Wise Money Management

For the last year or so, I have listened to the Dave Ramsey radio show on my way home from work. He's a financial guru whose goal is to help people live debt free. His money management stuff is really good basic advice, but he puts it in a way that it really brings it home. There is a free video on his website that everyone should watch even if they aren't interested in the whole Financial Peace University course. If you go to daveramsey.com and select the attend online link of the Financial Peace University course, there is a free video to introduce you to his school of thought. This one is the Gazelle strategy and I believe it is life changing! I for one am committed to running away from that cheetah! Enjoy!

I'm a music teacher again!

I have decided it's time to start teaching music again. It's been five years since I retired from my most recent teaching position, the Tavaci School of Performing Arts, and I've decided I'm ready to start again. I'll be teaching private vocal and piano lessons. I'm excited to return to one of my great loves, music! It's great that I can continue my work at school since I love that too! It's also really cool that Robbie will be teaching piano this fall at their new apartment in Smithfield!

I think I realized that I could put my afternoons to good use now that my family has grown up. I'll only be teaching three afternoons a week so it will still leave plenty of time for all of my other favorite things. Such as, being a grandma, being a wife, being a mom, shopping, reading, mowing the lawn, baking, church work, watching American Idol, watching movies. . . . . . . You'll notice cleaning the house was not on the list, but I'll still have time for that as well! It's exciting to start a new/old chapter!

Easter 2011

Finally a beautiful day! We have waited so long for a nice day and it couldn't have come at a better time. :) Easter is such a special day. I am so grateful for the Atonement and the power it has in my life. I love our Savior, Jesus Christ, so much and appreciate his sacrifice for me as well as all of us. Each day I need His love and patience!

It was also terrific to spend time with family. All of the boys except Zac were able to come home for lunch. Richie even came to our ward for church. :) Sometimes I miss the days of wrestling five little boys through sacrament meeting. Okay, maybe I don't miss the wrestling, but I do miss having them around. I'm grateful for the great lives they are living and appreciate that they are learning and growing even though it means they can't always be here.

After lunch Emmy and Eva had a little Easter Hunt in the front yard. Our customary place is the backyard, but it's still just too soggy!! Daren was lying on the couch and Emmy said, "Come and have a Easter egg hunt Daren!" Eva called the eggs "ball" and in the case of a pretty yellow egg, "apple". She and Emmy are both so adorable. We love having them here!

After the egg hunt, the boys took turns sharing their skills. Richie juggled golf balls for Emmy and Robbie caught jello jigglers in his mouth. Richie and Ty both gave it a shot as well, but Robbie is the champion jiggler catcher. We went back out front and the boys entertained us with a game of bocce ball. Robbie even attempted a sky high jiggler catch on the front lawn. It was such a fun day together!

When the girls were saying their goodbyes, I gave Emmy a big hug and told her to come again tomorrow. She said, "Okay!" Sounds like a good idea to me! I love our family so much and enjoy just watching them having fun together. :)

January Cruise

In January Ted and I had the pleasure of cruising to the Eastern Caribbean. The weather was fantastic and each of the islands we visited beautiful and unique. This was our first visit to an Eastern itinerary and we loved it! We relaxed, had fun and ate tons of delicious food. I think it's time to start planning next years trip!! Okay, maybe I'll wait until .........March. :-) We're always looking for traveling companions. The cruise will cost some money, but I can promise you, the memories are priceless!

This picture is of a couple that we met from North Carolina.


This couple was from New Jersey and had the greatest New Yorker accents. We met them at the show one evening and become good friends for the remainder of the trip. One night we saw them, and she said, "We wuz lookin fa yous two!" I hope the spelling helped you catch their cool accent!
These two pictures were taken on a couple of days when I decided to try curling my hair instead of wearing it straight. I've never been able to pull it off before because my layers were too short and I just ended up looking like a porcupine with a perm. But I decided to try it on the trip since if it looked really stupid, I knew I wouldn't be remembered by anyone that I see on a regular basis. It turns out, I kind of liked it and I really enjoyed having a different way to do my hair, especially since down there in the humidity, it wanted to be wavy instead of straight anyway! I've actually curled it a few times since we got back. It's great to have another hair option. :)
These two pictures were taken in the dance club. Very funky, yet comfortable chairs!


