All About the Argyles

We had a nice Thanksgiving at my Aunt and Uncle's house. Here are some pics. This is my Aunt, Sharon. She is one of my best friends and favorite people walking the planet! Everyone chipped in to help. Reagan sets one of three tables. We had ALOT of people there. My Uncle, Greg. Gettin in the mood for the holidays with some reindeer ears. This is my little sister, Lindsey. Everyone says Reagan looks (and acts) just like her. I brought a Tomato/Mozzarella Salad. It is my new fave. and a Granola Chocolate-Chip Pie. It sounds weird but it's divine! "Chief" Brady made sure the Native American population was represented at our Thanksgiving festivities. He made this at pre-school for their party and insisted on wearing it again. "Gigi" ( my grandmother) with the girls. They played dominoes while we waited for the feast to begin. Check her out in her black leather coat. She is the coolest and I just love her so much. Every year I wonder if this might be my las...

I love this talk! I found it years ago. I was having a trial because of someone who had been less than kind to me over an extended period of time. This talk provided alot of peace and comfort to me. I keep it in a file of favorites to study every once in awhile. I especially love the story at the end from the life of Elder Talmadge. He was the author of "Jesus the Christ". After reading this, it is no wonder he had such an understanding of the Savior's nature. He exemplified it in his own life. If you don't have time for scripture study today, read this post and then reflect on it while you spend time with the kids, cook, grocery shop, clean the house and it will edify you. I promise. I often wonder why some feel they must be critical of others. It gets in their blood, I suppose, and it becomes so natural they often don’t even think about it. They seem to criticize everyone—the way Sister Jones leads the music, the way Brother Smith teaches a lesson or plants his ga...

When Tanner got his brown belt - right before he got his Black belt. Can you believe how much he has changedin 4 short years?

TA DA!!! Why did Santa come early? Because I was grossly negligent with my last camera. A really nice one that my dh gave me LAST year for Christmas. I dropped it while taking pictures on the first day of school and even though my dh took it in to get it fixed- it was never the same. I wanted one that was small and could fit in my purse. That is also the reason I haven't posted much this week. Never fear dear friends!! I will be back in the saddle as soon as she is done charging up!!!! Have a great weekend Folks!

My cousin posted this pic when she mentioned that she had some changes in her life that would require some stretching on her part. It got me to thinkin' about all the things that have helped me stretch over the years. Here are my top five, in order. 1. Brent's illness 2. Being married to a Bishop while trying to raise 4 young children 3. graduating from College while working, being a newlywed 4. My present calling 5. being raised as a step-child I am a different person today because of all of the above and I am so glad I made it! What is the thing that has made you stretch the most and why?

Don't know what to do with all those pictures, certificates, ribbons, etc that your little guys come home with all the time? I had an idea once and now when other moms come over they comment on it so I thought I would share (sorry about the picture quality, I am having camera issues again but you get the idea)... Some of you are so talented - you could doll your brag boards up but since I am not crafty mine are just plain.... You can put anything on them. I have pictures of my girls when they were flower girls at my sister's wedding, Tanner's certificate showing he is a black belt in Karate, notes from the desk fairy proclaiming desk cleanliness, swim team ribbons, original artwork, etc.

I love this kid. Sometimes I marvel that 1/2 of him came from MY gene pool. Brent and I secretly refer to him as our little Nephi. He is such a good boy. No he is a GREAT PERSON. One of the BEST people I know. Today he suffered a disappointment. It broke his mother's heart. I went in my room where noone could see and shed a tear. I love him so much and ,as his mom, it is hard for me to see him experience disappointment. Not making the team doesn't really seem like a big deal but when you are in the 7th grade it can feel like it. Not this 7th grader, though. He walked through the door with a big smile on his face, announced the bad news, and then went outside to shoot some more hoops. He is not the least bit upset. Even when he told me that one of his "friends" who had made the team kind of rubbed it in ( SO not cool ) he said it didn't bother him. I really don't think it did. I think he was happy for the guy. I love that about him. There are kids that seem lik...

I used to have a little corner in our bedroom for my desk but got a wild idea to move it upstairs to an area off the game room. Now I have more space and the added bonus of being able to see the tv in the media room while I pay bills, scrap, e-mail, blog, etc...What do you think? The big pink boxes hold all of my scrapbooking supplies. Zeus thinks the green rug on the floor was purchased just for him to lie on when I am up there working. It needs paint but I haven't decided yet what color. Any suggestions?

