Feeling a little better now...

I think my fever might have finally gone away for good. It has been 4 hours and no fever. And I actually was able to get my house cleaned up and dishes done. My house still has a ton of work to be done but at least it doesn't look like a tornado ripped through it!

Ok here are my thoughts on The Golden Compass.
Lyra - main character, a child free from dust or sin
Daemons - agency or your true self
Magisterium - the church
Lord Asriel - good guy, Lyra thinks he's her uncle and finds out that he is her father
Mrs Coulter - head of an organization of the church. She is stealing children and experimenting on them. Lyra finds out she is her mother.
DUST - Sin, it only shows up in certain kinds of photographs and only on adults not children.
City in the sky (aurora) - hell, it is the source of the dust.
The Alethiometer or Golden Compass - ouija board, it answers any question that Lyra asks of it. And it is powered by the same energy from the dust.
Lyra escapes from Mrs Coulter and finds refuge in a Gyptian clan. They have connections with a clan of witches who also help her. The witch queen says that Lyra has a destiny to fulfill but she must not know she is doing it. Lyra is the one who will eventually "kill God". The church is doing horrible things in order to prevent this dust from collecting around people. So Lyra is confused about who is good and who is bad. She decided in the the end of this book that if Mrs Coulter is bad and Lord Asriel who betrays her is bad and they are afraid of Dust then dust must be good. Lord Asriel is trying to get to the city in the sky so he can find the source of the dust and destroy it. So Lyra decides to follow him into the city in the sky to stop him from destroying the dust.

I wonder why the author made it that Lyra must not know about her destiny. To me that proves that Lyra would never go against God unless she is fooled into thinking she is doing the right thing. This is what Satan does to many of us every day. He confuses us and makes us think we are on the right track but leads us away into sin. I guess though that the author himself said "my books are about killing God". So if he is an atheist he sure knew enough about the church and about God to write a book about killing him. It sounds to me like he is a man who knows there is a God but wants to convince himself and others that there is none.

Checking In...

It's 4am and I can't sleep. I have been so sick since Saturday night. I had a great time in AZ but it sure didn't end well with having to ride home sick. I am just really glad William was with me this time cause I never would have made it home myself. I have been running a high fever since Saturday and caughing a ton. When I get up and try to do anything I feel like throwing up so I have been sleeping for almost two whole days. It stinks cause I usually decorate my house for Christmas on the Monday night after Thanksgiving. So we skipped that last night. I am hoping to be able to do it tonight but since I am up at 4 am with aching muscles and bones I am most likely going to be wiped out in the morning. My house looks like a disaster and William has started working a little more so he is spending his time with Tony.

Well, I will come back later and give an update on our weekend and show pictures of my house all decorated for Christmas. Oh and I finally finished reading The Golden Compass. I thought the book was very entertaining but yeah it is about Killing God. I'll write you a short review of some of my thoughts on the book.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, 11TH MAKENNA!!!

I took this picture of Makenna before school today. She is getting so grown up so fast. 11 years old today. I thought she would think this year was a boring birthday but she seemed totally excited about it.













She came home from school and instead of doing chores I let her play her violin longer than usual and in the living room instead of her room. (Dad wasn't home. Hehe.) Then we had a bbq dinner and invited Grandpa and Grandma Payne, Aunt Sarah, Taylor and baby Shanna, and Tony (dad's buddy). Makenna chose steaks for her birthday dinner so we had that and tater tots, green beans and spagetti squash. Yum!

Grandma and Grandpa Payne gave her a Skor candy bar but the real score was the 20 bucks she got. She is excited cause she is halfway to buying an Ipod nano.
















Here is the thing she was most excited about. She has been excited for months now. I told her when she turned 11 I would let her start shaving her legs. So I got her some shaving cream and razors of her own. See the drama on her face. She is so full of expression. That is one of my favorite things about her.

Happy Birthday Makenna! I love you and I am glad you had a great day.

Real Deals on Home Decor...

