Baby Kyle born July 9, 2010 (named after my husband)

Blessed October 10, 2010

Ben gave little Kyle a beautiful blessing. He blessed Kyle with health and happiness, a love of learning and a quick mind, a deep faith and a desire to learn and follow true principles. He said that Kyle would have love and charity for the people around him and he would be a light to them as well. He also blessed Kyle to be an example to his sister and his parents. And lastly Ben told Kyle that he was born into a family that loved him very much and that Heavenly Father knew and loved him as well.

Brogan’s wedding

Stoker Reunion

A bit ago we bought a Toyota Prius and we are very impressed with the gas mileage we are getting.  We can drive 600 miles on one tank of gas so we are spending about $25 to $30 a month on gas unless we take a trip out of town.  Amazing!  When we were driving a Buick Park Avenue, we spent $160 to $200 and more when we went to Idaho. 

To be fair though, our son who is in fireman school said it can be dangerous getting people out of wrecked hybrid cars because of the electrical currents running through their systems.

My daughter and I recently painted our family room.  I was pleased with the end result especially with the brown and red 4″ border.   We learned the importance of carefully taping the areas that we didn’t want painted and then  we used a product I hadn’t heard of before called siliconzied acrylic latex caulk to seal the edges of the tape to prevent any paint leakage; it worked beautifully. 

It’s a bit of work, but I thought the painted border gave our family room an added splash of color along with a nice finished look without much expense.

I really like this quote by Mother Teresa.  God doesn’t require us to succeed; he only requires that you try. I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.

A friend told me that she and her husband strive to do the following four things each day/week:

1.  Go on a date each week (about 2 hours)
2.  Show of affection each day (less than a minute a day)
3.  Learn something new about your partner’s day (a couple of minutes)
4.  Help your partner reduce their stress daily.  Most effective de-stressor: Listening.  (approximately 10 minutes)

My husband and I felt that it would be worthwhile for us to make this small list a part of our daily/weekly routine and I thought others may benefit from these suggestions too.

Although this post is so late, I didn’t want to let this memory pass by.   This past Christmas Eve, my family had fun making silly creations out of graham crackers and candy.

Dr. Zhivago going to see Laura on his sleigh by Kyle C.

Art Museum by Marci C.

Don’t smoke dope or you’ll be a dead man by Shawn C.

My granddaughter, Hallie, with different bows in her hair along with her “wish for” doggie by Mama Crane

Traditional gingerbread house by Alix C.  We learned a new secret on how to keep gingerbread houses made with graham crackers from falling apart…..use hot glue and then cover with white frosting.  Give it a try next year.  It worked great!!

I’m so excited because I’m  going to be a grandma  again in July 2010.

My sister shared some information from a pamplet she received in the mail listing suggested foods that help the body fight illness.  I thought it would be beneficial to others too.

The perfect PH level for humans is 7.36-7.41.  When your diet includes higher amounts of fat, sugar, and animal protein your body becomes more acidic unlike when eating alkaline-forming foods.

Top 12 Alkaline-Forming Foods
wheatgrass
parsley
kelp
watercress
avocados
celery
watermelon
papaya
pears
black mission figs
lemons (although acid, lemons become alkaline in the body)

The 10 Worst Acid Foods and Drinks
bleached white flour
sausage
white cane sugar
soda pop
macaroni
french fries
custard
hamburger beef
black tea
refined cereals