Happy Birthday Herb, and what the heck is that!!!!

 Every Christmas for the past I think 6ish years we have chosen names and made a homemade gift for that person. Last Christmas I had Cody. This was his request. I knew I would not get it done before Christmas but since it was a costume for Halloween I had the whole year to finish it. NEVER DO THAT!!! It took me the whole year, I should have pushed and got it to him for Christmas Sorry Cody.

But I do have to say that it was a journey of CRAZINESS!!! But I sure enjoyed being one on one with my Cody Boy. We had a blast figuring out how to make this happen. I love that my kids think I can do anything, well this one definately pushed the envelope, but I (well we) DID IT!!!

Keep Scrolling the pictures did not go in the order that I wanted and you will find out the finished project!!!! It is awesome......

 Here is our cute little Lion Boy. Calin is the sweetest little guy. He loved this costume and just had to have it, so his mama was a sweet mama and got it for him. I think he kept it on night and day for quite a while until the real Halloween night came. He can ROAR like nobody's business. So darling.

 Here is miss Lexee, she is pebbles and she was hillarious. This child seems to not be afraid of anything. She is a climber and a runner, and beyond funny. She says the darndest things. We just get a good laugh with Lexee poo around. Stephanie conquered this costume, so cute.

 Here are all three of our wonderful grandbabies. Anna is Violet from the Incredibles. She was totally determined to be this and once again, her sweet mama was so good and made her darling costume. Anna was so happy especially when she got to the party and they got to paint a mask on her.

 It is Herb's birthday on Halloween, I always feel so sad that he never gets to celebrate, he is always so good to trick or treat, and I think he finds it even better with grandkids, although he was the best dad to go trick or treating with his own kids every year instead of worrying about his birthday. He is the best dad and the bestest Papa for sure. We love you Herb. NOW KEEP SCROLLING......

















Here he is

The Lagitimate Sock Monkey!!!

 He cracked us up. I was so happy the costume turned out, and I think that he was thrilled as well. Merry Christmas late Cody, glad you had fun. And by the way he was the life of the party.

 Hear No Evil

See No Evil

Speak No Evil

 Here is our spider woman/vampire lady/crazy red hair lady, she is so great with her makeup, we always look forward to what our Stephanie will come up with for her costume. She did great!!!

A sock monkey and an orangatang!!!! (I know that is not how you spell it!!!) Poor Christopher was so sick, but he was a trooper and came to be supportive and let his kids have a great time, and say happy birthday to his dad. Hope you are feeling better son. He was an awesome pirate for another party, pictures of that on their post under SUNDERHAUS

Cody was so funny, he would wipe his tail on peoples faces, cuz they had no clue who he was, until they figured it out. I love his bum, it turned out really fun. Crazy Kid

Here is our miss anna after she got her mask painted on, thanks young women, it made her day. She was an adorable Violet.

Every year at our ward party we usually have this hurse (again with the spelling). Cody hopped right inside and thanks to Rachel for being our photographer that night, she caught him in the act!!!

My favorite position to see Christopher and Calin. He loves hanging out on his daddy's shoulder.

I had so much fun making the kiddo's trick or treat bags, this one is Calins, the girls had orange ribbon. They worked great and hopefully they can use them each year.

It was a really fun night. The ward threw a great party for Herb's birthday and the whole neighborhood came!!! The kids had a blast, and thank you again Rachel for catching so many memories.
Hope you all had a wonderful night as well.

Simply Bella: Raffle Time!!

Simply Bella: Raffle Time!!: Alright everyone.... Lets kick off Simply Bella with another Raffle! This time it will be for a .... FREE Bikini wax AND Brow wax ... (click on Simply Bella to find out how to enter!)

One of the Best Sundays together in a long time...

Don't you love days when things just go wonderfully, and everybody is doing whatever they want, and we are all so happy. That is what tonight was. Although we are always missing our Jacque and Curt, and our Elder Sunderhaus, we try to make the best out of each time we get together. Since Nana's passing I have been in quite the funk. Can't really put a nail on it, but I have not felt very happy, so.........

