If anyone even remembers I have a blog . . .

I know I haven't posted anything on this blog forever - things are a little crazy and updating my blog obviously isn't on my list of things that HAVE to get done. But, I thought I would post some pictures we had taken last week for our Christmas cards. The girls' piano teacher (who is also my sister-in-law's sister-in-law - so almost family), Cheri, was very nice to let us come to her awesome backyard of the house they just moved into and take some pictures for us (Cheri is a very talented girl who can do lots of things!). I didn't use any of these pictures on my card, but there were a lot of good pictures of the kids. Thanks, again, Cheri ! You are the best!

Cousin's Christmas List

Sorry anyone who isn't a brother or a sister - this is not an exciting post - here is the list for cousin Christmas presents.

Mason - Hugo
Sydney - Kambry
Bryn - Kira

Lauren - Ella
Tanyon - Owen
Autumn - Lily
Hugo - Luke
Kambry - Sydney

Anna - Lauren
Thys - Mason

Luke - Tanyon
Kira - Niels

Kail - Autumn
Lily - Thys
Niels - Anna

Ella - Kail
Owen - Bryn

It always helps to have connections . . .

Some of you may have read this story on Bryn's blog, but I am going to post my version of what happened. Yesterday Bryn had piano and dance - that doesn't usually happen - Cheri (the girls' piano teacher was out of town on their regular day). So, I had to pick Bryn up from piano and hurry and get her to dance. Well, I guess I was "hurrying" a little too much for the Sandy City police officer I passed and he thought we should have a little chat (I really was only going 11 over the speed limit so it wasn't THAT bad.).

I apologized and told him my story about trying to get my daughter between lessons and he didn't seem to have a lot of sympathy for that story and asked for my license and registration which I had ready to hand to him. When he looked at my license he asked if I was related to Sherriff Winder so I had to explain that Wynder is with a "y" not an "i" (which he should have been able to see on my license). But, since he seemed to be interested in who I was related to, I used the "my brother was a Sandy City police officer" card. I asked him how long he had been with Sandy City and he said about 6 years and asked who my brother was. When I told him Gary's name he said he did know Gary but he kind of looked at me funny and asked if he was my brother-in-law or my "real brother". I don't know if he thought I looked to old to be Gary's sister or was thinking that we look nothing alike (which is true). I told him Gary was my "real" brother and he asked how he was doing and if he was still doing his military stuff. So, we had a nice little talk and he very nicely handed my license and registration back to me and told me I really should slow down and walked back to his car - with me yelling "thank you" out my car window.

So, yes JaNae, being related to Gary does come in handy. And, if Gary reads this, or you can tell him, JaNae, the officer's name was R. Nielsen (he looked about the same age as Gary) and he said to tell you "hi". Other than Bryn being about 15 minutes late for dance everything ended happily!

Being the "Favorite Aunt" is work - but it is worth it!

A couple of weeks ago my niece Anna was at my house and was crying because she didn't want to go home, and I told her that we would have a sleepover one night with her and my other niece and nephew. When you tell a smart little 4-year old that doesn't forget anything something like that you better prepared to follow through. So, last Friday night we had our "little cousin" sleepover at Aunt Steph's. I didn't do it by myself - Bryn and Syd helped a lot (Mason was at scout camp). We had pizza, made cookies, walked to Snoasis (the best snow cone shack in town!) and got snowcones (we had to walk because I didn't have car seats - luckily it is just a few blocks up the street), made a craft - we always have to have a craft, played games with prizes for the winners, watched a movie and had popcorn, slept for a few hours, had pancakes and waffles for breakfast, and played some more. Little Thys came for part of the activities but didn't sleep over. So, here is a picture of my family room around midnight. Anna - the one with the green pillow is playing like she is asleep for this picture - it may not be such a good idea to give 3, 4, and 5-year olds snow cones at 9:00 at night right before you want them to go to bed! But, we all made it through the night and nobody woke up crying for their mom in the middle of night - which I was happy about! We had a lot of fun and we will probably do it again (but don't tell the kids that just yet, Jan and Stace).

E was really sleeping with her little hand on her cheek - this picture isn't posed!

Sweaty little O - he had to sleep in a sleeping bag even though it was a little warm.

Here is what Anna really looked like at midnight - wide awake!

Here is E with her lunch box we deocrated for our craft.

O with his lunch box.
Although it doesn't look like it in this picture - I think everyone had a good time.

Stace came to get Anna for her dance class and she wasn't happy about leaving.

Aren't they cute!!!!!

So, little cousins, thanks for coming and we love you!

