Missing A Leg

OK... I want to preface this comment that in no way am I making fun of or criticizing members of my ward! It's just that something very funny happened today and I had to share.
So...today in Sunday school we had a really great lesson on Hebrews. We were discussing how to overcome temptations. So I am going to introduce the two characters of this story.

• Teacher - Awesome teacher. I love his lessons. He is smart and knows absolutely everything about the gospel.

• Man - Well, this guy is very old and sometimes says things that make you pretty uncomfortable. He is also missing one leg.The Teacher is so good at ignoring his comments or turning them into something good. It's actually amazing.

So here is how it went down

Teacher: So how do we avoid temptation? What do we need to do?
Man: Pray.(At this point I am like Wow he said a good answer. Then he continues)
Man: Like you have to pray if you lose something. Like if you lose your leg...you need to pray to find it.
Teacher: Yeah, prayer is good!
Preston just looked at me and was like, " WHAT?" It was pretty funny. Good times in Sunday School.

Tag you're it!

Ok so I've been tagged... and for those of you new to the whole blogging experience, like myself, that means that I have to answer these questions about myself... so here goes

Four Jobs

1. K-Mart(can't believe I am admitting this). I worked at K-Mart twice. I did it for about a year and then couldn't take it anymore. I quit and never looked back...until three months later when my 17 year old bank account was empty. That time it only lasted six months. Can you say, " Attention K-Mart Shoppers we have a Blue Light Special in the K Cafe" No kidding, I really said that!
2. United Steel Workers Of America - Or better know to us Steel Workers as USWA. No I wasn't a Steel worker, I was their secretary and I have to say that I really liked that job. They were so good to me. The best part is that when I left they gave me a Steel Worker CD titled, " SOLIDARITY ROCKS." It is so hilarious - it's filled with all these songs about how it's awesome to be a Steel Worker. I 'll burn it for anyone interested! HaHa
3. Western Watts - Really, what else can I say!
4. BYU-I Testing Center. - That's right I was one of those annoying people who sent you home for an evening shadow or showing your flower print underwear. Don't hate me.

Four Places I've Lived

1. Illinois
2. Washington
3. Idaho
4. Nevada

Four Movies That I Love

1. It's A Wonderful Life - All Time Favorite!
   
2. Pride and Prejudice - You ask Colin Firth or Kiera Knightly? Both. I could watch them everyday. OK, Actually I do!
3. Singing In The Rain - Love it!
   
4. Love Funny Movies - I can't narrow it down. Napoleon Dynamite, Meet The Parents, School of Rock, Elf...the list goes on and on!

Four Favorite Foods

1. Chicken Costoletta - Cheesecake Factory
2. Cookies and Milk - Especially Snickerdoodles
   
3. Moonlight Chicken - A family favorite in Illinois. The best Chicken I've had in all my life!
4. Chimichangas - I always love a good Chimi

Four Movies I Would Love To See

1. Crash( edited of course...recommended by the Orton's)
2. Harry Potter 6 and 7- They aren't out yet...that's why I would love to see them!
3. Schindler's List - edited
4. Star Wars( OK Don't want to see it at all - but I feel kind of non-human having not seen it)
   

Four Weird Things About Me( Which four? There are too many!!)

1. I believe Harry Potter is Real
2. Can thread a cord through the nose and bring it out my mouth
3. Love Love Love Old movies and music - well Preston thinks that's weird
4. Major Klutz - I had at LEAST - one trip to the hospital a year every year growing up.

Four Favorite TV Shows

1. The Office-
   
2. Food Network - Not really a show but it's the main thing I love to watch
3. American Idol
   
4. Antiques Roadshow - Don't say it!

Four Places I'd Rather Be

1. Europe - Especially Spain
2. Visiting our families(Seattle in the Summer and Illinois in the Fall)
3. At a Spa
4. New York City -I've never been and really want to.

Four People I Am Tagging

1. Kelly
2. Triana
3. Katie
4. Lindsey

The DANGERS of being a boy!

So... I will let the pictures speak for themselves. I just wanted to say that these pictures symbolize a common occurrence in a house with little boys!

