Update from Mom and Dad,
   Not a whole lot of news here.  The weather is warming up and everyone is out working in their yards.  Aaron has been working hard in our yard and the lawn is looking great.  He's been fixing sprinklers, fertilizing, fixiing dead spots and moss spots in the lawn, trimming.  This week he is getting started on the deck.  Dad and I have so appreciated his help and hard work.  The last couple of weeks my side effects have gotten the better of me and he has been taking care of me and the housework. Thanks Aaron!! He has started work on his script and the planning of other aspects of the movie.  Busy busy guy.
    Dad has been working hard.  Blue Chip got a huge order in from Costco or Walmart (I can't remember which) and production had to kick in to high gear to fill the order.  He's going golfing this week with the company president, the president from Daily Bread and a few others.  I'm glad he's getting out in the sunshine.
   I'm feeling much better and have most of my strength back.  Started to do a little sewing for myself.  It's wonderful to be at my sewing machine again.  I have four quilts that need to be sewn and tied for the Humanitarian Center so I will be sewing on those too.  I am looking forward to getting out in the flower beds this week and weeding and hopefully doing some planting too.  My lilac bush I planted last year that was supposed to be dark purple blossoms with a white center bloomed this year--the blossoms were white.  I was so mad. Oh well...  Had my three month check up and numbers are all good.  It has been 16 years this month since I was diagnosed with Cancer.  CELEBRATION!!!!! I am thankful for everyday--even the bad ones. I am thankful to have been able to continue to be a part of my children's and grandchildren's lives and to have my time with dad.  Everyday is a gift to me.  I love you all so much and I hope that I make that very clear to you.
My greatest joy and accomplishment in this life is my family (and that includes dad).
  Elise came home for Memorial Day weekend.  It was so nice to have her smiling face and laughter in the house.  We miss her so much.  Melissa and the kids are coming in town this friday for a week (not long enough!) so we have that to look forward to.  Stephanie Leishman Gardner will be in town this weekend.  Noelle and Stephanie are meeting Heidi and I in Springville for lunch .  I am looking forward to seeing the girls and catching up on their family's.
    I don't know about anybody else but I am loving this blog and the empty dish blog.  thanks for setting these blogs up and thanks for contributing! Keep the updates coming.
   JUNE BIRTHDAYS AND EVENTS
     5th Williams #11 Anniversary
     12th Aunt Karen Leishman's BD
     17th  Father's Day
     19th   Kim & Richard's Anniversary
     25th   Wendy Peterson Sorenson's BD
  Looking ahead : JULY 12-14 Lindgren Family Reunion in Pasco  Hosted by the Mathews .  If you are going
     please contact one of the Mathews to see what you can do to help. Also please let me know if you are going.

Movie Cakes

Okay, I am staying up way tooooooo late to check out cakes! But I wanted to share some of them with you, since we are a movie addicted family and all!!!

 

 okay I will stop!!!

I Love to See the Temple....

Caitlyn has her Girl Scout meetings every other Monday night, so we have our FHE on Sunday nights those weeks. Tonight we took a drive to see the new Temple in Gilbert. They placed Moroni on top this last week. I was amazed at his size and the detail. Caitlyn kept talking about how it was only a few more years that she would have to wait to go into the Temple and do baptisms for the dead. I am excited for that, I remember going with Mom several times, and with the Young Women’s too. The Temple is gorgeous, I cannot wait to see it finished.  

Williams

Caitlyn wanted to share some jokes:

What do apes like to eat?

Chocolate chimp cookies

(this one is for Aunt Leesy)

KNOCK. KNOCK

Who’s there?

Hawaii

Hawaii who?

I’m great! Hawaii you?

