Revenge of the Turkey.....

As many of you know, we are Arizona transplants. In Arizona it gets hot in the summer....like insanely hot...110 degrees is the norm during the months of June, July and August. I am somewhat of a bargain shopper and if I find a smokin' deal...I'll buy a ton of it. Well I found some turkey on sale and stocked up (I have a nice sized freezer for such occasions)...

I must warn you...this will be a long post and may not be very pleasant....

It was late July and I had put one of my prized turkeys in the fridge to defrost to feast on later. Well...I kept putting it off for about 3 weeks. Not good. Well we ended up not eating it. I double bagged the stinky beast and put it in the big black trashcan our city provides. The bad news about this is...they had already picked up the trash that morning and we'd have to wait a full week until they came again.
So not good...

The trashcan smelled worse as the days progressed. We could no longer lift the lid to put our trash in, due to the stench of death and ginormous swarm of flies protecting it. We ended up leaving the trash bags next to the deathly black beast. The story gets worse...


Our next door neighbors invited us to swim in their pool and bbq. As he was grilling, he turned to his wife and said..."oh man...Monica... it's those dogs again. They stink!"He later turned to us and said..."I hate those dang (edited) dogs next door!" What we noticed was that his grill shared the same wall as our black beast. We could see the small cloud of flies where the beast stood. The grill and beast were just 6 yards away from one another. All we could do was nod and say..."yeah...those dogs really stink, you have bad neighbors." (were we bad or what?)

Trash day finally came. Yippee! I thought for sure my brave husband would do the manly duty and put the remaining trashbags into the beast. Nope. He actually left early and had to be at the office earlier than usual. Who had to do the horrible deed? Yours truly...yeah..'lil ole me... I had tears in my eyes...I was scared I'd be attacked by the flies for disturbing their carcass...Oh the stench was terrible. I was on the verge of throwing up, it was soo bad. I did the deed, then rolled the beast to the curb. There were several high school students walking to the (school) bus stop. They got to about 10 yards of the beast, crossed the street, while holding their noses.
So embarassing....

I never felt so happy to see the green trash truck. Lucky for the trash man, the garbage truck has the one arm bandit...so he never had to get out and get near the black beast. The beast was now empty and would be back to normal...or so I thought....I opened the lid and to my horror...it still had the stench of death and about several inches of white maggots occupying the bottom of the beast. I screamed! (so glad no one was around)...I called Brent on the phone immediately. His suggestion was to call the city and to get that bad boy replaced. I called them and they said I could put the beast in my van and exchange it at their facility.

"Are you INSANE! I will NOT have that thing funktify my vehicle!" was my response.

Her advice "Pine-sol usually works with the stench." she said.

The first thing I did was pour a gallon of Clorox into the beast to kill its friends living inside it. Next I poured 2 gallons of Pinesol I had bought at my last Costco trip. Yeah! Take THAT beast!

Later that evening while the kids were in bed (approx. 11pm), Brent rolled the beast to the curb, put the hose in it, and started filling it with water. It was quite the site, I mean Brent's choice in wardrobe was interesting. He had a bandanna on his face to filter the stench from the beast, work boots and shorts. Once the beast was filled, he kicked it over, filling the street with dead maggots. He hosed the street until the body of maggots reached two houses down. He then proceeded to clean the beast with the additional Pinesol I had purchased. When the stench got to be too much he'd say "hit me", I would then spray Lysol in his direction then run quickly back to my safe spot. We realized one of our neighbors was outside observing us (he was on a smoke break I guess). All I could say to him was "hi" then I avoided all eye contact with him.

Well this experience taught us a lot about Arizona summers and how important trash day is to us. I can't say the beast's smell returned back to normal, every so often it would have a funk that made you want to gag. I was so happy when we sold our old house and moved and didn't have to deal with the beast another summer.

So sorry new owners....

So there you have it...this is our "revenge of the turkey" story I had referenced in a past posting. Brent tells this story so much better than I could write it. I hope you enjoyed it!

One less child at home.....

As I sit here typing, listening to our (Alycia and myself) favorite groups (Paramore & the Ting Tings)...I'm getting a bit teary eyed. When we're in the car listening/singing along it makes me so happy and grateful that I have a good relationship with my daughter.

Yesterday, my 11 year old went off to Girl's camp and will not be returning 'til Saturday. I have to admit...it was one of the hardest things I've had to do. I had to actually cut the cord...When we pulled up to the YW camp director's home I felt sick to my stomach. Alycia said "Mom...don't cry...I'll be fine...anyways...if you cry....you'll ruin your makeup....Love you Mom"....sniffle,sniffle...and off she went to join the rest of the excited girls. Alycia has never been away from me, except for the time Brent and I went to Boston and left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa. I thought for sure they'd cry themselves to sleep without Mom and Dad (this was 7 years ago)....Nope....no tears for mom and dad. My kids have never been clingy kids, at times I'm happy about that..

but not yesterday...

