What the?

So, if you don't watch Fox News, you may not be aware, but Alaska was hit with quite the little snow storm. Two days prior, the sun had been shining, and it was a balmy 60 Degrees. But Friday, it started snowing, very wet snow, and it didn't stop till that evening. Here at our house we only got about 6 inches (in APRIL!) But in Anchorage, they were hit with 18-24" in some places. (and thanks to their Mayor Begich, they didn't get the lovely plowing of the streets like we did out here in the valley) Matt had to go into work this morning, and he said down town Anchorage was an absolute mess. They had power outages, lots of cars off the road, and the Heart Run was even canceled. I personally blame it on the old geezer who called in a month ago to one of my favorite talk radio show, and proclaimed that we would have at least another foot of snow in April. Dan Fagan Laughed, and said no way! It was warming up, the pussy willows were in bloom, and the Mallards were making their way to the melting lakes and ponds. Jinks! Oh well, hopefully it will melt during the next few days.

Girlfriends

Morgan's cousin Camorah came over to play this week. They are 9 months apart, but will start Kindergarten the same year. They had a ball playing dress-up with all Morgan's Princess cloths. (garage sales are great...we got a bag full of these princess dresses last year for $5.00

That was my bargain of the season I think. Totally worth it. These girls played with them for hours. There were shoes, purses, wraps, hats, They were princesses, Brides, Queens, everything their little 3/4 year hold minds could imagine. They've become very good friends, since girls are definitely outnumbered in our family tree, (7 boys and 3 girls) I hope they will always be close.

The Princess's Quafted Hair

I've been trying to do new things with Morgan's hair. Looking at cute hair blogs and such. For this one, I did parts on the sides, pulled it into a knot, and then pulled all the hair into one pony tail, and curled it. Morgan is getting better about letting me mess with her hair. I've learned that I can pretty much do anything, as long as I put Max and Ruby, or Dora on for her to watch during hair time.

I definitely need a better camera. This Kodak Easy share is so grainy.

Here's the back of Morgan's hair after we curled it the other day. It was so cute.

And she said she felt like a princess.

Here's my angel girl. She had so much fun playing with her cousins

out in the beautiful Alaskan sunshine today.

2 Fun Filled Days

The last few days has been so much fun! The sun is shining in Alaska and we are out playing, running, biking and having so much fun, you'd think we haven't seen the sunshine in over 6 months. (oh wait, we haven't) So, here's what we've been up to....

1. Jenn did her first group bike ride last night, in preparation for those Triathlons this summer. Last nights route was an 8.4 mile down hill half way, and up many hills the rest of the way. Ughh! But it was so beautiful, and a great group of girls to ride around Wasilla with.

2. For FHE we went over to the church and helped clean the building as part of our ward's duty this month. We lucked out, and it was stake conference on Sunday, so we mainly just had to clean the chapel. The kids helped straighten the hymn books, and picked up garbage, and the adults all vacuumed. A great activity for our children to learn the importance of taking care of our Heavenly Father's house.


3. Morgan and Matt decided to have a pit fire today and burn some of the twigs that have blown into the yard over the long winter. The following ensued....

See Morgan with the hose?

See Matt running from Morgan with the hose.

See Matt getting drenched with the hose.

4. Tonight I went to Taebo, and felt so wonderful afterwards, a friend and I decided to go for a jog. We did about 2 miles. Then Matt, the kids and I all went for a nice walk right before dinner. I love the sun!

Count your many blessing, Matt, Chandler, Gabe and Morgan

After taking a week off (wish I could say it was fun, but being so sick that my RS Pres. was concerned, and had my VT bring in meals was hardly a vaca) I have had time to reflect on the important things in life. And it has caused me to relfect, and count my many blessings so to speak. I have a family that means more to me than I can tell you. Watching my children play out in the yard today, and with all the media attention down in Texas, I had a great appreciation for what I have. My children are happy and healthy, and I have a husband is so devoted to us. He would do anything for us, and I am reminded daily, how truly lucky I am.