And now back to our shoo! Things are winding down here for the school year, but we are still busy. Caitlyn and I will have a ten day break before we are back at it again. I received a summer job working for Food + Nutrition’s Summer School Program at Rhodes Junior High where Janice is the manager (hurray!). I am really excited to be working with Janice for the summer. The program goes for four weeks, Monday – Thursday, but they want me and Janice to work Fridays testing out new products and creating recipes for these products. I am honored that they think I have the skill to do this – ha ha ha! We are in full swing prepping the school for the demolition this summer and looking forward to the new challenges next year will bring. I was “volunteered” to be in charge of the Cupcake Wars for our end of year party. While I wasn’t looking forward to it at first, in the end I had a blast and received 1^st place for the popular vote and 3^rd for the judges vote. I have registered at Central Arizona College for their Nutrition Program and will be starting online classes this summer. I am excited and feel that it will help me a lot in my desire to continue working for the public schools. I am thirty-one and starting on my five year plan – YIKES!

Curtis and I are still serving in the Nursery and we love every second…well minus the toilet trainees!!  It certainly tests your skills to find a parent before the kids have an accident! I didn’t know I could still move that fast! We serve with some amazing people and feel blessed everyday for our wonderful Ward Family. We shared FHE this last Monday with our neighbors and their family by hosting a game night. It was so much fun! I made caramel corn and I think half the bowl ended up on the floor, I loved it! Nothing like a messy floor to show how much fun you had! This is the family that is moving, and although we pray every day that they will be able to find something in the neighborhood, they will probably be moving out to Queen Creek. It’s about 20-30 minutes from here. We plan on staying in contact with them. They are a great family and have become good friends.

Caitlyn will miss them a lot, she has become good friend with their three youngest. Caitlyn is excited for school to be over and is counting down the days. She will be attending a summer school program called Kids are Gifted at her school for the first four weeks of summer. It is only four hours but works perfect with my work schedule. She had her first field trip this last Thursday to the Mesa Natural History + Dinosaur Museum. She had a blast and talked about it all day. Especially the ride on the bus and her lunchable she had for lunch! Oh the little things in life! She was accepted again into the advanced learning program that she was in this school year. But we are looking into sending her to the Franklin Academy. This is the school that will be moving into our school next year, so along with the wonderfully impressive curriculum they offer is will be fun to see her everyday at lunch! We are hoping to get her signed up for swimming lessons during the summer. She is such a fish. She has to give a talk on Sunday about her baptism, she is so nervous but she will be great.

Curtis is loving his job and the theater along with all the perks! We have enjoyed taking friends with us to the movies for free! He will resume school this fall and is grateful to be moving along with his degree. He and Caitlyn made me a gorgeous herb planter for Mother’s Day to hang in my kitchen. They planted cilantro, chives, rosemary and oregano. We have loved watching those littler seedlings pop up. I am always impressed at the skills my husband has and the creativity he loves to share with Caitlyn. He still works on his “little men” and has a few other models too.

I guess that’s all from us this week! Love you all and miss you! 

recipe!

Hey Aubs, will you reinvite me to the recipe blog you made? Send it to thecheekywhale@gmail.com.
Thanks!
So we've been doing the Dave Ramsey Total Makeover, and one of the tools he recommends using is called eMeals.  I signed up for the Vegetarian meal plan and I. LOVE. IT. Each week is planned out. Grocery list and menu. AND you can choose which grocery store you shop at, so you pick your meal plan and then the grocery store you like, and so on the grocery list its categorized by type of item, brand, and price. It also has the amount you can expect to spend. With this meal plan, I spend around $90 a week for 7 dinners. The food is WAY good and the recipes are so simple. I paid $56 for a year plan. For me it has been totally worth it. I've saved money, time and stress.
Here is our dinner from tonight:

NUTTY SPINACH FRITATA Stir-Fried Vegetables

(2 T olive oil) 

1 c chopped onion 

1 c sliced mushrooms 

5 oz bag spinach 

2 T chopped parsley 

1 c cashew pieces 

(Salt & pepper) 

1⁄2 qt egg substitute w/ onions & peppers 4 oz cheddar cheese

(1 T coconut oil) 16 oz bag California style mixed vegetables (Sea salt & pepper) (Soy sauce)

In a lg frying pan, heat oil and sauté onion until tender, 5 - 7 min. Add mushrooms, cooking until tender, 5 - 7 min. Add spinach; cook until wilted and liquid has evaporated, 6 - 8 min. Add parsley and cashews. Salt and pepper to taste then add egg substitute. Sprinkle in cheese, cover and let cook on med-low heat until eggs are set in the middle apx 5 min.

