Winter Time Fun

Part of the elk herd at Hardward Ranch. We just watched from a distance.

Yes 4=wheelers can do snow. If the trails are groomed.

Cowboy K and Derf. Swapping manly stories about deer and elk.

Part of our group for the day.

Mr. M and Little K.

Just a quick note about our snow adventure up Monte Cristo. We took our four-wheelers on a groomed trail over to Hardware Ranch. It was a 30 mile trip. It was picture perfect weather and we all had so much fun. Derf, Mom, Mr. M., Little K, friend Miss A and tall man C along with his parental, Cowboy K rode together. Tall Man and Cowboy K had snowmobiles and they took full advantage of being able to go off trail and play in the powder. We saw two other tricked out 4 wheelers that had changed out their tires for snow gear or whatever it's called. They sure kicked up a lot of snow and they looked like giant snow cats that were flying across the powdery snow. At first when I saw them it reminded me of the opening scene from National Treasure where they are headed out to look for the Carolina. So if you're bored, try a snow adventure it really is a lot of fun.

Great Quotes

We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.. Mother Teresa

You have achieved excellence as a leader when people will follow you anywhere, if only out of curiosity. Collin L. Powell

If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up somewhere else... Yogi Berra

If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed...David Viscott

You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself. Sam Levinson

Experience is not what happens to a man. It's what a ma does with what happens to him. Aldous Huxley

You can get by on charm for about 15 minutes. After that, you'd better know something

The worst bankrupt person in the world is the person who has lost his enthusiasm HW Arnold

If everyone is moving forward together, then the success takes care of itself...unknown

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Maya Angelou

Too often we underestimate the power of touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around..Buscagila

The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people half way. Henry Boyle

YOU DON'T GET HARMONY WHEN EVERYONE SINGS THE SAME NOTE D. FLOYD

Tomorrow is a mystery, Today is a gift, That is why it is called the present Eleanor Roosevelt

Procrastination is like a credit card: it's a lot of fun until you get the bill Christopher Parker

"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt." Abraham Lincoln

What news?

I am in a bloggers rut. No excuses. I just didn't feel like blogging. We are alive and still have all bodily functions and haven't frozen to death yet.

I am grateful for my blessings and to have a testimony. These basic beliefs help me to stay focused and moving toward eternity. There is so much negativity and uncertainty around us. I am grateful that the gospel is steadfast and unmovable...hmm where have I heard that before? I could focus on the fact that my job is probably going to get chopped at the end of the year or I could count my blessings that I have had a good run so far and live each day better than I did before. I am blessed to be surrounded by wonderful family and friends. I try to take a moment each day and laugh even though I've wanted to strangle a few folks. I have tried to find some humor in my day. These small acts help me as a person. I thank you for keeping your blogs updated. I enjoy them so much. Have a great January day. I'm ready to thaw out and have spring arrive. Take care......

k's class project

K is in interior design and just finished a class project. The inspiration for this room came from our 3 year old neighbor who just loves Cinderella. She's enjoyed the class and learned a lot from it. Mr. B has returned from CA on Monday and had a blast in Mickey Town and CA Adventure. He learned a lot at the debate tournament that he attended at Clairemont HS. He was also able to go to the beach, swim and hang with friends. It hard to believe that his Senior year is half over and Little K is right behind him in school. In a few years Fred and I could be empty nesters!! At times I would say, "I can't wait for the day to come" and now I want the kids to linger a little longer. Loud sigh......hold on to your little ones and enjoy each season of their life.

Kenzie's nose job

K had a run in with the dog kennel with a little help from her friend Mr. M. She was down on the floor talking to Limmie when Mr. M came from behind and jokingly tugged on her belt loop. This caused little K to jerk forward and upward and into the metal door located on the front of the dog cage. It doesn't look like much but women could compare this wound to cutting yourself or your skin off your shin while shaving. This nose job was the topic of many conversations.

On Sunday four wards in our stake became six. Half of our ward was affected. We have now been through 9 divisions in 21 years and haven't moved. I welcome the opportunity to finally get to know everyone in the ward. It has been difficult to put a name to a face with the constant influx of new families each month. Fred and I still work in the primary. He teaches the CTR 5 class and I'm doing Jr. Primary music. Last Sunday I was teaching the new song, I lived in Heaven. I had introduced the song last week and I wanted to polish up the first verse. I had to really be a step ahead of all the chatter. I would alternate who would sing what phrase and mix that up quite a bit with hardly any break in the music. I then stood at one end of the room and told the group that when I walked in front of their area that that would be their clue to start singing. This helped keep their eyes on me and worked pretty well. We then started to sing as many action songs as I could fit in. One of my favorites is to do Give said the little stream. This hint is for all of you primary choristers or will be's.......start by sitting down. On every word that begins with G, stand up and sit down. On every word that starts with S, clap your hands. You have two actions going at once. The little kids just try to follow the leader. When I left primary I was mentally and physically exhausted. I had my work out for the day....

