Why Do Fools Fall In Love?

It might seem a little silly to be talking about this subject since Valentine's day is long past, but I have been a bit reflective lately, hence the subject of love.

In answer to the question of why, or possibly how, people fall in love I would give you the same philosophical answer that was wisely given to us by the tootsie pop advertisers, "The world may never know."

When Mark has been gone I have noticed a few things. I don't sleep well when he is not here so I make poor choices and stay up, sometimes until 2 am. By that time I know if I crawl into bed I will fall into a coma and therefore not have to lie in wait for sleep to overcome me. I also don't pick up the house as much because I work on projects more.

I thought about how easy it would be to convince yourself not to do things because they didn't matter. I thought about my life and where I might be without my good husband, besides alone and lonely. I thought about how much he loves me and our family and how hard he works to make sure we have the things we need and that we are happy. I thought about how much I love him.

I am grateful that God gave us the ability to love, the desire to share our lives with others, and the joy that doing so brings to us. I am grateful that the man I married has helped me to be better than I would have been alone, and that I too (hopefully) have done the same for him. Without him life would be just another day. I'm glad we have each other!

Hidden Treasures

I was cleaning out some things on my computer and I found a few treasures.

I have no idea why Josh and Molly were hanging out so far on the rock, but it's a cool picture. I wish I could have found a few pictures of Stuart and Laura, and some of Marks parents, etc. but he must have them all on his computer. The only picture I could find of Marks mom was in with the Halloween photos. The only things is she wasn't in costume. I wonder if Mark was making a comment. She does look pretty scary in those curlers she wears at night.

Oh well. I am grateful for the "treasures" in my life.

YUMM! TATOR TOTS!

Ode To Tator Tots!!!!!!

It has been a long time since I really enjoyed tator tots. I remember that they were the longed for item at school lunch. We never filled our pockets with them like Napoleon Dynamite did, but we all loved them.

I had a lot of things to do on Thursday so I was cleaning the house when my hair dresser called and said she could move my appointment from 5:45 to right that minute if I wanted. (10 am) Luckily I had taught Seminary that morning so I was already wide awake and ready to go. Afterwards I decided to just go ahead and run my errands. That was where I made my fatal mistake. I now know why you never shop on an empty stomach. All sorts of things were calling my name in the store as I looked for items to make "healthy" meals. When I went past the freezer section I saw a bag of "mini" tator tots. They won the grand prize, a trip home with me for lunch!!!

They were so yummy, and extra crispy, that I thought I would make a blog about them. I wanted a picture so I went to Yahoo search and typed in Tator Tot images. Some cute and interesting things came up. This was the first image:




Then this cute little guy showed up:

Let me say I would never eat either of those for lunch. EWWW!

I must say that I think this next one is my favorite though.

The title of the picture was "Life after Coffee", but I think

I can see a bit of myself early on Christmas morning, or on

mornings I go help at Seminary. Or maybe a resemblance

to Yoda? I don't know, but it made me laugh out loud.

I know!!! It's the way Josh looks when you take his place at the table!! ;o) JK!!!

THESE are the lucious nummy tots I was talking about!

Only these are full size tots. The mini ones get a bit crispier and I like that!

They bring back days of nostalgia and fill your tummy, can't get much better

than that!!! They are versitile too. I found out you can make a casserole with

them, and kabobs as well.

Another favorite image of mine with the answer of why dinosaurs

no longer roam the earth....... the mighty cholesterol.

And thats the truth!

I want Boaf! ( Name that cinematic treasure!)

No it's not land before time 3,500!

The Sun Will Come Out . . . . .

Here in the lovely state of Washing ton we often have to look at pictures of the sun to remind us what it looks like and why it's lighter outside in the am hours versus the pm hours. Yesterday I actually got excited because it was 60 degrees and I actually had to take my coat off for a while in the afternoon. We are back to normal today. It has caused me to reflect on some wonderful, glorious times, with our family when we actually saw the sun!

One year we got to go camping with Mark's brother's family and his mom and dad. We went to Bryce Canyon, among other places. It was pretty cool. I enjoyed walking down the canyon with Mark, Josh, Dad, and John. The other kids stayed up on top. It was hot but it was beautiful. I am not a camping person but I really liked seeing all the new places. One of the reason's I don't like camping is the bugs. One night we were trying to eat tacos for dinner and we kept having this huge grasshopper (locust) fly around us. We would bat it out of the way and it would come back. I made a comment about how irritating it was and Mark, taking care of me, smashed it. I couldn't eat after that. Kind of stupid, I know.

That night, as the canyon cooled off, the wind picked up. It came swooshing down through the canyon and the camp ground and the wind was ferocious. The next morning I told Mark how half the night I layed there praying that the tent wouldn't fall down and smother us. He admitted he'd done the same thing. We never knew the other was awake! It really was a fun trip. We did a lot of hiking and other things.

One of our favorite places to be is in Grants Pass at Grandma and Grandpas house. Right down the road they have a sports park with lots of hiking paths and protected waterways. It's really pretty in the spring and summer. They have this little pond with ducks and turtles. I love it when they all come out and line up in the sun. It's just one of the little fun things. I also love it in the spring when all the momma and daddy ducks come out with their little fuzz balls and swim on the pond.

It also reminds me of the year we got to go vacation over by lake Chelan. I actually think it was Perrygin lake. It was fun to relax and the kids caught some fish with Mark and grandpa. We went swimming at the state park and Danielle got her feet washed out from under her by a boat that passed too closely. I was busy with Josh and couldn't get to her. It was Grandma to the rescue! She ran, fully clothed, into the water to grab the back of Danielle and haul her up to the shore. She was sopping wet from the knees down, but Danielle had been saved!

One year on the coast we all went camping but Mark and I chickened out and got a hotel room. We were glad we did. It rained, no poured, all night!!! When we came back to camp we heard about how Michael and Brianna, John and Kara had practically floated away on their air mattresses in the middle of the night because the rain came through the tent. Grandma and Grandpa, snug in their little burrito, had no idea what had happened during the night. AHH! The beauty of a good mattress!!

I can't wait for the sun to come out. Maybe we'll get to go camping with our family again soon.