Meanwhile in another frying pan, add coconut oil and let melt over med heat. Add vegetables and stir-fry to desired tenderness. Add sea salt, pepper and soy sauce to taste. Serve alongside fritta.

I

Johnsons Update April 26th

Howdy fam!
Well, we have some awesome news: Tom is pregnant! We're so excited. He hasn't had much morning sickness so far, but he's already showing so we think he might be expecting triplets! We're going to name them Oswald, Smedley, and Dunkle.
Just kidding.
No, but seriously. We are moving into the house next door to Grandmas old house! I'm so excited. I cannot even begin to explain how ecstatic I am. You guys know I'm obsessed with old houses and pretty much anything vintage and historical. Its a bungalow and was built in 1915. The fact that it is right next door to Grandmas old house makes it even more amazing. AND, three of the surrounding streets are actually named after Toms ancestors, who also have statues in the area. Crazy, right? It's meant to be.
I have been in contact with the lady that owns Grandmas old house (Janice Gennevois) since we went with mom and dad to look at it. She's been fixing it up and it was finally ready enough to do a walk through, so she called us last week to do an interview. We walked through the house and it is just so awesome. I can't wait to show you guys pictures. It has a CLAW FOOTED TUB! AND, mom and dad, remember the fridge that was in Janices house? She got a new one and is putting her other one in the Cottage (that is what she calls our soon to be house). It's an aqua blue vintage fridge. I know some of this doesn't mean poo to some of you, but this kind of stuff is a huge passion of mine.
 So basically it has 3 bedrooms, a front room with a really cool fireplace, a little eating nook just off the kitchen, and then a big room that was added to the back, which will probably be the kids playroom/tv room. It has one bathroom, and unfortunately, no garage, but the backyard is HUGE and so is the front yard. The front yard has grass. It also has a cute little porch on the front. It's in a really cute area and in the historic district, so the entire street is really charming. We are happy to be moving out of the ghetto and into a better area where Mae can start school. What else....it's just so cute. I can't wait to move in! It's seriously a dream come true for me. I can check that one off my "Vision Board". WOOT!
During the interview we ended up just hanging out at Janices house with her friend and mom for a couple of hours. She fed us and we just sat in the backyard and talked forever. It was such a blast, and she and I have so much in common. She called a few days later and offered it to us. Since then she and I have been emailing back and forth and we've become good friends! We're tossing ideas back and forth about cool things to do with the house.  She said she wanted a creative person to move in to make the place their own and to have creative freedom with it. I'm sure you can imagine how happy that made me.
Anyways, I'll shut up about the house now.
 Sawyer is 9 months old and finally got sick. Not that I was hoping for it, but he's just been so healthy and happy his entire 9 months, so I guess it was time. We went for his 9 month check up yesterday. He's been acting a little fussier than usual, but nothing that I was worried about. Turns out he has an ear infection, and Mae has strep. They are feeling better and of course, all over the place anyways.
I am loving Herbalife more and more, and I really love helping my clients lose weight and feel better overall. I just moved up to Producer, which is the 3rd level and my new discount is 42% off, so take advantage of my discount if you want! I plan on becoming Supervisor by the end of July, which is 50% off as well as an increase in earnings from my downline.
School is going well. I think I mentioned that I got A's in my classes last block, and I'm in my 3rd week of my 2nd block of classes. I'm taking Critical Thinking and Research Writing.
Tom and I just got back from a weekend in Vegas with Nick and Tanya and a bunch of their friends. We went to celebrate Tanyas 30th ( and I guess you could say mine as well). We had so much fun. We went to a hypnotist show and Tom and I ended up getting hypnotized! I wrote about it on my blog. It was a really cool experience and so much fun. We watched the video and it was pretty funny. Made total fools of ourselves! It was nice to get away, but we missed the kids a lot.
Well...I think that is about it. We miss you guys!

Gnome Cake

Made this cake for my supervisors birthday today.

 I found out that she has gnomes hidden all over her garden! 

 I think it turned out really cute.

johnson update

News:

Melissa got straight A's her first semester of school. YAY! She is loving her job at Ikea.

