Whatever I Say I Say

Last Post.......

2009-09-09T14:59:00.002-06:00

So my hubby and I decided that the Internet is sucking out our souls and making us zombies. With that said this will be my last post. I am very sad about this but I have to say the spirit has made it clear to me that this is the right thing to do. You can not argue with that.
I hope you will all still think of me and call me often. Love to you all........

Like gag me with a spoon!!!

2009-08-29T20:08:00.011-06:00

So my friend Melanie is sooooo fun! She loves to do BIG parties and plan things she is a great organizer. Her hubby just turned 40 so she threw a surprise party for him. And not just any party an 80's murder mystery party. IT WAS SOOOOOOO FUN!!!

Debbie Gribson, Teen Wolf, Spunky Brewster. Scab Face,

Polly Abdool Our Hostess with the mostest!! And El Vampira

Everyone got a character from the 80's. I was Debbie Gribson (Debbie Gibson) and Brian was Howard Scott (Teen Wolf) There were so many fun Characters and it turns out that Lyndi Lauper (Cindy Lauper) killed Alligator Dundee (Crocodile Dundee) with a Rubik's Cube!! So FUNNY!!!! When he came out with the Rubik's Cube stuck to his head I almost peed my pants. AHHHH GOOD TIMES!!

Alligator Dundee (victim) Lyndi Lauper (murderer)

My SEXY HOT hubby!!!

So I realized I was having soooo much fun that I didn't take very good pictures. Sorry and I didn't get everybody. there were 11 different couples. All with a part and unique name. BRAVO MELANIE!! It was a blast!!!

First Day of School!!

2009-08-29T19:28:00.009-06:00

Most moms dread the first day of school. They will miss their kids being home, blah, blah, blah!!! NOT ME!!! WHOOOO HOOO!!

Let my vacation begin!!!

My best friend Tye and I decided to do a hot chocolate and donut party for the kids, we wanted them to think we were "sad" they were leaving!! They all pounded the goodies and laughed and tolerated "picture time" when the bus pulled up I tried real hard not to shout HOOOORRAYYYY!!! and watched them march on to the big yellow limo.....

Yeah we got on the bus!! we are CRAZY like that here!!

WE WERE BOTH JUMPING FOR JOY!!! AHHHH what a great day!!!

Emi was so excited to get a donut, and loved seeing the bus... She was happier when she discovered she had me all to herself!!

Parker is 10 and starting the 5th grade. He is such a good kid and is soooooo excited for his teacher Mr. Despain. Kenna LOVED him and got Parker all jazzed about this year. Parks looks sooo much like his daddy. Sooo handsome!!!

Kenna is 12 and starting 7th grade!!!( Middle school ) She is soooo beautiful I want her to stop growing. This is the year that makes or breaks you. I know she will do great things, and ignore the "Mean Girls" at school cause we all know they are out there!!

GOOD LUCK MY SWEET BABIES!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAN!!!

2009-08-15T09:05:00.007-06:00

12 years ago I was getting ready to watch the Monster truck show at the fair, I was sooooo excited! However.... Makenna had other plans!! It was a looooong day, needless to say I am happy to have her here, and I am fine with missing the monster trucks.

I can not believe my baby is 12, YOUNG WOMEN'S! AHHHHHH!!! I am getting old. Oh well it happens right?

I LOVE THIS KID!!!!

Kenna is a huge Zelda fan so her cake was the Tri-force from the game. Don't know what that is? Me either. OH well! she was happy and it tasted GOOD! Each triangle was a different flavor combination . MMMMMM!

Pretty soon we are going to have to lock her up!!!

Fair Time

2009-08-12T07:29:00.016-06:00

Ahhhh the sound of carnival rides,the smell of funnel cakes, the sound of kids laughing, the smell of cow poop, sheep poop, pig poop, and don't forget the chicken poop!! That's right folks it is time for the Lincoln County Fair! YEEEEE HAAWWWW!

I have to admit I HATE the fair. It is dirty and over priced. I also feel violated every time I go over by the rides. The Carnies are NASTY!!! And it is not that I am the hottest thing to happen to them they stare and creep out everyone. GRRRRRROOSSSSS!
Anyhow.. Needless to say we still take the kids. They LOVE it and I love to see their smile!!

Emi loved the train, FAST ACTION AND ALL!

Emi and Millie. HOT BABES!! This is Emis first time at the fair that we can remember. Last year they "forgot" to reserve the rides so we just didn't even go.

Look at that face!!! "Come on grandma..... GIVE ME THE TICKETS!!!!" Parks was sooooo funny!

"Can we ride the zipper just one more time PLEEEEEASE!!!" Kenna is a mad woman. (like Mom)

This was our favorite pig at the fair!! NICE TUTU!!! I some how managed to only spend $30 dollars at the fair this year!! That is AMAZING!!! We had a good time and I am glad it is over!!!

Call Family Farm

2009-07-11T10:52:00.007-06:00

We have started our family farm...... It is slow and we are taking baby steps, but exciting non the less. Our first acquisition...

4 baby ducks!!

Afflac, Barbie, Buddy, & Pistachio.

They are very cute and surprisingly fun. Thanks to my sister in law Joyce, the animal lover she is, got them for us. The kids are in heaven, especially Kenna.

Kenna and Pistachio. We were worried about the ducks with Pepper, our dog, she is part English Springer Spaniel and LOVES birds. She chases them all day long. Pistachio at 2 weeks old bit Peppers nose and that was that. Pepper steers clear, she is still curious but keeps her distance.

The little one in my shadow is Buddy. He is the smallest one and very gentle. He hurt his foot and has a limp. Parker has attached himself to Buddy and is nursing him back to health. So far so good. Buddy seems to be doing better every day.

Emily named Barbie. (surprise)

And we named Afflac in honor of my dad!! LOVE YOU!!!

The Rainbow Connection!!

2009-06-28T21:29:00.005-06:00

Sooooo.... A few weeks ago my mom was here with T.J.'s kids. It had been raining for about 4 weeks on and off. On this particular day there was a rainbow in our back yard. It was perfect. When we walked out our back door it was from one end of our property to the other. It was AMAZING!!!

I LOVE rainbows they make me happy! I feel sooo comforted when I see them.

You can also see the rock work we have been doing... It is taking FOREVER!!!!!! And I have a lawn coming in! YAY!!!

30 minute sand box!!!

2009-05-25T17:01:00.005-06:00

We are trying to do a little landscaping on our land and it is sooooooooo HARD with Emi. She always wants to be right under my feet. So on Saturday my wonderful hubby was helping me in the yard and finally agreed that Emi is a pain.....

I have been hinting around about a sand box.. Brian always rolls his eyes.. :) But he said he thought it would be good idea to distract her...(Glad he thought of it!!!) ugh.....

So thanks to the fact that my hubby is handy and has access to heavy equipment,(thanks Mom and Dad Call) and we have some pretty good connections at the local lumber yard.HA HA HA! We went to get the stuff we needed and literally 30 minutes later......TAAAHH DAHHHHH!!! a sand box....

The irony in all this is that the last sand box we had I did by myself. It took about 3 weeks. I had to hand shovel all the sand and move all the Rail Road ties by myself. this time Brian just sort of threw everything around and BAMMMM it was done!!! I love me a good strong man!!! ;p

Parks playing dead!! Kenna and Parker like this almost more than Emi!!!

Kenna stabbing Parker in the foot!!! Needless to say the best money we have spent in a long time!! So far 3 days of fun, fun, fun!!!!

I think his tractor is SEXY!!!!

