Congratulations Ashley

Ashley was the scholar of the month for Central Elementary and was listed in the most recent edition of the Fluvanna Review. I went through the Fluvanna Review online but couldn't find the scholar of the month piece. Ironically, I was able to find the story about the squirrel that caused the grass fire last spring, but I can't find the piece that has my daughter in it. The picture in the paper was odd to say the least. Ashley, so proud of it, was showing Jon. She said, "look Jon, I'm in the newspaper," and pointed to her picture. Jon looked right at it and said, "where?" I scanned in her school picture for the year instead. It is really cute anyhow.

The Fluvanna Review did send a letter home to us informing us that Ashley was chosen scholar of the month. In that letter, they told us what they were printing. It read as follows:

"Ashley is a perfect student! She is a hard worker at all times. She is the first to volunteer help to me or any other student that may need it. She is always polite and respectful with adults and her peers. She is full of positive energy and encourages others around her. Ashley is very eager to learn throughout the day in all subjects."

It does go a little over the top and fails to mention that though she truly is a hard worker at all times at school, getting her to clean her room is the opposite. It also doesn't mention how bossy she is on occasion with her younger siblings. O.k., seriously though, we are so proud of Ashley and hope she continues to love school like she does and continues to do well at it. Like the text says, which I suspect was written by her teacher, she really is full of positive energy. I have always admired that about her. Good job Ashley. We love you and are proud of you.

Merry Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, three Warner kids were going crazy and having lots of Christmas Eve fun.

We had a quiet but great Christmas. We stayed in Virginia again this year. The stomach virus seemed to hit Sami a little on Wednesday night and again on Christmas morning, but she rallied quickly and was up and playing again yesterday afternoon and seems to be her old self again today.

Here are a few pictures of the day. Surprisingly, we didn't take that many.

Ashley with her Smart Globe
Dressing her my twinn doll

Ashley got a digital video camera, so although our digital camera will be going to Baghdad for 3 months, I am sure we will still have pictures and now video for the blog.

Jon with his Space Shuttle

and accompanying alien flying saucer

Sami with her Tag reader. That proved to be nice when she was feeling sick as well.

Trent putting together Coast Guard legoes

and making hot chocolate with his jet boil.

O.k. maybe it was more pictures than I thought. We hope you had a Merry Christmas and that you have a great New Year.

Trent the Sharpshooter

For any who don't know, Trent will be deploying to Iraq in early January for 90 days. By the time we found out, he needed to get a lot done in a small amount of time. This past Monday, he went down to Norfolk for uniforms and to requalify his weapons. He hasn't redone his qualifications in years, because he simply hasn't needed to. It was so cold on Monday, and he was on the range in the early morning (early 20s at best) with no gloves. He said his hands were numb. He qualified on both the M-16 and the 9mm. On the 9mm handgun, he qualified with the status of sharp shooter. He is pretty proud of that fact. So, he is an attorney and will be doing legal work, but he is also a qualified sharp shooter. :)

The Santa Claus Book

We had this book growing up, and Tony and I used to love to read it. It was out of print for a while but is back in print and now I have my own copy to read with my kids. Ashley has abducted ours into her room and reads it before going to bed. Last night's perusal was why reindeer can fly. The book's author is Alden Perkes. The book is written as a scholarly work. Professor Perkes spent several months with Santa researching all these various things and has put together this comprehensive work. It has everything from where Santa and Mrs. Claus came from to information about the elves, why there are fake santas, how Santa gets down chimneys, why naughty children get coal and so on and so forth. This book really is so much fun. I highly recommend it. My only complaint? I don't particularly care for the recipe in there labeled Santa's favorite cookies. Therefore, we emphasize the benefit of diversity in Santa's treats with our kids.

Onion Braid

I made this last week. It is a recipe I got from a friend we met while working for the U.S. Embassy in Sofia Bulgaria back in 1995 and 1996. We had a club/group of sorts there. We started calling it the gourmet group but found that was too intimidating so we changed it to EATS. That actually stood for something though I can't remember what. We would meet once a month and each others homes and have different themes. We had appetizers, we had soups, we had south of your border (which could be very interesting) and family favorites among others. I haven't made this recipe in forever. It was fun to remember how good it is and to remember David and Georgianne. Thanks again Georgianne.