Mae is now riding a two wheeler and caught on super quick! She's been riding around the block with her neighborhood pals.

Sawyer has started to find his voice and now screams a high pitched, glass shattering scream. He sounds like a raptor. He uses this scream for all occasions: When he's happy, excited, surprised, and especially when we put him down for bed when he doesn't feel like going to sleep. He is crawling ALL over the place.

Toms rugby team is in the finals and he basically gets MVP every game. He rocks!

A Christ Centered Easter,Day One: Palm Sunday

{ Read Matthew 21: 1-11}

The Sunday before Easter, often called Palm Sunday, reminds us of Christ entering Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. We picture Him riding a donkey, with crowds scattering palm branches along His path. Why did they do this, what was the symbolism of the palm branch?

The palm branch was the emblem for Jerusalem because of how important it was to their everyday survival. The palm branch appeared on the coins of that land, symbolizing one of the riches of that country. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, it was when the trees were in bloom, so in covering the way with palm branches, the people were offering a symbol of luxury. It was a symbol of necessity too. To the Jews, palm branches represented a gift from God because of its many uses in their lives.

The palm was so important to the people that if there was ever a war in the countries, they would cut down their enemies palm trees, causing loss of food and livelihood to the people.

No part was ever wasted on the palm tree. This important tree has many different species and many ranging sizes. The date palm supplied dates, of course. The coconut palm supplied both coconut and coconut milk. The sap of the sugar palm was dried, beaten, and ground into very fine sugar. Its leaves could also be boiled and used as a vegetable. The trunk of the sago palm supplied a strong starch that was ground into flour and made into unleavened bread.

Their coarse fiber was used to make brooms, mats, and baskets; their fine fiber was used to make sewing thread, and their heaviest fiber was used to make strong ropes for ships. Palm oils have been made into both butter and soap. Coconut shells, too, were used. Fine bowls, cooking utensils, even tools were made from them. The timber of some palms was resistant to rot and salt water and was especially good for making boats. The seeds of palms were boiled into a medicinal drink or were dried and eaten as nuts. If they were allowed to dry a long time, they became as hard as rock and transparent, and made durable beads and trinkets. The palm’s yellowish-white flowers had an odor similar to that of violets, and they were made into perfume. The lovely, waxy flowers also were worn by the women as decorative headdresses.

Since the palm trees meant so much to the people of Jerusalem the act of placing this precious plant at the foot of our Savior meant giving up worldly goods, both necessary and luxury.

The people of Jerusalem shouted the words "Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna!" when Jesus entered their city. We still do this today at our Temple dedications and at other solemn events. The word Hosanna comes from the Hebrew word "Hosanna" and means, in effect "save now" or "Lord, save us now".

How would you show your joy that Jesus is the Christ if he were to come today?

This week our family will be focusing on the last week of Christ's life. I hope to have the time to share each day with you and bring the spirit of Christ into your homes as well. We are encouraging each other to not only remember that Christ died for us but that he lived for us. He is the ultimate example to us all. Remember to continually ask and look for ways to serve those around you, and bring the light of Christ into other's lives. God sent his son so that we may live with Him again in heaven. I pray that you will remember Christ this week as we approach Easter Sunday and keep his light with you daily.

Mom and Dad Update: Dad is breathing a sigh of relief now that the Costco audit is over. They scored excellent which is the best rating they could get. Dad worked long & hard and it all payed off. Now back to the daily overwhelming grind... Mom's getting a early Mother's Day/Birthday gift from Aaron and Aunt Kim --a trip to Pasco, Washington to see the Mathews family and Grandma Lindgren. I'll be going the end of April. The weather here is crazy as spring tends to do. The lilac bushes have leaves and perienials are coming up in the garden. The sun is shining one day and then snowing the next. Winnie is loving the warm weather and I am hating her muddy paws. I put clean sheets on the bed and before I could get the blankets on she had put a perfect horseshoe shaped track of muddy paw prints across the clean sheets!

April birthdays: 2- Darby Hadley

& events 2- Catherine Gore

8-- Happy Easter

11- Heidi Hadley

14- Elise leaves for BYU Idaho

(in rememberance--Aunt Kathy 16th)

Who did the whaddadid.....the whatada did the whoosisnst...