Catching Up

This is my monthly (or bi-monthly) posting session. We have had a busy end of summer and we are sorry to see summer quickly coming to an end! The last few weeks we have been to a family reunion (see post below), Mason went to scout camp, I cleaned out and organized every one of our kitchen cupboards, we have finished our school shopping (I wanted to get it done early for a change!), we are watching as much of the Olympics as we can (I have always found it amazing that I get so excited to watch sports I have never watched or even heard of before), and with the exception of Dru (who has to go to work every day) and Sydney who is an "early to bed early to rise" kind of girl - we sleep in every day we can! We also got to spend some time with my sister and her family which now includes cute little baby Kira. Les and Jake adopted Kira and we are so lucky that she is part of our family! The only bad thing about Kira is that they took her home to Montana and we miss her (and Luke and Les & Jake)!

These are the two pictures we used for Kira's baby announcements.

Luke is such a cute big brother!

A few posts ago I blogged about our trip to Chuck E. Cheese for Anna's birthday. Just to refresh your memory - O totally freaked out when we walked in the door and the first thing he saw was Chuck E. Cheese. He ran screaming out of the door and did not want to go back in. Here is the picture of a traumatized O. While O was outside crying, Anna was hugging and posing for a picture with Chuck E. Cheese.

Family Reunion

The last few days of July we went to Zion's Ponderosa Resort on the east side of Zion's National Park. We went for a big family reunion with Dru's aunts, uncles, and cousins. There were probably about 150 people there from Canada to Las Vegas and lots of places in between. The resort was great, the weather was not too hot, and we had a lot of fun getting reacquainted with all of Dru's relatives. These are just a couple of pictures we took as we were getting ready to leave.

Mason, Syd, and Bryn with their cousins Elizabeth

and Nathan and Grandma and Grandpa Wynder

The Big Read

I saw this list on the blog of a girl (thanks, Maren) that is in my ward and thought I would put it on mine. I was happy to see that I actually had read more than 6 books - although I am sure Stacey has read way more than I have. So, I will be watching your blogs to see what books you have read . . .

The Big Read, an initiative by the National Endowment for the Arts, has estimated that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed. How did you do?

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy (I definitely did not love this book – depressing!)
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White – the first real book I ever read when I was in 1st grade
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince- Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Krav Maga/Martial Arts

Mason has been BUGGING me to find a place for him to take karate for months. I told him we could maybe find a place once schools was out so he hadn't been out of school 5 minutes when we were looking for a place. We found a place called Paul Evans Martial Arts - and the best part about it is that it is only about 4 blocks straight up the street from our house.
They told us he could come to a class and see if he liked it. Of course, the next teen class they had we were there. When we walked in Paul (the owner) told Mason they would be learning to use some kind of Samurai swords and some kind of staff that night and Mason's eyes got about as big as saucers. Needless to say, we were there two nights later for the next teen class with our money to sign up. The nice thing about this place is we pay one amount and Mason can go up to 6 hours every week. So, Paul tells Mason he should start coming to the Krav Maga class. The only person who might actually know what Krav Maga is would probably be Gary (so if you read this JaNae show it to Gary if he is ever home). It is some kind of martial arts used by the Israeli army or something. So now, in addition to the two nights of the teen class, Mason is now going to two nights of Krav Maga, and they have a weapons class on Fridays we are going to be adding to our schedule so I would say we are definitely getting our money's worth!

I went and watched part of the Krav Maga class last night and it was pretty intense. There were a few other teenagers, but most of the people in the class are adults. Mason comes home drenched in sweat after every class and he LOVES, LOVES, LOVES it. I had my camera in the car so I took a few pictures of some of the stuff they were doing.

This drill would have killed me. They were supposed to do a stand up or a sit up while one person was holding their legs, then punch three or four times in the air and then when they laid back down another person hit them on the chest (hard) with this big padded thing. And they had to keep doing it until Paul told them to stop. I know this isn't a great picture but Mason is on the floor doing a sit up and the guy standing behind Mason's group in all black is the owner. He is covered in tatoos and looks like this big mean guy but he is surprisingly nice and friendly (when he isn't teaching Krav Maga).

For this drill they had to drag themselves across teh floor with someone on their back. When they got to the other side of the room, they switched places and went back across the floor.

This little activity was punching a padded board, but the punching was the easy part. Holding the padded board without having it hit you in the chest each punch was the hard part.

Sweaty and happy!

Chuck E. Cheese

We were in Arizona the weekend of Anna's birthday, so we missed her birthday party. I told her we would let her pick somewhere and we would take her and have our own birthday party with her. She chose Chuck E. Cheese and Jana decided to bring her kids and come with us. We went to lunch at Chick O'lay (Chick Fillet) and then went acros the street to every kid's dream and every mother's nightmare. We actually had a good time and although my kids complained a bit about going to a "little kid" place, they had more fun and went through way more tokens than the little kids.