For the bread:
1 package dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup softened butter or margarine
1 egg

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add 2 cups of flour, sugar, salt, hot water, milk, butter and egg. Blend until moistened and beat 500 strokes. Stir in remaining flour to form a soft dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about an hour).

Filling:

1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 clove garlic minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika

Prepare filling by melting butter in saucepan and adding remaining ingredients. Saute until onion is transparent.

Punch down the dough and place on a floured surface. Knead until no longer sticky. Roll into an 18x12 rectangle. Spread with filling then cut lengthwise into three strips. Roll each strip lengthwise and seal edges and ends with water. ON a greased cookie sheet, braid the three rolls together. Cover and allow to rise until doubled (45-60 minutes) Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Dilemma?

We have been going through bouts of stomach virus this week at our house. Ashley was sick Tuesday and Wednesday, and Jon was really bad yesterday. Thursday night, when Jon vomited (for the first time anyhow), he did so all over his bed including on his down pillow. A few years ago now, the last time someone vomited all over a down pillow, I had it dry cleaned. They did a wonderful job, but it cost more to clean the pillow than I paid for it given that I bought those pillows on sale and in bulk (if you count 4 as bulk).

I actually put a lot of stock in the whole reduce reuse recycle thing. That leads to my dilemma. Do I pay more than it would cost to replace the pillow to have it dry cleaned so that I don't throw it out, or do I just throw it out and replace it this spring when they go on sale again? Hmmmmmm.

JAG School Festivities

Remember on the last post when I mentioned I was behind? Yeah, still there. I couldn't even remember what day it was earlier this week when I sent out a reminder for our family football pool. Just a little bit of the crazy going on. Anyhow...........................

December 6 was the annual Jingle JAG Jog and Children's Holiday Party. Back in August, Lisa and I divided these up. She organized the jog, and I did the Children's Party. We both worked together a lot though, and in the end it turned out to be great.

Saturday was cold! Initially all of our kids were going to jog with Trent in the Jingle JAG Jog, but the temperature combined with the fact that they were there for all of the set up (arriving at 8:00) and would be there until the very end, lead to just Ashley and Trent jogging. Well, there is that and the fact that even though it is only 2 miles, Trent questioned how the younger two would do once they got out there. Trent and Ashley had a great time on the jog, which is just a fun run. The only prizes are awarded for festive attire not for coming in first. A lot of people do it with strollers or with families. Everyone is issued jingle bells to tie onto their shoes, so all the JAG community jingles as they jog around the Univ. of Virginia campus.

Trent and Ashley finishing the jog

The children's party is right after the jog, and we had games and crafts and goodies and activities. It was a lot of work and stress leading up to it, but it turned out great. I was on anti-biotics for a sinus infection and look terrible in the picture, but Sami looks great, and the kids were so awesome about being there from 8:00 a.m. to almost 5:00 p.m. How could I help but show that off?

The party finishes with a visit from Santa, which is always a big hit. This year was so great. The LCS Club gets permission from Santa to have a visiting Santa (that is our running theory anyhow). This year Major Apple from the current Grad Course volunteered. He is too tall and broad to fit in the LCS Santa suit and wanted to be Santa so badly that he rented his own. He did a fantastic job, and we had a lot of happy kids, mine were three of them.

I was and am so relieved that it is over. It really was a lot of work. I admire my friend April, who put the children's party together last year, even more, and that is saying something. Still, I am proud of how well it turned out and that it came in $150 under budget. It was a really enjoyable day.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

I have not posted in a while. I have been busy. The next two weeks will probably be data dumps. Hey, it saved anyone who reads this regularly from rants about Mike Huckabee though, so aren't you glad I've been busy?!

We put up our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. Jon, who LOVES the Polar Express, got out the Thomas tracks etc., and decided to build a train around the tree. We hadn't even gotten it decorated yet. He did a great job. He made the track entirely by himself, and not only does it successfully go around the tree, it went under the table as well. Fun.

Rivalry Saturday

Saturday was a big day around here. First and foremost was Ashley's baptism. It also happened to be rivalry Saturday for us. That is right, the big BYU vs. Utah game. This year it was particularly a big deal as both teams have been ranked well and had good seasons. The University of Utah was one of 3 undefeated teams going into Saturday's game, and a win against BYU would ensure them a BCS game. Let's face it though, statistically it was the U's turn to win anyway. Trust me, I follow these things.

