The Deal of the Century!!!

Guess how much I spent on this cute pair of pants from Old Navy?

I went in to return some "boy" clothes and exchange them for "men" clothes for Taylor. Can't hardly believe that I have to shop in the Men's section for him already.

And while I was there, all the clearance sections were marked an additional 30% off. So, without looking for something specific, I browsed a little just to see if there were any deals. I found these brown pants in my size, but with no tag on it.

So I took it to the front desk, thinking that if it was a great deal then maybe I'd get them. After telling that to the store clerk, she rang up the price and said to me, "wow, I think you've gotten the deal of the century". In my mind, I'm thinking, "no-you don't realize how cheap I am. 10$ for a pair of pants isn't a 'deal'. . . even if it was origionally $28". So I started telling her how cheap I am and how I really didn't want them unless it was a screemin' deal, not just a good deal.

Any guesses?

$0.67. Yep-that's what I paid. Sixty-seven cents! Definitely not a need, but for sixty-seven cents, how could I pass it up?

I came home and told John about my amazing shopping experience. His response was, "what a waste of money. . .that's worth a pack of M&M's. And M&M's 'are' a need, not those pants!"

Hey, at least the color of the pants reminds him of chocolate.

Merry Christmas--a Trip to the Dominican Republic

John and I had saved for and planned our trip for a few months, but Taylor had no idea he was going until Christmas morning. He opened his one and only present--a trip itinerary and a passport. His first response was pure SHOCK! But he got over that and was pretty excited for the trip.

We left for the DR the following day and enjoyed an AWESOME vacation. The best part--we got to spend lots of time with my parents. Here's a few pictures of our fun times.

Me and my mom, standing on her balcony. Love Love Loved having time with my mom.


Spencer (my baby brother), me, Taylor, John and my darling dad.

One of the most memorable things we did was serve in an orphanage that housed children ages 3-12 boys and 3-18 girls. There were about 50 children all together. Taylor and his uncle Matt made some good friends while playing basketball together. Taylor was impressed that although he couldn't speak their language, they still had fun together. And body language goes a long way in basketball.

I can't speak very much Spanish either. But that 7th grade Spanish class amazingly made an impression. These girls laughed at my limited communication skills, but nonetheless became my favorite amigos. I learned about them and shared a lot about me and my family. It was a neat experience for me.

Here's a line of children waiting for their main meal of the day at the orphanage. We served them beans, rice, carrot salad, rolls, juice, and a cookie.

And here's the line-up of workers, serving the plates of food for the kids.

No where in the city of Santo Domingo did I see any kind of mowed lawn or manicured bushes, plants, etc. Except for the temple. It definitely sets itself apart from the rest of the city because of how clean, orderly, and beautiful it is.

We spent an afternoon visiting the church-owned property/camp that is used for youth camps and hopefully something like EFY each summer. It was surrounded with lush jungle. Lots of vines hanging from all kinds of trees, massive leaves, lots of flowers. Compared to the AZ desert, it was BEAUTIFUL! This picture doesn't do it justice!

It was rewarding to do baptisms for the Dead in the Santo Domingo Temple with Taylor. Something he'll never forget!

A few people have asked me if the water really looks like it does in all the pictures. No, it's better in person. We were amazed at how clear the water was. Hardly any waves. We spent a day snorkeling around some remote little island and had a grand time. On our way home, the driver of our boat dropped his anchor in what is called "the World's Largest Swimming Pool". In the middle of nowhere, the depth of the ocean was about 4 feet deep, completely flat, and covered the size of about 5 football fields. It was amazing. We jumped out and swam for a while. Here's a picture of John, Taylor and Grandpa holding up a few starfish they found at the bottom of the "pool".

My brother Matt and Taylor, ready with gear on to snorkel.

We spent another day learning about Christopher Columbus and his exploration of the New World. Santo Domingo was the first city in the New World, even before he found America. This is my brother Spencer and Taylor with tour headphones on, hanging out with some coat of armor guy in a Christopher Columbus museum.

A day at the beach. Missing it already!

Notice the difference in the water color behind us. Some parts are very light blue/green while other parts are darker. It's not shadows. While snorkeling, we found that the darker parts are where lots of seaweed/plant life has grown in bunches. And the lighter parts are white sand.

Because the water was so clear, we could see lots of sea life from the boat. I spotted a shark a few feet away (only a bout 2 feet long). We also saw sea turtles, star fish, lots of Nemo's and Dora fish, eels, and lots of other big schools of fish swimming together. Pretty awesome.

I took this picture of the temple from my parent's balcony. You can see the ocean directly behind it.

Taylor at the Christopher Columbus museum with some new friends.

The building/cathedral was built under the direction of Christopher Columbus in the 1500's and is the oldest standing structure in the "New World" and throughout the Americas. The inside structure was more impressive than the outside. Thinking of how they built such a big building without cranes and modern-day tools just blows my mind.

We had great experiences there and enjoyed learning about the culture, people, their language and history. And spending time with my parents and brother was priceless!

All in all, I came home with a renewed commitment to never complain about anything in my life. I have so much and am so blessed--so many comforts and conveniences, so many opportunities, and most importantly, I have knowledge of the Gospel of Christ and a safe and happy family--that's what makes my life wonderful.

Just for memories' sake--Messy Mason

I came home from a meeting shortly after the kids returned from school and found this:

What a mess!!! Where did all these papers come from? "My backpack" was Mason's reply. Wow-I didn't know he could fit that many binderes, papers, lunchbox, text books, pencil pouches. . . in that backpack. I had no idea!