2009-05-20T11:42:00.006-06:00

Ask and ye shall receive!!! We are now officially Red-necked farmers!!!And the proud owners of a John Deere tractor!!

we have 10+ acres to take care of and I am soooooo thankful that Brian doesn't think I should do it all by myself with the 4 wheeler!!! lol!

Brian searched and searched for months. He finally found this little gem. I LOVE it!! Sooooo much fun to use. So now needless to say we are landscaping up a storm and of course working on the motocross track.

Brian's new girly friend... She is HOT!!!!

Future site of Bubbas motocross track. You cant tell very well but he has been scraping and leveling and de-rocking it already. Very exciting. We love our place.

This is my project. We are placing rocks across the front of our property, like a wall, 1- because it is too steep for a mower. And 2- not only do we grow grasshoppers but we grow ROCKS!!! so it is free materials!! I like FREE!!

In my hurry to get things started I decided to smash my birdie finger between two boulders!! I didn't even swear. Thank you very much. But I see my hand and think my fingers are dirty because they are VERY purple now!!! Did I mention I have my own accident policy??? :P

Dani's first 5K !!!!!!

2009-05-18T08:14:00.006-06:00

I DID IT!!!!!!!

That's right I ran my first ever 5K. It was sooooo fun. I ran the whole way NO STOPS for this girl!!! I did it in 36 minutes and 18 seconds. I was the last in our group to come in. But I was not the last in the race by any means!! I just wanted to finish it, I didn't care about the time so much. And I haven't been running for a very long time. It was a GREAT day! Mom and dad were even in town for the race. That was cool for me because I remember going to my dads races alot when I was little. Now I just need to work on lengthening my stride!!!

The crew : Tye, Alana, Me, and Erin, We have been getting up and running every morning at 6 am. This is a great group of girls. Tye pushes me. Erin inspires me. And Alana is where I want to be. They are all AMAZING people!!!

Me at the finish line!! WHOOO HOOO!!

The best part was that my super HOT hubby showed up on his street bike at the end. He has been real supportive of this new hobby and is sooooo GOOD to me!! I am a lucky girl!! (He likes me enough to get off of his tractor to come see me. LOL!!!)

I FEEL GOOD!!!!

SLACKER in MEXICO.............

2009-05-12T17:32:00.014-06:00

I know don't say it!! I am a total SLACKER!!! I have been sooo busy with life I have neglected you all!!! I will say in my defense that I have been out of the country, cleaning, making birthday cakes and painting Pinewood derby cars!!! Here are some pics!!

On our way to Puerto Morelos Mexico..... Oink Oink!!! :)

The lobby at our hotel The Ocean Coral & Turquesa.

The cool walkways this place was BEAUTIFUL!!!

These beds were better than the ones in our room!!!

AHHHHH! the perfect vacation! and shot!!

The Mayan ruins at Tulum beach. BEAUTIFUL!!!

We had a perfect time there! I want to go back.. I will try to get a more detailed story to you soon! Like Brian and the topless Brazilian Goddess!. The nude beach, And my dance partner Bob! :)

Running!!!

2009-04-10T08:20:00.003-06:00

So I am sure I have a million funny stories to tell and cute pics to post....... However I have taken up a new hobby and I am obsessed with it. In a way that is sooooo unhealthy I am quite excited about the whole thing.
I woke up one day and decided I wanted to run. For those of you who know me know that that is CRAZY TALK!!! I have never had the endurance to run very far or fast. I have the strength just no endurance.
I have been off of soda completely for 2 months, I started a diet and I have been exercising for 2 months. I feel great. I still have alot of work to do but I look alot better already and feel better. I put my whole family on this program, cooking better and more activity so far so good.
Anyways back to the running thing. I decided to go running. I talked to my sis in law about breathing. She is an avid runner and I figured she would have great advise........ She did. I said "So tell me the secret to regulating your breathing while you run. I just can't get it." She looked at me and said "Just breath normally!!" LIGHT BULB!!!! I know stupid. Right? It really works. I ran that first day a mile and a half non stop!!!!!! MIRACLE!!!!!! Ask anyone who knows me and they will laugh and say "Oh yeah Dani does NOT run!!! HAHAHAHAA!!"
Even better ask any of my P.E. coaches, They will tell you " nada! why do you think she got an F in P.E.?" SO now I am running everyday. I feel AMAZAZAZAZING!!!! It is great. I can not tell you any measurements or LBS. lost because I haven't kept track of it, I find myself getting discouraged when I police that stuff. I just know my clothes fit better and I feel better!!! YEAH!!!!

Breakin' The Law!!!!

2009-03-15T11:28:00.006-06:00

My good friend Melanie has been missing in action for the last month. Not because she wants to be but because she is the cheer coach for the High School and they have been crunching for State!!! Well State is done and now we have her back!!! YEAHHHH!!

They got 2nd place and feel it was a good competition. they worked hard and preformed better than ever. Tye and I decided to give her a little recognition............

It's just a little shoe polish and paper fans!!!

She is one "FAN" tastic coach!!!

It was about 10 degrees outside so the shoe polish kept freezing!! It was very funny. So our vandalism is a bit lumpy!! The desired look was accomplished and we had a blast!!!

Good Job Melanie!!!

Play Date!

2009-03-15T11:17:00.004-06:00

Emi is the only girl in our neighborhood her age..... We thought. We recently figured out that my friend Heidi's little girl Gwenney is younger but will be in the same grade. So we started play dates. It was fun for all and good to see Emily learn to share.... She is working on it!!! Hopefully a great friendship will come of this... Not to mention some missionary work!! Hee hee!
The ball less ball pit... Great Fun!

Miss Gwenney

Heidi and Nicki, Gwenney is trying to take my picture!! She is a cutie!!!

Happy Happy Birthday Baby!!!

2009-03-15T10:43:00.007-06:00

This past week we celebrated Brian's Birthday! He is a very private guy sooo he asked me not to put his picture up. However I got some other pics I think you will like.....

Some of you know that we are going to Mexico next month for a second honey moon and to celebrate our 13 th year of wedded BLISS!! So of course I have to go on a diet!!!! I have been real good and have lost about 12 lbs. I feel great. How ever Brian being the awesome husband that he is, said I don't want a cake and ice cream for my birthday it will be too hard for you. Well yes, I love cake but I am not letting his Birthday go un celebrated!!! So I made him a Birthday Cake of sorts. One that I knew would not be a problem for me, But he, and the kids would LOVE!!!

I am not a fan of Hostess Cup Cakes!! So here we are.... BIRTHDAY MAGIC!!!! TAAAA DAAAA! He liked it and was happy to have some cake. :)

Every Birthday the birthday person gets what ever they want for dinner. Brian always picks steak and shrimp. This year he wanted the shrimp baked. so I found a recipe on line for breaded baked shrimp and tried it. I hate shrimp sooooo I didn't eat it. They snarrfffed it so it must have been good.

Perfectly grilled Rib Eye steak , with shrimp and green beans. He was a happy boy!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!!!
I LOVE YOU!!!

JEALOUS!!!!!

2009-02-28T17:12:00.006-07:00

So I am usually not the jealous type, however.........

Tye and Alana went to the MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice concert in Orem!!!! Hold up they didn't just go.... They were front row!!!! Alana danced on stage with both of them!!! ARRRRRGHH!!! I wanted to go soooo bad, but I just spent a fortune at the hospital with my stones and couldn't justify the expense. They had soooo much fun!! These are the pics they sent me. I wish I could put the voicemail on here of Ice singing Ice,Ice Baby!!! MAN!!!!

