HOWDEEE

Welcome back to our review. I'm amazed at how fast 2009 is progressing. I'm barely learning to write 09 and before I know it, it will be 10! What to report ??!? Well . . .We are expecting number 7!! Just kidding but I got your attention, didn't I?! Most of you know we are perfectly happy with 6 children. I'm in awe of those who do so well with more children.

I try to make my entries worth your time. This week I'm happy to report that I just want to share some of the typical wonderful moments we have with you. I only regret that I haven't kept a journal of these through the years with my kids. I tend to rely on memory and am finding that the older one gets, this resource tends to betray you in reliability!!

Here are the top 5 "tickle" moments of this last week:

1) I gave Landon a glowing rock to put under his pillow at night after telling him the story of the Brother of Jared. He asked me if he could make a wish on it, well OF COURSE (why not??!) So immediately he wished for Super Powers. Good wish - I want super powers too! It made my night thinking about what super power I would want to have exactly, so many possibilities!! Later as I went downstairs, I finally concluded that I would delegate my super powers to the laundry - to do itself!!

2) I wake up and go to aerobics three days a week at 6AM. Usually my three older kids get themselves off to school by the time I get back so I kiss them before I leave. For the last week and a half, I've come home to the dishes being put away out of the dishwasher and dirty breakfast dishes cleaned up. WOW! I try to keep the compliments rolling so this will keep up.

3) Braden is really reading well. Last night he insisted on reading from the scriptures. OK, I said and let him have a go at it. All the other kids were in the room listening and trying as hard as myself to not laugh at some of the pronunciations (not bad for a Kindergartener). We all held it in well until he read the word "marriage" as mar i a g eee. I laughed and told Whit that I was so glad that he mariageeed me so that I had such adorable kids.

4) Kendall made dinner last night as he is trying to learn how to cook something besides grilled cheese or mac & cheese. He made cornbeef hash. It was spectacular. He smiled as there were no left-overs and Shannon was disappointed that there wasn't any more for her to have seconds.

5) Now this is one I will hopefully never forget and it's both cute and humurous. I'm walking around the kitchen when I all of a sudden have an extra appendage attached to my leg. It's Landon hugging my leg and telling me he loves me. He usually does this so I waited for him to move on but he didn't. When it became extremely difficult to move around, I told him that I needed to do my chores just now but will play later. He puts me in my place by letting me know that later never comes. OK - so I relent and immediately become Batgirl BUT. . . I learn that I just don't play it right. What a good reminder that we need to let the creative side of ourselves become a child again.

There you have it, take it or leave it. I would love to hear some of your tickle moments as well. Take time to live life instead of letting life live you!

Matters of the Heart!

Happy Valentines Day to all of you out there! Speaking of matters of the heart, I thought I'd share Whitney's. He saw a burger called the "Double Bypass" (on the Discovery Channel Food Challenges) and really, REALLY wanted to try it so we did. Here's how it's made, see if you can determine where the name comes from . . .

First you take four slices of bread and butter them. Put several slices of Pepper Jack Cheese between them and fry them to make two grilled cheese sandwiches (these will be your bun). As you are doing this, fry up a pound of bacon and a big thick juicy hamburger, AND three fried eggs (make sure the yolks are all evenly distributed while frying). Yes - that's ALOT of frying!

Now once all these things are cooked, here's how to assemble:

Take one grilled cheese sandwich and top it with several slices of bacon.

Add the three fried eggs on top of the bacon.

Add the hamburger patty on top of the bacon.

Top with the other grilled cheese sandwich.

AND there you have it --- The Double Bypass Burger! (Not recommended for those with High Cholesterol or High Blood Pressure). I must admit that I was skeptical but after tasting a bite of this, it was totally DELICIOUS!! (Too delicious!!) I challenge all you readers out there to take the plunge and toss the guilt! See who can eat the whole thing.

Boomerangs, EFY, The Spelling Bee, Basketball, and A Groundhog Celebration!

You are asking yourself what these things have in common?? I don't know either . . . Just trying to get your attention. . . Actually, these are the events thus far in our week. Our sweet little Shannon turned 13 on Monday (Groundhog day). YES - we now have 3, I'm still counting them - THREE teenagers in the house. Anyone offering some empathy? Actually, I think it's quite fun. (More to come on that later!) Shannon also was in the spelling bee for her school. She placed second so she will not be going on to regionals but we are so happy for her.

As for EFY - This ought to be a sitcom of sorts in the mormon culture. Picture this, thousands of LDS parents (worldwide) waiting for the clock to strike a certain hour on a specified day so that they can log on and get their child into an amazing summer camp for a week - (during a week in the summer when their child doesn't have scout camp, trek, band camp, YW camp, family reunion, etc. . . ). When they do log on, the system is so overloaded that you are given a number and have to wait until someone logs off so you can log on. By the time you log on, it's only 10 minutes after the specified time to open and already hundreds of spots are taken. If you're lucky, you will still find a spot in the one week you actually can attend. It's actually quite humorous. Our ward decided that for youth conference this year, they would have all the parents call in and sign up their child for the same session. It should be easy enough because it's here in Logan at USU (Not the coveted BYU or BYUI Campus). NOT! We had many panicked parents as we watched the numbers go from 400 spots available to 50 spots quickly. CRAZY! Needless to say, it all worked out (As far as I know). Kaylee attended EFY 2 summers ago at BYU and had a totally wonderful time. She and Kendall are excited to attend EFY here with all their ward friends. Good luck to those of you who endeaver this feat in the future!

Oh Yes, Boomerangs! Whitney has developed quite a talent. He needs a blog spot of his own just to do this talent justice. He has gone to 5 different schools so far to demonstrate the concepts behind boomerangs. It's quite interesting. He makes his own because the store bought ones don't fly. Since he heads up the 10 year old cub scouts in our ward, he was put in charge of pack meeting this last week and you guessed it, they did boomerangs. He even cut out several boomerangs from cereal boxes for each boy to keep. (He cut over 30). He had many jokes built into the presentation about things returning to you. It was awesome and the kids loved it. The best part was seeing thirty boomerangs flying all over the gym when the presentation was over. You really had to watch your head.

Now a word on Basketball - well, I won't say much on that because my regular readers know this is just an understood subject in the Pugh household. Kaylee and Shannon had a game, Ken had a game, Whit had a game, Weslie had 2 games and then there's the USU Aggie game tomorrow!! We are 25th in the Nation!! Go Aggies!!