Mahna Mahna

This may be old news for some, but here it is again...

Here are the Muppets doing Mahna Mahna. Watch this first because it was Johnny's inspiration for the next video:

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Here is our one and only you tube video for you to enjoy. Johnny singing Mahna Mahna:

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Our new home!

In August we moved from hot and humid Oklahoma to sunny and warm Santa Fe, New Mexico. We are so excited to be able to shop somewhere besides WalMart. That's all we've had for 3 years! And we are now a day's journey from Utah and only about 45 minutes (not 3 hours) from the Albuquerque temple. And 10 minutes (not 2 hours) from the Stake Center.

We haven't sold our house in OK yet, so we are renting for now. Here is our home:



We were so excited to get rid of our lawn mower before we moved....yard work isn't exactly our favorite activity. Here is what our backyard looks like:



The kids have made friends and are enjoying school. We have made friends and Kyle is enjoying work. Our friends and the kids' friends are in the same family, so we get together with them at least once a week to play games. The ward has already put us to work. I teach the kids who turn twelve this year in primary. Kyle is teaching Gospel Essentials/Principles...in Spanish! We do have lots of opportunity to use our Spanish here. I get to visit teach, and be visit taught, in Spanish. I'm a little rusty, but not too bad.

We have a guest room and we'd love to entertain any family or friends who'd like to come visit beautiful Santa Fe!!

Finding my inner doodle...

I am taking a doodling class. Crazy, I know, to pay someone to teach me how to doodle. But, it is working. I have learned confidence in my swirls, which is what I was hoping for. Here is a layout I did in my scrapbook:



The journaling says:The year 2000 was a very big year: I had my first baby & I graduated with my master of Social Work degree. Benjamin was born just 3 days before the beginning of my last semester of school. I was determined to not stop just one semester short of my degree. So with my Mom & Dad to babysit I finished. Benjamin came to class with me many days, but he couldn't come to my internship with me. He became something of a fixture at school, so dressing him up to graduate with me seemed like a perfect option. I made the hat after a fruitless search. I guess I did a good job--a professional photographer gave us these pics in exchange for using one in a book he was writing. As important as it was to me to finish my degree, even more important was my role as a mother. Once I gradutated I hung up my career hat and was blessed to be able to be a full time Mom. I am grateful Kyle provides for us so I can do this. Perhaps when the kids are grown, I'll return to my career. But until then, I truly feel I am doing... "what matters MOST".

(Photos by Ron Nichols.)

On a different note...

I have had the unfortunate opportunity to study about spiders for the past week or two. Benjamin's teacher has them working on spider reports and dioramas. I can't stand looking at closeups of spiders. Ewwwwww. So what did I do? I took a photo! (the closeup is edited...I wasn't that close.) This is our new neighbor we found on our front doorstep today. NOT OK. He has been outside our house two days in a row. As long as he stays outside, I might tolerate him. Did I mention I hate spiders???

Ben and Courtney earn their orange belts

Last month Ben and Courtney started karate. I wasn't sure how Courtney would like it, but she is having a lot of fun. I wanted to get the kids into an activity, but I wasn't thrilled with juggling two different schedules. With this, they are in the same class, so all I have to do is keep Johnny busy for an hour each time we go. And you can choose which days (and how many days) you go. Heaven! Anyway, yesterday they both promoted and earned their orange belts. It was exciting! Here are some pics from the day:

Benjamin was first to receive his belt. Renshi (master instructor) tied it on for him. Renshi is an all star and is the state rep for New Mexico. He has a lot of patience with all these kids! They have fun in class.

After putting on the belt, Renshi bows to them and they bow back. Then they bow to the black belt next to him. Renshi calls Courtney, "Courtney San". I think it's cute, but she won't let me call her that. Just Renshi gets to.

Next they face the class who all bow to them . In Japanese tradition, the deeper the bow, the more respect you have for a person. They learn culture and vocabulary as part of their lessons.

Their favorite way to end the class: sock ball. Ben is throwing a sock at Courtney who is bending down to pick up a sock. This was before the belt ceremony, so they still have their white belts on. White is the first belt. Then orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown and black. It will be a few years yet until we get to the black belt level....if we stick with it that long. They love it. We'll keep up with karate as long as they are still having fun!

Cute words from Jonathan

That kid is too much! When you offer him something he wants (like chocolate milk, or as he likes to call it, coclate water!) he says, "Thank you much!" If he doesn't want it, he will say, "No thank you much!" Even if it is something like when I tried to cut his nails last night...he was mad and crying out "NO THANK YOU MUCH!!"

When I tell him he needs to go take a nap, or come inside, he will huff or put his head down and pout, and go marching away...to obey! Crazy kid. :) Not that he obeys all the time...not in the least! I think this is the first time the terrible twos has hit one of my kids while he was still two. The other two got it more around age 3. He is so animated and dramatic...a hoot to watch his facial expressions!! This pic is one of my favorites of his. This is his "Please??????" face that is so hard to say "No" to.

New insight from Book of Mormon

This morning I read something that made me go hmmmm. Abinidi, who preached before the wicked king Noah and was then put to death, only had one convert that we know of...Alma. Abinidi was a martyr, not even knowing that he got through to anybody. One one soul saved by his preaching. But yet, Alma went on to teach and baptize many, many people. Puts a good perspective on the work we do here on this earth. We should do our best doing what we know to be right and good. The results of our work aren't what matters. Our intentions do matter. Some good will likely come from our good actions. But what others do doesn't impact our own salvation. What we do, and why, is the only thing of real import.