We visited five island on our trip. This is St. Thomas. We visited Megans Bay. We had seen it on the Travel Channel's Top Ten Beaches and it certainly lived up to it's billing.
A gorgeous bay with soft white sand. It wasn't as warm that day, but it was perfect for lying on the sand!


St. Kitts was less developed than some of the other islands. We walked into the center of town where there was a beautiful Catholic cathedral. The girls were part of a class that came into the church. I visited with them and asked what they learn in school. She said, "Good Christian living." That sounds like a very good school. They were adorable!



Our next stop was in Barbados. While we were there we went snorkeling with sea turtles. They were fantastic! I'm kind of a chicken, but I finally got up the nerve to touch the shell. It was awesome! I was pretty proud of myself! Somehow, I didn't manage to get any pictures in Barbados. I guess it's because I was busy swimming with the turtles and fish! I really did think I should have gotten an underwater camera, however, it wasn't the case! I'll just have to go back!

These next pictures were taken in Dominica. It's not the Dominican Republic, but a different island altogether. It was definitely a rain forest! They grow really big poinsettia's there as you can see and the waterfalls were beautiful!






This is in St Maarten. Our final and favorite port of call. I would love to spend 5 or 6 nights here. These are our traveling companions. Don & Jayne Knight, Judi and Bob Bliss. The Bliss' are customers of Ted's from Delta. The Knights are their friends. We enjoyed getting to know the Knights and spending time with the Bliss'. Such pleasant company. They didn't even mind when Ted and I slept in on sea days.

A sailboat in the sunset just before we set sail in St. Maarten.

This is our waiter Peter and his assistant Christian. Once Christian learned that I like lemon in my water and lemonade to drink, it was always there waiting for me. On our last night, they had run out of lemonade so he made me a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade! It was a little sour, but my favorite of the entire trip! He was a gem!
All in all a fantastic trip!

Winter. . . . .

Well it's officially winter. Okay, I guess it's been winter for a while. For whatever reason once February comes, it seems like it should be Spring! I know, wishful thinking At least we're headed in the right direction and the sunny days we've enjoyed this week have helped. That is until you go outside and it's only 7 degrees! But at least it looks warmer. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's hard to believe that the holiday season is again upon us! It always amazes me how quickly the years fly by. We had a terrific Thanksgiving Celebration. It started with an Aggie win over the Utes on Wednesday night. What a great way to start the festivities! Then the family all came out for pie night. I heard about another family that had pie on Wednesday night when they could still enjoy it. I have to say, it worked! The pie tasted fantastic! Then Ty and Amanda and the girls as well as Richie, Zac and Daren were here overnight. Robbie and Mari went home to Logan, but everyone else found a spot to sleep. Ted and I had the pleasure of a darling nearly three year old in our room. It was so much fun! We read some of my favorite stories before she went to sleep. It was funny because she picked "Katy and the Big Snow" by Virginia Burton. I always loved to read that especially after a big storm. Very appropriate after our Tuesday blizzard! Which while it was short-lived, was still very ferocious!!

Thanksgiving morning we had Liege waffles, a recipe from a town in Belgium. They weren't quite as good as Bruges in SLC, but they still tasted really awesome! Then on to getting the turkey and all the fixin's ready for dinner. Other than almost forgetting to make the stuffing, the meal was so good! I even ate some of Amanda's sweet potatoes! Anyone who knows me realizes how impressive that is! Then more pie! It makes me full just thinking about it! (Although that could be due to the spudnuts that I made tonight! I need to go back to work and quit baking such delicious treats!) After the dishes were done, we gathered in the living room to share our favorite blessings. It was such a great time together thinking about how truly blessed we are! I for one am so grateful for our growing family. It's such a blessing to add to our already fantastic family such great girls. I love my daughters in law and adorable granddaughters so much and am so very thankful for the beautiful promise that life brings! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Wedding Pictures

Tonight Robbie and Mari brought copies of their wedding pictures. It was so much fun to relive the day through the pictures! What a wonderful day! We love Mari and her family and enjoyed sharing the experience with all of them. I feel so blessed to have another great daughter join our family. We love Mari and appreciate what a great wife she is. I love having Robbie and Mari come visit and look forward to the years ahead. :)