Trent's dad and mom and sister Katie were visiting and, of course, really wanted to see the game. Not being in Utah but in Virginia, we couldn't find the game anywhere. However, Jon (Trent's dad) suggested that perhaps we could do the Mountain Sports Network as a pay for the day thing since we have Directv. I looked into it, and though we couldn't do it for the day, we could get it for the month as part of the sports package. The fee wasn't bad (only 2 dollars more than a movie ticket), and it was worth it for the fun family time we had. Jon and LeOra brought Trent and I University of Utah shirts for the occasion, and they had BYU shirts. Katie remained neutral. We really should have gotten her a Weber State shirt just for the fun of it.

It didn't take long before the kids got into it. Jon remained neutral, but Ashley put on a red shirt inside out and backward and make the letters Utah to tape on her shirt. Dave Christensen, the 2nd Counsellor in our Bishopric, joined us. After learning at Ashley's baptism that we were getting the game and in HD no less, he could hardly help it. We loved having him. It made it all the more fun. He came in a superman shirt (red and blue) and claimed to be neutral, but we weren't even half way through the first quarter before it was clear he was rooting for BYU. He even convinced Sami who ran around the house shouting, "go Cougars!" So, she put on one of Trent's Coast Guard blue t-shirts, and Ashley kindly made the letters BYU to tape on the front.

It was a good game and stayed close until the end of the 3rd quarter. What it also was was a lot of fun. As a bonus, the University of Utah won 48 to 24. What a great day. Can't wait to see what BCS game they get.

Fans of all types and sizes

Our neutral observers

A so-called but not really so neutral observer :)

Getting into the fun

My Jon took this picture of the t.v. Note the score and the various levels of excitement in the crowd.

Update: Predictions at the moment have the University of Utah playing in the Sugar Bowl. How great is that?

Ashley's Baptism

This past Saturday, Ashley was baptized. What a great day it turned out to be. Trent's parents and his youngest sister, Katie came out for it, and we've had a great visit.

Ashley's baptism was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. because when I called to schedule the building, there was another baptism from another ward scheduled for that morning. Afternoon was fine by me, but as we got closer to the day, I grew increasingly concerned about the water in the font. It takes at least 2 hours to fill it. Anyhow, I told as many people as I could think of to help insure that the plug was not pulled from the earlier baptism. Still, when we couldn't get a hold of anyone that morning, I vowed to be there at least an hour early. The girls packed up and left to do a quick bit of shopping and then got to the church just before noon. The boys were there by quarter after, and it was a good thing. Sure enough, there was no water in the font. In addition to that, we were locked out from getting to the font and to the dressing room. Katie, brilliant of course, checked the doors through both bathrooms and as luck would have it, the door between the men's bathroom and men's dressing room was still unlocked. Hooray! Katie and I read the directions and started the font, but we were now looking at 2:00. Trent and his dad saved the day though. Without a moment's hesitation, Trent (who had brought his lock pick set), opened the door to the girls' dressing room and then hooked up a hose from the janitor's closet into the font. His dad filled some large buckets, and we transported that way until the hose was going. The font was filled right on time. Everything else went off without a hitch. Being a typical event for our family, though, we had to have our moment of funny. Ours came when Ashley came out of the water and Jon stood up and put his hands out in front of him and proclaimed, "It's alive!" Too funny. Ashley did get her "California style baptism" complete with a few snacks and kids sitting on the floor eating them and then playing around for a few moments while the grown ups talked.

Trent and Ashley all ready to go

Our Primary President, and my friend, Mandy Carroll, fixed my camera for me so that every shot I take will stop having that halo glare. It is sad that I didn't even know what I did to the settings to get it that way and therefore had no idea how to fix it. Did I mention that Mandy is an extremely talented photographer? Anyhow, through testing the camera, we got this cute shot of Katie leading the music. We actually used a cd player. I wondered in retrospect if we should have thought of something like that during my baptism at which my good friend Katie Iverson played for over an hour.

Ashley with Grandma LeOra and Grandpa Jon after the baptism.

Wait! We can't forget Katie.

Here we all are braving the cold (except Katie who took the picture but also braved the cold).

