We were robbed

Last night we came home to find our front door was open and we had been robbed. As we looked around at what was left we were amazed at what was taken and what was left behind. They tried to take the tv but couldn't get it off the wall, they left the blu-ray player and the xbox, plus my camera that was sitting on the shelf. They took almost all our games, Mike's gun, my jewelry box that had Mike's wedding ring and my engagement ring. They took an heirloom camera from Mike's dad. So far that is what we have found missing. When the cops showed up we found out that we were the 3rd apt in 4 days in our complex to be robbed and it looks like it was the same people every time.

Now here is the blessing part of this. We were suppose to come home at 7:30 last night, however Mike insisted on saying goodbye to him mom and so we waited about 15 minutes and then he said lets go. If we had left when we were suppose to we would have walked in on them and as they had Mike's gun it would have been a very different scenario last night. We talked about this with the cops that showed up, both of whom are members of the church, one is in Kim's ward and the other here in Henderson.

As Mike and I have talked about it we can plainly see the Lord's hand in our safety last night.

New Calling

So on Sunday I recieved a calling, it was hilarious how it came about so I will start with that.

Two weeks ago we had tithing settlement and while we were there the Bishop a man that we have known for years, and so we have a very good relationship with him, goes "Before I forget Debbie (the releif society president) has asked that you be a visiting teaching something or other I can't remember the name" to which I responded "Visiting teaching supervisor?" he went "yeah that". So of course I said yes, talk about easy calling.

One Sunday our brand new counsler in the Bishopric did the releases and callings, per the course because it was his first Sunday doing it, he messed up. He did all the releases and released me, Melaine looked at me and laughed, the Bishop smiled and the other counsler tapped him and told him that he had messed up, so he says that he released me when he meant to call me, so he did the callings and called me to be a Visiting Teaching Supervisor.

Then I get to Relief Society and Debbie announces that they messed again in Sacrament and that I was not a supervisor, but the Visiting Teaching Coordinator. A calling that I am familiar with as I had it in the past.

I am very excited as I have a strong testimony of Visiting Teaching and it's power.

It's Christmas Time

I love Christmas it is one of my all time favorite times of year. It is the one time of year when I bake, make goodies, and let my kids eat what ever they want.

This year has been a little different for us in that for the first time in years we are living by family and have to take them into consideration with what we are doing. It has been a struggle but I think that we are getting there.

One of our favorite things to do during Christmas is to see all the different Christmas decorations. In Albuquerque we were limited on what there was, however here now that is a different story. Starting the Monday before Thanksgiving, every Monday between then and Christmas we would go see a different Christmas thing, so far we have been to the tree at Town Square where they have re-created a Norman Rockwell Christmas, we have been to the Etherl M Gardens lights, Mike and I went on a date to the Bellagio to check out their tree(which is absolutely amazing, those that live here it is a cheap date, hot chocolate the water show and Christmas decorations).

The one thing that we do miss however is the snow. My boys get up every morning and ask if it has snowed yet. Maybe, it sure is cold enough.

Our Black Friday Experience

So for the first time in my adult life I decided that I would brave Wal-Mart on Black Friday, the deals were just to much to pass up on the budget that I have. So I set me alarm and woke the boys up this morning at 4:30am and we went down. The parking lot was full and so I didn't even bother to fight for a parking spot and parked in the first spot I found.

When we got into Wal-Mart we found a spot and got into line. I din't realize that we were right in do the Rock BAnd Bundles that were $50, and that they had limited amounts of them. As it got close to the time to drop the rope the Wal-Mart employees were yelling to not push and be courteous of those around us. I hollered there are kids here to be careful. I told the boys that if they got trembled to drop whoever did it. We also designated a place in the event that we got separated. I told the boys that if we got a Rock Band we got one, but that isn't why we were there.

They dropped the rope and we got pushed into the Rock Band throng, I was being pushed around and got mad and started screaming that there kids in there and to get off my kids. All the sudden there were 4 Wal-Mart employees there and said we got him and grabbed Mat and pulled him out of the throng. I then had to fight to find Mikhail as he had bolted into the throng. I was yelling to not step on the kids and I hear this yell, I got it mom. I looked down between the legs of the people and there was Mikhail with his Rock Band for the 360.

I grabbed him and with the help of some employees got him out of the throng and then I planted them in an asile by an employee and went to grab the movies that I was there for. As I was heading back to the boys I felt a tug on my purse and looked down and there was Mikhail but no Mat. I asked him where his brother was and he told me he left him where I left him. I got back there as fast as I could to find no Mat. I started asking around and was told that he headed back towards electronics.

I knew that there was no way that I was going to find him in that mess so I asked an employee for help. Luckily for me it was a manager and he immediately called a code Adam and had the people at the doors on alert. After about 10 minutes I remembered that I had told the boys where to go if we got separated. I told this to the manager and he had someone go and check and sure enough there was Mat with the Rock Band.