Okay so we girls are wanting to create a "link" area on the right side for our individual blogs and a blog that is devoted to YUMMY and NUTRITIOUS and some NOT SO NUTRITIOUS but still YUMMY recipes. I have been checking into it and Liss I believe it was you that set up the Family Blog so you are the one who needs to set up the linkies area for us! I created a food blog: http://theemptydish.blogspot.com/ let me know what you think? We can change it I was just playing around really! If you like it I can set you all up as contributors. Let me know!

oh my

Funny story:

I put a mattress up on freecycle.org today. I got a response from a woman who was interested and we were texting about when she would come pick it up. She told me she would probably be by tomorrow. I then went to text Aubrey, who was on her way over. I wrote,"Could you bring your action ho?". Then I realized I had texted the mattress lady on accident. I tried to explain to her that I was asking my sister if she could bring a garden tool, and that I wasn't being a pervert. Luckily she thought it was funny. Out of all the wrong things to text a stranger.

le johnsons

Howdy ya'll!

So here is what's been goin on round here:

 Ariel and Batgirl on the tramp

 one cute little bum

 my old roomie from Dixie asked me to design a tattoo for her forearm. I can't wait to see the finished result!

We are enjoying our new trampoline

I got a job at Ikea

Mae and Sawyer are the raddest kids alive

I am getting A's in both of my classes

Tom keeps getting named "Man of the Match" on his Rugby team

I'm still obsessed with Herbalife and Doterra

I saw my first scorpion when I almost stepped on one in our hallway

I FINALLY took Mae's 5 year old pictures and they turned out so cute. I will share them when I'm done editing.

That's about it!

This week we.....

Hi Family! We had a great week here at the Williams household!

* We are one week away from our SPRING BREAK! We wish the funds were around to make the trip to see you guys. But with the Johnson's here we will not be so lonely.

* Curtis was offered the ASM job at Harkin's Theater (you probably all know that!). We feel so blessed that this job has come along for him. The benefits are great and they are so flexible with his schedule. I know he will be so-o much happier here than with U-Haul (not that we were not grateful for that job!). He will be working with people again and doing a job that has physical labor, he just needs that in a job. Plus, we get to see movies anytime for free! Oh goodness that is going to be fun!

*We bought Caitlyn tickets for the premiere of Episode 8 for Kid History here in Mesa. She was so-o excited! We were able to meet the cast and get a picture taken with them. It was so fun! Such nice guys. Someone from our audience bought Brett a Big Trak!! He was so excited!

*Caitlyn has been asking me about a mommy/daughter day so on Saturday we went to see Mesa High's performance of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. I cannot put into words how amazing this performance was. They have gone to state and national competitions for so many years and won many times. I am not surprised. They had such incredible voices and the sets and costumes were right from Broadway. The boy who played The Beast was amazing, his ballad If I Can't Love Her brought me to tears. They were selling light up roses to for the kids to hold when the Beast transforms.Caitlyn got one and was so excited to hold it up, she LOVED the effect in the audience. During the song Be Our Guest some of the actors were down in the isles singing, the ones dressed as different food and utensils, and they were carrying around platters and handing people on the end seats little cups of ice cream with sprinkles!! I am telling you this was such a production!

*On Friday my supervisor Karen showed up to work with bags and bags of harvest from her garden! We have been spoiled all weekend snacking on those goodies! I made some refrigerator pickles beets that are to DIE FOR! I think that would be one thing that would keep me in Arizona, being able to have a garden all year long. We also received some purple carrots and two gigantic rutabagas that I roasted tonight with some white carrots - YUMMY! I cannot wait for her artichokes to be ready.

*When we had that potluck dinner a few weekends ago before the Adult Session of Stake Conference, the Sister Missionaries came and asked if they could come and give Caitlyn and our family the discussions. To help them practice and to teach Caitlyn about our Church. We happily said yes. They came on Wednesday. They brought such a beautiful spirit into our home, we loved it. One of the Sister's is from Lehi! We are excited to have them coming back on Wednesday. I even went out of my comfort zone and invited a friend from work who has been asking me a lot of questions about my Church. We will see!