I'm not sure what finally motivated Mason to organize his backpack and clean out all that clutter. . . but I'm grateful nonetheless. Hopefully that motivation will spread through the rest of his life.

We all got a good laugh at "Messy Mason". -Just love 10-year-old boys!

Have your cake, and eat it too!

I'm not sure where she got the sucker, but she was in HEAVEN with both pacifier and sucker in her mouth. We all got a good laugh!

Happy Halloween 2011!

I'm pretty sure I've eaten more junk from my kids' loot these past few days than I have this whole year. I finally organized the big bowl of candy into different "flavors", put each into ziplock bags, and hid it HIGH in my closet. Out of sight, out of mind. . . (wish that worked--it's still quite tempting!). Hopefully Santa will remember to use it for stockings.

The kids came home from school, asking where all the candy was. I told them that the Candy Fairy took it. EmmaClaire and Andersen continued asking, "who's the candy fairy?" After not getting much of an answer from me, Abby told them that Dad was the Candy Fairy. So, all the kids think that Dad ate all their Halloween candy. Hey, works for all intensive purposes. (And chances are, John will end up eating all the candy before Christmas anyway.)

I love that we didn't spend a dime on costumes this year. I told the kids to be creative, and they came up with stuff on their own or used costumes we already had. Taylor's patches are taped on, and his suspenders are hair ribbons tied to his belt loops.

One Year Photo Shoot. . . 4 months late.

Love, Love, Love our 'Sweet Cakes'.

Fall Break

We are just returning to school from almost 3 weeks of Fall Break. Here's the highlights that I don't want to forget:

Friday EARLY morning, we loaded the kids in the car and drove the 10.5 hours to Utah just in time for the BYU football game. The boys went with John, Grandpa, and a few uncles. I hung out with Shawnne and my mom and watched the younger kids.

Saturday EARLY morning-we left for SLC where we attended General Conference. My brother watched our three youngest, and we took the three oldest into the conference center. Taylor loved going to Priesthood session.

Sunday- we watched GC with my Bennion grandparents, then had a great visit that evening with lots of extended cousins that I hadn't seen for a while. It was good to catch up.

Monday-John flew home for work. I took the kids with my parents and a few siblings to Provo Canyon for most of the day. Loved seeing the Fall colors. Taylor and Mason enjoyed a tour of BYU's football facilities where James works with the team as an assistant trainer. They came home with BYU hats and couldn't be happier.

Tuesday-spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa Bennion, both into their 80's. Grandpa spent a lot of time helping the oldest kids make leather crafts, and he spent more time making bows and arrows out of metal hangers for Andersen. Grandma taught the kids how to play Chinese checkers and a few other games. Fun, memorable day.

Wednesday-drove to SLC and spent the day with my parents at Pioneer Village and other church museums. Cold and rainy, but still fun to be together. During the day, Andersen started doing the potty dance and my mom asked if he needed to "go number one or number two". His response cracked us all up. "I need to go a THOUSAND!!!" Enjoyed dinner at Denny's with both of my parents.

Thursday-headed to Alpine with all the kids and spent the afternoon and into the late evening with a favorite friend and college roommate. The kids had a great time playing with her kids, and I could have visited with Nicki forever. Wish we were neighbors!

Friday-spent the day with my Aunt Marcia and her kids, who happen to line up in age with a lot of mine. She and her family provide great role models of how we want our family to turn out. (Theya re about 10 years ahead of us in the parenting aspect). So every time I'm around Aunt Marcia, I ask lots of questions and observe how she does things as a mother. Very impressive! John flew back to SLC, just in time to drive us all home . . .

Saturday- long drive back home to make the 6pm soccer game for Taylor and Mason. Barely made it! Lots of laundry and unpacking.

Sunday-more laundry, church, and repacking for another full week at the cabin. We left a few hours after church.

We spent the following Monday-Saturday at the cabin with most all of John's siblings, their families, and parents. A few activities we did were: hiking, exercising, lots of visiting, work projects, horse riding, tractor riding, fishing, minute-to-win-it games, compass challenge, family feud, campfire sings, smores, board games, more hiking, mountain biking, eating, and more visiting.

It was a blast. One thing I pride myself in is that I married into an AMAZING, super fun, hard working, talented, and rock-solid family. Love those LeSueurs, and proud to carry the name.

Here's a few pictures of our second week:

Mason was insistant on catching AND cooking a crawdad. He ate it and said "tastes like chicken".

Kate enjoyed the freedom of walking and doing things by herself this time around. And needless to say, I enjoyed it too.

I thought this was a cute shot of Abby. She doesn't have very many girl LeSueur cousins but enjoyed herself nonetheless. Thank goodness for Kinsey, who's just a few years older.

Notice the PINK cowboy boots. I think she was more excited to just wear the boots than she was to ride the horse. She had a hard time giving them up when it was time to take the boots off. And my mind was yelling, "christmas present. . . consider it done!"

Andersen spent some time riding with Papa on his tractor. I couldn't tell who enjoyed it more-the little boys or Papa.



Taylor, giving thumbs up while playing minute-to-win-it games with cousins.
Andersen continued finding more and more sticks. But if I dared call it a "stick", he would get after me. "Mom, I've already told you. . .it's not a stick. It's a gun". This particular "gun" became very handy when he was riding horses because he could shoot all the 'elks' and 'badguys'.