It's going to be a great day and I hope you are blessed and remember to LAUGH TODAY!!!

The Old Dog

Fred brought this short story home today for me to read. It was my laugh for the day. Enjoy

The Old Dog

There was a lady who had an old dog. For the last two days the dog hadn't moved, so the lady thought the dog was dead, but to be sure she called the local vet. The vet told her he couldn't come today but he would come tomorrow. The lady said that was fine; she didn't think the dog was going anywhere.

The next day the vet came to the house with this ugly old cat in his arms. He looked the dog over and told the lady he also thought the dog was dead, but just to be sure he put the cat down right in front of the dog.

The cat slowly circled the dog in one direction, then stopped and circled the dog in the other direction. Nothing happened so the vet picked up the cat and told the lady the dog was dead and that the bill would be $835. The lady looked shocked and asked whatever for. The vet said $35 for the house call and $800 dollars for the cat scan.

Blakes Blog

If you would like to read Mr. B's winning essays log on to: http://gricastoika.blogspot.com/ The official ceremony will take place on Feb. 18. FYI - Stoika is spelled Stoica. Update. Mr. B is headed to CA for Debate and three days in Disneyland this week.

Okay I had to laugh at myself once again! Yesterday I got the car stuck in the driveway of all places. We had to pull it out with the Jeep and that was not a pleasant experience as we had two frustrated adults, one with little "experience" in the getting unstuck situation and one male who has this 'thing' for some drivers. Why would he/she be upset? Well on one side there was a wife who didn't use her mirrors to see that the car was out already and she didn't need to go farther and the other party being of a certain age couldn't see or hear the pleading (yelling) to stop. The wife almost tweaked the car door for life. He was not happy and I was not happy and I think the whole neighborhood "heard" our discussion. I can laugh now at how silly the whole thing was and you may be wondering why would I share such a moment? Well we are a normal couple who reacted over something and afterwards they decided to laugh about it (after I pouted for a few moments) The ending to this story..... Husband and Wife are happy.

Thanks Mayor

Thank You to Crazytown for reminding me of one thing that I do want to do this year. I have shared it with the Mayor. My goal this year, (inspired after I had laughed at myself on Sunday )and then was reminded about how great humor can be in one's life this morning is to.......Laugh each day. It's simple and what I need in my life right now.

Funny or not?

This may not be funny to you but I found this situation in RS to be humorous today. The RS President started out her discussion by asking this question? How many of you made a New Years Resolution? I expected many hands to go up and guess what? Only two ladies raised their hands. Many sisters around me chuckled such things as: I quit doing that years ago or I won't have to feel guilty when I don't keep it if I don't make it and The 'I want to lose 10 lbs" resolution went out the window years ago. Now don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong in making a resolution to change for the better and to sticking to it. However, I choose not to do it on New Years Eve.

Confession of an embarrassing moment today at church. These things only happen to OLDER ladies or young children, not me. I came out of the restroom right after Primary today and was headed to RS. I stopped and spoke with one of Little K's YW leaders when a neighbor came up from behind and stopped and informed me that my back end was exposed! What? Yes, my skirt was caught up in my panty hose. Grateful that I was not caught by a priesthood brother!

Can you Top this!!!!!!

I Messed up and so the interesting story is below the pictures. Fred was asleep with only 20 minutes left before the New Year. Our room had been turned into a safe haven for guests to watch TV while all of the excitement was taking place in the front room and outside our home.

Mom and Bre

Josh just after we had unloaded silly string on everybody.

Little K and friends After we had done our celebrating outside, we ran over to our neighbors and wanted to wish Mark a Happy Birthday. We had the little kids go and get their Dad, when he came to the door we plastered him with silly string. So much fun. Little Gracie did not like the fact that we were attacking her Dad and was crying and getting so mad at us. She called our other neighbor and told her we had made a mess on her floor.

So............here's what happened!

