Chicken fever....

Okay so there is a new store in the area. They had boneless, skinless chicken breasts for 99 cents a pound. You had to buy a 40 pound box to get that price, but who doesn't need chicken?? (okay I did get some for that price at the beginning of January) So I sent Kevin to the store (since it is by his work). He got 4 boxes....only one for me though!! So tonight I cut up chicken and put it all in the freezer. I did have to move stuff around and jam things in place that I didn't think it would fit in, but I got it all in the freezer. Now I just need to cook up a box of chicken and bottle it for my mom!!! I figure I will cook it one day and the next I will bottle it. Kevin sets up a nice scenario for me in the garage to use the cache cooker when I am canning stuff. I am also thinking of bottling some black beans. Our neighbor made some and bottle it and they were so yummy..... So for now I will finish up the chicken for my mom and twiddle my thumbs until I figure out how to do the beans.

New Year's Company

I know I am SO late at posting our fun pictures.....but here it goes!!!




Logan



Jason and Sydney




Emily



Zach and Damaris




Sydney, Emily and Jolene



Audrey and Ezra



Sydney pulling Zach



Zach and Auna

President Bush...

I have had mixed emotions with President Bush leaving office. I know he has not been the most favorite President to some, but he has done so much for our country. I love his love for his family, his country and for our God. He has such a great sense of humor and I love that. He is so down to earth. As I watched the Obama's go to the White house I thought it was great how Michelle gave Laura a gift, such respect I thought. No, they did not agree on everything, but to respect each other is something great. I got a bit sad when President Bush and Laura got on the helicopter to fly to Andrews airforce base to head to Texas. I thought how our country has gone through so much these past 8 years and how it aged George W, but he never gave up, even when a shoe was thrown at him he made a joke of it. Yep, I am going to miss President Bush for the man he is, but I am willing to give President Obama a chance.

Random thoughts on the war with warts.....

Today I took Audrey back to the Dermatologist to have him look at her ever persistent warts. Let me back up. Several months ago I took Audrey in to get these warts taken off of the bottom of her foot. The doctor burned them first......nothing happened. Next he told us to use a special kind of band-aid called medi-plast.....didn't work. She even used duct tape. It was very hard to keep anything to stick to the bottom of her foot. Well, the beginning of December the doctor burned one of her warts and then put some magic medicine on the ones that were on the bottom of her toe. The doctor told her to apply this medicine in two weeks every day or so for 4ish weeks. Well as all of you know who came to our house for the new year's celebration.....Audrey had a bad reaction to the medicine. Her toes swelled up really bad with tiny blisters all over them. It was not just on the wart toe, it was on the three middle ones. Next came the popping of the blisters, the excruciating pain and so forth!! She would sit with ice on the foot because it hurt so bad...... We called the doctors office to see if this reaction was normal...the nurse told us it was, blisters and all. Okay, so then when Audrey got a rash on her face and neck then her stomach. I called the doctors office, it was the friday after New years day. He was not in the office but the secretary was able to get a hold of him and he called a prescription for the rash....okay so that cleared up....
Now onto today. When the doctor came in to see Audrey and looked at her foot he asked why we did not call when she had such a bad reaction. I told him we did and the nurse told us it was a normal reaction. He told us he was going to talk to his staff about such reactions not being normal.
Okay....so by this time Audrey is so tired of her persist wart (the one on the bottom of her foot, I believe it is called a planters wart). She told the doctor she just wants it gone, do whatever needs to be done to get rid of it!!! So off to the "surgery" room we go. The doctor then attacks it will freezing intermittent with burning it with a tool that looked like a tiny wood burning tool. I was watching this....let me tell you, seriously he burned her foot...there was even smoke arising and it did smell like burned flesh...ugh!! So here is hoping this current treatment works!!!!!

new years resolutions......

so far so good.....
goal #1
I am trying to fit into my pants I bought 3 years ago....I did wear them after I ended my loosing weight episode...I can fit into them again, but they are snug and they show way too much of my curves.....but it is progress.
goal #2 was to watch my spending. Like today, I went to Albies to get in on their fabulous sale, everything was gone...they still had 2 days left of the sale....oh well, I said, must not of needed it.....my food storage room is bursting....
I got Audrey's birthday presents on a great buy so that was good...I think I have always been a good shopper, watching the bargains and all, but at times if I want something I just go get it....keep in mind I only buy something if there is money for it. That I am pretty strict about. I do like to keep a stash of presents for friends birthdays or thinking of you situations so I am always watching for those. My whole idea of this goal is to see how my self control is in the BUY ME world. Do I really need it, or is it just something else to buy!

Temple Square!

It was considered a warm night!?! Better then being snowed on! We went with our friends....nice to have friends!

Sledding with our friends!

One of the elementary schools in town has a great family friendly hill to go sledding on.....thus our fun!!

Climbing up the hill starts it all....





















We had a great time together!!! I with I could post all of the pictures I took, but some are just of the snow.....the sledders were going too fast for me!

Game Time!!!

Our first game we tried out was "Guess what I am!" It is a fun one!! You ought to try it out!!!

Christmas morning

Emily with her scooter and webkinz....



Zach's reaction to finally getting a nintendo DS



and the pokemon game to go with it...



Audrey got a note card with a phone number on it.....she is calling it trying to find her new cell phone



at last....she just didn't think she would get one!!!



Kassidy's note card told her ....Happy Texting....oh she has wanted this gift for a very long time....we had her convinced when she got in college we would get it for her!!



Kassidy and all of her gifts....



Zach excited over all he received....



Emily got just about all she asked for.....8 year olds have a very long list!!



I think Audrey was more then happy with her gifts!!!



For the past few years we have had a theme for our family gift from Santa....
This year it was games.....we are all excited to try them all out!!!

Christmas Eve

Our traditional Christmas Eve consists of eating fondue (meat and cheese balls in cooked in oil with a fondue pot), pizza rolls are also part of the yummies. We tried cheese fondue one year, no one liked it much so we are sticking to what we know and the kids love it!!
After dinner we read Luke 2 and a few Christmas stories....although this year the kids weren't into the other stories.
Next we open presents from each other and family....I know something I did not grow up with, but Kevin did so I had to give in somewhere, and I must admit, it is a fun night.
We had Jan Brown over for dinner and the opening of presents this year. She has joined us for several years now and it is always fun to have her come over!!!

This year our neighbors, the Strebels, gave us each a towel with our names on it....it was a fun gift!!!

After opening gifts, we played a game with the kids that their Johnston cousins gave us. It was a fun night for all!!

Happy New Year!

It has been a fun vacation break for the family!! We have had many visitors and a lot of fun with them all. As promised I will post pictures or our adventures (we are still having them!) Christmas morning, sledding, temple square, new year's eve party, more sledding and today we will have more activities with our visiting cousins. There has been 26 of us in our home since the 31st of December. So, lots of fun we have had!!! Stayed tuned, hopefully I will have the pictures posted on Monday!!