Steven & Ashlee Simons

Thanksgiving weekend we took off to Utah and had so much fun with our family and friends. We didn't get in until Wednesday. I took the kids over to see my grandmother who is a little sick. She loved seeing them and especially loved, Hello Mr. Turkey how are you? song that the kids sand to her. I then took them over to the Dinosaur Museum where they didn't last as long as I thought they would, but they still had a good time.




Thursday I got up and made 4 dozen rolls, one pumpkin cobbler, and a giant green bean casserole. I don't know how one person could cook that meal all by themselves, hopefully I wont ever have to find out!! But we had sooo much fun with Steven's family. I am not sure how many there were of us, but too many to count. We had such a good time with everyone.






On black Friday I got at 3:30 and made it in time to Sam's to snatch a few goodies while my brother and sister in-law radded JCpenny for me. I hit Tai Pan, Toys R Us, Cabelas', Old Navy, Gap, Einstein Brothers for a snack, and then it was home again home again! My blessed mother in-law watched my children and I ran home in time for my mother's Thanksgiving dinner with my family!

David and Rhonda Simons

The Blakes

Maren Blake and Marin Simons

Samantha Winnie, Winnie Simons, Marin Simons

There were over one hundred pictures! It was a sad day, but so many people will remember Grandpa Simons, his memory will last forever.

This month is TMJ awareness month. I am sure you are asking yourself, "What is TMJ? And why do I care?" Well, I am Ashlee Marie Simons and I have TMJ dysfunction. TMJ stands for TemporoMandibular Joint, or the jaw joint. You have two TMJs, one in front of each ear, connecting the lower jaw bone (the mandible) to the skull. The joints allow movement up and down, side to side, and forward and back—all the mobility necessary for biting, chewing and swallowing food, for speaking and for making facial expressions. These normal everyday things become painful and difficult when one is suffering from a bad episode of TJM. The body will heal itself basically through lock jaw for a few weeks or months.
Normally it does not affect my life other than the occasional achy jaw after a day of talking or eating too much. But after I have dental work done . . . watch out! Because I usually get a bad case. Right now I am going on three weeks of trying not to move my jaw. Yes, that is right, trying not to move my jaw. This wouldn't be a problem, you know, if I didn't have to eat and (since I don't know sign language) talk! My worst bout lasted for three months and I lost ten pounds many years ago.
I am extra impatient now a days deep in a three week episode of what is nothing less than a living hell. (I tend to swear more than my normal amount when I a suffering from TMJ. All it takes is for one of my children to climb over me a pop me in the jaw to send me to the other room for a sentence full of nasty language that I am certain is not appropriate for a mother of three, let alone a mother in Zion to use, but we all have our weaknesses and swearing happens to be mine. But it does put me over the edge I will well admit that.)
I asked my dentist the other day if we could just wire my jaw shut to get it to heal faster. I realize this is an extreme measure, but, so extreme is the problem. Am I a little frustrated? Agitated? Irritated? Oh yes, that sums me up right now.
But bringing us back to peaches and cream. I have five boxes of it in my house right now. I fixed tacos for the clan tonight and then sat down with my bowl of instant oatmeal, which, by the way, I had for breakfast too . . . for the past five days. I guess I will have to shop my way through Christmas, because as you can see, I will certainly not be eating much this holiday season. :)

So last night we took all of the kids to High School Musical Three. This wouldn't probably happen with most two year olds, but Ben loves High School Musical. So we went really just for him. I will have to say out of a 10 I will give him a 9.5. I never got up and he pretty much sat and watched the whole thing! I did want to pee my pants when he stood on top of his chair to dance and fell off getting his foot stuck in the chair on the way down.
The girls kept talking at a regular volume, which we had to explain why we whisper in movies. They loved the popcorn, the drinks, and chocolate. It really was a fun first family movie night. I think we will be going to the movies on Christmas day for Marly and Me.

(So humor me on this next one!)
After the movie later that night we were eating dinner and I said to Steven that I never really thought about leaving my Sr. year when I left for Germany. The prom, the year book, the school presidency, my heavens I was a cheerleader, and on the track team and I didn't really think about what I would miss. That movie for whatever reason made me feel like I had missed something. Something I had never thought about before.