I am glad they had a great time though!! Maybe I can make the next concert!!!

I guess after Tye took this pic Vanilla came over and talked to them!!!

Just waiting for the party to start!!!!

Kitty Cats and Kidney Stones

2009-02-20T08:46:00.002-07:00

Sooo it has been a while.... Sorry! I do have a good story to tell you thou..
In December we got a kitten. Her name is Doctor. She is the sweetest, cutest cuddliest kitten ever. She is always purring and just sweet. Well we soon discovered that she is not a kitten but a full grown cat!!! she is the size of a 5 month old kitten but she is about 1 year old. Just amazing . Every cat we have ever had has been growth challenged. Oh well we just love her, And Pepper likes her too. They keep each other warm in the cold and they play.
Well, Doctor has gotten into the habit of crawling up under the hood of our cars to get warm when ever we come home. It hasn't been a problem until recently when we found her under my friends hood 3 days after they had visited!! CRAZY CAT!!!
This week I noticed on Tuesday that I hadn't seen her for while... hmmm? weird.....So I go on with my day cleaning and stuff. Wednesday morning I am headed out the door to go to the District Spelling Bee to watch Kenna and still no Doctor????? I decided I would search for her later that day. So when I got home later that day I looked in all her haunts and hiding places. No Doctor. Then my phone rings... It is Tye. "Is your cat missing again?" "YES!!! is she there?" Tye says that she is but that she has been hurt or attacked cause she won't walk.. I feel horrible. So I go to get her.. WOW does she stink!!!! and she is mangled. I keep looking at Doctor and trying to asses the damage... Her fur is burnt, she smells like burnt rubber and she has huge bald spots, but still purring!!! HMMMMM? I don't think she was attacked I think she got caught in somebodies hood and got ripped up!!! dumb cat! I feel horrible for her but what can I do??? She is eating and drinking still so I think she will recover. this morning Parker found her under my car!! she must be slow in the head too!!!

Thursday morning at 1:00 A.M. I woke up in total pain! It was horrible I tried to be quiet so I didn't wake Brian. He works sooo hard, I know he needs his sleep. And I knew what I was feeling.... KIDNEY STONES!!!!!!............ AHHHH! no not now!
I had an episode about 5 months ago and knew what I was in for so I hoped it would pass in 6 hours like the last one. NOPE!! I finally had to wake Brian up. He rubbed my back and was sooo sweet to me. What a good guy I have!!! anyways being the overly cheap person I am decided I can last until 8 a.m. to go to the doctor. I am NOT going to the ER. So I just laid there. It was like contractions with no break. I had 3 babies 2 with out any drugs I can handle this. MAN did it HURT!!!!! 8 a.m. came and we left for the doctor..
3 hours, a full blood panel,a pregnancy test,a urine panel, and a CAT scan later I was home with my Lortab and in my bed. I had a 3mm stone making its way through.. I can happily report now that I am at 97% the next day. I feel like someone has been punching me in the kidneys but that's O.K. I can handle that!!! :) I am off to get the ward party going!!! Can't stop now.

3 MM kidney stone== pain in the back
Full lab run up== thousands of dollars
bottle of Lortab==6 bucks
Awesome husband=== PRICELESS!!!

Little mommy

2009-02-06T07:54:00.008-07:00

It is funny to me, the things we take for granted and tend not to notice. I know that children are very observant, that they see way more than we realize, and that they learn by example. Yesterday, I was cleaning my house. I was running around trying to get it done so that I could sit down and read, I came around the corner and this is what I found....... Soooo stinkin' cute.

Emi was trying to put the swimming diaper on her doll then I noticed the doll next to her. All diapered and ready to go!!

She is sooo funny. It is weird to have a girly girl in our house. My days are full of Barbie movies and dolls. I am not sure how to do the girly girl thing so I guess I will just go with the flow.....Still, for a 2 year old I am amazed every day at her.

Kenna never did these things it was all about bugs and science. Dress up???? No way!! And Emi is good she even gets the boys into it!!!! :)

MAN, I love my kids!! What a great gift we are given. I just hope I don't screw them up.....

A Note

2009-02-03T07:20:00.003-07:00

I just wanted to tell you all that.... I am CRAZY!!!!

Just thought you should know.

Me and Helena rockin' out!

Parenting 101

2009-01-31T08:41:00.004-07:00

As you know I am a mom......Sometimes.

I try to be very patient with my kids, however patience is a virtue I am not real good at.

First let me say that I LOVE my Parker. He is soo sweet and fun and loving. But he is also just like me. He is stubborn and pig headed, and can be down right crabby!!

Last night I made a really good dinner, It was a beef soup with veggies and rice. Man was it good .Everyone snarfed it down. Except Parks.........Surprise. NOT! He doesn't eat anything except sugar, reprocessed meats, cheeses and sugar. We are not o.k. with this, so we are making a huge effort to be healthier at our house. No deserts until Sunday, and exercise of some sort every day. So we sat down at 6:00 last night for dinner. Parker tasted it and pushed it away and started his diversion tactics, which usually means getting dad talking about motorcycles, video games, or anything from the 80's. Then when our conversation is at the peak he stealthily sneaks up stairs. EVERY TIME!!!! Well last night I was watching him and I caught him just before he tried to make his exit. HA!!! I was not loosing this battle. I told him he had to eat it. Cue dramatics, crying and moaning. He told me "his body could not eat this stuff because I didn't eat good food when I was prego with him!!!" SERIOUSLY? I laughed and said "No way buddy, not true." I then informed him that he had to finish every bite or else he would loose all of his privileges. Like T.V., videos, computer, watching Kenna play videos ( he likes this),no motorcycle, no sledding, No sugar, no deserts, and I will no longer cook for him. He cried some more and sat there. I timed him. Gave him 20 minutes to finish it and that was it. He would plug his nose and gag and spit food out. How old is he?... 2?... No 9!! He didn't do it. So I told him to go up to bed no music, no tuck in, nothing. You would have thought I had stabbed him he was screaming at me... " you didn't say anything about music!!!" and I said "is it a privilege?" and he stared at me. I said," yes it is, so there for you don't get to listen to it." After a good 5 minute stare down . Brian tried to explain why we want him to eat better and how hard I had worked on the meal I made for him. Brian can always talk since into people mostly me. Any ways Parker said he wasn't going to eat it. I looked at him and said "Fine if you don't eat it no priveledges for 2 weeks, and you will eat the soup for breakfast. And if you don't eat it then you will eat for the next meal until it is gone!!! " More tears " Do you want me to starve to death?" I said "nope, so you better eat!". He ate it in 8 minutes. He finished his dinner at 9:04 P.M.

There are probably better ways to do this but I honestly have fought this battle with him for 7 years. He is just like me!!!!!!!! I LOVE THAT BOY!

P.S. I WON!

New Years Eve. Feast time for Parks he is in peak performance in this picture!!!! LOL! This is the one night a year they get to drink Pepsi!!! And Cheese Whiz from a can.. YUCK!!!!

Seattle or BUST!!!!

