The Best, Worst and Most of 2011

            A speaker in Sacrament meeting remarked that he saw a lot of negative comments posted about 2011 from his facebook friends. Honestly, it was one of the most trying years of my life. But there were also so many good moments! In lieu of this, I would like to present my own Golden Globe awards to the best, worst and most of 2011.

Best Project of 2011

            And the award for best project goes to the kids’ bedroom!

            I bought an old wood door from an antique shop for the headboard.

            I love ABC rooms
            Painted door is now a chalkboard.

            I painted this map of the USA and put little picture reminders of what we did when we visited that state. I will continue to add pictures as we visit more places.

Best Pictures of 2011

Best New Computer Discovery of 2011

            I learned how to use a “green screen” when I take pictures. This was a really fun photo shoot that I did in front of a green cloth. Then I was able to change different backgrounds on the computer.

Best Book of 2011

            The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I know I’m not very original in my favorites, but I loved it!

Best Show of 2011

            Larkrise to Candleford

            I love this show! It is a BBC show that comes on PBS on Wednesday nights. The characters all have so much character. You can tell they have character just by their names: Queenie, Twister, Alfie, Ruby and Pearl (these are old spinster sisters who always dress alike), Minnie, and Dorcas Lane.

Best New Job of 2011

            I have volunteered to help with Ethan’s pre-school this year. I go for the last hour and a half and help his teacher. She asked me to vacuum after everyone leaves, but after I did it the first time, she said I didn’t need to do it anymore. I found out she is particular about which way the lines go when you vacuum, and mine weren’t going the right way. :) So now I am in charge of setting up the toys on the shelves when everyone leaves. She said the kids play better when the toys are “set-up.” It sounds a little much, but I love it! I love seeing the toys all set-up and ready to play. The pre-school room looks magical. Now I know why I would spend more time setting-up the house and dressing my dolls when I was little than actually playing with them!

Most Embarrassing Moment of 2011

            Nate was coaching the boys’ soccer teams last spring. They would practice at a little field near our house, and there wasn’t very much room to park vehicles at this field. One night, I had to be to a meeting at 7:00, and his practice ended at 7:00, so he told me to just drop off the little kids at this field a few minutes before 7 so I could make it to my meeting in time. I left the kids and the van for him there and got into the car to go to my meeting. I was in a hurry, and Nate had had to park on the grass because there was not an empty parking space anywhere else when he had arrived because another team of little girls was also practicing there. I started to back-up to leave, and heard loud whistling and popping behind me.  I saw water squirting straight up in the air in my rear view mirror. I jumped out of the car and to my horror, I realized that this soccer team of little girls had left their water bottles in a pile behind my car, and I had run over and popped every single one of them! It was so embarrassing. Because it is a small field, everyone saw or heard what had happened. I told Nate that I would never show my face at a soccer practice the rest of the season. I came to the games in a disguise. :)

Best Missionary Moments

            In 2011, my parents and two nephews left on missions. It has been so wonderful to receive their emails. Here are some highlights from their amazing and inspiring emails:

From my parents in Guam (I have lost my September/October emails, so something that I really wanted to include, I can’t find. I will find it and post it later):

On Friday, before the Mechams left for Chuuk with Elder Ringwood, two huge boxes arrived from Tokyo. Apparently, Sister Aoyagi had had a project of gathering white shirts and neckties for the members in Chuuk. President Mecham and Elder Ringwood reported that when they opened the boxes at the priesthood meeting in Chuuk, the men just stood and watched. They finally convinced them that they could have a shirt and a tie. The men were so thrilled. They immediately put them on and the missionaries were teaching them how to tie their ties. Elder Ringwood told of a young man in shorts who he helped to choose a shirt and tie and then helped him tie the tie. The next day the boy came back in his shirt and in some levis and found someone to help him tie the tie. These are people who have nothing. It is hard to picture nothing but that is what it is. And those shirts and ties made them feel like something special.

One final note of interest. On Pohnpei there is a man in the church named Jingle. His brother is named Mingle and his nephew is Swingle.

From my nephew in Thailand (let me also add that he had to get a 3 foot long snake out of the church one day):

I like to remind my boys of this excerpt here: A few days after being sick I was over to Yubins house, the investigator I was talking about earlier, and she made me drink warm, salty lemon juice and raw onions!!!! I really dislike onions sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much but I ate them with a smile on my face because she was trying to be nice.

One cool thing that happened this week happened a few days ago. We were tracking and it was getting late and we had about thirty minutes until we needed to go back home and we weren't quite sure where to go. So we prayed to ask where we needed to go and while we were praying i got in my mind a picture of this specific house. So I said i think that we should go this way, so we went for a while and found nothing. So we stopped and prayed again. Then I felt impressed to go down this one road and there was the house that I had thought of. So we went up and knocked on the door and a man, probably in his thirties answered. We talked with him and found out that he was a former member that hadnt been to church in ten years. We taught him about God and the importance of church and commited him to go. The interseting thing was that he wouldnt except. I thought for sure since we had been directed there he would except but i feel that that makes the story all that more interesting. I feel that he needed to here the message we had of the restored gosel again, even though he wasnt ready to come back, Heavenly father wanted us to try.

I also get emails from my nephew in SanDiego. I also wanted to include one he sent I October/November which as I said before, are lost. He has the best emails, and the most positive attitude! Everything is always "great" to him. It is really inspiring to me.

Best Recipe of 2011

This is from my sister. It was AMAZING at Thanksgiving.

