Lolo the graceful looser

So we all teach our children how to be a good sport right?? Well, Lolo did not win the baby radio contest but it was totally rigged. The little girl that won is really sick and the dad said they were using the prize money to pay for more medical needs. ( I am so sure)!!! Why dont us cute healthy kids get any slack! J/K I am sad she didnt win ..we really could've used that money. Oh well.....I am sure there will be another chance to exploit my kids. We love you all and we too are excited about all these new temples and new babies!! Hooray for babies!!! Love ya, Alisa

Yey for the babies...

Congratulations Alisa and Danny! We're excited for you! Mindy is also expecting Yea!!! and OMGosh.... We're not shure if we can handle another one but someone else thinks we'll be OK so YEA!!! Mindy has really felt more tired than she had with the others but is doing well. She's still working at Costco but is planning to quit soon.
Did you all hear about the new temples announced for AZ? One in Gilbert, Pecos and Greenfield and one near Thatcher. About three miles from our house. We're so excited. Now we don't have to drive to Little Mexico ( I mean Mesa) any more ;)

Londann Alice Ray

Today is the last day to vote for Lolo in the baby contest. She is contestant #31 at www.mix969.com . Please vote for her many times today and tell all your friends too. Thanks a bunch! Love, Alisa

YEA!!!!

We are expecting another baby due around Christmas time. Danny says if it is another girl he will move out and mail me his paychecks! Roxie says its a girl ,so Danny is trying to teach her how to say "baby brother"........My dear mother-in-law said"Oh,Alisa, wouldnt twins be so fun!"I told her if that was the case she is quitting her job and taking Roxie and Lolo for me! We are super excited to have another baby whether it is a boy or a girl or more!!! We are so blessed! I thank my Heavenly Father every day for my amazing family(all of you included)! I'll keep you all updated. Love you all and pray for you daily. -------Alisa

Oprah's Challenge

I posted this on our blog, but I thought it'd be nice to share with the family too...


K, I really don't watch daytime TV very often, but yesterday I caught a little bit of Oprah. It was a great show. She gave this challenge to a couple families:

http://www2.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200804/tows_past_20080417_b.jhtml?promocode=HP34

Dear Family,

Thanks for agreeing to live with less for a week. Your challenge starts now!

This week, you will be eating at home every meal. No more eating out, no more takeout. And you have to eat your leftovers. If you throw food in the trash, you've got to 'fess up.

For one week, you're going to give up the bottled water habit. Get a water filter—time to get to know your tap.

No more disposable plates, cups, napkins or paper towels. Try cloth—you might like it!

For entertainment, you'll have to rely on each other. For one week, I'm asking you to give up your iPods and video games, and your computers only get turned on for homework. TV is limited to one hour per night—one TV only.

That thermostat is going way down…to 69 degrees. If you get cold, put on a sweater.

Give your washing machine a break—try to wash only clothes that are TRULY dirty.

When you leave a room, lights out. Ditto for fans. When you're done using an appliance, unplug it. Don't forget your computer and cell phone chargers too.

Showers are going to be shorter—eight minutes max. Use a kitchen timer to help you keep track.
Want to go shopping? Head to your closets. That's your wardrobe for the week. The mall is off-limits.

You final challenge—no buying anything other than food for seven days.

Good luck,
Oprah

I was surprised how taking this challenge impacted these families. One of the little boys was "suffering withdrawals like a drug addict" when he couldn't play on the computer and video games. Both families said they wouldn't go back to how they were living before the challenge and it was embarrassing to see the things they were doing before.

One family said it was probably $700 in savings a month, just in food! Besides all the money they saved on not wasting food, electricity, and other resources, I believe the most important thing they learned was how to spend time together.

It brought the families closer. They spent time doing activities together rather then having individual forms of entertainment. One of the dads said they used to climb into their bed with their kids before going to sleep and watch some TV. He said he was embarrassed to admit it, but he would normally shh his kids because he was more interested in the TV program than listening to what his kids wanted to tell him. Now, he loved listening to his kids and treasured those moments. It's great that he recognized it and decided to change. The families went on bike rides, they read to each other, and ate dinner together.