 Even though we usually do not have dinner on the 1st and 3rd Sundays together (too many meetings), I have been missing my kiddos and so I decided to do an easy hawaiian haystacks dinner and have them come even though I had meetings. It was so great. We laughed and of course had shouting matches at the table (just not as many as normal, and these were fun shouting matches!!! :)......Then after dinner we just all went our separate ways. The babies (now 1, 2 & 3 years old) all went out back to play. At first Herb and I were enjoying them together and then I went inside to check on Papa (Herb's dad who is living with us), and I heard the girls in the living room, playing the piano and singing so I decided to join in on that fun. It was great. Rachel is extremely talented and both Stephanie and I want to hurt her cuz we are jealous!!!! But since we love her we decided to simply enjoy her talent and sing right along with her. It was great. I layed down on Stephanies lap and she just ran her fingers through my hair,  HEAVEN!!!! Thanks Stephanie!!! By the way these girls both have amazing voices and sound so beautiful together when they harmonize. It was so great!!!!

I know that Rachel will be thrilled with this picture!!! She cracks me up. They printed off some cords from a song that Stephanie likes and Rachel just sat down and played the whole thing. Man I wish I could do that, and Stephanie would just harmonize so beautifully. I wish I could record all of these wonderful moments, but I am always a day late and dollar short. Oh well, the memory is a great one.

 All of a sudden I looked out the window and what did I see........3 little cousins smiling at me.....
Papa is so good and put them all in this wagon for a ride. What a beautiful night it was and just perfect for a walk. (I do have to say that we need to get a real wagon, this one is really for toting things around the yard not little ones and it is difficult to drive). But for now it works wonders. Are they adorable or what!!!

 Then of course there are these 2 goof-balls. They were just sitting in the nice breeze banging on the window to drive their mother crazy. Aren't they a delight. I do love this picture of them. The just visited and visited. It was so fun.

The little ones are really beginging to play so well together, the girls really do love each other and Lexee is talking so good now that listening to their little conversations just makes me smile. We ate good food, had wonderful cupcakes for dessert (thanks rachel), and cleaned up and simply enjoyed each other tonight. It could not have been planned, it just worked, and for that I am grateful. My cup is full again, and even though I miss the Nana sometimes, I am so grateful for the family that I have near me, a wonderful husband who supports me so much, and children who are my delight (even though they might drive me crazy), they truly are my delight. So thanks kids & honey for the best Sunday together in a long time. I love all of you........

Hands

Hands say so much. Look at these hands. One has lived a very long and wonderful life, the other hangs on to lessons learned from that hand. Today has been a real blessing in my life. Hard as it is my Journey with mom (Nana) is coming to an end. She is finally, finally done with this hard world we live in and will soon be with her family again. A father whom she has not seen in years and years, over 50, a mom, whose hand she held while she was leaving this earth, and a sister, her only sibling, all gone before her to pave the way for her return. I think there will be flowers everywhere she goes. She loves flowers, and was very very good a helping them to grow. So there is no doubt that she will be surrounded by beautiful wonderful amazing flowers.

Yesterday morning, mom  woke up and was vomitting blood. She proceeded to do this throughout the entire day and through the night last night. It is really hard to watch a person you love struggle with that, and so I am happy that she will no longer struggle anymore. This morning the nurse came by to see how she was doing after the long day and night, and we began the process of making her comfortable. I love that about Hospice, they are right by your side the entire way. Telling you what a good job you have done, and helping you while you grieve. I love the people of Odysee Hospice. Our nurse and our CNA could not have been more helpful through this nearly 4 year journey. So to them I say thank you. Thanks for your support and for your love. When we loose mom, we will also loose them. We will miss the weekly and daily visits that we received. The laughs, the tears, the scarey times, everything.

Tomorrow Herb and I will leave and our sweet kids will take over for us on this journey. I know they will take the best of care of them while we are gone. Family means everything to me. To be able to count on them is the best. So thank you to them, for their love and support, and for their good hearts. I know that the Lord is happy with them for the love they have given through all of this.

Life is short, shorter then we think sometimes. 82 years use to seem like forever, but today it felt really short.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve mom, to be her helper with whatever she needed. It was not always easy, and there were days I wanted to run the other direction, but I had good examples in my life of taking care of and loving family members whenever that is possible. So I am very very humbled and honored to be here with mom these past 48 hours on this final journey to her seeing her family again.