Happy Birthday Lindsey

Yesterday was my little sister Lindsey's Birthday. For her Birthday we went to dinner

and saw the musical Jersey Boys. I would have pictures of the musical but pictures weren't allowed in the theater. Actually, an older usher saw my sister and I taking pictures while we were waiting to get into the theater and said very loudly -

Usher: No cameras are allowed!
Andrea: Oh, sorry. Not even in the hallway?
Usher: Well, you can have them in the hallway but if I see one picture taken in the theater I will come in there and delete all the pictures off your camera!

Lindsey and I couldn't stop laughing. She took her job VERY seriously.
After the musical and the hour we spent lost in scary parts of Phoenix we ended the night with Peach Smoothies from Sonic. It was a fun girls night!

So our friends The Orton's are pretty lucky. Dave got free tickets to the Dave Matthews concert last night. We can tell who works for the better company - Dave gets Dave Matthews tickets from his work - Preston gets Seal tickets from his. I am not kidding! Last year Preston got 2 tickets to the SEAL concert and, the best part is, they acted like they were doing him such a favor!!!Anyway we were pretty lucky yesterday too because we were able to babysit their cute little kids. The BOYS loved it. Preston made RICE CRISPY TREATS

an we had a movie marathon. It was fun and I love that we finally get to live near them!

The Perfect Blue

So Ethan has this crayon that has a name. It's name is, "Perfect Blue." Each week when packing the diaper bag Preston and I have to make sure perfect blue is packed. And when we return home from church he needs to be moved back into the crayon box. Ethan can not complete a masterpiece without his "Perfect Blue."
Well, Perfect Blue is on it's last legs. His wrapper is gone and he is one or two masterpieces away from disappearance. So this morning Ethan wakes me up frantically yelling, " Mom, I can't find perfect blue anywhere." I tried to ignore this but eventually found myself( at an indecent hour) searching the house for perfect blue.
Ethan then yells, " Mom I know how we can find it. We should say a prayer." I was reluctant. I didn't want his faith in prayers to be based on one crayon that wasn't found. Finding that crayon in this house would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Ethan insisted.
Well his prayer was said, and a few minutes later the perfect blue was found. I felt humbled. He then reminded me that we have to say a prayer to say "Thank You." I was grateful too. Grateful that Ethan had an experience with prayer, grateful for a boy whose pure little faith teaches me, and grateful that the search for blue was over and I could return to bed!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRESTON

Well, it's late here and I need to get some much needed sleep but in one hour it will be Preston's Birthday!! Yes!!
He will kill me when he sees what picture I posted. I wanted to post a baby picture but I don't have a scanner. So the next best thing was to post the YOUNGEST digital picture I do have of him. He's 23 in this picture(practically a baby, right?)
So...Happy Birthday Preston! I hope it is a great one.
We love you.

Fall Time...Sorta

Alright...I don't know what was up with the weird text. I tried to fix it - let me know if it is back to normal

FALL IS HERE!!! It is late September, the leaves are changing colors and we are starting to get out our jackets. HaHaHa that's what I would have written 3 years ago when were were living in Rexburg. But it is below 100 degrees and though I never thought I would say this 95 feels really cool.

In honor of the chilly weather, I decided to make my Grandma Nori's famous Chicken Noodle Soup and famous Filled Raisin Cookies. In the fall at Grandma Nori's house there are two things that must be done.
First - Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.
When I say homemade I mean HOMEMADE. Complete with the whole chicken and handmade noodles.

Second - Grandma's Pineapple Raisin Cookies! Delicious!

So I tackled the challenge devoting most of my day! And I have to say, to me it was DELICIOUS. It brought back Great memories! But... I decided after boiling a whole chicken and boning it, toiling over homemade noodles, and 2 hours of work for 24 cookies that I am SO grateful that I wasn't a pioneer. What a lot of work for such a small return!!!
The best part of the whole story is that I did this to help welcome in the fall season for my family- thinking they would love it the way I remember loving when my grandma did these things.

