Nonsense . . .

Trying to put on eyeliner when you have the hiccups does not produce a pretty portrait of female art. You’re more than likely going to poke your eye out …I know this from experience.

One of Kara’s favorite thoughts/quotes is “stand in the wind and eat peanut brittle” from the book Stand in the Wind by Jean Little. A quote I seem to live by is “stand in the kitchen and eat everything” from the book Self Control: Where is it? by Kimber Jo.

If you cut your finger while slicing onions it hurts twice as bad . . the cut and the onion juice in the cut. Also from experience.

Slicing up onions, peppers, celery, and carrots and washing and cutting greens ahead of time is a great idea for easy prep, healthy meals and on the go snacks . . . unless you never pull them out of the fridge again. Then they just mold and go limp.

Watching The Biggest Loser does not shed any pounds off the viewers, particularly me. The Firm slowly brings results while providing the wanna be health nut (me, once again) with sore buns.

Feeding a 6 month old only milk and fresh bananas brings on a smelly case of painful constipation. Switching out the bananas for this years pear crop does cure the constipation . . all over clothes, blankets and baby. At least he was smiling when he did it, unlike the squealing pushing that had been taking place.

If the power goes out during the night for a couple of hours and you don’t have a flashlight with working batteries on hand, take it as a reminder to be prepared for the power to go out. If the power goes out 3 nights in a row and you still don’t have a flashlight with working batteries, you’ve completely failed the emergency preparedness prep course. (We are ready for tonight!)

I let Erika go to Kara’s house for the week. What was I thinking?? I wanna go to Kara’s house for a week!

I wish my biography could be titled “Life of a Jogger: the inspiring woman who jogged her way to good health while keeping her life in balance and order”. Unfortunately it will probably be “Life of a Blogger: the humdrum woman who sat on her duff recording all the nonsense that crossed her mind while her family waited for dinner”.

Ummm . . .

Hello.

My name is Kimber Jo and . . .

I am a foodaholic . . . < < < sigh > > >

I owe Sarah and Terra $10 each

It wasn't even worth it.

In the Hood

My week disappeared. It was consumed by motherhood, office manager-hood, wifehood, sisterhood, neighborhood - basically I have worn alot of 'hoods' this week. It's all good.

A laughing motherhood moment - and a bit of a devilish hair day for Nathan.

Erika and I had a bit of creative crafty time together making a diaper cake for Jessica. It was fun to personalize it to Jess and we were amazed at how different it looked from the one we did for Kara's baby shower. We did the front to look (hopefully) like a baseball cap on the top for Jess and the goodies for her and the baby. The back was done for Jake with a more masculine bow (knot) and a bib.

Then on Saturday Erika and I traveled to Lava for Jess's baby shower. Kara did an awesome job pulling that together in only a week! There were several people there and we all had a bit of a delicious, competitive hour eating, playing Baby Bunko, and showering Jess with gifts.

This picture shows a rather odd position (she is reaching for a gift) but it also shows her cute Kylee belly and a natural Kodak smile. Man, I wish I looked that good 8 months pregnant!

The rest of the week was busy (and still is) with food storage planning, buying, canning and building shelves. That post is still coming later.

All Caught Up

I've not let myself post until I get all of my past posts printed and in my "Bloggy Journal" binder. I had already printed up to March 17, just before Hyrum was born, and wanted to get it current.

I don't actually have March 20th through September printed yet but they are all put together on Word and ready to go . . . all 55 pages!! I have to say I like this kind of journal (especially once it is printed). It was so fun to read back through the last 6 months of posts, look at pictures and laugh with the kids. **Update: It's all printed and in a binder.**

To celebrate my return to posting I just have one very adorable boy to show off:

I love the giggles and cuddles that come after bath time!

That's so . . .

. . Adorable! On the way home from our case-lot adventure (coming soon) Hyrum was letting me know in bellowing fashion that he had endured enough for one outing. Nathan kept trying to calm him down with "it's ok buddy, we're almost home" and "I love you Hiam, we'll be there in a minute" and even resorting to singing to him.