P.S. Not that England, France, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, ditching school to go to the Netherlands and ten days on the Mediterranean in Spain weren't fun.:)

I watched Ben the other morning walk in our bathroom. A few min. later I heard him crying so I went in. Poor Ben was trying to shave himself. Well he was off to a good start, a razor, shaving cream, and toilet paper. It was hard not to laugh.

YES ON PROPOSITION 8 in California
You've been tagged. PLEASE READ THIS no matter what state you live in.

Failure to pass Proposition 8 will hurt children. If gay marriage remains legal, public schools will put it on equal footing with traditional marriage. Children will likely receive “age appropriate” information about sexual relations within heterosexual and homosexual marriages.
Failure to pass Proposition 8 will hurt churches. The court’s decision will inevitably lead to conflicts with religious liberty and free speech rights. Society will become more and more hostile to traditional beliefs about marriage and family. Over time, greater acceptance of nontraditional marriage will be demanded of all people. This could impact the ability of any religion to teach and practice its beliefs. Including adoption agencies.
A YES vote will not hurt gays. In California, the law provides for marriage-related benefits to be given to civil unions and domestic partnerships. Proposition 8 does not diminish these benefits.
For your information:
On Friday, October 10th, 2008 a first-grade class took a field trip to witness a lesbian wedding in California. Click Here for the article from the San Francisco Chronicle.
A father in Massachusetts was frustrated when his twin kindergartners were taught about homosexuality at school by the teachers. He insisted he be notified in the future before such things were discussed so he could pull his boys out of school.He was taken to jail. Click Here for the story.
A Catholic adoption agency In the UK closed their doors because of the Government's new homosexual equality laws. The Equality Act forbids discrimination in the provision of goods and services on the basis of sexual orientation. The law was forced through Parliament last year despite past Prime Minister Tony Blair's recommendation that Catholic adoption agencies be exempted from the rules. Click Here for more info.
Earlier this month judges in Conneticut overturned the state law (just as the judges in California did) to legalized gay marriage. This is not just an issue in California. We voted years ago to keep traditional marriage as the only marriage recognized in the state of California, 4 judges overturned our vote…and we need to fight back. That is what this Proposition is about. This is happening everywhere and the leaders of the church and others have warned that the outcome of California’s vote will affect the way the other states vote. So PLEASE…even if you don’t live in California, put this on your blog or email this on. The internet knows no state line. You know contacts in California that I don’t…and so do your friends. Please pass this on as it could eventually have an effect on everyone!
"Occasionally discouragement may darken our pathway; frustration may be a constant companion. In our ears there may sound the sophistry of Satan as he whispers, "You cannot save the world; your small efforts are meaningless. You haven't time to be concerned for others." Trusting in the Lord, let us turn our heads from such falsehoods and make certain our feet are firmly planted in the path of service and our hearts and souls dedicated to follow the example of the Lord." --Thomas S. Monson
Click Here for excerpts from the Broadcast given by Elders M. Russell Ballard, Quentin L. Cook and L. Whitney Clayton.
A good resource mentioned in the broadcast: http://www.preservingmarriage.org/
October 20th: Last day to apply for an absentee ballot if voting out of state. Click Here to get one.
October 27th: Last day to apply for “Vote by Mail” Click Here for info.
November 4th: Election day. Polls close at 8:00pm. Vote by mail must be received by this time and can be hand delivered if necessary.YOU'VE BEEN TAGGED...Here's what you do: In the broadcast we were asked to "go viral on our blogs, etc" by Elder Ballard. This is my way of going viral. If you feel this is an important issue I ask that you copy and paste this post...and post it on your blog. PLEASE keep it at the top of your blog through November 4th. which you can adjust each time you post under the "edit post" option. The internet knows NO STATE LINE. You know contacts in California that I do not...as do your friends and their friends...and so on. Please do this. If not for your own children and the effect it could have on them some day...for mine! After you have posted this...email this to your contacts and TAG all your blogging buddies to do the same. THANK YOU! PS: I have gone public for the next month...so anyone can copy and paste this information.

Someday this week, no I do not even remember the day. I took my children and Marin's friend Addy and her mother to the pumpkin patch. The kids where excited and picked out three of the largest pumpkins in the patch. (Being a smart mom, I only took $25 in cash to the patch knowing if that was what I took, that would be all I would spend!) They spent a good fifteen minutes finding the largest pumpkins they could. Then, after hauling my three little children and their three "great" pumpkins back up the hill we weighed them . . . 65lb of pumpkins came to $23.