New Years Eve started off with the usual food and party preparations. We had ordered some special steak for the night. Mr. M. was asked to cook them because the mom doesn't cook them well. The steak was delicious! Little K and some of her friends stopped by along with Josh and Breann. Later coming to say HI was Kallee and Duncan. Fred had mentioned (several times all month long) that we needed to spend some money on medical supplies or lose what we had put into an account with work. He has been purchasing items for a first aid kit and decided to go out last night and buy the rest. Upon his arriving home he could see two people on our sidewalk. As he gathered the bags from the car he walked up the driveway and a young woman was crying and hitting Josh's car and then she leaned up against another guest's car that was in our driveway. As Fred walked by her she said she had been assaulted and could he please call the police. He came into the house and told us briefly what was going on and I went and grabbed the phone. The teenagers in our house were a bit nervous and then we heard a knock at our door. The young lady was standing there crying and asking to please call the police. Fred was already on the phone and I asked if she would like to come in where it was warm. Immediately I smelled the alcohol on her breath and all she said was I need to go to the bathroom so bad. I let her use the restroom and then grabbed a blanket and had her sit on the couch until the police arrived. They came with the lights flashing and into our home to find out what was happening. By this time we had moved all the guests to other parts of the house. I stayed in the front room, after all it was my home. The other cops found the guy somewhere up the street and he was plastered and had marks all over him. They removed the lady from our home and continued with everything outside. By this time I had turned off the front room lights. One of the girls in our house wanted to watch what was going on and informed us that the young lady had now been put into handcuffs. We were trying to peek out the window but we were spotted by the police. Not fun to be caught spying!!! Anyhow things seemed to end peacefully and we went on to celebrate the new year!! Our neighbors were texting us and wondering what was going on at the Carlson's? Well they are a strange group of folks and you never know what may happen.

It will be fine in 2009!!!!!!!!!! Looking forward to a great year with lots of scrapbooking, crafting, exercising, family time and some work. Need to do that to support the habits. Happy New YEAR! You can check out more pictures on facebook. SEE YA

It was great in 2008

January - I wasn't blogging then and since I'm horrible at journal writing I have to rely on the calendar for the year to get by. My mother celebrated her birthday this month and is now in her 80's. We went to some serious bridal fairs and made appointments to meet with the decorator and photographer for Kallee's wedding. Also Kenzie got her license on January 28.

February brought with it more visits to the dentist, Preference for Kenzie along with valentines day for us all. Happy Birthday to Josh and Natalie

March - Fred and I celebrated our 25 wedding anniversary. Kallee, Clint,Duncan and Grandpa had birthdays. Blake went to Georgia and we had a very fun neighbor party.

April - Best month of the year. MOM's birthday and pre=wedding and engagement pictures were taken. Blake had track meets and we cleaned the church. Are you bored yet?

May - Mother's Day and Fred helping to take care of his mother. Bridal showers for Kallee and my parents celebrated their 62nd Wedding anniversary. Kallee and Duncan did Race for the Cure.

June - Big month. Somebody got married. Youth conference and Heritage Days were celebrated. Fred starts new job in Clearfield and is delighted to have it closer and ride his bike to work.

July - Fred's birthday. He did his annual bike ride. I rode about 30 miles with him. I think he did 56 miles that day. We celebrated the fourth of July with Kenzie, Mason, Kallee and Duncan.
Oh yeah, Josh and Breann were there to.

August - I think this was the end of the moving marathon. We had moved Kallee, Natalie and our neighbors in a three week period. We went camping to the northslope and school started.
Nat and Clint celebrated their 4th wedding anniversary.

September - Kenzie turned 17. She went to homecoming and I posted great pictures of her during mud Olympics. At any time you can go back and view old posts to make sure I'm getting the info. correct. Fred started part=time work at the State Hospital. Also our beloved Grandma Carlson passed away.

October- -Blake turned 18 this month. We went to the Real Soccer game at the new Rio
Tinto stadium. We also went wheeling up Willard Peak and the weather was spectacular. Blake went to Alabama and the girls went to Disneyland over Halloween. It was such a fun trip. Yeah I missed my husband but he gets sick after one or two rides.

November found us having lots of great fun at Thanksgiving in Orem.

December Lots of family get togethers and Christmas. It was a very wonderful year and I'm so grateful for all of the many blessings that our family received.

Part 2

Limmie found a new way of sleeping in a very cramped kennel. We understand that she has alot of her mother's traits. She likes to beg and jump on people and she snores!!! Must get that from derf's side of the family. I would never do that.

We are a family with many expressions!! Do you get the feeling that my kids enjoyed Christmas this year?

A zebra blanket? Little K is into the zebra thing. She was the recipient of many stripes this year.