Well sweet family, I best be off to bed. Early day tomorrow to roll 600 cheese crisps.

We love you all so much and miss you terribly!

Love, Curtis, Aubrey, Caitlyn, and Penny

Buddhism

I'm doing an assignment in my Ethnic Diversity class where I had to pick a religion and research it, compare it, etc.
I chose Buddhism.
Everything I read is EXACTLY how I feel about spirituality. It's like someone read my mind about how I feel things are and should be, and then wrote this article. It's really awesome. What are your guys' thoughts?
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/5minbud.htm.

family and teeth

First of all, I'm really sad mom and dad are gone. SO sad. It really sucks not having everyone in the same state! Elise and Aaron, you guys were truly missed.

So, here I go with one of my "Try this! It's amazing!" tirades.
A cheap way to whiten your teeth:
After flossing and before brushing, take a Q-tip dipped in Hydrogen Peroxide and apply to your teeth. Leave on for 30 seconds to a minute. Brush.
Hydrogen Peroxide is the main ingredient in all teeth whitening systems. I've been doing it for about a week and I'm pretty pleased with the results.

I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ....

*We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on ofhands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

I can't believe I remembered that! Call upon my memory from when I was 12 years old, yikes.

I want to start by saying {thanks} again to all the family who were able to make it this weekend and that we missed those who could not. We felt the Spirit so strongly on Saturday. I felt as though my chest would explode there was not enough room for it. Heavenly Father loves his children so much and I felt that love. Caitlyn amazes me each day with her strength and her strong spirit. As we sit down each week to have Family Home Evening I am always touched by her knowledge and her belief in the gospel. I truly believe that the spirits being sent to earth are the most prepared for the world as it is right now. It is not enough for them to just be told the principles, they want reasons and to have their testimonies truly strengthened, to truly be converted to our Heavenly Father's plan for us.

At different times throughout our lives we make sacred covenants with God, but your baptism is the first. When we make this sacred covenant we show our love to Him. We promise to take the name of Jesus Christ upon us, to always remember Him and to keep Him commandments. To live our lives as our brother did upon this earth. I am grateful for the examples of Mom and Dad, growing up in their home and even now. I am so grateful for a husband who is worthy to carry the priesthood power and the blessings that me and my family receive from that power. I am grateful that he keeps his covenants with God. I am grateful he was able to baptize our beautiful daughter and use that power so that she was able to receive the Holy Ghost to bless her and give her that guidance in her life.

I am grateful for this restored gospel, for the fullness of our Church. Heavenly Father made it simple for us. One truth. He lives. I have no doubt that He does. He has a plan for me. He loves me and I love Him. I am grateful for all my family, for their support and their unconditional love for me and my little family. I am grateful for the blessings that I receive each day. My testimony grows each day as I see the Lords hands in my life.

Caitlyn has made the right choice to be baptized a member of the Lord's true church and I know she will be blessed for that. She is a choice spirit and a blessing to me and Curtis. A true privilege and pleasure to raise on this earth. I am so proud of her!

Why You Should Follow the Recipe

I had some lemon curd (basically lemon jelly) that I needed to use so I decided to make this wonderful butter cake with a lemon filling between the four layers. I didn't have the two, 2" deep cake pans the recipe called for so I thought I would be really smart and just divide the batter between 3 less deep cake pans and make three layers instead of four. I won't go into detail about why it didn't work and bore you...I'll just show the results....

Hey even Julia Child had straight to the trash bin creations! So Aubrey called and I was telling her about my "crater" cake. By this time I was making /cooking the seven minute frosting. With her experience and wisdom as a baker she said , "If there's a problem just fill it in with frosting.

So I cooked and whipped my frosting into firm peaks...apparently not firm enough. And there was not enough frosting to "fill in" the problems as you can see.
Now for the moment of ...I don't know what, Aaron cut into the cake and the frosting flowed like lava. So this is why you follow the recipe. I have dubbed my creation Mount St. Helens. Because it looks just like the side of the volcanoe/mountain where the top blew off and there's a sideways crater. The flowing white lava was my special touch.
It tasted pretty good actually--it all got eaten. And it was a good laugh!!