Chandler, my eldest, is such a blessing. He has done so much growing since he started school. He will be switching schools next year, moving to the 3-5 grade Knik Elementry next door to his K-2 right now. His Aspergers has not detered him as much as we had feared it would. We have learned to deal with it, and use a lot of the traits to Chandler's advantage. He has an amazing ability to remember details. And he has a myriad of interest to capture his attention. Obviously he loves Pokemon. But he also enjoys soccer, track/field, and just playing outside with his friends, and his dog Bear. Chandler is such a compassionate kid. And since his baptism in December, as gained such a sweet testimony of the gospel. His speech teacher has told me of several incidents, where Chandler has insisted that the speech group say a prayer over their snack. We love him, and are very grateful for all that he brings to the mix.

Gabe is my happy kid. He's always got a smile. He loves to draw, and is quite talented at it. He can copy almost anything, and he pays great attention to detail. Gabe loves school, and being a volunteer in his classroom has been especially fun for me, to see how he interacts with his classmates. Gabe is a total lady's man. He's in a class that has only 5 boys, and about 20 girls. About 10-15 of which have crushes on Gabe. He loves to quote movies, and goes in and out of British and Scottish accents all the time. He's a joy in our home, and the perfect middle child.

Morgan is my little princess. She loves playing with her brothers. If they're on the trampoline, than she is, if they're downstairs playing with Pokemon, than she wants to too. She also loves all things girly. Fingernail polish, dresses, she recently got her ears pierced, so jewelry is also one of her favs. She's bossy, stubborn, and sassy. But she can also be the sweetest thing the next moment. We love our little princess, and are so glad she's part of our family.

50 Degrees! YEAH! It's finally beginning to feel like Spring. The kids played outside all day today, and enjoyed the warmth so much, they insisted they didn't need coats. The snow is all gone in the backyard, and mostly in the front. I love this time of year. I mean, its ugly brown outside, and everything is soggy, but its the promise of the lovely summer months ahead. The day you put the heavy coats, mittens, gloves, and hats away for the next six months is the best day of the year. Almost like Christmas!

Sorry, I've been sick

Okay, I've been so sick this week I haven't so much as taken a single picture of anything. I've barely left my couch. You really know you're married to an amazing man when he comes home (after a long 11 hour day of work and commuting) and he takes care of not only your needs, but then makes dinner for the kids, plays with them, and does homework with the boys. He's so wonderful! I wish I had his patience with sick people. I hate being sick, and I'm not very good when my kids and husband get sick. But this week I had an infected gland, and it swelled up so much that I couldn't swallow, could barely breath, and it was effecting my hearing on that side. Once I was put on antibiotics, my throat was better, but the medicine has been making me nauseous. So, I'm not recovering as soon as I would like to be. I really hope to be back to myself by next week. :(

Morgan's new kind of mess....

Thursday was a bad day for me. I was hormonal, sore from a really hard workout, and had a bad sore throat starting up. I was in the middle of a piano lesson, and Morgan was supposed to be upstairs entertaining my student's daughter of the same age. I hear something fall on the landing, and then Paula and I start smelling something. "no, that can't be, " I'm thinking. But then I got up and walked over to the stairs and yup, it sure was. Fingernail polish. The bright red kind. It had spilled all over my carpet. About 5 inches in diameter. First thought..."where's my fingernail polish remover?" Franticly search through the bathroom closet. Finally find it. Pour it onto the stain. (there was barely any in there) Then, I got a towel, and started blotting. Hardly any was coming up. By this time my piano student was making a graceful exit so as not to witness the beating of my three year old trouble maker. Then I thought "where's my Mr. Clean pads?" Those babies take out anything! We're talking Sharpie marker off my couch kind of magic. I scrubbed the heck out of one of those, and this was the result. Not a big difference. Now what?

My mom did some research while her 29 year old daughter was on the phone sobbing about a stain on the carpet, and said to try shout on the stain, letting it sit for a while, then blot it up. Well, I didn't have shout. But, I did have the Oxy-laundry stain remover. I poured it on, let it soak, then poured some water over that, and got out my handy dandy steam cleaner. This is what it looked like after that.

This was my third attempt to get rid of the stain. After much googling on what to do, I tried one of the suggestions. Hydrogen Peroxide mixed equally with water. I poured it on the stain, let it soak for a little while, then got out my steam cleaner and sucked all the moisture up.

And here's my carpet tonight. 48 hours after the initial crime was committed. I'm still not completely satisfied, but Matt says I need to stop being so ocd about it. He's afraid I'm going to scrub the carpet bald. Then we'd have a whole new problem. While the stain is mostly gone now, I am a little worried about the glow-in-the-dark spot on the carpet and, hey, what's the guy in the yellow bio-hazard suit doing here?