I love you mom, I will miss you dearly, I can't wait to hear all about the reunion.

Thanks for the memories, and thanks for your hand today, it felt good.

At 4:15 a.m. on June 24th, our sweet little Nana went home.

It was very peaceful once she decided to not fight it anymore, and for that we are grateful.

Thanks to Odyssey Hospice and all of the people who took care of not just mom, but all of us.

We are forever grateful. Thanks mom for blessing our lives.

Love you Nana

I thinking..........

I am sorry for never blogging, I have great intentions, and maybe on a slow day I will catch you up on life here at the SUNDERHOUSE!!! Anyway I have been thinking about what I can do being at the house a lot more then I used to be and I have come up with a plan. Let me know if you are interested. I am not a pro at quilting but I am creative in sewing and I love to sew and share that with others would be a dream come true. I am thinking that I want to start a little quilting class. I don't have a ton of room so maybe I will do it in a couple different shifts or something if more people want to come. I would like to first start out with a beginners little quilt and just help you get started on a small project than work up little by little. I was thinking that I would have class for 2 hours every other week and then if you don't finish and are too nervous to try it at home you can come back and finish the next time. I would charge 10.00 per class and you would need to come with your fabric and sewing machines. If you are interested at all, Thursday is my best day, no nurses or wound care people on that day so it would be perfect for me. I am thinking in the morning around 10 so that we can be done by noon and have the rest of the day. Of course I am flexible and if the majority need to do another time then that would work as well. If there are any of you who need to do evenings I am all for that too. Just let me know. Leave a comment or e-mail me at wendi.sunderhaus@yahoo.com I just think that this could be SEW MUCH FUN!!! I know corny!!!

Out of the mouths of babes....

Yesterday in Primary was simply choice. I love primary, I want to stay there for the rest of my life. I know that some people consider primary to be the cave and a place where you never get to meet anyone else or associate with other adults, but even if that was true, I don't care the joy that I get every single week I am with those amazing spirits that really could be leading the church NOW, is worth never meeting another soul again. But I know that is just me, and I know me and I make a huge effort to go out of my box and meet people, so I guess I don't feel like I need that extra visit with adults at church. Anyway on to my amazing sweet experience there yesterday.

