Good Advice

My friend had this excerpt on her blog that President Benson wrote in 1987. Since his words are coming to pass now, I thought I would share what he wrote too. It is too bad so many people did not save to put money down on their houses and then live within their means because now the rest of the country might have to pay for their mistakes (bailout bill). However, financial institutions do share some of the blame too for lending to people who hadn't saved any money and who had bad credit.

Pay Thy Debt, and Live
By President Ezra Taft Benson

"Many people do not believe that serious recession will ever come again. Feeling secure in their expectations of continuing employment and a steady flow of wages and salaries, they obligate their future income without thought of what they would do if they should lose their jobs or if their incomes were stopped for some other reason. But the best authorities have repeatedly said that we are not yet smart enough to control our economy without downward adjustments. Sooner or later these adjustments will come."

"Another reason for increase in debt is even deeper and causes greater concern. This is the rise of materialism, as contrasted with commitment to spiritual values. Many a family, in order to make a “proper showing,” will commit itself for a larger and more expensive house than is needed, in an expensive neighborhood. Almost everyone would, it seems, like to keep up with the Joneses. With the rising standard of living, that temptation increases with each new gadget that comes on the market. The subtle, carefully planned techniques of modern advertising are aimed at the weakest points of consumer resistance. As a result, there is a growing feeling, unfortunately, that material things should be had now, without waiting, without saving, without self-denial." June, 1987 Ensign

I'm an Aunt for the 60th time!

I love being an Aunt, because I am at the end of a large family I became an aunt at the age of 4 and I now have 60 neices and nephews.

~

Last Thursday Suzannah had her baby girl Lucy. I can hardly believe that Devin and Suzannah are parents. Crazy!! Their daughter is beautiful. We went to visit them tonight and I took a few pictures.

Lucy Karlynn Sanders

Spencer loves to hold new babies

Karalee wanted to hold Lucy the whole time. I am going to have my hands full when our new baby comes. She is already a little mother.

Bryant had a little bit of a sore throat so he didn't get close to the baby, but he had fun playing with the balloons.

Saucy Chicken Italiano

I just made a yummy, yummy dinner tonight that was really easy so I thought I would share it. I based it off of the Kraftfoods.com recipe, but I made a few changes.

Saucy Chicken Italiano

4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves, marinated in Italian Dressing
1 T butter
1 onion, thinkly sliced, separated into rings
1 red pepper, cut into thing strips
1 cup chicken broth (I made mine from a bullion cube)
1/2 cup Kraft Classic Ceasar Dressing
1 cup Kraft Finely Shredded Italian Five Cheese Blend (optional)
cooked spagetti noodles, (I don't know how much I used, just what I know my family usually eats, probably about 6 oz.)

Cook the spagetti noodles. While the noodles are cooking, grill the Chicken. While the chicken is grilling and the noodles are cooking, in a large skillet, saute the onion and red pepper in the butter to desired tenderness. Add the chicken broth and the Ceasar Dressing. When the spagetti and chicken are done add them to the skillet. (I cut my chicken into bite size pieces.) Mix everything together then top with cheese. (I forgot to add the cheese and it was still yummy.)

Goes great with a green salad.

Cooler Weather

We have finally had a few days of cooler weather making it so that I could stand to go outside to watch the kids play in the front -- as long as I sat in the shade of course. We are so blessed to live in a culdesac so the kids have lots of room to ride and play.

Warning*

*Some of these pictures, especially the first video, show a brutally honest look into our family life.

Spencer is learning to ride the skateboard that Aunt Amy let him borrow.

Is she or isn't she?

So Sad

Happy Again

Who knew that dump trucks where such a sweet ride?

Is that Bryant or a Walrus?

Spencer and Bryant in the Jeep

Karalee learnin' to drive

Poll

I am almost as excited to see what color of hair our new baby will have as I am to find out whether we are having a boy or a girl. What color of hair do you think he or she will have? I have a poll located to the left of my posts. My vote was brown.

Karalee Loves the Camera

Almost everytime Karalee sees me "working" on the computer she climbs onto my lap and then up onto the desk and reaches for the camera. She asks me to take her picture and ususally before I am done she says "I wanna see." In the fourth picture you can see her trying to peek around to look at her picture.

The other night at dinner we had chips and bean dip. Karalee loved it. Her face and hands got so dirty that I had to snap a picture.

Here are a couple of other pictures I found on my camera.

I'm Having Another Baby!

Chad and I are excited to announce that we are expecting our 5th child. I just went to the doctor today and everything looks good so far, but my doctor will continue to monitor things closely to make sure the baby develops normally. I am due on March 31, 2009.

~

I am also excited that my sister is due the day after me. She and I use the same doctor. Today when I told him that she and I were sisters and are due a day apart he said that he has delivered the babies of sisters on the same day on three different occasions. (I hope that sentence makes sense.) It would be fun to have our babies on the same day, but I guess we'll have to wait and see if the babies will cooperate. My niece is also due in March so their will be three new babies in one month on my side of the family. So exciting.

Marriage

Here is a great website that explains the marriage initiative that will be on the ballot.

http://www.yesformarriage.com/

Basically a YES vote defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman in the Arizona Constitution, the highest law in our state.

A no vote would make no changes to our laws making it possible for judges to allow same sex marriage in our state like they did in California.

Karalee's Photo Shoot

I decided to try and take some pictures of Karalee today in hopes of getting a good one to update her picture on the wall. I got a couple of good ones. Here they are:

1

2

(I didn't put her hands like this, she did it herself)

3

(I love this picture. I just wish she was looking at the camera.)

4

5

6

7

8

Which picture do you like best? Chad and I like #1 and #5 (the numbers are below the picture)

Here is Karalee's picture from last year. She was so chubby and cute!!

Fun, Fun, Fun!!

Karalee saw me with the camera this morning and asked me to take her picture. Isn't that such a sweet smile!! I love my Karalee.

This video is of Chad swinging Bryant around in a blanket. I thought it was so funny because all you could see was his head. My camera ran out of batteries while filming, so it isn't very long.