My feel good story of the day...

Some of you may know this, but for those of you who don't... I am the only girl in my family with three brothers. During my youth, I was twice lost by my dad. Once, he left me at the soccer fields after practice, (luckily we were kind of close, and I knew my way home and just ran the whole way-I think I was about 8?) I don't even think anyone realized what had happened till I came running in panting, and crying.
The other time was when my dad took all of us kids Christmas shopping at the Fiesta Mall. We stopped to look at a window, and when I turned around they were all gone. My little brain frantically thought. Where would they be? I looked in a couple of stores nearby, and then, assuming that they had left me (again) I went outside to find our car. (Dumb, dumb, dumb, I know) But that's how my little head worked back then. And Fiesta Mall is not like the Dimond Center up here in the north. It has numerous parking lots, numerous levels, and its very easy to get turned around. I was very lucky, and the 17 year old guy that found me took my right to mall security, and I was reunited with my family. I think of this experience every time I see a child straying from their parent at stores. Well, the other night, I was going into Walmart, and I saw a little girl coming out. She couldn't have been more than 7, and she was glancing around, obviously looking for someone. I watched, to see if someone would follow her out...No. I went in the entrance, and continued to watch...nothing. Not wanting to approach her myself, (being a parent, I wouldn't want my kids talking to strangers, even if they're trying to help), so I went up to the Walmart Welcomer, (the one time I was glad for this job) and told them about the girl. She thanked me, and headed out to where I had left her. Not 2 minutes later, I heard the Code Adam over the intercom, and I was very relieved that the little girl was in custody. Then, 2 minutes later, the code was canceled. As I was checking out, I heard someone talking off to the side, I glanced over, and it was the little girl, pointed me out to her mother, saying "that's the lady mommy, she's the one who found me". All I could do was smile and wave. The cashier noticed me waiving, and said, "oh, are you the one who found the little girl?" "Ya, something about it just seamed not right when I saw her standing by herself." These days, with all the media coverage of bad things that are happening to little children, I felt very blessed to be apart of a good story. And I didn't really do anything. Just paid attention to what was going on around me. In fact, I don't know if I would have noticed, had I had all 3 kids in tow. just thought I'd share this story, in hopes that maybe we'll all pay a little more attention to our surroudings. With 3 loud kids, I know I definately need to do this more often.

Your Brain is 53% Female, 47% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

http://www.blogthings.com/whatgenderisyourbrainquiz/">What Gender Is Your Brain?

Life Lessons

So, the kids and I were reading in Helaman tonight (we're trying to finish the Book of Mormon by May, when Matt's parents get off their mission), and the boys are totally enthralled with the Gadianton Robbers. You know, the whole "bad guy" thing. We'd read 6-7 verses, and I'd ask a question to make sure they were listening. Chandler was so on the ball every time. He has an amazing ability to recall things. I love reading with the kids. I tend to come away with so much more, because I'm paying attention, so that I can ask them questions to see if they're paying attention. I love the 10th and 11th chapters we read tonight. The Lord is speaking to Nephi, after Nephi had revealed the murderer of the chief judge (recognizing the Lord's hand in doing so) to the people. Helaman 10:5 "And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will". How many of us strive to keep the commandments like Nephi did? Elder Marion G. Romney once said that "the time will come...when as a result of righteous living, we shall so enjoy the companionship of the spirit that he will dictate what we ask".

It is also amazing to me that even after the warnings by Nephi to repent, then the famine, then after the people repented, and Nephi pleaded with the Lord on their behalf, not 15 years later, they were proud, and "ripening for destruction" again. How many times have we pleaded with the Lord when we needed something, when we were humbled due to tragedy, or in need of blessings, and then months or maybe even years later, when we have been blessed, we become proud again...do we recognize our failings to liken ourselves to the scriptures. How many times have you read the Book of Mormon but not really implemented its teachings? Do we really look at it as another testament of Jesus Christ? If we stop to actually contemplate; the lessons we can learn. And just as awesome, the opportunities to teach our children....

Our family Book of Mormon is the big one, "for Latter-day Saint families" where the scriptures are unaltered, but there are extras at the bottom, to better explain to the kids. There's dictionary help, and history facts, quotes, and questions to ask your kids. I love this one... " Trials sometimes humble people enough to repent. Alma taught that we are more blessed, however, when we choose to be humble by studying the Lord's words. Why do you think it is better to become humble because you love the Lord, rather than having the Lord make you humble by giving you trials?"