Well, that's not exactly what happened. Ethan and Tyler said they didn't like the soup and that the noodles were "Squishy" and could they please have " Ramon Noodles." They both refused to eat the cookies. Ethan said (Speaking for both of them) that they only like cookies that have chocolate chips. Preston loved the soup, but agreed with the boys that, "Putting raisins in cookies definitely ruins them."
But regardless, it did make the house seem more festive to me! Maybe next year I will start the tradition of Pizza welcoming in the fall!

Here are some cute pictures of the boys. We were getting ready for church tonight and I had a few extra minutes. I rarely have time when they are in nice clothes so I decided to snap a few shots. Can you believe how big they are?
Crazy!

I don't know what it is with my kids and thier noses but we have bad luck in that area. When Ethan was two he got a thumbtack lodged in his nose( point side up!) and we had to go to the ER to get it removed.
Well, yesterday Tyler got a blue bead stuck up his nose. Luckily, I could remove it myself. Pretty gross. Hopefully we won't have to do that again!

Making Cookies

One thing that has been nice about preschool is Tyler and I get to spend some time together. I love being able to give him a little more attention. We read his books, play cars which Ethan never likes to do and today we made sugar cookie dough. It was really fun and Tyler LOVED being able to "dump" in all of the ingredients. Later when Ethan came home they cut the cookies... and ate a lot of dough!

Look at these! Mom just sent them over today and they are definitely memory worthy.

Well, considering in my last post there is a picture of a smiley face pancake... I say they are definitely memory worthy. It's a pretty rare occasion to have this many of the Golding clan together at once so we had to get the four generations in a photo. Next time we are all together like this Triana will have a small tummy and there will be another cute little baby to hold!

Preschool

Today was Ethan's first day of preschool. I know it is JUST preschool but it was a pretty big deal around here. If I were to describe Ethan in a phrase I would say," Slow to warm up." Once he warms up your lifelong friends but it takes him A LONG time to get used to new people and situations.
So this morning began with 30 min of crying and Ethan sobbing," Please don't make me go. But after a special First Day of School smiley face pancake and LOTS of promising that there would be art projects he decided it would be alright.Charlotte(this week is at her house) said that he sat by himself in the corner for the first hour but by the second he joined in. Hopefully he got all his shyness out of his system today so he will have a blast for the rest of the time.

Tyler was a bit lost without Ethan. He kept walking around the house calling out Ethan's name and asking, " Where Ethan go?" They don't show it too often but I actually think those two might be FRIENDS! Who would have guessed?

The Last Supper...Well Breakfast

Today was a happy and sad day. This morning I went with the youth of our ward to the Arizona Training Center. I would show you pictures of our fun but we weren't allowed to take any. But it was AWESOME! I wish that Preston could have come with me. He took the kids to church and let me go. I loved it. The training center is a facility for the severely handicapped. There was such a special spirit there. I left feeling more grateful and loved. You could feel the love Heavenly Father has for those special people.
Then this evening we had Bob and the kids over for dinner. We have had a lot of fun with them here these last months. We take turns having them over to dinner or going to their house on Sundays. They are leaving this week so tonight was our last Sunday dinner with them. We had breakfast for dinner in honor of Bob. I know this move is GREAT for their family but we will sure miss them!

Ethan's Summer

TYLER'S SUMMER

Our Fun Week

Today was the end of a VERY fun week. All the family came into town for the blessing of baby Owen. Last Thursday Mom, Dad, Austin, Ryan and Triana all flew in. It was a fun-filled weekend with a baseball game, EATING, Wii bowling tournament, and a 24 hour power outage( during 109 degree weather). We had a lot of fun... and sweat and it was so sad to see everyone go!

My Official First Blog!

Hello - I have finally jumped on the blog bandwagon. I have been inspired by a few friends to try this out. My goal is that blogging will help me
1. Take more pictures of my family and QUICKLY growing boys!
2. Do better at keeping in touch and sharing pictures with our families.
3. And make up for my journal pages that are too often blank.
So...we'll see how this goes. Hopefully it won't have the same fate as my journal!