It was ward conference and I love that day. I could care less about being nervous with the Stake visiting. I have served in the Stake too many times that I know they just love you no matter what and are not there to judge your every move. So knowing me (if you do) I always want to be the loudest, happiest, and funnest primary alive. I do believe that we are, and I love it. This month is on the Atonement of Christ in all of its levels, and so that is not easy to be loud about and still have the spirit, but these kids are amazing and we can have the spirit and still learn in a very fun exciting way about the most wonderful gift of the atonement. I threw up the 3rd article of faith. It was in pieces, each word separate and then they all grabbed a piece and we went to the board and put them in order. They were quik and quiet, no words was the challenge, so they had to work together in silence and get it all in order. They were amazing, and perfect of course. Did not miss a thing. After they all went to their seats we began to ask questions about this article of faith and break it down to learn every segment of it. We talked about what His part was and what our part was. What is the difference between a law and an ordinance, and what blessings we receive by obeying them. Then we played the most amazing game (we always play this game they love it). So for you primary leaders out there who have not tried this, try it, it is so much fun.
In January when it was my sharing time we did this game and they just would play it each week and never get tired of it. But with the theme for the year of I Know the Scriptures are True, I really wanted them to learn not only what was in the scriptures but how to use all of the helps in the scriptures as well. I wish I was a kid now, I would be so much better at the scriptures. Anyway so we play this game that helps them to use their topical guide and find scriptures for differenct topics or words. They turn to the topical guide, all of them, and then someone picks a word, any word, but this week they were words about the atonement, and then they roll a dice to pick which book of scriptures to find the scripture in. It is amazing how they just search and search. The first one to not only find the reference in the TG, but goes to the actual scripture stands up, and that is the person who gets to share their scripture. Then we discuss the scripture and what it has to do about the word. I am amazed that when you are prepared then the Lord just shows up and takes over from there. I love watching all of that happen. One of the words was love, and the little one that found the scripture first read it and it was the one about loving your enemies, and those that hurt and despise you. Wow that took off and we were able to discuss how our actions affect people in so many different ways, and then I was able to share my birthday cake story. Little did I know a story about a birthday cake would bring the spirit so strong. Again, the Lord is amazing. There is a young man in the 11 year old class. He is so great, I adore him, well I adore them all but this one has a huge talent in baking. His dad and brother are our Home Teachers, and so we are the recipients of many yummy baked items. Anyway I went to work on my Birthday Friday afternoon to a class there, and one of the other people there asked me what kind of cake I was having. Well at our home, we don't really do birthday cakes much anymore, and on my birthday if I want a cake I usually have to make it. On the Sunday after our birthdays is really when we get our cakes, and this year Christopher my oldest made me a yummy texas sheet cake. But on my actual birthday I told my friend that we just don't worry about it much. It's no big deal. Just then my sweet little Anna and Calin and Rachel and Christopher came by with yellow sunflowers and a huge piece of chocolate cake. Yum. I was so happy to see them, and Anna was very happy to give me the suprises. Anyway when I got home my wonderful husband was visiting with our Home Teacher and in his hand was a beautiful birthday cake, that Logan (My 11 year old primary boy) had made just for me. It was so amazing to me that he would think of me on that day and go to all of the trouble to bake me that cake, and I felt so happy inside. So I did have cake, a yummy chocolate piece from my kiddos and a really tasty lemon cake with lemon and grapefruit frosting. It was'nt even the fact that I did have a birthday cake, it was that people were thinking of me. We do make of difference in peoples lives, how we treat them is very important and the children learned that when we are nice it matters and when we are mean it matters. People are effected by how people treat them. So if we are able to love those that are mean to us, how much better will we be in the end. I know it all sounds crazy, and you probably had to be there, but I was very much affected by Sunday with these wonderful children of God.

In Jr. primary sharing time, we talked about what an example is, and how we can be like Jesus. When they first came into the room the pianist was playing last years song "I Know that My Savior Loves Me" and I just felt like we needed to sing it before we started sharing time, and sing it they did. I love that song, it speaks to all of us of His love and that is so important. At the end of the song I had goose bumps from head to toe and so did everyone else. One of the little sunbeams said "I feel cold I have chills", well there you go, the spirit and children, it's the best. So we stopped and took a moment to teach them that they were not cold, but that the spirit had just told them that Jesus does love them so much. I love those ahhha moments. They are the best. Anyway we picked pictures out of the magic apron and they talked about how we can follow Christs example and be like him in the pictures. It was great, but the best part was when they were in singing time after they were learning Jesus Once was a Little Child and they learned the part that said and He was pure and meek and mild as a little child should be. After singing time which was wonderful I love that song, it was time for the closing prayer. We picked Nicole, a sweetie pie to pieces, and she was praying and saying the regular, help us be safe when we go home, and help us be good, and come back next week, and then she paused, and she sweetly said and please help us to be pure and meek and mild, finished her prayer, and there was not one adult who did not have tears in their eyes. I really really wish that everyone could have experiences what I did on Sunday. I know this is long post with no cute pictures, but I never ever want to forget the feeling that I felt in that room secluded from the rest of the ward. I am happy happy happy to be in the cave of children that make my days and weeks better. They really could be the leaders of the church and the world right now. They are beyond precious. OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES.
There is nothing better in this world then the testimony of a child. I LOVE THEM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I have hacked into Wendi's blog to wish this BEYOND wonderful lady a very HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY beautiful lady!!! We love you so much! And even though your special day is full, we hope you can find all the joy in the world! Thank you for all you do for us!

Love... Cody, Steph, and Lexee-lou

A Grand Reunion

I love life when 13+ years go by without you seeing the person you spent most of your High School Life with and nothing has changed a bit. There might be a little more of us to love, but we are still us. My friend Lisa Alvis Armstrong was in town visiting family and I was lucky enough to get to see her and her wonderful husband Nate.

Wow it was great to be with her and visit about where life has brought us both. Lots of experiences and journeys that neither one of us could have begun to imagine.