Not only did Oprah challenge these families not to be wasteful, she asked all the staff at her company to conserve as well. The company's annual budget just for cups was $41,000! Oprah installed hidden cameras at all the coffee stations in the office to see how wasteful people were. Some people used 4 or 5 cups a day,m just for water. So, Oprah made a new rule for all the full-time employees that they were no longer allowed to use the cups; they have to bring their own mugs from home. I'm not a huge Oprah fan, like lots of people, but I really think it's great that she's trying to do something to help too.

I want to be less wasteful. These families Oprah challenged were very wealthy and didn't have to conserve for financial purposes. I feel like our family does our best to conserve, partly becuase we have to stay within a budget, but, I know we can always do better.

All this reminds me of the talk by Elder Ballard in conference when he said that we only have our children at home for 1/4 of their lives and the time they are the most impressionable is only 1/10 of their life. Something like that. He said it much better of course...so I found the quote:

If a child lives with parents for 18 or 19 years, that span is only one-fourth of a parent’s life. And the most formative time of all, the early years in a child’s life, represents less than one-tenth of a parent’s normal life. It is crucial to focus on our children for the short time we have them with us and to seek, with the help of the Lord, to teach them all we can before they leave our homes.

I will try to treasure every moment with Jaxon, and our children to come, becuase I know in a few years, I will have no idea where the time went and I want to have no regrets about how I spent that precious time I was given to care for them.

Having family here on this earth is such a blessing and having the opportunity to be with them forever is truly the greatest gift. I am so thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who gave us the knowledge of how this is possible and teaches us what we need to do to partake in these eternal blessings.

I didn't quite mean for that to sound like a church talk, but it sorta does, oh well...those are my random thoughts I guess! Hope you enjoyed!

Baby Belly

At 21 weeks, it's starting to show...

Bees on the Judd Ranch

I guess my mom and dad found these in their yard today...

The Bee keeper said they are African Killer Bees and it'll cost a pretty penny to have them removed.

Prince Family News

I'm not sure who knows this already but I thought I would utilize this blog to get the word out and keep our wonderful Judd family informed. This past week has been a crazy one for the Prince family. Emily has been having stomach pains and some other symptoms for a couple months and has tried to tough it out. My parents decided to take her to the doctor just to see what was causing these symptoms and found out that Emily has Type 1 Diabetes. For those of you who don't know much about it (we didn't either) it is something you are genetically predisposed to be suseptable to. Not a genetically transferred disease where any of her children would be more likely to get it but they think it is a virus and usually from childhood to adolesence is when you are diagnosed. If closely monitered she can live her life normally. She has to count carbs and administer insulin shots. My Mom and Dad have been with her at Primary Children's Hospital for the past few days and they are all 3 very tired and worn out. They did training, teaching and testing and soon all of us in the family will learn the same things to watch for and help Emily with this new lifestyle. Emily is one tough cookie and has been amazing through it all. I just wanted to let you all know so you can keep her and my parents in your prayers. Also as usual my mom loves hearing from you guys and I know hearing from her family always lifts her spirits. Love you guys and hope you are all well!
Becca

Emergency preparedness

So my mom and dad went up to the cabin for conference and I wasn't able to go. I did get to go with my Mother and sister in law to their family get together and we had a little emergency preparation class. one of the things we made were little home made heaters. You buy one of those small little paint cans, cheap toilet paper, 77% rubbing alcohol, a lighter and duct tape. Put the roll of toilet paper in the can and fill it until the roll is saturated and almost submerged in the alcohol, then seal the lid down by pounding it with a rubber mallet and duct tape the lighter and a coin (to open can) to the can and you have a 12 hour heater. You can use it for a while and then seal it back up and use it more later too. Pretty cool and cheap. Just thought I'd pass that one on. Hope you guys are all well and watching conference, its been awesome so far.

It's A...

GIRL! Yea! We are so excited we're having a girl!

APRIL FOOLS!
We're really having a BOY! I think a lot of people wanted us to have a little girl, but Devin and I both really wanted a boy. We are so excited to have another little boy in our family! Jaxon will have a little brother to be his playmate and best friend! I love Jaxon so much that I can't imagine having more love in my heart, but I've heard it happens. I've been told that with each child the love doesn't divide, it multiplies. What a blessing it is to have these sweet spirits in our home and in our families forever! They truly are what this earth life is about: coming here to have families and earn the gift to be with them in the eternities. I can't think of anything better! Yea! Another BOY!