Tuesday, December 6, 2011

A story to tell

So recently I watched some kids and one of them asked me to tell him a story. sometimes my spur of the moment stories are good and sometimes they are not. This one was pretty good. so, I thought I would share. here it is. please enjoy:

Once upon a time...
There was a little boy, who had no idea who he really was. One day while he was watching his sheep in his families field a wizard came to him. As soon as the wizard saw the little boy's brown hair, purple staff, and the little scar on the left side of his nose; he knew that he was the next Prince of Crayon-land. 
The Wizard explained to the boy that Crayon-land needed a new ruler because the people were so confused. They didn't know what color to color the sky. they didn't know what color to color grass. They didn't even know what color to color the beautiful castle. 
The boy could not believe what the wizard was saying, but he decided to try anyway. The wizard told him that he needed to walk until he found the big blue lake, then follow the path to the left until he saw the green tree, and when he saw a fork in the road, he should go to the right and there he would find the rainbow that would lead him to the world's most perfect box of crayons. 
The boy started on his journey and came to a Big lake, but it wasn't blue. The lake was white. The boy was confused and didn't know what to do until a blue bird came down. 
"Can I help?" the blue bird said
"I don't know how you can, I was looking for a blue lake, but this one is white. I don't know what to do." the boy said. 
"if you sing a song to me, I might be able to help." chirped the blue bird. 
"Okay, I try," said the boy. The boy sang. 
Blue, Blue, I love you
Blue, Blue, you are true.
Blue, Blue, I love you.
Blue, Blue, you are true to me. 
With that, the blue bird flew up into the sky and opened up his wings. Out of his wings came blue sparkles. The sparkle fell into the water and turned the lake from white to blue. 
The boy was so happy as he continued on his journey. He remembered that he had to follow the path to the left until he found the green tree. 
On the path in front of him he found a yellow tree. The boy stared at the tree and wondered if he had gotten lost somewhere. Once again the blue bird flew next to him and asked him if he could help. 
"I don't think so," the boy said, "unless you know how to turn a yellow tree to a green tree." 
"maybe, but you might want to sing again." 
"sure, why not" thought the boy. 
Blue, Blue, I love you
Blue, Blue, you are true.
Blue, Blue, I love you. 
Blue, Blue, you are true to me. 
With that the bird flew up into the air and circled the tree. The bird opened up it's wings and out came big blue sparkles. The tree magically turned from yellow to green as the blue sparkles hit it. 
"of course", said the boy" yellow mixed with blue makes green."
The boy thanked the blue bird for his help on his journey to find the world's most perfect box of crayons. 
As the boy came to the fork in the road, he could not remember which way he was supposed to go.  The boy thought and thought but somehow he could not remember, so he started to skip back and forth. He skipped back and forth so long that it started to rain. The raindrops were very little and light. As he thought about the light rain, he got an idea. 
He pulled out his flashlight and shined it into the rain, as he did a little rainbow appeared. The boy followed the rainbow and the path to the right. As the rain stopped, the rainbow disappeared and in front of him, he found the world's most perfect box of crayons. 
The boy picked up the crayons and as he did and powerful rainbow encircled him. All the colors, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red encircled him and made a beautiful multicolored coat for the new prince. And, on his head was a six point crown with different gems on top. 
And that is the story of how Crayon-land got a new prince.

-Tiffany Laney.





Sunday, November 13, 2011

10 years into eternity

Our ten year anniversary was last Wednesday...so we took a few days off together and roamed the town!
We hiked a small mountain,

found awesome new roadside fruit stands, had many thrift store adventures, went to the movies, almost went camping,-and then realized we needed more camping equipment- and
soaked up culture-weird I know- at the Riverside County Museum and the Riverside Art museum.







Then, on the day of our anniversary, we drove back to where it all began- The San Diego California temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We had a great day in which the Spirit of the Lord was present.

Here's us then-
 And ten years later...