2009-01-24T08:10:00.013-07:00

We woke up the next day and left for Melanie's sisters house. It took us about an hour or so. Her sister was very nice, alot like Mel, very witty. I liked her. We made arrangements to meet my brother Matthew and his wife Kristina in about an hour, so we headed out. After getting only a little lost we met up with them. Mel went with her sister and I left with Matthew and Kristina

Now I will tell you right now that there will be no pics of him or his wife. He just recently had a blog stalker and asked me, specifically, not to post any. SORRY!!! They are doing great and both look fantastic. For those of you wondering what my bro looks like...... picture me, only male, shaved head, goatee,and earrings. He is fantastic!!! Kristina is a pretty Italian girl with a great New York accent. She is very intelligent but doesn't make you feel like an idiot. She is GREAT!! I love them very much. It was fun to be with them and see them in their element. They are very city-fied. It was great.

The first night we got to their house and ordered pizza. It was called the Cherry Bomb....... YUMMMMMMMYYY ( here comes the food critic mode...) It had sausage, spinach, and sweet hot red peppers on it. WOW was it hot mmmm. very good. We sat up and talked until midnight, it was soooo fun. And I have to mention that Emi is smitten with him. Kenna is too it is funny. It must be that Ashment charm! She sat in his lap all evening and colored with him.

The next day we woke up and they made me a smoothie. It was good it had all kinds of crazy things in it. They like to eat whole foods alot so I was a bit nervous. Matthew said it would give me more energy than 2 Pepsi's..... He was right. I felt good all day and we walked ALL DAY!

First on the agenda was one of Americas most haunted tours... The Seattle Underground. It was awesome..I loved it and Emi was very good the whole time. And I have to say that it didn't feel very haunted. SORRY....

An old iron bath tub and an iron door used to hold gold thieves or something like that.

The remains of an old elevator. And some old stuff. tee hee!

This tour was real cool. you learn about the whole history of Seattle and the fire that destroyed the whole money district. The sidewalk we are walking on is the original side walk from the 1800's it is a pretty awesome thing to see in real life.

Seattle was one of the first plces to get a "Crapper" The original name of the toilet. Very funny story...

After the tour we walked over to an antique shop. I love this it is one of my favorite things to do....However not with a toddler. We left sooner than any of us wanted to.

We then went to lunch. My aunt Risa told me I had to get fish and chips at Ivar's so we did. It was good. I am not a seafood person but I will try new things so I can say it was good but I am not going to crave it. :) Sorry Risa.

Then we were off to Pikes market. I can now say that I have been there and that is about it. It was stinky, HOT,crowded, and did I say stinky? Yeah I don't think I need to ever go back there. I will, however, give them props for the beautiful fruit and veggies they had there.. AMAZING!!!!!!!

After that we were all tired especially Emi. So we went home. I wish we could have gone to the Space Needle but truly it is not that big of a deal.... I see it every week on Grey's anatomy right? And if I had asked I know they would have taken us. So we went home and had some yummy ravioli Kristina made and we just hung out. Emi's new hero is Matthew. He sat and watched a barbie movie with her for 2 hours and when he tried to leave she told him NO! and made him sit down.. HAAA!!! Yup, she is the boss!!

It was an awesome time. I loved every minute of it. I am soooo glad I got to see them.

The next morning we got up and Matthew drove us to Melanie's sisters house. We loaded up and hit the road about 9:30 a.m. We got home at 3:00 a.m. It was a long, long, drive. The kids were done before we started but we made it. We only had one little problem on the way home. In Boise the battery died in the car while we were getting gas... Note to self don't play DVDs while the engine is off for 15 minutes!!! It was funny!!!! We asked a cute Hippie couple to jump us and they did after she ripped part of her engine cover off!!! CRAZY lady. We were thankful and they were nice. It was a great road trip and I want to do it again sometime. But not any time soon!!!

Thanks for the fun Melanie!!!!! :)

Hanging with Melanies friends

2009-01-23T08:16:00.007-07:00

After our fantastic day at the PCM we headed to Melanie's friend Jen's house. We stopped to wash the road gook off the car. Now usually this is not news worthy but since I have never been in a drive through car wash that you put your car in neutral and let it go I sort of freaked out!!! I thought Mel was going to hit the car in front of us!! I know I am a total DORK!!!

This truly was hilarious. I guess you had to be there!

SCARY..... I KNOW!!!!

Since Julie was still recovering from the flu Jen was more than happy to let us crash at her pad. Jen is soooo sweet. Really just a genuinely nice person. That night we got a sitter and us girls went to the Olive Garden for a little food and gossip. MMMMM! Lately I have not been real impressed with The Olive Garden, however this one was great!!! ( Yes I am an undercover food critic!! have you seen my butt?)We had a good time and it was fun getting to know the girls. Melanie has some great friends.

The next morning Julie was better so we headed to her house. She is fantastic! What a great person. She is a photographer and has CRAZY MADD SKILLZZZZ. I want her to come take some family pics of us when she comes to visit. She and Melanie are kindred spirits. It was fun to see the smile on Mels face when they would talk. I understand Mel a little bit more now and see why moving here was sooo hard for her. I am thankful that she did, and has managed to stick it out. This place is not for everyone. Anyways....I digress......

SHOPPING!!!!!! Yes all day it was fantastic no kids, no diapers, no crying just me and my favorite stores. We went to Pioneer Place. They have everything there. It was a shoppers mecca.

This is the creepy Silver Man he just stood there and juggled stuff... Sort of awkward to stare at, and yes I did the whole tourist thing and snapped a few pics. I had too it was too weird.

We then proceeded to another first for me. PF Chang's. No I don't live under a rock I just don't get out much! But man was this good stuff. The lettuce wraps are killer and the Mongolian Beef is sooooooooo yum! ( Food critic) We ate and ate. We also got some asparagus dish that was soooo hot! My mouth was numb after 3 bites, but it was good. Then we took home a Wall of Chocolate. HOLY COW! 7 layers of chocolaty goodness mmmmmm..... I can not even describe this.

We finally got back to Julies and decided we needed to play a little Rock Band World Tour!!! Now those of you who know me know that this is one of my favorite things to do I am a total show boater..... it was a blast. It took some getting used to on the wii because we have x-box but I got it...... Ahhh the simple pleasures.

Thank you to Julies daughter Summer who baby sat she is awesome. And can kill it on expert guitar!!!!! I'm not worthy.

I'm Back!!!

2009-01-22T08:07:00.016-07:00

Thursday morning dawned beautiful and COLD BRRRRR!!!! Melanie and I decided to leave after the kids got on the bus, 7 ish. So due to uncontrollable events (grumpy Hunter) We left about 8:30 a.m. I have to say the driving went real smooth with a 2 and 3 year old. This was Emi's longest road trip....EVER.... She rocked it. We stocked the car with tons of food, books, and toys.

On the road in Thayne.

Yeah we know we are hot. When road trippn' no makeup is required.

So we drove all day. I would like to say it was a breeze but it wasn't.We went through a canyon called Tin Cup it is long and very twisty. Needless to say Emi BARFFED.... yup all over it was nasty. The funny part was that every time we drive that canyon she does it I was even prepared for it. When she started drooling I knew what was coming,I reached with the bag just as she reached her mouth with her hand and knocked the bag out of mine and BLLLLUUUUUTT all over . And Nolan says "EWW gross!!!" HA HA! We stopped in Soda Springs to do damage control and then proceeded on. Not making good time......

We got to Pocatello so the midgets could walk around and get the funk off so to speak. Wal-mart is always the stop of champions so that was the place. We purposely didn't put on a movie in the car because we didn't want them to get bored. So when we came out of Wal- Mart we decided it would be a good time to start a movie...... Not. Melanie's kids had taken all the cords out of the DVD players case and we had nothing. To say she was a little up set is an understatement. Man they are lucky she had 6 days to cool off!!! So back into Wal-mart she went and got another player. You have to have a player on a 13 hour journey. After that all was well. Mel drove while my butt was in the rear view mirror (taking care of kids. Sorry Mel, I know that can be disturbing.)

