Scouts

Brady received his Webelos last week and Anthony received his Wolf.  I was very proud of my boys for working hard to achieve their goals.  I have to be honest.........I don't really "get" the Scout chant thing that they do.  Brady had just received his award and then we pretended like we climbed a coconut tree and dropped a coconut as we made a bomb dropping sound.  After Anthony received his award, we all stood up and shouted "Every night is a football night.......yeah!"  I have to admit, I am a novice at the whole Scouting thing.  I remember the first night when I saw Chad going to a Scout Meeting.  He was dressed in his Scout uniform and I told him to take it off because he looked ridiculous--like he was trying to be a little boy again.  He informed me that it would be weird if he didn't wear it.  Anyway, I will continue to stand and chant after a Scout receives an award even though I may not fully understand it--at least the boys and men get it.  :)

No I am not pregnant--I just look like it in this picture. :)  I just wanted to stop a rumor before it started. :)

BEST...NIGHT...EVER!!! (As Rapunzel would say)

Last night was the night of all nights!  Deseret Book hosted a banquet dinner on the 26th floor of the Church Office Building for everyone who wrote or illustrated a book for the year 2010 and/or did any music, paintings, DVD's or CD's.  Carol Xanthos (the illustrator for our books) and her husband flew in from Beaverton, Oregon to attend.  Carol said, "I feel I am at the Emmy's (for the church)."  I am including more details below for my own "blog journal."  Please don't feel like you have to read it.  :)

For our gift, Deseret Book gave us a nice remembrance trophy, the Joseph Smith Papers, a Mormon Messages DVD, and a Deseret Book credit card where we get 20% off any item at Deseret Book for one year!

This was our program for the evening.  Can you see who the remarks were from?  Yes.......Elder Holland.  How cool is that?  Elder Holland said something in his speech that I will never forget.  He said that through all the talent that was in the room and for every great work that has been published or made this past year--it is to build up the kingdom of God and that we should all remember where our inspiration came from and glorify God and not ourselves for it!  How true!!!!

Inside the program where they listed all who had created works for Deseret Book in 2010

Standing in front of the Children's Book display (these were the children's books that were published this year).

The 26th floor of the Church Office Building.  The dinner was wonderful!  They let us park underneath the Church Office Building and walk through the back doors--I don't think we will ever do that again. :)

Carol Shelley Xanthos and Michele Leigh Carnesecca.  What a last name combination!  :)

My biggest supporter!  :)  Because of him I could do this!

Chad took this picture when they had all of the writers, illustrators and artists stand up.

George and Carol Xanthos (I love that last name) and Chad and Michele Carnesecca

I made George and Carol stand there so I could get a picture of Elder Holland in the background.  Elder Holland is over George's left shoulder and he looks like he is wiping a tear from his eye.  Robert Millet is also to the left and Michael McClean, Hilary Weeks and Brad Wilcox are standing behind Carol's right shoulder.  Thanks for taking one for the team George and Carol!  :)

Sheri Dew was at the event and I LOVE HER!  She was standing next to me and in an awkward, star struck way, I took her by the arm and said the first thing that came into my head, "I love you."  She tried to be gracious and she gave me a hug, looked at my name tag as if she was saying in her head, "Who the heck are you?"  She was so kind and tried to thank me for all that I did (even though I don't think she had any idea who I was.)  I don't care--I do love her!  :)  I actually did the same awkward scenario with Jenny Phillips (singer) and Heidi Swinton (author of President Monson's biography).  I don't know why the first thing that comes out of my mouth when I meet someone I really like is, "I love you."  I need to practice at home in the bathroom mirror before Chad let's me out of the house to go to a function like this!   :)

Do you ever feel like, "One of these kids is not like the others?"  Well, I felt a little like this last night.  I was sitting among amazing people and I thought to myself, "What on earth am I doing here?"  :)  But, I enjoyed every minute of it.  Chad asked me what my favorite part of the evening was.  I said, "The beginning, middle and the end."  Here are some people that we saw and/or met at the event:  David Osmond, Robert Millet, Emily Watts, Elder Holland, Lloyd Newell, Brandon Mull, Emily Freeman, Jenny Phillips, Sheri Dew, Larry Miller's wife (I can't remember her name), John Bytheway, John Hilton, Anthony Sweat, Truman Madsen's family, S. Michael Wilcox, Brad Wilcox, Paul Cardall, Heidi Swinton, Mercy River, Alex Boye, Kris Belcher, Brent Top, Mariama Kallon, Camille Fronk Olson, Simon Dewey and Elspeth Young.

