The things you can do with a potty seat.......

Well life is just puttering along..........

Last week was Jade's last week at work. Wednesday Audra, Heidi, Connie and myself took her to lunch. We went to the new Chinese buffet. It was YUMMY! Friday was her last day and I miss her already.

Last Wednesday I also went out to Tremonton to watch Braxton play basketball. That was part of his Christmas present, the money so he could sign up to play. So I thought I'd better go out and see if I was getting my money's worth. I so love watching little kids play sports. It is highly entertaining. I forgot my camera so sorry no pictures.

They all got on the floor and one of the coaches was putting them through their stretches. He told them all to lunge to the right. Well Braxton lunged to his left, I giggled, but he wasn't the only one. So the coach had them all stand up and raise their right hand, Braxton raised his left hand, still he wasn't the only one. So finally the coach had every one's right hand up and he said again "Now everyone lunge to the right". Yes, you guessed it, Braxton lunged to his left...and a couple of others too.

Then they were practicing blocking each other, one person blocked while the other person dribbled the ball around the key. Braxton was the one to dribble. He was dribbling the ball so that it was bouncing almost above his head.

They ran from one end of the gym to the other. When Braxton ran his face was so filled with determination it looked like he was gritting his teeth and his arms were just a pumping. He has a pretty good stride.

He is the shortest one on the team and I guess he has become quite aware about his height. He came home and asked his Dad why he was so short, and I guess that there are some kindergartners that are taller than him. Poor Braxton. At the end of the game he came over and started to cry because he didn't make a "hoop" (basket). I told him he did great but I think the real problem was that he said something about his dad promising him a toy if he made a basket.

Saturday I watched Leslie's kids while her and Paul went out for Valentines. They brought the puppy along too. We did the usual, had macaroni and cheese for lunch. Watched a movie, in which Gunner snuggled up against me and fell asleep. Then we had a treat and they played.

At one point Gunner had to go to the bathroom, I have his potty seat that you put on the toilet so they don't fall in. He doesn't use it anymore because he has to stand like a big boy. When he was done he came out of the bathroom with the potty seat on his head and said "Damma, the potty's stut on my head!" Then he pulled it off and held it in front of him and put his face in the hole and said "Ho Ho Ho, I'm Santa". Then he just turned around and put the seat back in the bathroom and came out like nothing out of the ordinary happened. He's better than TV I tell ya!

I've decided that the dog can't come back until he is completely potty trained. I got tired of cleaning up after him (I don't care how cute he is).

I also had a fun conversation with Jax and Trevon on the phone. Jamie talked to Cambria and then Gunner wanted to talk to her. She asked him if he wanted to come to her house and he of course said yes. So she told him to tell his mom to bring him to play. Well when he got off the phone with her he looked at me and said "Damma, I want to do to Damie's house!"

I'm reading "The Burning Within" by RaNelle Wallace. This is who I went to hear speak with Megan in December.

I finished testing the music Dale J sent me and sent back my input.I haven't gotten my next piano piece yet.

The beauty of Winter........

We have a lot of crows in our area and for some reason they seemed to be gathering on our street. I found out from Susan T. (who I teach Primary with and she also lives 2 houses down from me) that her neighbor (some old man) thinks that the crows are hungry and started putting out seed and things in his yard and on the street for them to eat. Because you know that crows can't possibly find food on their own.....

So since about November when I would come home from work there would be huge flocks of crows all over the street. Well all this feeding has made them brave and they are venturing into all our yards to see what they can find to eat.

I went out one afternoon and there were at least a dozen crows in my driveway. It kinda freaked me out having them all there staring evilly at me. I kept thinking of the movie "The Birds".

So every time it snows they take refuge in my trees in my front yard. I hear them cawing, so I take my camera out to see if I can snap some pictures of them. Especially when they are just in the yard. It would make a neat picture of the black crows on the white snow. But every time I try they fly away.

Last Saturday (Jan 23rd) it snowed all day and like usual the crows started gathering in my trees. This time I snuck out my front door (which is sheltered by my roof that comes low and I have a hedge in front of it) and I managed to get a couple pictures of some of the crows in my tree. This was all I was able to get before they became camera shy and flew away.

The next day (Sunday) was clear and beautiful. I love it the day after a good snow storm. The sun comes out and the sky is sooooo blue and everything is so bright. It was so pretty I of course had to take a picture. This is the view from my driveway looking at Carol H.'s house.

Yesterday I awoke to the sound of snow blowers and 4 wheelers. When I looked out the window we had gotten somewhere between 6 and 8 inches of new snow. It was so pretty. Everything was covered in white. This is looking down my driveway towards the Udy's house across the street. There is about 2 feet of snow at the end on the drive where where the plows have been by and they weren't done yet.
I know I've said this before but I live in the best neighborhood and ward. I have shoveled snow for as long a I can remember, but when I moved into this ward and neighborhood 16 years ago there were neighbors willing to plow my driveway. Udy's across the street have a full sized Bronco with a blade on the front and when they are done with their humongous driveways (they have 2) they will come and do my drive in two sweeps. Then I have several neighbors with 4-wheelers so lately I have not had to shovel much at all.

This is a picture of Caleb H. (Carol's son) on their 4 wheeler clearing my driveway Sunday morning.Last night my friend Juli came over to catch up on things. We ended up talking till 11pm. That is always what happens when we get together. You might think that 11pm is not that late but Juli has to commute to Preston (Idaho) where she teaches 3rd grade. So she needed to get her sleep and so we had to cut our gab session short.

I received another piece of music from Dale J. to test. He is trying to get all his compositions down on paper this year. It is fun and challenging to work with him. He is doing his Christmas songs first, which gives me an excuse to play them even though it's not Christmas time.

I am reading the book "Skinhead Confessions: From Hate to Hope" by TJ Leyden and M. Bridget Cook. It is the true story of TJ Leyden, one of the most wanted and powerful leaders of the Skinheads, and how his life turned around. It is really good.