It was about 5 p.m. when Mel's friend, Julie, called to say she had the flu...... We were going to stay with her for 3 nights so we were totally bummed. Thank goodness for cell phones and modern technology. Mel spent the next few hours hunting down a room. At 12:30 a.m. we arrived in Troutdale Oregon at the Holiday Inn Express.

I grew up in the Antelope Valley. For those of you who don't know the AV I will elaborate.... The trees grow sideways. It is that windy there. Your windshield on your car has a sandblasted effect and your hair always looked bad.

Troutdale exceeded all of those expectations. I honestly thought that our car was going to be gone in the morning. The window in our room shook all night. CRAZY. I could not believe the wind. The funny thing is that if the building had been rotated like 10 feet in one direction we could have slept like babies. The stinkin' wind was blowing right into our window.ugh....

A midget party in room 20!! YIPEE!!!

Me after a great nights sleep.

So we got up the next day and we were off to our first event.

All of you girls know how wonderful it is to have a good hair cut and how rare it is to find someone who is one with you and your hair. Well Melanie has found that someone...She just happens to work in Camas Oregon. So we went to get the ultimate hair cut. It was fast and painless.

We then took off to the Portland Children's Museum. This was awesome. The kids had a blast. Emi was obsessed with the water room, we spent alot of time in there. This place has it all. I highly recommend it to any one going to Oregon. We also met Bob the Builder. He totally freaked Emi out!!

Creepy man with a big head!!!

Water world YEAHHHHHH!

Totally cool bridge!! Like mother like daughter.

This place has it all really!! It was a great reward for the kids to have after driving in the car soooo long. They played hard all day we were there for about 5 or 6 hours I think.

We were then rewarded with the perfect gift..............

AHHHHH!

SLOW.....

2009-01-09T19:48:00.002-07:00

So I have been collecting alot of e-mail addresses, and ....well.... I will be trying to go private in like 3 years when I am done typing them all in!!! Who knew I had soo many friends? ;) I promise to get the private task finished soon.
Mean while, I will give you all something to look forward to......
I am going to Seattle with my friend Melanie next week. I am sooooo excited we can't wait. The best part is I get to spend time with my brother Matthew!! Yipee!!!!!! I will take alot of pics and make some good notes!! Maybe we can stop in Forks!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now that would be awesome. So please don't forget about us and keep looking us up. Love to you all. :)

We are going private!

2008-12-26T16:28:00.004-07:00

Brian wants to go private.... Sorry I know this makes things harder for some of you. I have just learned to listen him. He is pretty in tune with things. However I lost my list I was making previously so please send me your e-mails again and I will send you an invite. I will also keep looking for my list. Thanks

Christmas Tradition

2008-12-26T15:52:00.008-07:00

As I have mentioned in previous blogs I love to do sugar cookies... Well, we have a Call family party tomorrow and I decided to make more sugar cookies. The kids and I had a blast. I think I enjoy it more than any normal person would. Brian thinks I am CRAZY and well he is right, but I am pretty sure that is why he married me!!!! :)

The proud artists!! and some of my favorites.

Parker did this Patrick cookie. He was VERY proud of himself. I did the man with a broken leg and a Pirate guy. We were running out of ideas and we got a little weird. HA HA!!

These are Kenna's favorite 3. This is the winner of the craziest cookie award!! It is an angry star by Parks he thought he was pretty funny!!!

The best part about this tradition is that they taste better than they look and they always make people smile!!!

The party is over

2008-12-26T12:17:00.016-07:00

The party is over!!! :(

We had soooo much fun. I was so happy to see all of my nieces and nephews. Why do they have to grow soooo much? It seems like just yesterday they were all little babies and I was the babysitter. I guess we can't keep them little forever.....right? Here are some pics of our fun time together. Thanks to everyone who made this possible, I know it is hard to travel and be away so THANKS and we LOVE you all......

Playing some weird game Zach brought. It was fun, I am going to have to remember the name of it so I can buy it. Quelf, I think that is it. Good fun.

Emi is in love with Brooklyn.... We may have to kidnap her this summer!!! :

Jake being his inner model. ( he really liked Emi's princess shoes!!) This kid makes me laugh like no other!! He is so much like his dad.

Sugar Cookie time with Candice. They were DEELISH!!!!!!!

Redneck sledding!!! This is the best way to sled!! You tie a giant piece of plastic to the back of Grandpas truck and he pulls you around for hours!!! I think we had a total of 8 people on the plastic at one time. In years past we have had up to 12 at a time. It truly is thee FUNNEST time ever. Brian even joins in on this!!!

Christmas Eve P.J.s!!!!!! I decided about 1-1/2 weeks before Christmas that we should make all the kids bottoms..... Yes, I am INSANE!!!..... Mom got all the material in Texas and sent it UPS It arrived and I got to work. We only had a few adjustments to do Christmas Eve but between mom and I we got them all done and it was a success.. There is nothing like new Jammie's!!!

Our kids are SPOILED! I know this, it is not a new revelation. I do have to say, in our defense, we made them earn their Wii by earning good behavior points. 1000 points. They are given 10 points a day. Brian told them about Santa 2 years ago so now we have to get creative. Emi got a stroller and Princess shoes....4 new pairs she was in heaven!!! (she doesn't know about Santa, and Kenna and Parks were warned about spoiling it for her or any other kids who don't know!!!) The sleds are a must... We got 18 more inches last night. Plus they went with their new snow pants they got under the tree.

Andrew got Rock Band 2, Brooklyn got a Hannah Montana guitar game, Jake got a remote control Hummer. Adael and Brig got Snow shoes. Look at all that paper!!!!!!! Andrew wanted to make a snow angel in it!! it was soooo much fun. I don't think I could do this every year but I want to do it in the summer some time so Matthew will come.

I also wanted to let you all know that the plungers were not needed!! Yeah we had a good plumber!!! thanks Jerry.

We had a Merry Christmas!!! And hope you did too!!!!!!!!

Family Photos

2008-12-23T15:16:00.010-07:00

So T.J. and Candices friend is a photographer and agreed to take some family pics I think they turned out great considering the fact that it was a blizard out side and we had to change the location like 3 times. But we finally settled on the barn and I think they are nice. A little farmer John but still cute. P.S. Emi was a little butt the whole time.

My beautiful little family

Since Matthew would not come up for the party we invited his ex Karen. Once you are an Ashment........ :)

Grandma and grandpa with ALL of their grand babies.

Matthews boys

Zach, Connor, C.J., and Logan

Jons babies!!!

Brooklyn, Jake, Jon, and Andrew (PEACE OUT!)

Emi was in rare form.... NOT!!! At least the other two are behaving... for now!

T.J.s cute family

Brigham, T.J., Candice, and Adael

MA and PA.

These are not the best of the groups. However The fact that I am getting them on here is quite the feat!!! So maybe I will be picky next time. Besides I have a house full of crazy people and they wany more FOOD!!!!! AHHHH. I am off to make the sugar cookies!! MMMMM!

Christmas Tag

2008-12-11T20:50:00.002-07:00

1- Paper or gift bag? I'm a little selfish about this, I love to open wrapped packages. But I often give gift bags. Is that bad???

2- Real or fake tree? I love a real tree, however Brian hates chopping them down. So we have a pre lit fake tree from ACE Hardware!( so un fun!)