Life is funny that way, isn't it. We all just believed we would get married, have kids, raise them, everything would be perfect and happy...........

Through it all, friends and memories, oh yeah and good food made for a wonderfully Grand Reunion.

Thanks Lisa, hope to see you and Nate again soon.

Oh and by the way, life is perfect and happy, even when it's tough.....

Thanks for the memories.

I finally finished it and got pictures

This year I have decided to make each of my children a quilt with all of the scraps that I have in my stash. I could probably make a million scrap quilts really with this hoarded stash of fabric that I own. So I began the process and finished Christophers (whose birthday is 1/5). I finished by the end of January, but it took forever to get it bound and ready for him to take home.

 Here he is with his crazy colorful quilt. I love it, it is happy and he is a crazy happy kid and so I think that it fits. I also bought a new machine that embroideries and this skull pirate guy is perfect for my Christopher. So it is the tag on the back of the quilt where I signed it Love Mom 2011.

 This is a picture of the front of the quilt. I made just a simple brick quilt. I read if you just cut the pieces and throw them into a bag and toss the fabric then you simply pick out a piece and sew. It is crazy for those of us who care, but I really ended up liking the randomness of it and it would not be done if I had to decide for myself. So it doesn't matter whether there are two pieces right together that are the same, it happened a lot and that is okay. I think it turned out great.

 This is the back of the quilt. I love piecing my backs with all of the leftover fabric, I think it looks great. So I am happy with how it turned out and even though all of their quilts will be late for sure at the end of the year they will all own a quilt that I made from scratch and quilted myself (not well) by machine quilted them, who knows I may have mastered that talent a little better by the end of the year as well.

Happy birthday Late as is was my son. I love you.

Man those babies grow up way too fast.

From everything to nothing.....life is great on the mission

Jordan will have had is first week of nothing in a long time. He spent quite a few months in  Bavaro, the tourist part of the Dominican Republic. Electricity and Hot Water 24/7. It was a really tough area. Not many who were willing to listen to the wonderful message they have to bring them. Here is a short version of his

months there.

 His first companion there was Elder McBride. He is actually from Gilbert, AZ and although they did not know each other before they had many mutual friends. Their companionship worked really hard in this area. Even though they were frustrated as to the lack of willing people to listen to the gospel, they gave it their all and worked really really hard.

 Together they saw and experienced many difficult things. One of their investigators was murdered in a random shooting, and while Elder McBride was in this area, there were no baptizms at all. They worked really hard to help the people in this small branch to learn how to be leaders and they really strengthened this area, but their teachings and their support.

 They had Thanksgiving dinner at one of the members homes and she was so sweet and actually spent a lot of money to buy a turkey for them so that they would feel a little piece of home. I really love that lady for her efforts that day.

 They lived on the top floor of the church building and Jordan is 6'4"ish and his head hits the ceiling.

 Although packages took a lot longer to get to Bavaro because they are so far away from the capital, when he got them, he was thrilled for all of the goodies inside.

 As you can see there were lots of happy moments!!! He is such a great kid.

 This is the church building there in Bavaro. Their apartment is the upper floor where the laundry is hanging out to dry. Good luck with that drying thing. They are always wet there.

 Elder McBride was a wonderful companion, and they made great efforts together.

 Here is one of Jordan's favorite Haitian Brothers. I don't know any of their names, but he loves these Haitian's they alway made him smile.

 The man in the computer is Brother Holland, or better known as Papa Smurf to us.

He was Jordan's YM's leader for many years, and is not on the missionary training video.

Isn't that crazy.

 To go to zone conference, or really anywhere there, they must ride the bus. One day on the bus was a man with this monkey and of course Jordan being Jordan had to hang with the monkey.

 He spent his first Christmas away in Bavaro. He loves Christmas and he had a great one for sure.

 He also had his birthday there. Thankfully the package with the cake mix got there in time.....

 20!!!! When did that happen.

 Not long after Elder McBride was transferred, Jordan and his new companion had their first baptizm. They were so happy. The baptismal font is on the roof of the church building.

 A few weeks later, another baptizm. So exciting to see the work progress finally.