I can't believe its been ten years! I love my sweet wife-now and forever! Here's to many more years into eternity!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011



My favorite time of the year has come. I love fall, and I love Halloween. So, once again Bob is forced to tolerate my love for Halloween, as I decorate the house from top to bottom, with as much decor as my budget will allow. The top picture is the way that my house looked for Halloween night. I don't know if you can see all the spider webs that I put up and my new favorite decoration...my huge candy corns. I got those from Disneyland last year before I left the "happiest place...in anaheim" They are my new pride and joy (as far as decorations go) and they fit in with the tombstones and creepy guy in the window. I also had scary sounds playing so needless to say a few of my trick or treaters had a moment of pause before they rang the door bell. This year I decided to dress up as Queen of the Nile. I found the costume at Walmart for only 19.99 so I just couldn't pass it up. Although I must confess that one day I am going to find a Shrek and Princess Fiona costume for Bob and I to wear.
Anyway, this month was a fun one as well as we also got a chance to see our niece and nephews playing soccer. They were awesome and I got into it...a lot. I know why people put stickers on the back of their cars that say, " proud soccer mom". Now, I just have to find one that says, " proud soccer aunt" and I will be all set.




Madison, Christopher, and Aaron were amazing to watch. I was so proud and glad that we were able to see them play. Bob and I really liked the tunnel that family members make at the end of each game as each of the teams run through. It sort of reminded me of what real sport-man like playing is all about. Not matter who wins (or looks like are playing better) we each get up at the end of the game and cheer on all every team member on both teams for doing their best. I must admit it put a little tear in my eye for a moment. I think it would be fun to go to a professional game and watch each team run through a cheer tunnel at the end. So, funny to think about. We also celebrated Bob's thirty-something birthday. He doesn't really like to talk about it since he doesn't think we are old enough to be adults. I tend to agree with him. So, we just consider birthdays as a reason to have cake. I would post some pictures but apparently all the pictures were taken when everyone was leaving. silly us.
Well, that is our month in a nutshell. (insert Austin Powers line here.)
We continue to hope and pray that the County of Riverside will quickly "sign off" on our Foster application and we will have more news to share. In the mean time please keep us in your prayers.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Thrift stores

I love 11 books for a dollar ...and a funky fresh shirt!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Lovely Ice Cream!


Just had to share...



In other news, our life continues to move along. We keep hoping to add tp our family, and are escited by new avenues that have opened recently. However, one of must have prayed for faith or patience, because things seem to move so slowly. Note to self...do NOT pray for patience.

We are however very excited for our upcoming vacation!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Had to share

Cheese and I have a tumultuous relationship, so I felt a certain kinship....

The cheese explained

Monday, May 30, 2011

Wow....

So, apparently I fell off the blogosphere. Here are a few of our adventures....

Tiffany got drafted to write the ward roadshow. So, I got drafted to be in it. I was a rockstar who had his own groupies. I was amazing! Our ward won for best use of theme.

Just because I knew you wanted more....

We have done other fun things like work, and work, and work. Tiffany still loves having left the Mouse House and becoming a nanny. Her last day...

Oh, and get nasty letters from our HOA about our front lawn dying. If they would like to pay my water bill or for new sod, I think we could solve the problem.

We also had a few fun fights with insurance companies refusing to pay for things. After a few.....discussions.....and complaints, they agreed they were wrong. How nice.

We also enjoyed seeing family like Brent and Allison at their wedding and the fam that was there, and the occasional fun visits with Laura and Cody and the Morgans.
We still work with the YSA in our ward, and enjoy that, like having a car maintenance night and planning a break the fast this month featuring..... a cereal bar. Tiffany is in heaven, as that is I believe her number one favorite food.

We continue to push along on the adoption front, and hear some encouraging news from our caseworker that they are now certified with LA and San Bernardino counties to place the unwanted babies in their systems. So, we are going to some mandatory classes this week, and hope for the best! Your love and prayers are always appreciated.

Ta Ta for now!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

St. Patrick's Day


So, I had the luck o the Irish to be blessed with an amazing wife, who every year indulges my passion for green food. This year, she really outdid herself.
The chef hard at work

Chicken Florentine, broccoli, (I LOVE vegetables----hear the sarcasm.)and mashed potatoes with garlic salt, a stick and a half of butter...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

It tasted great...even if my mind kept telling me the mashed potatoes were Playdough. :)

Yes , Mugsy sat there with her beseeching brown eyes...she even stole a leftover chicken breast off the table later...bad puppy! But she's so cute!

