagine that, me with nothing to say!

The scissor thing has gotten a little out of control this week. Kendal will walk up to me and say "Tut momma" (smack her lips and smile) "Pease." Which means "I wanna cut some more paper and make a huge mess and if I smile and act all grown up you will let me, by the way, please." A few of your comments have made me fear for my curtains, any important papers within reach, hair, books, etc, but so far so good.

Kelsey started a little ceramics class with the parks and rec and has been enjoying that. She is painting two small cats and a "laying down foal." Those are her words.

Matt has been busy chopping wood, driving to work, and reading his cow/bull sale magazines. I am glad the weather is still SO NICE!! That drive is nasty, he is a good man.

I have actually been sewing and will have a pictures of a few projects to post soon, hopefully, and I went to TWILIGHT last night and decided I better read that 4th book. I have not read it on purpose just because I don't want the story to be over for me, but I really need to find out what happens.

That is our week. Sorry there is not anything good, but my sister on the other hand has a bunch to say on her blog and in her own TORI way. A must read for the not-so-light-hearted, it is great.

Is RACEY the right word?

Last night Kelsey and I went on a date together. We went to the Timpanogoes Valley Theater's production of Oklahoma! We had a good time together and I enjoyed the show. Kelsey enjoyed the dancing and the little rest she got on my lap during the last part of Act I. I remember Wayne High School doing Oklahoma! my senior year, the only year I wasn't in the school musical. I know I went to it though because most of my friends were in it, but I don't remember it being so, what is the word, RACEY? Kelsey said to me on our way to the car after it was over "Mom, that was such a lovey show. There was a lot of kissing and a lot of loving wasn't there?" It cracked me up. I am glad she is too young to catch all the "lovey" suggestions and jokes in the play!
Here is Kelsey during the intermission. She has a sucker in her mouth. She got to dress up a bit and enjoyed that part too. I also dressed up a little but I spared you all a picture. Be thankful, it involved a silky maternity shirt with ruffles. Be very grateful.



It was such a nice day today that we had to go outside all afternoon. Kelsey packed her and her sister a picnic lunch and ate it on the tramp. I told her that we needed to take the tramp mat off soon so I wouldn't be doing it in 3 feet of snow again (see Dec 2007 posts for photo prove). I think she wanted to enjoy the tramp while they could. Anyway, it was so cute I had to take a picture, or two.

I did some neglected yard work for a little while until my big black garbage was full and then that was my excuse to be done, although there is still quite a bit to do. Matt got home from preg checking and vaccinating 250 cows, castrating a horse, and something else I forgot about, and then we all chopped and hauled wood. Okay, we didn't all chop, just Matt did the chopping but the girls and I did the hauling and I have to say I have some very sweet, helpful, strong girls.

We love scissors

Kendal has a favorite new past time and that is scissors. She is finally getting the hang of them and can actually cut paper now and do some damage.















A month or so ago I gave her a pair of scissors and a piece of paper and I had to sit there and help her the entire time.










She now has the coordination to go gang busters on her own. She LOVES to cut and she will come up to me and say in her own little language "cut paper mommy" and she will stay busy for a good 20 or 30 minutes.









She will even say "otay" when I tell her it is time to clean up.

Sweet Little Butterfly

Well, its in there all right!
Today I had an ultrasound on my abdomen and they found something there - a little person just waiting to join our family. I was wondering why I was busting out of my bras, pants, and everything else like The Incredible Hulk. No just kidding, we have planned this little one for awhile now and it is coming at the end of March, just like we planned. What a sweet addition this will be for the Cranes. And no, we didn't find out if this little butterfly is a boy or a girl - it will be a SURPRISE!


These are pictures I just took of a few of the pictures they printed out for me, so if ultrasound pictures were not clear enough for you in the first place, now try to figure it out! The top one is an arm and head, and the bottom one is it's foot. Look, it's second toe is longer than it's first!

