The Band Contract

So, a few days ago, I saw Jane drawing on something. When I examined it, this is what I found. I thought it was pretty great, and with the girls' permission, I'm posting it on the blog.

Here goes, (I'm keeping spelling the same)

"page 1

CONTRACT

We the White Wolves plege to play our music well to have fun. Anne one of the lead singers swears to rock out and show the world how great we are at singing. Abbey Chambers our sworn drummer swears to drum for our band to the finish. Emma Chambers one of the Lead singers swears to rock our until we end. Lucy Chambers our sworn guitar player swears to rock on for all time.

page 2
We the White Wolves promise to sing and rock our hearts out. We will write new songs all the time. We will be the best of all times."

Now for a few additional notes. First, Abbey has never played the drums, but has asked me how much money she needs to save to buy a drum set (hopefully she has more rhythm than her mom!). The girls are constantly writing new songs. Anne writes a lot of lyrics and Abbey "writes" music on the piano (nothing is actually written down, and I'm not sure that she ever duplicates, but she has fun nonetheless). The girls (cousins included) like to put on concerts for us on our kitchen floor which serves as a stage (we have a step-down living room). I have a video of the girls' first conert performing to Kelly Clarkson on my old (and broken) cell phone. If I can figure out how to get it uploaded, I'll post it.

Trip to Toronto and Upstate New York

This week Emily and I had the opportunity to go back East to see Kirk play in Toronto and also to visit some LDS Church sites in Upstate New York. The Buffalo vs Pittsburgh game in Tronto was amazing and it was surreal to be at a NFL game were my brother was starting (even if it was a preseason game). Here are some pictures and video clip from the game. My brothers number is 73.

A few of the other things were were able to see included Niagra Falls, The Sacred Grove, The Printing Press were the original Book of Mormon was published, the Palmarya New York LDS Temple, and the Whitmer Farm in Fayette, where the Church was officially organized.

Tagged

Cory and I have officially been tagged, so here goes.

Ten years ago... we were living in Omaha, NE sweating our brains out and trying to save money by shopping at Aldi in Council Bluffs. I was being denied a trip onto the Riverboat Casino because I was still a minor. (I never did get onto the riverboat at Harvey's).
Five years ago... I was pregnant with our third child (Olivia) and we were moving to our second house in Las Vegas in 117 degree weather.
One year ago... I was enjoying the fact that I wasn't yet in my 30's and Cory was a few years into his. We found out that our daughter Abbey wasn't just having a hard time reading, but in fact had a visual deficit that required therapy. (she is doing amazingly well now!)
Yesterday... I was madly trying to get things ready for a mock 5 hour power out, vacuuming the house, washing 3 loads of laundry, buying flashlights, finding out the kids teachers for next year, going to the dentist (I have way too many cavities), making dinner without use of my microwave, sweating nearly to death while we turned off the A/C (We only made it 1 1/2 hours before I decided that it needed to be turned back on), racing to get to my parents house to celebrate the return of my sister Eleanor from NYC, nearly having a nervous breakdown, and reading more of Breaking Dawn.
Today I washed a few more loads of laundry, found a babysitter for tonight for Cory and I to go to the temple, helped pick up a few more rooms for the kids to help me vacuum, I emptied the dishwasher, and refilled it, took Olivia to a friend's house, and then returned to my laundry and folded it while watching The Sound of Music (I've been wanting to watch it since I finished reading The Book Thief, which I highly recommend). I've also been checking out a few friends' blogs.
5 favorite snacks... anything chocolate, cinnamon bears (especially when they're covered in chocolate), when I'm trying to be healthy grapes or apple slices (Fuji), oatmeal and caramel fiber one bars, whatever left over treat I may have in the kitchen (especially lemon bars).
5 favorite books... I've read so much lately that I can't choose only 5 books, so I'm going to list 5 series The Goose Girl series, Twilight series (the first 3 books), Harry Potter (books 4,6,7 are my favorites), Pamela Aidan's companion series to Pride and Prejudice, Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentleman (the first is called An Assembly Such as This), and the Peter and the Starcathchers series. And also The Book Thief.
5 bad habits... getting sidetracked, talking on the phone for too long, not going to bed at a reasonable hour, buying things because they're a good deal, and getting upset over petty things.
5 things I would never wear... a mullet (though I was given one once and had to wait a few hours before it could be corrected--the only haircut I ever cried over), any article of clothing that costs more than $35 (I know, I'm a cheapskate), more than one ring on each hand (I'm not a jewelry person), I don't know what else, I'm not really a fashion guru.
5 pet peeves... I have plenty, but I 'm having a hard time thinking of them, however people who are not punctual is a big one for Cory!
5 things I like to do...going to Jazz games, going to Real Salt Lake games, going to BYU Football games, going on family vacations, reading good books, spending time with family. (Ok that's six, but I couldn't just clump sporting events together, or I wouldn't have enough!)
5 favorite TV shows... Alias (I realize this one isn't running anymore, but I really loved it!), Heroes, The Office, American Idol, ?
5 famous people I would like to meet... Deron Williams, Elie Wiesel, I'll have to think about this for a bit longer, but I'm running late!
5 people I tag... whoever would like to! I hope there are 5 of you out there!