. . Wild! Levi has joined up with 4 other boys to create the lastest boy band. Their drummin', electric and bass guitarin' quint is called "Unexpected Irony" or as they have now designed for t-shirts, "UXI". The unexpected irony for me is that they are all clean cut, well mannered, well dressed, handsome boys practicing for their "Bullet For My Valentine" like debut. Great kids!

. . Helpful! While Kara was here for 3 days I had regular breakfast and lunch meals prepared and presented right in front of me. It was so great to have someone just make it for me because I seldom remember to eat and if I do it's less than gourmet. Why is it that when someone voluntarily makes me scrambled eggs and toast it feels gourmet? Maybe because it isn't PB & J.

. . Annoying! I counted the soliciting calls on my caller ID for just Friday. 9. . Nine . . Nueve. Yea, annoying. I answered the phone for every one of them. However, I missed 2 calls from my neighbors. How do I get my name off of all these warranty, credit card, mortgage, satellite lists???

. . Yummy! A couple of weeks ago I went to a Thai restaurant with a friend. Since then I have been craving Massaman Curry. I was unsure if I loved it just because of the great company and much needed girl get-a-away so I finally gave in to my craving today and ordered take out. It's as good as I remember if not a spicier bit better. I've now found 2 recipes to attempt making it.

. . Mmmm Mmmm Good! Nope, not soup - Pears. I've never cared for pears but my tongue has changed my mind this week. I've always thought them to be gritty and hard. Yet, the ones that I have had this week are melt in my mouth delicious! Nathan and I have pigged out on them, trying to enjoy every last gooshy bite before Erika and Justin beat us to it. Unfortunately our eating them now has only allowed me to can 12 jars of them . . and I'm sure they won't last long either! I saw on Food Network how to bottle them preserving the best texture and flavor.

. . Heroic! Derek killed 15 flies in about an hour. Disgusting, yes. If only my 2 year old would leave the door shut!

. . Fantasterific! We are all (yes all 6 kids and I) addicted to the Disney show "My Friends, Tigger and Pooh". So much better than the tan colored story book version that I remember and wow! does Tigger up the vocab. We have added to our daily conversations words like bouncercise, prexactly, fantasterific, adorabibble, kerfluffle, changerate, solverate, vice-veristy, imPoohster . .and the list goes on.

. . Strange! Both of my little boys are wearing size 4 diapers. One of them is not so little :)

. . Good for US! Erika and I have been walking 2 miles a day. One in the mornings (6am) and one in the evenings. It is so nice to have a walking buddy and she's no dawdler when it comes to acting the part of mom's trainer. My foot is slowly breaking into it - hopefully not breaking worse. Yesterday I had quite a bit of swelling and pain because of wearing heels for Saturday's baptism, broadcast and Sunday church. Today it feels and looks much better.

Relief Society Broadcast

After making myself be really brave, I went to the Stake Dinner alone, hoping I would find someone I knew. I was actually thinking of Kellie going to Peru and realized that I could go across town and exert myself just a little to make some new friends. It was SO worth it!

I was greeted in the parking lot by one of my neighbors and ended up sitting at a table with 6 of them. Perfect!

Then the broadcast . . . wonderful. Especially Elder Uchtdorf. I feel like my purpose has been clarified. It felt as if he was speaking just to me, especially when he would look in the camera and speak so emphatically. Almost like when I take Nathan by the face, have him look at me and I enunciate my words and really want him to listen. Kate and Terressa kept great notes and summarized it perfectly on their blogs . . Thanks! . . so I won't duplicate. This will be a talk that I print off and re-read often.

I am so excited for conference. I didn't hear one talk from last conference because of moving the same weekend, trying to settle in and Hyrum only being 2 weeks old. I feel like my spirit just really needs a boost from those who have direct communication with our Heavenly Father. I'm so thankful that they have dedicated their lives to spreading His word in my behalf.