This is exciting news for us and hopefully I will continue to get fat and things will go smoothly for this little one. I wonder if it has any idea that two big sisters are waiting to love it clear to pieces.

By the way, our Biggest Loser Contest is going well and I think we are on week 7 out of 10. I apparently have lost the contest, but I told Jen that IF I gain the appropriate amount of weight I should get a prize. I am trying not to reach the 42 pound gain like I did with the other two. Doesn't 39 just sound so much better?!?!?

$60 and corn

I am giving you a $60 update.
So far so good. I went to Smiths again yesterday and spent almost $18 on bread, toothpaste, saltines, apples, corn chips, and pasta. The last 2 are for my dinner swap tomorrow night. So that puts me 1/3 of the way through the month and $25 spent. I think I will be alright. It has been so interesting to notice how much I say to myself "I'll just run down to Smiths (it is 8 blocks away) and pick that up."

If anyone needs a horrible laugh, my friends Joe and Lindsay's blog has a good post right now. It involves a one year old, corn kernels, and nostrils. Click to the left on their blog if you need to think your child is an angel today.

More reading and less sewing for Rachel

A few weeks ago I read this book that I had purchased with my 12 year old niece in mind. I give books and money for birthday presents to my nieces and nephews. I bought a few for April and I ended up giving her FAIREST a fun story by the author of Ella Enchanted. I of course read it before I gave it to her and I loved it. My niece, being an avid reader had already read it though I found out on her birthday. So I got on Amazon.com and sent her the 5th book of The Sisters Grimm series. She loves them. Anyway, I read one of the other books I got for her a few weeks ago called Crispin: The Cross of Lead. It was a good book and I enjoyed it. I enjoy reading young adult literature.



Tomorrow is my favorite of all nights - Quilt Guild. We are doing a fun fun project that I needed some specific fabric for. I ran to the cutest little store in Midway called Seasons of Home and purchased my fabric. Kendal and I went upstairs where they have the cutest gifts, cutesy things, puzzles, and now books. I found another Crispin book! I found the second one! I didn't even know there was a second one. So, I read it last night and this morning. It was also really really good.

I realized and remembered something from these books - I am so grateful to live where I do and when I do. These books are set in England in the 1370's. There are poor poor peasant tenants and farmers and of course the mighty Lords, Dukes, and landowners. You were born to a certain station and you stayed there, your entire life. How lucky we are that we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. I figure even with the new President we are going to have, things are great in this wonderful land of promise. We can be just about anyone we want to be. How incredible is that? Count your blessings and let being a citizen of the United States of America be one of them.

$60

I have a new November goal. Everyone hang on to your britches - my goal is to only spend $60 at the grocery store this month. I have been shopping like crazy for a month or so and my storage shelves in the basement are full. My pantry is full, my cupboards are so full things fall on my head when I open them. My freezer is so full that I can not even put in a package of corn dogs on sale at Smiths! It is time to live off of my shelves! I do have one exception - if tuna goes on sale for a good price, I have to buy some that will not be included in my $60. We are running VERY low on tuna, and I LOVE tuna!

Two friends and myself do a dinner meal swap on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. I make myself and their 2 families dinner on Wednesdays. It will be so fun and interesting not to run to Smiths on Tuesday afternoon with my meal list. My goal will also encompass Thanksgiving Dinner. Whatever assignment Tori gives me will have to purchased from my basement! I am pretty excited about this monthly goal. We spend way too much on food and more food and just stuff.

I have already gone to Smiths today and purchased 2 gallons of milk, a loaf of bread, some bananas, and a donut for Kendal for $7.95. (I had ONE bite!) I have $52. 05 and 28 days to go! Wish me luck! Maybe some of you don't spend as much as I do at the grocery store and you think I am silly. I haven't kept track of how much I spend at the store since we lived in Oregon, but I am guessing it is easily over $300.00. Some of you penny pinchers may scoff at my $60, but I still have to buy diapers for my 3 1/2 year old! That dang Topamax - we are blaming it on the medication, not her stubbornness!