This picture is too funny. Luke, I am your father. Let me weld your head to this helmet. Please J don't let your dad get a hold of the torch!!!

One of our favorite traditions handed down from Grandma Carlson was the candy wreath. Fred and I decided to keep the tradition going and we made a few. I found out that your fingers can get real sore after you have done a few. Derf took one to his work party and many c0-workers wanted it. They especially thought it was special when derf told them it was a tradition that his mother had started. It was one way that our family kept Grandma C. a little closer in our hearts.

Christmas Morning Part 1

the light is too bright Good Morning DAD

Oh it's too bright

tradition to hide under the blankets and come in for christmas morning. Blake is making his way from the upstairs.

Kenzie and Josh. Notice who is peeking out from under the blanket!!

Christmas Greetings

Merry Christmas to you all. Sorry that the picture did not turn out as well as expected. The caption reads: Merry Christmas 2008 Fred and Charlene Carlson family and Limmie. My dad called us and was wondering if the newest member of our family came from Fred's side, it certainly could not have come from Char's. HA HA Dad I know just how much fun dogs are for you.

We have had a snowy/rainy Christmas so far. Last night we kept with tradition and ordered take-out from Garcia's and ate by candlelight. I do set the table nicely for the occasion. After dinner Mrs. Claus had not finished all the wrapping that she likes to do and she was looking all over in her favorite hiding spots to find the gifts. (I'm thinking to myself that from now on I need to write down where I put things as my mind doesn't recall locations like it used to.) While trying to locate the gifts Kallee volunteered information that she had found all of our hiding spots as a child. I was looking under the bed, behind the headboard, in our closet, in other closets, the garage, under the stairs, in the trailer house etc. Every place that was mentioned she confessed to have looked in as a child. No wonder she always knew what she was getting. As a child I didn't snoop everywhere, I just unwrapped the gifts that were under the tree for me. Our neighbor Becky told us this year that her son's had done that as well. They tore open all the gifts under her tree one year. I sure chuckled at that one. Kids.........

scrapbook marathon

I've decided that I really enjoy scrapbooking 8 x 8 albums. I was able to do 46 pages in 16 hours. Well....mostly finished. The pictures are mounted and now I just need to add the titles and the embellishments. The theme for this album is "Wishes do come true" Kallee wished we could all go to Disneyland and we did!!! I'll take pictures and post them when all is completed.

Brrrrrr it's cold

Right now in my city the tempature is a chilly 23 degrees. However it's still warm enough for the students to have an outdoor recess which is a relief to the teachers here in the building. Even though I enjoy the warmer weather it is fun to have winter come especially around Christmas. The weather report is snow all week and chilly temperatures. I don't think we have to worry about having a brown christmas this year.

We held our FC family christmas party on Saturday at our home. It was alot of fun. Derf has been busy gathering his 'gifts' all year long. Let me explain. We draw names for gift giving. This year Dad drew Duncan's name. Whenever Dad is on his bike, walking or attending a conference he gather's up the 'good' stuff from off the road and from the vendors. This year he found tools, knife, tape measurer, water bottles, office supplies, drinks etc. He taped all of them to a box and in good ole derf style wrapped it in newspaper and proudly presented his gift to duncan. It is really hysterical to see all that he collects over the year. One year on christmas eve he found a large set of tools and proudly left them at the door for Natalie. This is how it all started. Derf does get a nice gift to go along with the gag gift. It is a fun tradition that has been started and we were already talking about next year and Christmas hasn't even arrived. I hope my kids will post comments about the gifts that they've received over the years.

Annual Family Party #1

These are some new faces in our family. These beauties belong to my nieces Chanen and Tonya. Aren't they just adorable? The brown eyed cutie pie was blessed this past Sunday. The blue eyed chick just moved back from the South and now lives closer to family.

My family gets together every year for Christmas. My brother Scott was the host this year and we all gathered together close by. Our menu this year was Soups, Salads and Desserts. It was very yummy and trying out a new soup recipe on the family was a success. We share some of the same traditions as in Derf's family; good food, basketball, chit chat and the breaking of the pinata. Speaking of the pinata. They sure don't make them the way that they used to. Why does the pinata end up getting decapitated before all the kids in line have had a chance to beat it to death? The adults came to the rescue of the disappointed kids with bats and tied the rope around it's belly. A few whacks at it later and the desired candy rained down to the delight of all the children.

Fun times on Turkey Day

Uncle D and grandaughter

Little R and daddy Nate

Big J and cousins in the background

Mr. F., Clint and Nat

Dunc and Kal. We had a great time getting together with many members of our family. As always yummy food and the traditional basketball hoopla took place. We missed some of you.