It was quiet day for us here at home. Too quiet. Joseph asked me several times when Alycia would be home. He asked who would play Legos with him now. I have a playdate scheduled for him today...otherwise...I would be stuck playing Legos. Luckily...I married an Engineer that knows alot about Networking...Brent and Joseph played World of Warcraft together last night...Ahh...some father and son bonding...hmm...I should've taken a picture...Perhaps next time.

Well, I didn't cry myself to sleep last night. So I guess that's good. I'm now wishing Alycia had a cellphone. It is so hard for me to NOT be in control of situations. I'm sure she's having a fabulous time. Brent has warned me that she'll be singing camp songs. That's what all his sisters did when they went to YW camp.

Three or is it four more days to go...I hope I can survive this. Holy Cow! What am I going to do when she goes off to college???

(Deep breath)

...Ahh...I still have 6 years left...

Camping 2009 Scrapbookin' pages....

To escape the horrid Arizona heat...we went up to Payson to enjoy cooler weather and fresh mountain air. Hah! And people don't think we have forests out in the desert....The family enjoys doing the camping thing (except me....Anna)...

I suffer in silence...

NOT!

My cooking abilities....

Last night as we were sitting down for dinner...my sweet husband made a comment...
"Dinner made...two nights in a row! Yes!"...
"uh...yeah...."...I was speechless (somewhat)
The kids were happy chowing down on my delicious meal...
Stroganoff with noodles....yummy...

For our FHE dessert I made Crispy Oatmeal cookies...They're oh soo good...(I'm eating one as I type away...) I had a very happy family...

That evening I was thinking of how my cooking abilities have improved over the past 14 years. Prior to getting married at age 21, the only thing I could make was Chef Boyardee from a can..(gag) My parents divorced when I was a teen and I chose to live with dad, so all the cooking was done by my him. We had a variety of 4 dishes he knew tasted good and were somewhat nutritious...Thanks dad! My mom wasn't much of a cook...she was always asked to bring a salad to family functions...if you ever talk to Brent...ask him to tell you the scrambled eggs story...All I have to say about that is...I dodged that bullet...

I have to brag for a moment...I have the most fabulous mother-in-law in the world! After Brent and I were engaged, she was kind enough to ask if I wanted to learn how to cut a whole chicken. As I stared at the little germ beast I almost started to gag...was I actually going to have to touch the slimy thing...yes...eww....

"Linda, it's slimy...I don't know if I can do this..." I said (Brent gave me strange look)

"Anna, you can use a paper towel if you want...that might help...now you need to remember to get the guts out of it...you don't want to cook the bag that's in there...okay?" Linda said.

"ewww....this is soo gross..."...I think I had a tear trickling ...I tried to be the brave soon to be wife...more gagging sounds....

"Can't we just buy chicken that's already cut up and skinned? I know they sell them...I've seen them at the store..."

"You could, but they're a lot more expensive...triple the price" Linda said.

"We'll be buying the whole chickens Anna...we'll be really poor while I go to school"...brent said..

"oh" was all I could muster up. Will I really be poor and have to cut up whole chickens? ...I wanted to cry...

Once we were married and moved into our apartment in Provo, Linda paid us a visit from California. I'm not sure what the occasion was...but I was excited to see her again...
For breakfast I broke out my handy dandy cookbook I got as a wedding gift...
Scrambled eggs...hmm...how hard could it be to make...the instructions were simple...yeah...I could totally make this...I'm such a great wife and daughter-in-law...(were my thoughts...)...
Oh no! I don't think scrambled eggs are supposed to be swimming in butter! I put too much butter! sniffle..sniffle...I swear the recipe said 4 Tablespoons of butter! Ahhh!!!! More sniffles...Don't cry Anna ...I say to myself...

In comes my super hero mother-in-law Linda...Yes!.....

"I can make breakfast Anna...don't worry...things like this happen"...my super hero said...she's so nice....I'm so glad I married into such a fabulous family...

I remember thinking ...what must she think of me...does she think I will starve her poor son by him not wanting to eat my cooking? Poor Brent...I almost killed his mouth with my chili just a few months prior...and it came from a CAN!!! I tasted the can version, then I thought I'd give it a little more punch by adding chili powder to it...hmm..like 2 TABLESPOONS (maybe more)...