The best part of the whole outing was when we were walking into Chuck E. Cheese. I was holding the door for the kids and Jana was coming in behind us. Ella and Anna walked in and Owen was right behind them. Before Jana or I were actually in the door Owen started screaming and crying and turned and ran for the parking lot yelling "I don't want to go in there!" When I actually got in the door there stood Chuck E. Cheese (Anna had run in and started hugging him while Owen was running out the door). It was so funny. I have some pictures of him crying but they are on my camer'a internal memory and my USB cable got stepped on and so I can't plug it in. As soon as I get another cable I will post the pictures of Owen crying. It took Jana about 5 minutes to convince him it was okay to go in, but he was a bit nervous the whole time. So, here are some of the pictures of our fun birthday party! (And, we missed all of our other cousins who weren't there!)

This was the valuable prize Anna got with her tickets - along with a couple of rings and a sucker.
Owen finally recovered from the Chuck E. Cheese sighting and actually played some games.

Ella dancing as she was riding the merry-go-round.

Mason will always be a "little kid" at heart!

Syd is counting her tickets.

The whole group after picking out their prizes.

My Connection to American Idol

I promised myself I would be better at updating my blog. Nothing too exciting has happened the last few days, although we did get a new bishopric in our ward yesterday, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera at church to take their picture ( jk :-) ) and I hate posting blogs without pictures. So, I thought I would do a post about my connection to American Idol. We have a new assistant principal at Cottonwood this year - Dave Gatti - one of the funniest people I have ever met by the way. Anyway, before he came to Cottonwood, he was a PE teacher at the junior high school in Murray. So, yes, you guessed it, he was David Archuleta's PE teacher in junior high.

The day David Archuleta was in Salt Lake for his "hometown visit" Gatti went to the Gateway and was 8th in line with a bunch of 15 year-old girls. He said he felt and probably looked like some sick pervert either stalking David Archuleta or just wanting to be around a bunch of young girls. He almost left, but he decided to stick it out. When David A. was waving to the crowd he saw Gatti and said "Hi Mr. Gatti" which brought tears to Gatti's eyes. David A. was signing autographs at the Gateway so when it was Mr. Gatti's turn for his autograph, David A.'s mom took their picture together. When he got back to school he went from classroom to classroom sharing his story with everyone and anyone who would listen. Then he sent the whole faculty this picture - so there you go, that is my connection to American Idol.

By the way, this picture is blown up to an 8x10 and is framed hanging on Gatti's office wall between the pictures of his two kids.

Confessions of a bad blogger!

I kind of knew when I started this blog that it would probably not get updated very frequently. But, I really did intend to post something a little more often than once every 2 months. So, now I am making up for lost time. I was actually out of town about half of the month of March. I was going to post pictures I had taken at the end of the month, but one of the girls on my yearbook staff at school "borrowed" the memory card (with all of my personal pictures) in my camera one day when I was not at school. After she used it for whatever she needed it for, she "misplaced" the memory card - which isn't a surprise. This girl has "misplaced" a Nikon D40 camera and lens, and is always looking for her keys or cell phone. Just the other day she left her wallet in my classroom. She tells me not to worry - she is sure it will show up somewhere, but I am still waiting. So, maybe someday you will see the pictures from my last trip to cheerleading national competition, my Grandma Scott's 90th birthday party, Bryn's dance competition in St. George, and pictures of my trip to San Antonio for the National Business Education Association conference, but don't hold your breath. I am not promising I will update every day, but I will try to be a bit better. I have published 3 new posts today so hopefully that will do a for a few days . . .

Dude, where's my car?

So, about 23 years ago, Dru brought a brand new Honda Accord. He loved that car and he drove it FOREVER (okay so it was probably only 10 years or so). Anyway, he finally got a new car but the Honda was not in any shape to really trade in or sell. So, it has been sitting in our driveway for the last several years. It kind of became a permanent fixture in front of our house and drove my mom crazy! Last weekend, we finally had someone tow it away. We took this picture with Dru standing in the spot where the car was parked, and made it into a card for my mom for mother's day. She said it was the best Mother's Day present she had ever gotten and Jana gave Dru a standing ovation. It is nice to have it gone, although Dru was a bit sad to see it go.

Cute Cousins

Here are some pictures Bryn took on Mother's Day of her cute cousins!