May the road rise to meet you...and all that jazz!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Mornings




Who knew that mornings actually existed to get things done? The last few weeks I've set new goals for myself to get to bed earlier and wake up earlier. When I have done so, I've found more hours in the day, especially since I now have a four minute commute to work. (Still late sometimes....go figure. ) I've been able to do things like mow the lawn, weed the front yard, take the dog for a walk, and run errands that always fell by the wayside before.

Mornings-who knew?

Monday, January 24, 2011

New Carpet and the cusp of change






I got new carpet...I got new carpet. yes I am singing with a little bit of dancing. My carpet looks beautiful. Okay let me back up a little so you get the full picture. We have lived here for 2 and some odd years. After moving in we got a puppy who proceeded to "mark" the place as her own toilet. I have enclosed a few pictures. Luckily we met a young man in our ward that was willing to help us out with the cost of a new carpet, unluckily he measured wrong and we ended up with enough carpet to do almost the whole house excluding the two small bedrooms. Since he saved us thousands of dollars (literally) we forgave him.
I can't explain the level of my excitement. We did get to do a little extra work of our own that day as after they ripped up the old carpet, we found that we needed the sweep the cement with bleach and water to assist Mugsy (our dog) with not "marking" the area again when the new carpet was put in. I'm happy to report that she has been doing amazing and has not had an accident since. During that day, we also found a slightly large crack that ran from end to end of each of the rooms that we needed to cover up with caulk or in our case , left over grout. This crack I was told was common when the house settles. Although after the carpet guy mentioned that we might want to seal them up so prevent ants from coming in, I was ready to get started. Caulking and grouting was fun and bob even put a smiley face on the cement in our room in grout. Yes, ladies and gentleman, future generations in this house will know Bob (cheesey face) Laney was here.
By the way, I posted the pictures backwards so the one at the top is the new carpet.
Soon we will be having a welcome carpet party at our house. Please look out for further details.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Funny funnies


Today, I actually laughed at most of the comics I read. This one just rang too true.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Christmas


It was a good time had by all! We enjoyed having the day off together, and preparing for Santa to come.




Smiley cookies were made...

A few survived for Santa...
And presents were left under the "tree". (We never made it out to buy one. Next year.)
Mugsy was even so excited she chased her own tail. One day she'll catch it.

Christmas Day we went to spend time with Tiffany's family-Mom and Dad


Nate, Sue, and the kids
Tammy, Rob, and son
Okay, so this isn't Christmas. But I didn't have any pictures of Ryan and Todd at Christmas.


Tammy Ward..Again..not Christmas. See above.




And the cutest couple in the world!

Christmas was a good time...especially as we remembered Jesus Christ and the gift He gave us more than two thousand years ago.

Happy New Year!

.•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆ ★ ☆¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆
╔╗╔╦══╦═╦═╦╗╔╗ ★ ★ ★
║╚╝║══║═║═║╚╝║ ☆¸.•°*”˜˜...”*°•.¸☆
║╔╗║╔╗║╔╣╔╩╗╔╝ ★ NEW YEAR ☆ 2011
╚╝╚╩╝╚╩╝╚╝═╚╝ ♥¥☆★☆★☆¥♥ ★☆
(Stole the above from my friend Crisi's face book page. )


Hard to believe it's January again. A few things have changed for us...

I got a new job 2 miles from home!

We have a new calling...teaching the YSA class. I think its a bishopric plan to get somebody to say yes to something, say its just teaching a class on Sunday, and then let you find out about everything else that goes on with it, like monthly stake meetings and other activities responsibilities. We love the calling though---and still love our bishopric!

We made the decision to put new carpet in the house sometime this month...we'll let you know how that goes. Let us just say a few spots that were there originally when we bought the house and puppy training gone awry do not make for a pretty carpet.

Nothing else new lately...we still hope and pray for a child to come into our lives...check us out and share with your friends our adoption hopes.

Happy New Year from, well, us. And Mugsy too.