3- When do you put it up? December 1st. I am a little O.C.D. about this. :)

4- When do you take it down? January 1st. I am a little O.C.D. about this. :)

5- Do you like eggnog? Gagging as I type. Not so much. I can taste it and that's about it.

6- Favorite gift as a kid? I have so many fun memories but I would have to say the Raggedy Anne doll my mom (Santa) made for me with my name embroidered in a heart on her chest. I still have it.

7-Hardest person to buy for? I am not good at picking gifts period. I can never make up my mind.

8- Easiest person to buy for? Emi, she does't care a single bit what we get her.

9-Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, I have a few. My favorite one is one I just got from my mom this year. She painted it when I was 12. It has been broken a few times but I love it. Thanks mom.

10- Do you mail or email your Christmas cards? Well lets put it this way, if you get a card from me you are very fortunate. If you get an email from me.... DITTO! I am horrible at the whole card thing. Sorry!

11-What is the worst gift you got as a kid? I don't remember ever getting a bad gift but I do remember not getting the ones I wanted. I wanted a Rubadub Doggie, and a Snoopy Snow Cone Machine. I didn't get them but I must have been happy with what I got.

12- Favorite Christmas movie? Christmas Vacation. Is there any other?

13- When do you start shopping? After Turkey Day, mostly on line.

14- have you ever re-gifted a gift? Only White Elephant gifts. That's what is sooo funny about them, Right?

15- Favorite thing to eat at Christmas time. Uncle Mikes Divinity......mmmmm it is heavenly!

16- Colored lights or clear? I don't discriminate.... I love and use them all!!!!

17- Favorite Christmas song? Religious-Silent Night, Funny-Police got my car by Cheech and Chong. It is very inappropriate but hilarious!!, Traditional- White Christmas by Bing Crosby. Good stuff!

18-Travel or home for Christmas? We did the travel thing to Arizona 2 years ago... toooo stressful. We are staying home from now on. If it is possible.

19-Can you name all the reindeer? Yes!!!! Sleepy, Doc, Bashful..... haaa haaaa!

20- Angel or star? Kenna likes angels so that is what we use. I grew up with a star.

21- Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? P.J.s on Christmas Eve. And the rest in the morning.

22- Most annoying thing at Christmas? All the anti Christ in Christmas stuff. It just ruins the whole spirit of the season.(DORKS!)

23- Favorite ornament or theme? I love anything my kids make, and I love antique ornaments.Our house is a Hodge Podge of Christmas!

24- Favorite Christmas dinner food? Fondue at the Call family dinner. Sooo fun, and yummy!

25- What do I want for Christmas? Nothing, I have received more than enough this year!!!

26-White or warm Christmas? I love a good snow. But if I were to end up in Mexico or Hawaii I would NOT complain. :)

27- Favorite thing about Christmas? The music. I love it ALL!

28- Favorite Christmas tradition? Making moms sugar cookies, and delivering them to neighbors.

29- Favorite location for Christmas? With my family. :)

30 Who do you tag? Abbey, Kallie, Shirlene, and Tye.

The circus is comming to town!!!

2008-12-11T08:39:00.003-07:00

We are selling tickets to the Circus!!! The Ashment family circus.

My husband is soooo excited he could just die!!! In all our married life I can't think of a single occasion that he has looked forward to more.... No this is not a week on the trails with his brothers and his girlfriend Honda (a CR 250R). It is the arrival of the Ashment family Circus!!!!! Yeah this is thee best thing to happen to him since well...... ME!!!!

O.k. I am totally exaggerating, He is not that excited. If you know my sweet man you know he is happy that I am that excited. He on the other hand is not excited. It's not that he doesn't like my family. He does. Its the crowds. He hates large amounts of people. Which is funny because his family is twice as big as mine. But then he does the same thing with his own family parties.

Back to the circus. They start arriving on Tuesday..... And will slowly filter in by the 22nd. I am sooo happy to have all my loved ones here. There is always the exception though..... Matthew and his wife Kristina. He has a bad case of Bahummbugedness. So his wife is going home to New York and he is staying in Seattle. It won't be the same with out him, but I am o.k. with it. I have to be. At least his boys will be here. :)

The kids and I decorated the tree and the house it is sooo festive I love this time of year. I can not wait for the CRAZINESS of life. 20 adults, teens, and babies in my house..... good thing I have 5 bathrooms with plungers!!!!!!!

SALSA?

2008-12-11T08:04:00.009-07:00

So most people with two year olds know how funny they are. Our Emi is no exception!!! Everyday she does something that blows my mind or makes me laugh. This morning for breakfast she was in rare form. I don't know many two year olds that like salsa. Emi doesn't like it ....She LOVES it. I caught her drinking my home made salsa.(Yes for breakfast.. Don't ask) This is not wimpy salsa it is CRAZY HOT!!!! I put about 18 jalapenos in this batch. It makes your nose run, your eyes water, and your mouth burn. It tastes like salsa heaven, so I understand why she likes it. I just don't know how she can drink it!!!

Look at the joy in that little face!!!!

She is sooooo fun. She doesn't even ask for water or milk. She just chows. Again I am at a loss for words. She just makes us all laugh.

Puppies and Poop!!!!

2008-12-07T08:49:00.002-07:00

I thought you should all know that on Thursday we brought home Pepper. She is now one of us and it is fun. However........ I just can not handle the poop! (Gagging as I type) Mel said it was bad but I thought that she meant it was because she had 8 puppies pooping. Nope it only takes one. We are currently trying to get through the diarrhea faze of this project. Parks is soooo happy she is here and he keeps feeding her and feeding her and feeding her. Not good. We have discussed the food portion thing and she no longer is allowed to eat until she is as round as she is tall. Poor pooch. All in all she is a good girl. I am sure she will be a good source to blog off of. And I am sure we will have more poop!!

MMMMM Stuffing and Pumpkin pie!!!!

2008-12-05T08:02:00.013-07:00

Oh, the joys of FOOD!!! Oh, the joys of weight watchers. I decided my nether regions were getting a little (alot) out of control. So I started Weight Watchers. I was doing great!! My friends and I even started working out Mon, Wed, & Friday mornings at my house. I lost 8 lbs and a few inches. Enough to feel the difference and see it. Yeah go me!!! maybe if I keep it up I can go to Mexico and not hide in the pool!!! :)

Enter Thanksgiving........

Never mind!!!! I am going to EAT!!! So I did. I can happily report I gained 5 of my 8 lbs back!! NICE. that part stinks. I have to get back on the horse. So it all starts over again. I can't feel bad though, because I had an awesome time with my family this year.

We spent our holiday at T.J. and Candice's house in Idaho. It was a first time for my family to go to their house because they used to live in Oregon and as I have stated before.... We don't travel. (curses that accounting side of my hubby!!!) I was so glad they moved so close to me, it is nice to have some of my family close by. Dad flew up from Texas, and Jon surprised mom at my house!! it was great.Too bad Matthew is so holiday challenged!! ( He is special like Jerry's kids.LOL) We still love him.
So we had great food and fun. We introduced dad to Rock Band and we met Jon's "friend" in Russia on web cam. It was cool. She is very nice and very Russian!!! The kids were loud and Jon's finger gets a little bit out of control. If you are sensitive to the bird you may want to skip past the photos!!!!

ROCK BAND it's a family affair. And the only picture you will see of Brian. He hates the camera.

A little mind numbing for the kiddos... It's a good thing. Ahhhhhh!

This was Emi's new obsession. She would not get off of this dang thing!! and if anyone looked at it she would freak out!!!