Just before I moved from Utah I was out shopping with my sister in law who was visiting me. We stumbled upon a Real Deals store. It was cute furniture and other home decorating type of items. I didn't dare buy anything since I still had to pack and move. And I still had no idea where we were going to live. So I used some self control. Shortly after moving here William and I were out furniture shopping and stumbled on a Real Deals store here in LC. I went in to browse later when William wasn't with me. The owner Karina was so nice. I have been into the store every Thursday since then and am becoming great friends with Karina. She is so sweet and so overworked. So I offered to go in and help her when I can. I have alterior motives Karina, I want to see all that product out of boxes faster. Hahaha! Ok that isn't the real reason. I love to get out of the house a little since I still have William available until his office is finally open. And what better place to escape to than a home decor shop. This place is so amazing. I wish I could afford to buy everything I want but William would freak! Karina is sweet though and is giving me a good discount in return for my helping her. Works for her and me!!! Woohoo!
Here is a link to see some of the stuff they may have in stock. Look up the store near you I promise you will love it!
http://www.realdeals.net/main_pages/product_sampling.html

Corn Maze Field Trip

This is Emily and her new friend Maryn. Maryn's just a week or so younger than Emily and lives about three house down from us. They are in the same class at church and Maryn has just made it so much easier for Emily and Amy not to get so homesick for their Utah friends. Thanks to Maryn I still have something to motivate Emily to clean her room. Haha!




















Mason went with us to the corn maze for Emily's kindergarten field trip. (Her first one!) He had so much fun with Emily playing on tractors and huge tractor tires, taking a hay ride behind a real running tractor, playing carnival type games and eating cotton candy. yum!

Missing You...

I have been getting homesick for my Utah friends. Finally downloading these pictures made it worse. I saw all these friends and got a bit sad to not have them around every day. I hope you all know how much I loved you all and your kids!!!

This is Bailey. She was our neighbor across the street in Utah. I also had her in my child care. She was my most difficult child at times but also my sweetest one. She is the one child I miss the most. I got the sweetest letter from her shortly before we moved telling me she loved me. I love you too Bailey!

This is Reagan, our next door neighbor. She is right between Amy and Emily's age. Both my girls loved to play with her. Reagan's family took us to dinner at Firehouse Pizza (our favorite restaurant) before we moved. We sure miss such wonderful neighbors and friends.
This is Caryn. She is Reagan's mom. And what a great friend she was to me. She is one of those friends who always worried about imposing on me but never realized how much I loved having her and her kids around. We miss your family Caryn. Give Dylan 5 for me and tell Jordan I said hi.
These are my peeps. Pictured from right to left around the table is Georgia, Wendy, Vanessa, Alison, Angie, me, and Marissa. I hope I can find some scrapping and girls night out friends who are as fun as these girls are! I sure miss you gals!

Reagan and her cousin Morgan were the best after school playmates for Emily since Kindergarteners were only at school half day. She would have been bored out of her mind without them.

Emily Francis was another of my girls best friends. She is also between the ages of Amy and Emily. I think she enjoyed Amy more because she is so mature for her age but Emily and Em liked playing together too.

Bailey and my girls acted like sisters cause she felt like a sister.

And Caroline, what a character. She was Amy's first friend in Utah. She is missing her and has asked to call her. Caroline call Amy cause when she calls you aren't ever home. We plan to go see them soon I hope. Her mom is having a baby soon so I hope to be able to go and visit. Keep me posted Georgia. I can't wait to see you again.

Mason's first day of preschool

Mason started preschool in October at Calvary Baptist church. They have a great program and a very clean facility. Mason has never cried about going and gets excited to go. He even gets to take his lunch box. He looks so darn cute with that mini backpack. And look how little he looks around his table. He doesn't ever talk about the kids at preschool but he sings his songs and talks about the playground. Funny what boys like compared to girls. Oh and the cool thing for me is that he goes one day a week from 9 to 1:30. That is longer than Emily used to go to Kindergarten. Woohoo! Freedom, during naptime!

Catching up on old news...

Ok now that my house is finally feeling under control (somewhat) I am finally making time to upload some pictures and post about things that have been happening since our move. I'll post things a little at a time since it is late and I am going to bed soon. William and I are speaking in church tomorrow and I still need to review my talk and see how long it is. So here are some pictures from Halloween for starters. Oh and Crazy hair day was on Halloween. Poor Amy, she was so excited about that school day and woke up barfing all morning long. She was better in time to go trick or treating though. The school bus pictures are of Amy Emily and Makenna getting on the bus for their second day of school. This was Emily's first bus ride and she was a little nervous. It makes me smile to see Amy there holding her hand. What a sweet moment.