Thriving Ivory

Last Saturday, Jonathan and I took my nieces and nephew and their friends to a Thriving Ivory Concert. It was awesome. One of the best concerts I've been to. (The best being Bare Naked Ladies, by far.) However, being the band is fairly new, they stayed after the concert and signed anything we wanted them to. I'm a big fan of concert t-shirts. I was able to get video of their concert, but haven't figured out how to get it on to my blog, sorry. We had a blast. Taking my nieces and nephew reminded me of being in high school. Wow, I'm getting old!

Thought this was a fun picture.....
Liz (neice), Amanda, and Mellisa, then Mary (neice) and Taylor(nephew).

Carving Pumpkins!

We had a lot of fun when Grandpa Leavitt and Marlene came to visit last week. We ate dinner, halloween cookies, and carved pumpkins. If it wasn't for Grandpa and Marlene, Jonathan and I wouldn't have ever made it through the pumpkin carving phase! Sarah and Olivia chose the most difficult designs to carve. Go figure. Sarah wanted Cinderella, and Olivia wanted good 'ol Lucifer (the cat on Cinderella). Good Times.

Our Basement is taking shape...

It's been a while since I've written. Busy lives. This past week our basement got drywall! I've been loving all the noise accompanied with it! :o) We've picked out paint and carpet, so we hope to have this all done within a month! This would be the best Christmas present ever! :o) .... a place for the kids to make a mess and not make Mom freak out. :o) I am sure they are looking forward to it also.

We loved General Conference. It always goes too fast. I think it brings a lot of peace into our home just listening to their voices. I am sad that I have to wait SIX more months to do this again.

TAG! You're it!

Who are you? Hit forward and place an X by all the things you've done and remove the X from the ones you have not. This is for your entire life!
This is about Katie (x) Skipped school (x ) Gone on a blind date ( ) Watched someone die (x ) Been to Canada () Been to Mexico () Been to Florida (x) Been on a plane (x) Been lost (x) Used a GPS (x) Been on the opposite side of the country (x) Gone to Washington, DC (x) Swam in the ocean: (x) Cried yourself to sleep (x) Played cops and robber (x) Recently colored with crayons: ( ) Sang Karaoke (x) Paid for a meal with coins only (x) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't (x) Made prank phone calls () Exercised today (x) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose: (x) Caught a snowflake on your tongue: (x) Danced in the rain () Used a Palm Pilot: (x) Written a letter to Santa Claus: (x) Been kissed under the mistletoe ( ) Shaken a movie stars hand (x) Watched the sunrise with someone you care about (x) Blown bubbles (x) Gone ice-skating: ( x ) Watched a sonogram ( x) Been skinny dipping outdoors (x) Gone to the drive-in movies 1. Any nickname? Katydid, Katie Lady 2. Sisters name? Sharon and Jenny3. Favorite drink? Water, lame-I know 4. Tattoo? no way 5. Body Piercings: my ears 6. How much do you love your job? A lot 7. Birthplace: Rexburg, ID 8. Favorite vacation spot? what's a vacation? 9. Ever been to Africa? Not yet 10. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? yes 11. Ever been on TV? Yes the news:) 12. Ever steal any traffic signs? kind of 13. Ever been in a car accident? Yes, several 14. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 4-door 15. Favorite salad dressing? doesn't have a name...-it's home made 16. Favorite number? 5 17. Favorite movie? Pride and Prejudice, it still gives me butterflies 18. Favorite holiday? Christmas 19. Favorite dessert? Too many to name 20. Favorite day of the week? Friday 21. Favorite brand of body wash? just soap, i'm cheap in many ways... 22. Favorite Toothpaste? PASTE, not gel 23. Favorite smell? clean laundry, or Christmas time 24. What do you do to relax? watch HGTV or Friends re-runs 25. How do you see yourself in 10 Years? at the rate things are going, will we (all of us) BE HERE in 10 years? 26. Furthest place you will send this message? Canada 27. Who will respond to this the fastest? Who Knows?

How Church is Supposed To Be...

Today we went to a friend's missionary "farewell". This friend is a student at BYU. We took our wonderful little family of five, stoller and all, across the BYU campus and attended a wonderful student-ward sacrament meeting. We were the ONLY people at this meeting with children. Imagine that. We were the only ones with cheerios, sippy cups, coloring books, cars, pacifiers, diapers, etc. The funny part of this story is at the beginning of the meeting. Sarah looks up at me and asks: "Why is everyone being so quiet?"
And I say, "Because that is how church is supposed to be."
And she says, "Not at OUR church!"

So true. It was a perfect moment to teach our children how reverent we are supposed to be. It never occured to me how often I must tell my children each week to be reverent, that it must be contradicting or confusing to them. No one else is being reverent or quiet. :o) The kids were definitely the quietest they'd ever been today, but that's because they could hear themselves so well. :o) Thank you for such a reverent Sacrament meeting today. A valuable lesson I hope my children remember. :o)

I love My little Samuel

Got this snap shot while Samuel was anxious for the cookies to come out of the oven. I couldn't resisit! Sarah said something funny the other day.... Olivia sneezed on my arm and I said, "Oh, Thanks, Olivia." and Sarah said, "You mean NO Thanks!" Thanks Sarah. Thought it was funny.

Guess what I did last night!!

I CANNED PEACHES FOR THE FIRST TIME! This is so great! I loved it and it only took an hour. :o) I only did five quart size jars though. I had fun remembering all the times I helped my mom can peaches when I was little. My favorite part was peeling the skins off. It was great. They all sealed perfectly. It was kind of an impulse thing. I drove by a peach stand yesterday, bought some. Then ran to DI to look for an old bench to refinish and I found canning jars for only 25 cents a piece. I felt inspired. So I bought them. :o) And now I have home canned peaches! I love it. I truly feel like I accomplished something. Now I want to can other stuff! Peach Jam?