We took Jensen's friend, Caitlin, to see HSM3 on Saturday - she hadn't seen it yet -and we LOVED it and wanted to see it again. Then we suprised McKinley with a suggestion after the movie, "since you are turning 8 tomorrow do you want to go get your ears pierced?" If you have a little girl wanting to get her ears pierced I recommend Libby Lu - they make a much bigger deal about it and are so good with the girls AND they were ALOT cheaper than Claire's (where we got Jensen's pierced last year). She was so nervous! And a shout out to my bud Tanner who was a trooper sitting in the front of Libby Lu (for all to see) watching our purses and bags during the big event. That had to be sheer torture for a 12 year old boy but he was a great sport, as always.

We were coming home from dinner in West Plano tonight in the heavy rain. I was driving. All of a sudden the car completely hydroplaned and we literally spinned twice completely around on the toll road. I can't believe we didn't roll. It was a miracle. Noone was hurt. We were all pretty shaken up, realizing how close we came to rolling and who knows what else... We immediately went to our knees when we got home and said a prayer of thanks to Heavenly Father for keeping us safe. I know he kept me calm in the midst of it all so that I could think clearly. I know he kept us from hitting the barrier or jumping the barrier or rolling the car with the 6 most precious things I have in it. Miracles DO happen.

At our awards ceremony on Friday Reagan was recognized for achievement in Language Arts (she is a big time reader like her mom) and again by the Art teacher for achievement in Art (which she MUST get from Dad cuz' I haven't got an artsy bone in my body and we seem to have a few kids with that ability). McKinley was recognized with the certificate of citizenship for Outstanding Behavior.

I think this is pretty impressive stuff - and still ANOTHER reason I love life in a small town. How many of you got birthday letters from your Superintendent of schools for your big day? Well, you do if you live in our town. We have the most AMAZING superintendent. I have been so impressed by him. He sent McKinley (and Jensen) letters for their birthdays and it is signed by him. Granted, I know a secretary probably typed it up, licked the stamp, and stuck it in the envelope but I think that is so cool. They felt so good when they opened up the letter and saw it. Dr. Watkins also rotates among all the schools (even the high school!) and does car pool lines in the morning. He greets them and helps them out of the car - yes, cold days too. He goes to most of the games too. All the kids know him and yell "hi" to him when they see him. Impressive!!!! I am enclosing his follow up comments to an email I sent him about it just to show you what a nice man he is... "Tha...

I am going to try to to list a few things each week in November of things I am truly grateful for. Here is my starter list. Now realize that these are ASIDE from the obvious ones like Gospel, family. hubby, etc.. 1. I am grateful for my health. Watching my grandfather in the final stages of his battle with Liver Cancer and seeing how hard every day is for him has made me realize what a precious thing it is to have your health and to be able to do the things you love because you feel good. 2. Good Friends (Old and New) When we moved here a little over a year ago, we did it for the benefit of our youth age kids. Brent and I left an IDEAL situation for us where we had a TON of life-long, thick and thin friends that we did stuff with all the time and that were like family. We were totally willing to do it so that our kids could have more opportunities to make friends with other youth their age because there were hardly any in our old ward. I came here with the mind set that I didn't re...

I listened to a conference talk today where they referenced this quote from President Packer. I was so intrigued that I researched it and found it. Man, I love him! He is one of my favorite speakers. I e-mailed it to a dear friend going through a particularly hard situation and then had the after-thought that many of you are going through similar situations so it might be helpful to you: "We live in a day when the adversary stresses on every hand the philosophy of instant gratification. We seem to demand instant everything, including instant solutions to our problems. We are indoctrinated that somehow we should always be instantly emotionally comfortable. When that is not so, some become anxious... It was meant to be that life would be a challenge. To suffer some anxiety, some depression, some disappointment, even some failure is normal. Teach our members that if they have a good, miserable day once in a while, or several in a row, to stand steady and face them. Things will straig...

Imagine how ecstatic our 5 offspring were when we picked them up from school on Monday and then announced that we were going to get flu shots for family home evening. This is a yearly tradition. We have a"Staph-prone" child so it is a REALLY good idea for her that we try to maintain a flu-free home. After the shots we went to visit my grandparents. They just recently moved out of their home of over twenty years and moved into a "retirement community". It has been a tough adjustment, needless to say. My grandfater has stage 4 cancer and my grandmother has Alzheimers. It was time. Then we went to get ice cream at the place Brent refers to as the "$10 ice cream store". Its not far from the truth. A scoop of ice cream with a mix in is almost $10. I rationalized it to him by saying that it was the least we could do for them considering what the initial activity was.....