We sat at the table with Elspeth Young and her father who is also an artist.  Elspeth has painted the pictures of the Women of the Scriptures that you see at Deseret Book--they are amazing!  You may remember her from a painting called "For this child I prayed."  Anyway, her father was talking to us and described what it is like to paint.  He said, you can't control exactly what the bristles on the paint brush will do on the canvas.  He said sometimes he will be painting and he knows what he wants to do and the brush goes in a different direction and he thinks to himself, "Now the painting is ruined--this can't be fixed.  What will I do now?"  But, he tries to correct it and do the best he can and when the picture is finished, he looks at his painting and realizes that the accidental brush stroke actually needed to be there to create the amazing painting on the canvas.  He said it is as if the spirit bumps his elbow to help him create something he didn't envision or could create on his own.  I have felt so many "elbow bumps" in my life.  I am grateful when the Lord works through me to do his work and "bumps my elbow" so to speak.  I am grateful that the Lord knows what life paintings we can create--even when we don't see it in ourselves.  Brother Young talked about the paintings of Carl Bloch and he said that there is no possible way he could have created what he did without the spirit.  I am grateful for the Holy Ghost and his promptings in my life.  Because of him, the book "How Does the Holy Ghost Make me Feel" was created and I pray that this book will help children of all ages understand the mission and power of the Holy Ghost.

There is beauty all around....when there's fun at home

Heaven........

Cup hair-do's

Mini cup hair-do's

Cup towers

Disneyworld

After a last minute decision, Chad and I decided to take the kids to Disneyworld because we had sky miles and a free Marriott hotel.  This was on the airplane flying to Orlando.

Our favorite thing on the airplane was playing the trivia challenge.  I saw this screen one too many times!  The only time I would ever win is when Chad wasn't playing.  I had to take a picture for proof!  Chad has amazing random facts recorded in his brain--I don't know how he does it!

We saw this funny crab car and stopped to take a pic.  Pretty clever.

I wish I was just walking in Disneyworld seeing this sign again.  I'll be honest, I don't enjoy coming home after a vacation.  I kept saying to Chad, "Is my life really that bad that I don't want to go home to it?  :)  What on earth do I need to change?"  Geez!

Sitting on the couch at Minnie's house.  Brady set off the alarm in Mickey's house because he leaned over the railing to see if the t.v. really worked.  He was mortified when the sirens went off because he tries to be so obedient.  We razzed him the whole trip that the Disneyworld police were coming to find him.  He started to believe us, so we decided to stop.  :)

Ask yourself this question when you look at this picture:  Do you think the boys wanted to be in this picture?  The answer is:  absolutely not!  I think Sleeping Beauty's charm talked them into it.  This is one of those pics that we can show at their wedding breakfast.

I promise I wasn't drinking at the bars all day long while my kids went on rides--it just looks like it!

Brady at Epcot.  Just look at the lady trying to get out of the picture--classic. 

Yeah........tourists.

We went to a princess lunch in Norway.  The princesses came to our table.  The girls bought autograph books to have all of the Disney characters sign while we were there.

The princesses would giggle with Cate because she wanted to hug each of them.  Cinderella said, "She's a hugger!"

Chi chana wan fietka nee how ku qua ki sur pi ni ku.  

Japan

Morocco

Anthony was so excited to make his Goofy hat purchase--that is all he talked about.  I'll tell you what, it was a hit!  When we went to the Monsters Inc. Comedy Laugh Floor, the monsters interviewed Anthony in his hat.  They asked him, "How long have you been part dog?"  I had no idea what Anthony would say, but he immediately replied, "About three days."  I was mighty proud of my boy that moment for being witty at a moment's notice.  :)

We went to the Animal Park which was our least favorite of the parks.  Brady and I went on the roller coaster Expedition Everest.  It went forwards and then backwards in the dark--crazy!  When we had stopped going backwards and while we were still in the dark Brady said, "Mom, if this goes backwards again, I can't do it."  I said, "Brady, you don't have a choice--we are strapped in!"

Goofy #1 and Goofy #2

You don't see that everyday.

Okay, I was a rock star mother because I waited in this Rapunzel line for an hour while everyone went on rides.  Rapunzel was THE PRINCESS my girlies wanted to see--and she lived up to the hype.  She was darling!  Mission accomplished!  I don't think Flynn was that into Rapunzel...................  :)

Next question: Does Brynn look excited in this picture?  The answer is:  NO!  She had gone on Splash Mountain earlier and was soaked.  I promised her with my life that I wouldn't let her get soaked again.  She had on three rain jackets and a poncho in this picture.  Did she get wet:  NO! 

This was one of the neatest things that we did.  We went to a drawing class with a Disney Animator and he taught us how to draw Donald Duck.  Since then, Brady has been obsessed with drawing characters.  It just takes a spark!

This was at Hollywood Studios--way cool special effects.

We went to a car stunt show that the boys loved.  The girls wanted to leave and see more princesses.  You have to give and take when you have girls and boys.  :)

We had dinner at a 50's diner/home.  Every room had t.v.'s and the waitress acted like she was an ornery aunt.  After we placed our food order, she shouted to the restaurant, "Well, all of these kids said please except for their parents.  You need to work on your manners."  Nice.  That's fun being called out for bad manners in front of your kids........and an entire restaurant.  :)

The Waitress  (I know where she lives. :)