I love Jane Austen! And I was pretty dead on with who I most identified with. I figured I was eather a Lizzy, or an Elinor. Which one are you?

You Are...Elinor Dashwood!
You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

Take the Quiz here!

The Last Week's Recap

Matt and I attended our ward temple night last Friday....It was a session for just our ward. The workers, everyone, was from our ward. We had about 50 people in the session, plus another 10 or so doing sealings. I have never been in session with so many people, where I knew absolutely EVERYONE. What an awesome experience!

Our little princess in her Easter Dress wearing rehersal. Days before, we had to try on the dress, and the gloves, and hat, and new shoes (thanks GG) and then of course we had to put on make-up like mommy. We know, we're in so much trouble with this little one. Just look at those eyelashes!

Okay, so here's all of our Easter egg dying pictures. Looks like fun, hu? Chandler prided himself on organizing his eggs by color----

while Morgan only did shades of pink. She also got tired of using the spoon, and started dipping the eggs with her hand. Gabe was in love with his little egg holding bunny, and I just had to laugh the whole time. These kids could have easily dyed 5-6 dozen eggs, instead of only the 2 1/2 that we did. But since Chandler and I are the only ones that like hard boiled eggs, I decided to restrain myself.

Morgan was a lot easier to catch pictures of hunting for eggs. She tended to stick closer to the house, while the boys were off running through the forest. As you can see, we still have snow:(

I was in charge of the cakes for our RS Birthday Dinner. We did the parable of the 10 Virgins, and we decorated like a wedding. The invitations looked like wedding announcements, we had menus at all the place settings that outlined our mid-eastern themed dinner. It was a wonderful eveing!

This was my favorite cake I made for the Relief Society Birthday Dinner. It turned out pretty good, with scrolled white chocolate on the top.

hoppy easter

A Child's Prayer

Blessings at meal time is always fun at the Stastny house. We've learned we can't say "who wants to bless the food?" because a bar brawl ensues and defeats the purpose. 'cause everyone argues over who's saying the prayer) So tonight, Matt asked Morgan to say the prayer. She starts out mumbling, we couldn't quite understand it, and then...

...Morgan: Jesus Christ,
Daddy: Amen
Morgan: ( looks up in disgust) no Daddy, gotta bless the food!)
Daddy: (says nothing, can't talk, too busy trying not the laugh)
Morgan: Thank you for the outside,
Thank you for mommy. thank you for daddy. thank you for broders. thank you for my tacos. thank you for Bear (our dog). thank you for my fwends. thank you for my house. Please bless wi'll have a nice day. Name of Jesus Christ, Amen

Okay, I've been very well aware that I am turning the big 3-0 for the last, oh, 9 months. But as I'm sitting here watching the Bachelor, (you can't make me feel ashamed!) its really struck me. I'm OLD! The Bachelor, is younger than me. You know, it starts after you get married, when, all of a sudden, the missionaries you once thought were so dreamy, are just a bunch of pimply faced, know-it-all teenagers. Then, the girls you once had in Young Woman's are getting married and having kids, and kids you used to babysit for are going on missions and getting married. Then you get called ma'am at the department store. (you really need to stop that Matt!) I'm wishing I could get everything done from my list so that I can go to bed before 9pm. I need glasses to read the hymn numbers at the front of the chapel. Now, the one man in America who is desperate enough to go on a television show to meet women (he's so old) is younger than me! Ahhhhhh! That's it girls, I've decided...I'm just not going to turn 30 this year. It will be 29 the sequel!

Misc. Pictures

Morgan riding her bike down our street. We love pre-break up season, when the roads are clearing . And today especially was beautiful. The sun was bright, no wind, and the temp hovered right around the 30-34 degree range. Not back for early March. I've definitely seen worse.

This is how I found Morgan the other night when I went to check on her before I went to bed. she was propped up in her princess chair, with a stool next to her so she could have the pillow for her arm, she had thrown toys all over the room, and books were everywhere. I think she literally collapsed from exhaustion.

Morgan riding her bike down to grandma's house today.

The boys decided it was sunny and warm enough one afternoon to play outside without their winter coats. They sled down our hill, they jumped on the trampoline, and had lots of fun with their friends in our neighborhood