We don't take pictures of food we eat it!!! Sorry. Candice loves blue glass, can you tell? It looked awesome before the vultures moved in.

This is Candice she is AWESOME!! I just love her.

Mom and DAD!! See I do have a dad.....

Sorry! this is T.J.s tongue and Jon's bird. Now you know why I am the way I am.....I was the only girl and Matthew is just as strange.....
So that was my Turkey day!!! I got my stuffing fix and my pie fix. I should be good till Christmas. I do need to loose that 5 lbs though so I don't add to my tab!!! :) All in all it was pretty darn fun!!! Welcome to the redneck side of my life!!! Haa Haa haaa!!!

P.S. I didn't do Black Saturday. I figured enough people die on that day, I don't want to be one of them. And who wakes up at 3 A.M. for a Leapster anyways??? ( Sorry Tye!! but you my friend are CRAZY!!)

baby curls!!

2008-12-05T07:41:00.007-07:00

Well I am usually the kind of person who can handle hair situations... Unless your hair dresser turns your hair Ronald McDonald orange and fries it so you have to cut 8 inches off and then she............ sorry I got into a bad place there. Let me continue, Emi has very cute blond curly hair like mine was. It is curly in the back and straight in the front.That was the o.k. part what was sad is that it was so uneven and she still had that easy to get nappy baby hair in the back. So it was time to fix things. Thanks to grandmas encouragement we got it done (TRAUMATIC!!

You cant tell it here but the back made the cutest little ringlets ever!!!

I can do it! I can do it! I can do it!!!!!

Emi loved her hair!!!! She thought it was soo funny to touch.

She is sooo beautiful. And so so sweet. even with short hair.

you can still see a little bit of the curl in the back and I have to say it does look better. Thanks for the help Grandma.

Blog the Dog

2008-12-01T18:51:00.007-07:00

We have officially picked a name........

PEPPER

She is sooo sweet we just love her. We have brought her over to our house several times to play. She is such a good puppy.

Sweet Pepper

Brutus,Butler,Pepper

Emi is obsessed with her it is hilarious. We brought over two of Peppers brothers to play and Emi had to hold all 3 of them she kept grabbing them by the tail and holding them by the neck. It was a disaster. I guess we have some puppy etiquette to work on. We hope to bring Pepper home by the 15th or so.

Poor puppies!!! Good thing we were there to save them.

Parker is gearing up for pooper scooper duty!! he is soooo excited. I think we all are, it has been real cool to be around her since the day she was born. Thanks Mel for letting us barge in all the time.

Craft Fair Time!!!!

2008-12-01T13:20:00.014-07:00

As some of you know and some of you don't, my mom, myself, my friend Tye, and my sister in law Candice make jewelry and bags. We do a craft fair each year here and do pretty well. This year we did better than ever. Every item is hand sewn, the colors individually put together to make every bracelet one of a kind. Thus the name ONLe. We spent soooo much time preparing for it I thought I would share some of my pics of the jewelry. I took the bag pics. with my moms camera so I will have to post those later. We love to make these and sell them. If something looks good let me know. We are going to set up a blog and hopefully get some interest going. ENJOY!!

ONLe jewelry and bags.

This is called The Cluster. you can do this in any color variety you can imagine. (my personal fav.) We use only genuine Swarovzki Crystals, genuine stones with high quality beads.

This is The English Garden. It is our hottest seller. The pictures can in no way do any of these bracelets justice. I love this design because it is so versatile. you can wear this with jeans and a -t-shirt or dress up for a party or church.

We can also make any of our bracelets into watches

This is The Wide Triangle it is sewn with triangle beads and feels sooooo good on!! The black one is The Reversible Triangle it is like a mullet!! business on the front. Party on the back!! HAAA!These are two of the most time consuming, but soooo comfy to wear.

This is The Daisey Ladder It is so fun to do. As you can see they can look totally different. I could spend all day putting pics. on but you will have to wait for our site!!

Here are some of the bags, and earrings.

This is a bad picture of the bags and I didn't flip it. Sorry! We do 4 different sizes. Personal progress size (kiddy bag), Purse size, Diaper bag size, and Beach bag. They all have pockets on the inside or the out side or both! They are great. And very handy. Also these are the earrings that Candice makes they are all Sterling Silver or Niobium. With individually hand picked stones. She will spend hours making sure each set is perfect. She is an artist and has a good eye for details.

I hope to get the site set up this next week. I will let you all know when I do. Thanks for looking. :)

Fun with Grandma Debbie

2008-12-01T08:03:00.011-07:00

So we had the wonderful privilege of having my mom here with us for about 2 weeks, It was sooo fun. we did alot of things and I think it will take a few blogs to cath us up. So here we go.....

Mom has been on one of her "visiting the grand kids" trips. We love these trips because one we get to see grandma, two we get spoiled and three sometimes grandpa shows up!! first on our agenda was a wedding for one of my moms best friends. She has know Gail for like 36 years. It was fun to go to the Ogden Temple.

My babies on the temple grounds. Emi loved all the water. This is also the spot of the infamous Red Hot Chili Pepper incident!! HA!

They were very HOT!!!! Poor Bean. I guess she will think a little bit harder before she takes a bet!!!

After the wedding we went to Salt Lake to pick up Brian. He had been in Moab riding the trails on his motorcycle with his brothers. he didn't want to wait another day to go home so we met him in Salt Lake. Before we got to him we went and toured the conference center. I have never been in the center and I was very excited to go see it. I can now tell you that I have no words to describe its beauty. It was magnificent. I love art it is one of my passions. They had sooo much art in there I could have spent a good month in there just looking. It was mostly originals which is soooo awesome. There were the pictures that you see in the Book of Mormon. You know Nephi and all those great pictures. They had the original paintings there. WOW!!! I wanted to spend more time.

Inside by the beautiful glass and water sculpture, On the roof by the fountain.

The view of the Salt Lake temple from the roof. It was an awesome excursion. I am glad we took the time to stop. The church leaders are truly inspired in all that they do. WOW!!
We left the conference center and picked up Brian. We missed our dad. Life just isn't the same when hes not around.
We started our long trip home. Thankfully it was uneventful and it didn't seem to drag on endlessly, the 4 hours flew by and we got home about 10:30 PM. Nice.

4th Tag

2008-12-01T07:58:00.002-07:00

So here you go Miss Abbey my tag is Emi's 6 Month photos. Isn't she cute!!! What is it with moms and naked baby pics?? Weird. I tag Christie, Kelsi, Megan, and Amanda. I did the 4th picture in my 4th album.

RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS!!!!

2008-11-24T16:56:00.003-07:00

So we went to a wedding of one of my moms dear friends of 30 something years. Out on the grounds of the Ogden Temple they have ornamental Chili peppers in the flowers. Kenna is soooo fascinated by these types of things. I love her for this reason. She is so inquisitive and smart.
Me,being the awesome mom that I am, bet her $10.00 to eat one!!!! She did it!!! Oh it was funny!!! watch this.

The best part was that I told Kenna to check the drinking fountain. She said she did, NOT!!! It didn't work and she was dying. We had to run to the rest room in the temple, She basically sucked on the faucet. AHHHH Good times!! I love my kids they ROCK!!!!

I'm workin' on it!!!!!

2008-11-20T07:41:00.002-07:00

I know it has been a while. Sorry!!! I am crazy busy and I barely have enough time to type this I will catch you all up on things next week!!! Lots of fun stories to tell!!!

You're it!!!

2008-11-12T16:17:00.003-07:00

I was tagged it is kind of a fun one so I don't mind (Abbey) here we go...