 And just recently, his third baptizm there. And the man who baptized her was the 2nd baptizm. How exciting is that. How far the Lord has brought the people of Bavaro.

 This is Jordan's 2nd companion there. Elder Linares. They knew each other from the CCM or MTC in the Dominican. They have had a wonderful season together. But this week, Jordan was transferred.

He is in a jungle, with no electricity, and no running water, much less hot water. I am just praying they will be able to find a place to use the internet so that I can know if he is alive and well. He is my showing boy, and he has learned a lot on his mission about what is important and what is not. The Lord has provided a way for him to somehow be clean and feel the spirit, even without that wonderful hot shower. He is so excited for the change. Bavaro was a really difficult area, even though the immenities were wonderful, the progress was really slow. He loved it there, experienced many things there, had wonderful companionships, and grew in the gosel for sure. No he will put his heart and soul into the jungle, and I know he will make the very best of it there. 

On his last Sunday there a whole family came to the island for vacation. So they went to the branch and Jordan was able to translate back into english for them. He said it was wonderful to speak english again, but that it was a lot of work, remembering all the right translations. The gift of tongues is amazing.

The Lord is amazing, and so is the work. We are anxious to hear all about his first week in his new area, and know that whatever the Lord gives him, he will handle it with everything he has been asked.

We love you sweet boy, way to go!

It did it!!!

Last September when I went to visit my Jacque girl in Logan and made her the halloween and fall quilt, Nana saw them and said she would love a Christmas Quilt. So I went and got the fabric and made the top of the quilt. As I was getting ready to made the back of the quilt, Nana became gravely ill and we were told it would just be a matter of days if not hours. So we spent all of the time we could with her and all of a sudden one day she woke up out of her somewhat coma she was in and asked for a Mountain Dew and has been just fine ever since. Go figure. Well I just put the quilt away, it was now way to late to get it done for Christmas and I had a ton of other things to finish before Christmas. Besides I never dreamed she would remember that I was making it. Well about the middle of January, she began to ask....."Where's my quilt you were making?" I teased her and said she was dying and so I quit making it!!! So she just kept asking for it, and so I began a new quilt. I went to my STASH (it is huge, I am a hoarder of fabric) and to my unfinished projects and I found that I had made all of the pinwheel blocks and was just waiting for what to do with them. Well there you go. I found more of the matching fabric in my stash and it worked out perfectly. I would say it was meant to be.

I was so happy when the top was finished and had just the right amount of tiny red and white stripes for the backing. So then I had to decide how to quilt it. At first I was just going to do a simple in the ditch, but then I decided to stretch my abilities to the limit and just go for it and machine quilt an all around stitch.

It was like battling a bear on a sewing table that was not big enough, but I made it work, and I was really excited when it turned out not so bad. At the very end Herb got home from work and saw it he was totally impressed!!! He helped hold the heavy end of the quilt so that I could finish that last few passes. That made it so much easier. I just kept teasing him and saying...."If I had a gammill this would have only taken a couple of hours instead of all day!!!" So if anyone out in blogland has an extra $20,000.00 they just want to give to a really really really great person......JK

So yesterday I put the binding on and began one of my favorite parts of quilting, the hand work. It takes a while to hand stitch around a quilt, but I love that part. It is the first bigger quilt that I have ever tackled machine quilting, I have done a couple of baby quilts, but not this size and it felt really good to be able to conquer that. Nana thought it was beautiful and wanted to have it on her right then. That made me feel really good. So I am glad that she remembered and that I was able to make this for her. I hope she gets lots and lots of wonderful warmth from it.

I have decided this year that I am going to make my children for their birthdays a quilt from me. So I made Christophers (which I started while he was on his mission 7 years ago) and I finished it and began the quilting process. Ended up hating what I had done and picked it all out, and then began again. This time it puckered really bad in the back so I decided to burn the thing, but after breathing for a week or so, I have decided to keep going and leave the pucker (which really isn't that big) and finish the quilt. The pucker will be a great memory and I love a good memory. Christopher's birthday was Jan 5th so I am already so far behind, but Cody's is on Feb 15th so I really need to catch up, but I am excited for that challenge and really hope they enjoy their quilts. Life is great, keep breathing and make each day THE BEST!!!