Bryn's New Haircut

A few weeks ago, Bryn decided she wanted a new haircut. She had to wait until all of her dance competitions and the year end show were over (she had to wear her hair in a straight ponytail). Her last dance performance was last night, so she had me call and get an appointment with Mindy (Hi, Mindy!) today to cut her hair. It looks super cute and she loves it!

Here is the before picture.

And here is the new haircut (front, side, and back views)

Happy Birthday, Jana!

This is a couple of days late, but since Jana does blogs for people's birthdays, I thought someone should do one for her. JaNae had a very nice post, but didn't have a lot of pictures with her, so here goes . . .

I remember about 30 years and 6 months ago my mom told me she was going to have a baby. I had just turned 13 and I was in the 8th grade. I already had 4 younger brothers and sisters and I didn't think I needed one more. So, I told my mom that I was not going to tend this baby and that this baby could be Stacey's problem. But, somehow, that all changed the day my mom and dad brought Jana home from the hospital. I remember holding her, and my mom said to me "I thought this was going to be Stacey's baby," and I don't remember exactly what I said but something like "I think I have changed my mind." Ever since then I have felt like Jana's half sister/half mom. I remember spending a lot of time with Jana. When she was little, I remember putting her in the seat on the back of my mom's bike and taking her on bike rides. I remember when I moved into an apartment my second year of college (about 1 mile down the street from my parents' house) I would call home at night and talk to Jana and my roommates couldn't figure out what I had to talk about with a 5-year old for so long. As she got older and I moved a little farther away, I always liked to have Jana (and her friends) come and stay with me - although I don't remember letting her and her friends come and stay with me so they could go dancing and stay out late but she said (in one of her blog posts) that I did. And, I can't think about Jana without thinking about Nicci, Steph, JaNae, and Carol and all of the "fun" (mom would probaby call it trouble) they managed to get in - which I am sure most of us don't know half of what they really did! Whenever Jana is around there is always something fun happening (except for those ornery years - but only ornery at home - between the ages of 13-18)! I actually think Jana is responsible for me and Dru getting married since she told Dru at Sunday dinner one day that he was pathetic and then walked away from the table.

Yes, Jana turning 30 does make me feel old since I remember the day she was born like it was just a few years ago, but I am so proud of the person that she has grown up to be. She is still the "life of the party" and is such a great mom to her cute kids! I think during this last year, she has proven to all of us that she has more strength, courage, and faith, than we ever thought any of us had! I think I speak for our whole family when I say that our family definitely would not be the same without Jana, and even though she is the baby of our family, she is a great example to all of us and we all look up to her and are so proud of her!!!! So, happy birthday Jan, and I hope "30" is a GREAT year!!!!!!! I love you!

This is one of the only baby pictures I could find - I guess when you are the

youngest of six kids you don't get your picture taken much!

This was when Jana was probably about 5 months old.

Jana was looking at this picture yesterday and said she didn't think
O looked like her, but she decided maybe he did look like her - I think so!

This was a picture of Jana during a dance recital with the famous

"LaVaun Turner School of Dance." The funny thing about this picture is that

she didn't do much dancing and cried during the whole thing - the dance was

to the song "If You're Happy and You Know It!"

(At least she didn't have to do "I've Got a Doggy with a Long Tail!")

I dont' think there was a date on this picture, but it is probably

kindergarten or 1st grade.

I had to use this picture because it is SOOOO NOT Jana -
I doubt we will be seeing E in a dance costume like this with make-up
and big bangs any time soon!


I am guessing this picture is probably 3rd or 4th grade.



Hey, Jan, can I take E to Lagoon when she is about 10 years old and dress her
up like a sleezy saloon girl with a gun and have her picture taken?



Sorry Jan and Nic - I didn't find very many funny pictures so I just had
to use this one - I'll call it "Bathing Beauties!"





This is a picture of Jan with our sisters Leslie and Stacey in Holland when my
parents took Jana and Leslie to pick up Stace after her mission.
Does anyone notice a missing sister??? Oh, yeah, that would be me -
I was home working.
Jana went to Europe twice before she graduated from high school, and
I haven't ever been - but don't worry I'm not bitter!!!




This was Jana's first day of 8th grade. Nice tan legs, but wasn't it a little hot
the first day of school to wear a long-sleeved flannel outfit?



"Glam Jan"
Jana loves this picture - jk :-)




This is Jana's senior picture, but she didn't like it much and had
Carol take another picture - but I couldn't find any copies of the other picture
except the one in the frame hanging on the wall.




One of our "sister pictures" at Jana and Jeremy's wedding.

Jan with E, O, and one of the famous bunnies that was proud to be

one of the only pets this family will ever have - even if it was just for a few weeks.

Happy Birthday!