After we got married, we lived with Natalie (Brent's sister) and Paul..and cute little Davis. We lived with them for about a month since our apartment was still being occupied. Long story. While we lived at Nat and Paul's....Nat always made great dinners. I remember her asking me to help out with her chicken taquitos. All I had to do was spray the pan with Pam. That sounded totally easy. I started spraying...I wanted to get every bit of that pan covered. (I never came in contact with Pam before)...It was like I was spray painting the pan. It was dripping.
"Oh...Anna...it just needs light spraying" Natalie said...she was so sweet about it....she became my favorite sister-in-law that moment. She's so patient with me. I don't think I was asked to spray a pan again...I wonder why? ...Nat was my second super hero in the kitchen..

Staying at Nat and Paul's helped me get a glimpse of how a family should be... something that was somewhat foreign to my newlywed self...I don't think they know how big of an impression they left...I feel it a blessing that we were able to stay in their home...that I was able to get a hint of what was to come once we started our family...they will forever hold a special place in my heart.....here I go again...gettting sidetracked....

Well my cooking abilities have greatly improved since my newlywed days...I can't say that I love cooking (especially dinners)...but I can say that I adore baking. Pies are my specialty actually...Cookies are my second best...but where's the presentation to that?

I now have an eleven year old that loves to cook. She loves to help out and I should be better at including her in preparing meals. I don't want her starting out as cooking being a foreign ability as I did. Perhaps...

We'll work on that this summer...

Can it really be our 14 year Anniversary????

Yes!....

As I sit here typing thinking of the many years we've been together...it's hard to imagine my life without my eternal companion. Who would have thought two teenagers working at Little Caesar's pizza would meet their future spouses there. We even got to go to each other's prom!

When we first started going out..(I thought to myself)...This is the man I'm going to marry...

I remember the day he proposed to me...It was a beautiful day in February...the day after my birthday...we were up at the Lick Observatory in Mt. Hamilton...he went on bended knee and asked me if I would marry him ( I was teary eyed)...and of course I said ..."yes"...

As we were driving down the mountain...I asked my fiance to pull over...I'm not sure if it was nerves or if it was motion sickness...but I....yes......threw up...(luckily he pulled over with perfect timing)....I will never forget that day...ever....

The day of our wedding was picture perfect...June 10th 1995...Oakland LDS Temple. That was the day I was married to my Eternal Companion Brent...for time...and all eternity...

Seeing both of my happy parents and brother outside the Temple ...waiting for me... showed just how much they loved and supported me...I will be forever grateful for their support...it must have been so difficult for them not to see their only daughter get married...yet they were so happy to be a part of my special day....

As I think about the past 14 years...I think of the love and patience my sweet husband continues to show me...the happiness and sorrow life brings us...the two wonderful kids the Lord has blessed us with...and the great peace of knowing that we will be ....

....together forever....

Wilbur

Who doesn't like Wilbur from Charlotte's Web? He's pink, adorable, and lovable....

About a month ago, I went to Joseph's class to observe. I love looking around and checking out the paintings and drawings kids have displayed in the classroom. It's always interesting to see what projects they're working on.

As I was observing, I came across the paper bag drawings the kids had of Wilbur...One of Joseph's classmates came up to me and asked if I wanted to see Joseph's picture. I said "sure"....
To my horror...this is what MY son drew...
Isn't this Creepy! Where did he get this idea from? We are VERY careful in what our kids watch and even their video games...When I asked Mr. Joseph why Wilbur looked different...he replied..."I wanted him to look different and scary." What's with red eyes and fangs dripping with blood???

When Joseph's classmate showed me this version of Wilbur...he said..."Joseph's mom...Joseph's Wilbur is REALLY scary"....

What must his teachers think of us??????

....being a Cub Scout wolf leader....

I've been a Cub Scout Wolf leader since January, and it's been fun....
I will not post names of the boys I have, since some parents may have access to my blog....

Yesterday our meeting was on having Good Character traits....

One of the questions was how can it be difficult to tell the truth when you've done something wrong...

Cubscout A said "Yeah, it can be really hard sometimes. Like the time I got an F on some schoolwork and got a red marker and changed it to an A"..."my mom got upset with me"...
"or the time when I was playing with a ball in the living room and hit my mom's favorite vase...I tried to glue it before she came home...I told her a bird came in the house and broke it"..."she REALLY got upset with me...but I ended up telling the truth...she was glad I finally told the truth"... (yeah..I'm sure)

Cubscout A can be quite entertaining to have around. I'm sure if his parents knew what he tells us, they would absolutley DIE..... I know I would....

When I was first asked to Cubscouts, I have to admit I was not thrilled...

But now....I really enjoy it...having six 8 year olds in my house can be challenging but I really enjoy it! I'm so glad Cubscout A will be with us for a while...he's such a crack-up!

BTW- I will never divulge who Cubscout A is! Never!