So now Mat hates Wal-Mart and Black Friday, he hates it so much that when Grandpa had to run to Lowes Mat refused to go. He loves to go to Lowes with Grandpa.

I did score however of Mike's Christmas and so the objective was met.

Thank You

I posted my tribute to all those that have served and will serve on my other blog but I wanted to post an link to it here.

I'm a slacker

Yes you read that right I am SLACKER!!! The month of October was just a bad month for me. I got absolutely nothing accomplished. I was behind in all my school work, I didn't blog about anything that happened to our family this month. I was a complete mess. So I will try to do better this month.

Mike and Kerwin's Adventure in NM

On Tuesday Mike and his brother Kerwin flew to Albuquerque to pick up Mike's truck. Everything was going according to plan. We had budgeted this trip and new exactly how much everything was going to cost. They had a great time, then yesterday happened. Half way between Albuquerque and Grants (a very very small town) and his clutch goes out. He is dead in the water. I was out running errands with my mom, so I had to go back to her house, look up a mechanic, call a tow truck.

Then Mike calls to tell my how much money it was going to cost, I about had a heart attack, but the work needed to be done. It meant that they would be home early this morning as they weren't going to be able to finish the truck until 10pm. Around 5 he called to tell me that it wasn't the clutch it was the transfer case, and they couldn't find. They finally found one, however it was in Albuquerque, and they weren't going to be able to get it until today. So they stayed the night and now I am waiting for the final word on the cost and that they are on their way home.

I do have to say that the people at the shop have been so good to Mike and Kerwin. They understand that they are stranded in Grants, so the owners wife lent them her car for them to use. They have back burnered all other jobs to get this one done and back on the road.

All of this and we have birthday party tomorrow for Mat.

Primary Program

This years theme was Eternal Families, a theme that is very close to home for us. The boys have been listening to the music all year in preparation for the program, so I know the songs as well as they do. However yesterday as they sang a couple of songs I cried, and was so grateful for the principle of Eternal Families and the Sealing Power.

Here are the songs that made me cry.

You can listen to God Gave us FAmilies here the words are below...

1. Our Father has a family. It’s me!
It’s you, all others too: we are His children.
He sent each one of us to earth, through birth,
To live and learn here in fam’lies.
[Chorus]
God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be—
This is how He shares His love, for the fam’ly is of God.


2. A father’s place is to preside, provide,
To love and teach the gospel to his children.
A father leads in fam’ly prayer to share
Their love for Father in Heaven.
[Chorus]
3. A mother’s purpose is to care, prepare,
To nurture and to strengthen all her children.
She teaches children to obey, to pray,
To love and serve in the fam’ly.
[Chorus]
4. I’ll love and serve my family and be
A good example to each fam’ly member.
And when I am a mom or dad, so glad,
I’ll help my fam’ly remember:
God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be—
This is how He shares His love, for the fam’ly is of God.

The second one was Families are Forever.

It was one of the best programs that I seen.

I remember

I remember where I was and what I was doing. It is a moment in time that will forever be etched in my mind. Like my mom telling me she knew where she was on the day that Kennedy was shot, my grandma telling me that she can still remember where she was when she heard about Pearl Harbor. These are defining moments in our lives.

We were driving to work and listening to a CD when my sister in law called us and told us to turn on the radio. We couldn't believe it and so we raced to work to see it on the tv. We then spent the entire day listening to the radio, not believing what we were hearing. Later that day we discovered that Mike's uncle Steven was in the Pentagon when that plane hit. Luckily he wasn't hurt.

As I watched all the news coverage I knew that our life had just changed, just as it had when the Wall had come down, only this time it wasn't for peace. In a conversation with my grandmother later that week she said something that will forever be etched in my memory, she said after the end of the war (WWII) and all the sacrifices that were made to ensure peace, she never thought that she would see something this horrific in her life.

Today as my kids went to school, they made sure that they were wearing red, white and blue. I realized something, or rather re-realized something, they tried to take something from us, they tried to break us, to divide our nation, however they didn't succeed. We rallied, we became stronger, and our spirit was not broken.

This song has always been a favorite of mine, and I loved the pictures that are in it.




In celebration of spirit post something that you love about this great nation.

First Day of School

I love the first day of school, both as a parent and as a teacher. Today one part of me, the mom part of me, got to take my kids to the first day of school in their new school.

They were at times excited and nervous. I felt so bad for them this morning as they were standing in the lines with their new classmates, not knowing a single person. They have gone from being the most popular kids in their grade to not knowing anyone. They were troopers however and off they went. Mat a little more confident than Mike. Mike was so nervous that he tracked me down in the cafeteria 30 minutes into the day to make sure that I was paying for their lunches.

As I went through out my day I kept expecting the phone to ring saying that someone had had a meltdown, it never rang.

When I picked them up, both teachers told me that they did great. Mat got a little nervous when he had to leave to go to the bathroom because he didn't know where it was. Mike did awesome, he teacher said he was great.

So another school year has started and so far we are off to a great start.