Abbey's 2 front teeth

Abbey's two front teeth have been loose since Christmas--no kidding! We have been trying for the last month or so to convince her to just yank them out because they were so gross and snaggletoothy.

Well, they're finally out, and there is a good story to go with it. Last night we were a bit late getting the kids to bed, and since Cory has to get up so early we were trying really hard to get the kids to go straight to bed. Of course, that wasn't very realistic. Abbey and Olivia were yelling at each other and I could tell it was getting physical, but I tried to just calmly ask them to stop touching each other and get in their beds. I could tell they weren't listening. Then, all of a sudden the screams were happy screams. "My teeth just came out!" The kids came bounding upstairs. We asked how it happened and Olivia explained that she had punched Abbey in the face. (At least she's honest!)

Anyway, a few phone calls had to be made to tell Grandmas and Grandpas (and a few aunts and uncles) and a letter was written to the Tooth Fairy. I have included a photo of the letter and teeth, but in case you can't read it, it says:

"Dear Tooth Fairy,

I forgot your name. Will you tell me your name? I am so excited that I lost my teeth. My sister punched me in the face. So they fell out.

Love, Abbey

P.S. Please write back."

For those of you who are interested, the Tooth Fairy's name is Suzy, and she gave Abbey 2 bucks.

A little action in our own backyard

Our house backs up to one of the most dangerous "S"-curves on I-15, so we get a lot of traffic accidents that keep life exciting. We have witnessed people being ejected from their cars, roll-overs and your average fender bender. Today we got a little bit of new action. We looked out the window and noticed the field on the other side of the freeway burning! It was pretty neat to watch the firefighters work so quickly to put the fire out, and I was very grateful the fire was on the other side of the freeway, or I would have been out there with my hose trying to keep my house from burning down! Maybe I shouldn't have gotten rid of that crazy sprinkler system on my roof!

Happy Birthday Anne!

For Anne's birthday (7-22) we had a little swimming/milkshake party with my parents to celebrate her birthday and the fact that she and Grandpa completed their reading challenge. then on her actual birthday, she was able to invite 2 friends to see the movie of her choice--Kung Fu Panda. Her sisters were really excited because they got to come too. We had a little "cake" afterward. It was fun.

Here was the purse cake. It was very easy to make and I thought very appropriate for my tween daughter.


Here's a picture of her blowing out the candles.

Other than the bag in the background giving her bunny ears, I thought this was a cute picture of Anne opening her gifts.

Can you believe I have a child who's almost in double digits!!

New trailor and Car

Someone on youtube caught me pulling my new trailor with my Ford Escort. Check it out.