Movie Review

Highly Recommended

Not the usual sporty, feel good movie . . It's better

Quotable Thoughts

"We write to taste life twice, once in the moment and in retrospection." Anais Nin

I like that, I only wish I could live as well in the moment as I do when I think it through later.
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"We tend to think being hard on ourselves will make us strong. But it is cherishing ourselves that gives us strength". The Artist's Way

It has never crossed by mind to cherish myself. I wonder what that would do for me and how I would see myself, or encourage, appreciate, or understand myself if I spent more time cherishing and less time chastizing.
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I also had an experience that has helped me to understand the pressure my children face growing up in this world. I was frying chimichangas outside. I gave in and was doing the kids favorite meal - which happens to be fried. The thing I dislike more than the fat grams that come with this meal is that I always end up smelling like I sat next to the McDonalds fryers for hours. Cooking them outside seems to not be so bad.

However, as I was frying over the camp cooker and the smell of fried chimi's was wafting through the air I realized that no matter how far I leaned back away from the pan or how big the kitchen was (the great outdoors) I was going to still have the lingering smell of frying food stuck on my clothes, in my hair and in my nose.

As I thought of this later I realized that no matter how much I teach and train and pound into their little heads the standards that I want them to accept, my children are faced with very real, graphic, unpleasant, vulgar, potty mouthed situations on a daily basis. School, tv, internet, magazines, music, books . . they are all contributors to the stinky smell of a fried up world. They are going to be affected by it.

Levi's first trip to Las Vegas was with Shawn and Kellie when he was 11. I remember Kellie calling me from Vegas and apologizing for all that Levi had been exposed to that day. After I listened to her explain what they had seen while walking down the strip (scantily clothed girls on billboard, taxi's, busses, and fliers promoting inappropriate things as well as the smoking, drinking, and gambling) I was so grateful that he was with Shawn and Kellie who could re-emphasize the importance of living proper standards instead of with a group of buddies who thought it was so cool to be free and unaccountable.

Just like the frying smell that lingers when around frying food, my kids are going to be affected by the world they live in. My hope is to teach them well enough, and to pray focused enough that they will be able to leave that all behind as they come home to a safe, comfortable place that is conducive to the Holy Ghost.

I also remembered our bishop just last week sharing with us the compliment he was given by one of the temple workers as our kids were doing baptisms. He emphasized to us as their parents that even though our minds seem to only remember all the sass, complaining and whining that might go on at home that our kids are better than we think they are. That they do know what it is to feel the spirit, to be reverent and to have respect for Holy things. I am guilty of the first - remembering only the negative and not seeing enough of the positive. Or trusting enough in their ability to choose the right as we have tried to teach them.

So the thought of also cherishing my children comes to mind. Not just getting through another school day, chores, homework, a late night hug and doing it all again the next day but truly cherishing them.

A*DOR*A*BLE

Nathan's favorite book right now is If Jesus Came To Our House. I don't think it is so much the story as it is the bright, colorful, fun pictures and the fact that he gets to find a mouse and a ladybug on each page. Yesterday he told me the names of the boy and girl in the pictures. Ahhhh. . . he remembers her. According to Nathan the girl is Andie and the boy is Nathan.

Here is the page that he told me their names on. (Can you find the mouse and the ladybug?)

And here is a picture of Andie and Nathan . . such a cute resemblance.

Canning Peaches

Yeah! I love having my food storage shelves full but I love even more to see jars that I have filled. Out of 35 jars only 1 didn't seal. Nathan and I quickly took care of that one.

Derek asked me if canning peaches is 'fun'. I replied that it isn't necessarily 'fun' because it is alot of work but it is extremely satisfying . . . and yummy!

I did have about 1/2 box more to do but they were ripening really fast and the kids were begging me to save them some for peaches and cream. We have enjoyed canned peaches, peach smoothies, peaches and cream, plain peaches and peach cobbler. Now the whole family is just peachy!