We are so grateful for family!

I remember, I miss, I love

Random events that I remember from my childhood==This is long and boring for some but it has been therapeutic for me. Thanks for reading.


1. I remember........ being teased very badly by my brothers. They would pretend they were dead until I started to cry hysterically and then start to laugh at me. Then they would do it all over again and I would fall for their routine.

2. My older brothers, the twins hated to babysit their little sister. How bad can it get? I was the only one. They said that I smeared my diaper on the walls and it was just disgusting. Hmmm.....I really don't remember that one personally.

3. I used to run away from home and hide in the neighbors cherry orchard. My friends and I ate lots of cherries. I didn't think that my mom and dad would worry about me. One time the owner was spraying cherries and we all thought we were being gassed and about to die. I remember holding my breath so long that I nearly passed out. When I finally decided to come home my parents had been looking all over for me and were ready to call the cops. The one and only time my father spanked me was that day. He took off his belt and gave me three good whacks. I deserved it. I scared them to death. I also used to hide in my closet for hours and nobody could find me.

4. I remember running home after the civil air raid drills. They would sound the alarm and you were supposed to run all the way home. I was five and ran the whole two miles.

5. Walking home from school one day a car pulled up and the people asked me if I wanted a ride.

The people in the car looked scary to me so I ran all the way back to school and told my teacher that someone was trying to kidnap me. I don't know how I got home. Maybe I reacted this way due to the fact that very often they would show "stranger danger" movies all the time. Good grief was I that traumatized?

6. My mother was an excellent seamstress. She sewed with perfection. She made all of my clothes and I would look into my closet thinking how lucky I was to have such pretty dresses to wear to school

7. When I was six my brothers were shooting birds with slingshots. I was playing outside with my friend and we went running. Next thing I know was that something had hit me. My brother Scott, (whom I love dearly) told me to tell MOM that I had fallen on a stick. My eye hurt so I rubbed it like crazy. My eye was a solid mass of blood and my dad was out of town running the green river. To make a long story shorter....I had surgery and lots of eye exams. I am very blessed to not have lost the eye completely.


I miss my grandparents and all the family gatherings with my cousins. G&G O. lived next door and we always had snacks at their home. They had a silver tinsel tree with blue ornaments and would come over every christmas morning. Some years when my dad had to be to work at 6:00 am we would have christmas then run over and wake them up. I miss them alot. We always had thanksgiving at their home. My grandma started the pie tradition. She would let me help her make the pie dough. We only made a few pies. My mom is the one that would make lots and lots of pies. My dad doesn't like cake so for most desserts it was pie. Guess that is why I love
to make pies during the holidays. It brings back so many fond memories. My pie recipe didn't come from by grandma, only the way how to handle the dough. Actually an old roommate of mine shared with me the perfect pie recipe that I have used since I was about 21 years if age.



Christmas Eve was held at my Grandpa and Grandma Warnicks home. We did the usual gift exchange until the family was so large we couldn't do it anymore A swedish dinner was always served. I can't spell the word but we always had some sort of fish in a white sauce served over mashed potatoes. Sounds gross but it was really yummy and we all looked forward to honoring our ancestors by having that meal every year. After awhile my aunt took over and we always went to her house. Usually my brothers and I got to spend a week at their house during the holidays and we spent our time putting puzzles together, sledding, eating and just having lots of fun. She had a neat loft with pull down stairs. The girls got to stay in the loft. One time my brother Steven had an accident and cut his arm very badly on those stairs.
We carry on the christmas eve dinner tradition at our home. But we eat whatever sounds good, eat by red candle light. The Red Candle is a swedish tradition also. The light represents christ and the color represents his sacrifice for us.



My mother would hold a Christmas Open House on Christmas day. We would bake for weeks and prepare lots of yummy treats. Most of our relatives lived close by and would come to our home. We hastily gathered our gifts and would lay them out carefully on our beds for our cousins to see what we had gotten. We did alot of visiting and eating all day long.



I miss my mother's holiday baking, especially her divinity. It is truly divine. I've tried several times to try and make it like her but haven't got there yet. I miss the snowball fights with my grandma ostergaard who would chase us all over trying to hit us. I miss sitting between by grandparents at church and getting pink mints or some sort of treat from grandpa's pocket. I always tried to wrinkle his skin and see how long the wrinkles would stay in place.


I love that I have such sweet memories. I love all my relatives, my husband and cherish my children and their spouses. I hope your memories are wonderful as well.