Casserole Dressing

1 lb of real butter

1 onion

½ carrot, grated

6 stalks celery cut in small pieces

Two loaves soft bread

1 can chicken broth (2 cups)

½ cup milk

1 beaten egg

1 -2 Tbls salt (to taste)

Dash pepper

1 – 2 tsp fresh sage

Add more broth if desired

Melt one cube butter in frying pan and sauté the onion, carrot, and celery

Melt ¾ lb butter, cool slightly

Cut two loaves of bread into one inch cubes.  Combine butter, bread, chicken broth, ½ cup milk with one beaten egg.  Add salt, pepper, and sage.  Add more broth if it’s not moist enough.

(I used Grandma Sycamore’s bread and didn’t use all two loaves.  Also, my sister-in-law said that she doesn’t use all  the butter it calls for and it still tastes good)

9 x 13 pan

350 degrees

1 hour

Most Furriest Cake of 2011

(the title for this award may be a little confusing for some. When my brother was in scouts many years ago, they had a cake decorating contest, and he won the coveted award of “Most Furriest Cake.” So I use this title to symbolize any obscure, nameless, leftover thing that needs an award.)

In 1 Nephi 9:6, it says that the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning and prepares for them. He can prepare us as well. Did He know I would get shingles? Of course. This is an interesting verse to think about.


A couple months ago, I had a horrible, terrible week. Something horrendous happened with my friend who accused my kids of something. I have never bawled so hard as I did nor feel so in despair. I had the thought, "Why? Why is nothing good happening in my life?" And then the very next morning, the DJs from the radio station 105.5 the Hawk called and said that I had won something. Months ago, at the Teton Chamber Orchestra concert, I saw that they were raffling off a guitar that was signed by a bunch of famous people. I had this strong feeling that I would win it, so though I normally wouldn't, I entered the drawing. I told Nate that they would announce my name that night as the winner and I even made him stay after, waiting for them to announce the winner. But I guess the guitar had other engagements to attend, and more raffle tickets to be bought for it. Nevertheless, I got a call on Monday morning telling me that I was the winner of this new, pink, autographed guitar! Heavenly Father knew clear back in August or whenever it was, that I would need a boost or just a little something on November 11, to let me know that life is still good, that things aren't always bad and that He is continually watching over me. The guitar is cool, but it is meaningful because it is an inside gift between me and Heavenly Father. It reminds me that He knows me and loves me.

Most Funniest Moment of 2011

This award goes to a little experience I call “Daddyshack”:


For the past few days, I have heard a chirping coming from our garage. It has been nice outside, so I kept thinking it was the birds outside. But then our garage started to smell badly, and so when Nate got home from work yesterday, he started investigating. He pulled the van out of the garage and asked me to come outside. He lifted the hood over the engine and when it was up, we saw two ENORMOUSLY FAT rock-chucks sitting on our engine! I screamed and grabbed Bryn and ran back into the house. The rock-chucks scurried back down into the engine, so Nate grabbed a long piece of wood and started poking down into the engine. The larger rock-chuck (which was about the size of a cat), started biting the piece of wood! Then the rock chuck let go and went back down. So then Nate armed each of the boys with a golf club, and they all stood around waiting for the rock-chucks to pop back up. We were supposed to be at Leo's Place for Landon's birthday party, so we eventually had to give up the hunt and get back in the van. When we went to Boise on Monday, we parked the van in NAte's work's parking lot which is INFESTED with rock-chucks, and we assume that is when they took up residence in our van. But we picked it up on Tuesday, and since then we have been to soccer games, the park, the greenbelt, to and from school and apparently, they had been along for the ride. When we got to Leo's, Nate, Aaron and Russell each got a golf club and went out to get rid of the problem. They finally got one to come out, but it startled Aaron, and it ran right past him. When Aaron recovered, he ran after it, waving a golf club over his head through the parking lot. He gave up the chase when he noticed cars were slowing down to look at him, and when the rock-chuck went under someone else's car. Nate was laughing so hard. The second (I hope there were only two) rock-chuck was still in the engine. Aaron told me he thought one could come out our vents so I sat in the back on the way home. We don't want to put poison in the engine because we don't want it to die there, so the next plan was to try to drown it out. Nate took the van to the car wash last night and power-washed the engine. It didn't even phase the rock-chuck. He said that at one point, he saw the rock-chuck come up "to get a drink of water." The next step in our plan is to take the van in to get an oil change, and if that doesn't work, we are getting a new van. I actually think Nate might just be enjoying this. He asked me if he could shoot it, but how would that be on our van? Is a van engine bullet-proof?

Daddyshack part II (The next day):
 Once again, Nate armed all the boys with a club of some sort. And finally, the lone rock-chuck popped up and Nate swung at it and knocked it clear over to the grass. He ran into the house, yelling, "Katie! Can I get my gun? It's suffering! Can I get my gun?!" And I yelled yes! He grabbed his gun and literally ran into our neighbor who was coming to see what all the commotion was about. Our neighbor ran to get his boys (to watch) while Nate finished off the rock-chuck. Our neighbor’s son asked if he could take it to his biology class at school. :) It has been sitting in our garbage can for the past four days, and it's giving me nightmares. Chucky the rock-chuck nightmares.

Best Thing I learned in 2011:

           In December, my sister-in-law went into labor with their 4^th baby, but when she got to the hospital, the doctor said they couldn’t find a heartbeat. The baby, though full-term, was stillborn. I called my brother after I heard the news. We cried together, and I told him that Mom and Dad were so grieved that they were going to come home from their mission. He said to me, “Oh, they better not come home. We have received so many, so many blessings from them being on a mission.”

            I immediately thought, “What blessings?” All I could see were the many trials we had had as a family since they had left. And my brother, who had been without a job for most of the year and was now experiencing one of the most difficult trials of all, was able to see his many blessings.

            I determined at that moment that I needed to change my attitude. My brother is a great example and teacher.