In Love

Mae and I were reading the book Grandma and Grandpa sent her for Christmas, "Everything On It" by Shel Silverstein.
We came across this poem and thought it was written just for dad:

In Love


If my face could only twist,
Then I could give my cheek a kiss
And whisper in my lovely ear,
"You're so beautiful, my dear,"
And look into my eyes and see
Just how much I'm in love with me.


As dad always says,"I love myself"

Johnson happenings

Great idea, mom!

Well, the Johnsons are pretty busy.

I just started school on Monday and so far I like it. I take 2 classes every 9 weeks. Right now I'm taking Skills for Learning in an Information Age, and Cultural Diversity. It's all online. Basically it's like a online forum where we do our assignments and get participation points by discussing certain topics with other students. I am drawing every single day. Mondays and Wednesdays I go to Barnes and Noble from about 8-10 and just sit and draw or look through art books for inspiration. Toms friend from school recently asked me if I'd be interested in being a back up singer in their band. They play oldies, which I'm way excited about. My favorite!

Tom is busy at work and with Rugby. He is looking into other jobs as well.

Mae is doing school at home on abcmouse.com and really likes it. We're working on her reading. She is an amazing big sister. She and Sawyer are soooo cute together, and he just lights up when she walks in the room. We're going to sign her up for ballet soon.

Sawyer is just the happiest little guy. He's pretty much always elated about everything. We adore him. He is sitting up on his own. He's a bit wobbly. He's starting to look more like a little boy and less like a baby. It's awesome and sad at the same time. It goes too fast! He is saying "dada" "baba" and sometimes "mama". He is eating "solids" and loves sweet potatoes. He is a really good eater.

Here is his 6 month old picture:

Well, I think that's about it! Love you guys.

I meant to add that I know my post was not a simple couple of sentences but I the point is that I don't want us not to post anything because we feel like it has to be a long newsy post. We just want to hear from everybody so make it simple for yourselves. Love you all so much!

I thought we could use this marvelous blog to do a weekly family update. I am thinking simple here. We are all busy but I am hoping each of you (and me) will plan a couple of minutes each week to do a few sentences to up date us. example: Caitlyn got 100 % on her spelling test. Aaron is editing his three blind mice movie. It will be up and running on u tube soon., etc. If you have the time post some photos. I'd love to have a photos of everyone at their work ,etc. Ultimately I would like this to be a family record/ history of sorts, though obviously it doesn't have to be just that.

Dad is at the moment hanging out in the "man-cave" with Aaron and Mark Stevens watching the super bowl. They were supposed to go to Uncle Dennis' but there was some family problems going on and it was canceled. (Don't know what the problem was) Dad is so looking forward to seeing the grandkids in a couple of weeks. Sorry Melissa, Tom, Curtis & Aubrey you guys come in second to the grandkids. Work continues to be long hours and too many problems for one guy. But he's like the energizer bunny and just keeps going. He works harder than anyone I know.

I had a good report at the doctors. My numbers continue to stay low and he has taken me off the monthly bone treatment and I will only be having it every three months. The medication stays in the system for long periods so I felt good about the decision.

Grandma Lindgren sends her love to you all. She always asks about each of you when I call her. Her health is good and she seems to be happy. Kim has brought her all her geneology that she had stored at Kim's. It will be good for her to have a project to work on during the week. They keep trying to get her to come to craft time but she hates crafts. She has loved getting the notes you guys have sent her. It means so much to her.

I am sharing a recipe of Aubrey's that has become one of our favorites.

AUBREY'S CROCKPOT SOUP

Fill crockpot 80% full with layers of the following vegetables & meat that have been diced:

(salt every other layer)

Potatoes

Carrots

Celery

Cabbage

Onions (I have used frozen pearl onions)

Mushrooms

1-2# beef pot roast cubed

MIX Together:

1 can cream of tomato soup (I like to use 2 cans)

1 box(=2 foil pkts) onion soup mix

2 soup cans of water

Pour over veges & meat. Cook in crockpot 5-6 hours on high or 8-9 hours on low.

Dad made the comment that he wouldn't even miss the meat. It would be a good vegan meal.