Happy Birthday Ashley

Ashley turned 8 on Wednesday. She has been so excited that it was hard not to be excited with her for this birthday. As soon as she woke up, she wanted to open her presents. What? Your kids don't go immediately to opening presents in their pajamas?

She really does read the cards. She got The Nightmare Before Christmas on DVD and before she even realized what it was, Jon was jumping and calling out, "I want that!"

Raggedy Andy! Now Raggedy Anne isn't a loner. Sometimes I wonder how that girl fits in her bed with all the stuffed animals she piles on.

Later in the day I took treats in for her class. She didn't want cupcakes this year, because she, "ALWAYS has cupcakes." After a few ideas, we settled on baking brownie batter in ice cream cones and then frosting them with stabilized whipped cream. The entire time I was making them, I worried about transporting them. Obviously the idea was not completely thought out. I did manage to get them to school with virtually no disaster, which was amazing. The rain on the whipped cream as I was running into the school wasn't such a good thing, but it didn't wreck anything. Ashley was very happy with it, so that was that.

Saturday was party day. Originally, we were going to have a Spiderwick birthday party, but Ashley changed her mind. Then, we were going to go to the orchard. It is a good thing we settled on a small party at home. It poured on and off all day long. I had ordered some journal projects back when it was a Spiderwick party to use as field guides, so the girls made journals and girled them up.

Then, they played Hullabaloo and had a great time.

Time for cake and presents.



Now we just have to finish getting over this sickness and prepare for our visit from Grandma and Grandpa Warner and Aunt Katie for Ashley's baptism on the 22nd. Sami was sick on Tuesday and a bit on Wednesday morning. We thought it was done with that. Saturday, Trent started feeling ill and stayed locked in our room for the duration of the party as a result. Saturday evening Jon got sick. Ashley decided to join the group on the way home from church today. I hope everyone gets better as fast as Sami and Jon, who is already feeling better, did. I really don't like it when everyone is sick.

It's That Time Again

This past Saturday, Trent started tackling the monumental task of cleaning up the leaves. I kind of like it personally. They are everywhere, and I like that. We rake up huge piles that the kids can bury themselves in. I love that. It is a lot of work though. This Saturday, he just did the back deck and the cleaned off the roof. We have 5 bags full. It isn't that we have an enormous yard or anything. There are just trees everywhere, and this year they have all dropped their leaves nearly simultaneously. We haven't even started the front yard. Maybe I should figure out how to use the blower and do it for him. Hmmmmmmmmmm. Here are a few pictures of our fun.

A Complaint

I'd like to issue a general complaint about Heroes. Up until now, Heroes has been awesome. I had faith they would pull last season through, and right before the writer's strike they delivered. This season has been bad, and this past week was down right AWFUL! Why oh why does it seem to be that when something on t.v. is exciting and enjoyable, it either gets cancelled, or the writers manage to make what you loved about it unrecognizable. Sigh.

Apple Crisp

I was looking to make apple crisp last Sunday. We had some granny smith apples from the orchard that I needed to use up, and as Trent needed to get to work on his paper revisions, apple crisp was faster than pie. I came to find that I don't have an apple crisp recipe, so I went looking online. There are a lot of good ones out there. Many have oats and nuts and lots of good stuff. I wanted the basic thing with basic ingredients being that is what I had on hand. I found this one, and it is excellent! I love that the bottom is just apples. The top is sweet enough without needing to add extra to the apples. It is exactly the traditional apple crisp you think of. If you need a really basic and simple recipe for this fall, give this one a try.

Official and Official-ish Celebrations

As of Nov. 1, Trent was officially a Lieutenant Commander. So, to celebrate, we took off for a drive to Shenandoah to see all the leaves. With the Domestic Operations Course over, it seemed like a little R&R was in order. It was probably a week past peak, but we still thought it was absolutely beautiful.

Friday was Trent's actual promotion ceremony. Colonel Block did an awesome job summing up what a great person Trent is. I was impressed. Colonel Block also noted that with Trent's promotion, he has now promoted someone from every branch of the armed services. I had my camera, but there were no real picture taking opportunities I am afraid. Since I helped pin on his new shoulder boards, I couldn't take those pictures. There was a video, and we will have it. I doubt I will post it to the blog though. It is too long. Anyhow, the picture below was taken afterward in our front yard. I either had to crouch or take my boots off. The heels made it so that my head got cut off in the shot. Kind of funny at the time.