Thanksgiving Tag
THINGS I AM THANKFUL FOR

A- AMERICA- to live in the most wonderful country in the world, to be free and to have the rights that so many don't.
B- BRIAN- He is my rock and my love. He makes me happy all the time,even when I am mad.
C-CHOCOLATE- self explanatory!!!
D- DAN, DEBBIE, DEE, & DIANNE- (4word score!!!) good parents who love and understand us.
E-EMILY- The silly in the house. She can always make us smile.
F-FRIENDS- I have the best, all over. I would be in a nut hut with out them!!! THANKS!
G-GOSPEL- It is the reason we are all here. It is the truth and the light.
H-HEALTH- HAPPINESS, & HOME(3 word score!!) We are relatively healthy,we are pretty darn happy, and we have a beautiful home to live in.
I-INTERNET -It helps me stay in touch with loved ones.
J-JUNK FOOD- It makes me crazy that I love it soooo much, it also reminds me to be good!
K-KENNA- The smarty pants in our home. Who needs a dictionary when you have a Kenna?
L-LOVE- With out it where would we all be?
M-MUSIC- It makes me happy, and want to shake what the good Lord gave me!! :)
N-NUTELLA- MMMMMMM!!!
O-ORANGE- I love this color it is soooo happy. ( don't you think?)
P-PARKER- The crazy in our home. We love every minute of him!!!
Q- Q-TIPS- Who doesn't like clean ears?
R-ROAD TRIPS- With family or friends it is always something to blog about.
S-SALADS- I love any kind of salad yummmy!
T-TALENTS- I have a few, I keep them in a jar on top of my fridge! Maybe I should use them more often?
U-UNDER WARE- Like you don't like a nice new pair of undies!!!
V-VOLUME- The louder the better. Crank it up man!!
W-WORK- It helps us live up to our potentials,and gives us the lifestyle we have.
X- XTRA GUM-(is that cheating?) Love this stuff it is always in my mouth.
Y- YOUTH- I still think I am one. And know that I am not. :(
Z-ZIPPERS- They are fun in all situations!

There I am done!!! I am tagging all who read this. So I will be watching!!!

I found it!!!!!

2008-11-09T18:19:00.007-07:00

You know how everyone has that drawer that everything goes into and never returns? We call it a junk drawer! Well there it was, as plain as day, in front of my face, screaming at me..... "Hello I am here. Your camera!, YO MORON!!! How many times do you have to open this drawer and NOT see me?"I finally got it!!! :)

I will now wow you with some much needed pics!

For some reason our kids are not allowed to wear costumes to school on Halloween. They do get a crazy hair day and that is pretty fun! these are this years creations. The sad thing is I think I actually did my hair like Kennas a couple of times, just for school. (WOW!)

My little band of crazy people!!

We have from left to right::

Joe Dirt JR.( note the football jersey!!! GO REBS!!)

Little Red Riding Hood

Billy Ray Cirus

Chicken (made by Kenna!)

I was a Christmas fanatic I had some awesome earrings but they really hurt to wear soooo sorry no pics.I have a few more pics to add from our apple cider party at Grandma Yummyumms house, but I have to go be mom!!

MICE!!!!!!

2008-11-08T09:18:00.003-07:00

I was just telling this story to my mother in law and decided I needed to blog it. No pictures of course but if you are visual, like me, you will die!!!

Most who know me know I am, 1- A.D.D. and 2- O.C.D. I also love a clean car, and house.
You can tell how I am doing, emotionally, and mentally, by those two things.

We moved into this house in August, It was not quite finished but close enough. Who needs counter tops and sinks? Toilets a must, doors are optional on certain rooms!! :) Well we have been finishing things here and there since we moved in. This month we got our final cabinetry put in and all I have left to do is some caulking and paint.

Needless to say I have let my car go.....ALOT!!! If you have been following our blog you will remember my post about going shopping in the big city. I had to clean my car out for that trip so I did it. It was disgusting!!! apple cores, Burger King wrappers, candy, toys, Dirt...etc. etc. etc. you know the nasty car drill.But finally The floor is visible!! TAA DAAA! miraculous miracles.

Well after our little trip I cleaned it out again. The next time I drove my car It was dark so I couldn't really see the interior of my car. I finally had to go to town in the light of day. I went to put Emi in her seat when...ERRRRRCH (car brakes) What the...... MOUSE CRAP!!!!!! in her car seat, on the floor, the back seat, EVERYWHERE!!!!!! AHHHHHH! I am throwing up as I type. YUCK! How long has this been going on? I was so sick, my sweet kids have been in here and ughhh, I just blaaaaa. Can't even explain how grossed out I still am..... I vacuumed it out. I mean vacuumed. The next day there was some on the floor, so I went and got Tye, we don't function alone, and I said to her that I have a mouse in my car with poop and everything. We are driving down the road SCREAMING. Tye's feet are up in the air, her toes curled and she is trying NOT to hyper ventilate. I pulled in to the car wash and we both fly out of the car!!! I need to vacuum,again,but I am also afraid that the littler buggers are still in there somewhere. So we grab and throw, grab and throw. Finally we got it vacuumed again.

We head straight to the store I have a little appointment with my new friend. Mr. Con.... D-con to be exact. Now don't go calling PETA on me. or maybe you can I don't care. Mice are only good for one thing. KILLING! I got 3 packages. 1 for my car, 1 for Brian's, and 1 for the garage. I had a little project to finish. Call me the PUNISH ER!!! ( insert Dr. Evils laugh) With all of my traps set. I wait.

I can now happily report that my car and the garage are now mice free!!! the D-con was empty the next day!! I think I had a whole compound of mice hanging out in my garage. We do live in a field,and have yet to get a cat. I have thoroughly sprayed my interior with all sorts of chemicals, and cleaners. and can say I am at peace with the world!!

She is getting bigger!!

2008-11-06T07:08:00.005-07:00

We still dont have a name for her but she is sooooooooo cute, and getting bigger every day.Her eyes are starting to open and she scoots around. She can hear us now and I think she recognizes my scent. That may just be my wishful thinking.

ABOUT 2 WEEKS AGO

YESTERDAY

I was expecting more puppy names from all of our fans and admirers. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

We were given the suggestion of Aphrodite. It is cute we can call her Phro or Dite???? hmmmmm. What do you think?

BUSTED!!!

2008-11-04T18:37:00.005-07:00

Thank goodness for camera phones!!! As you all know we lost our camera. It is somewhere between our house and my mother in laws.

So, I am constantly fighting big butt syndrome. Some days are good, most are bad. I give myself credit for trying. :) Today I made some yummy 1 point chocolate cupcakes, mmmm, I was in our office playing on face book when I hear plastic rattling. I postpone going out to check, its probably Parks getting food. About 10 minutes later I hear more plastic and then I hear Parks downstairs!!! AHHHHHHH!!!! I run into the kitchen and this is what I found.
Yes she is cute, yes she is sweet, yes she is a monster!!!! I had 24 and now there are 20!!! I have a naked chocolate monster running a muck in my house. There was a trail of crumbs all the way down the stairs. I would love to blame Brian for this but he was "innocently" playing a video game, and had no idea what she was up to!!! So alas it is once again my bad!!! I should have checked the first time. Oh well, I guess I should go clean up the mess!!!!

Halloween?

2008-11-03T16:51:00.002-07:00

So some how we miss placed our camera with all the fun pics on it. I am sooo sad. I will continue to look for it, and get you all some pics.
Brian was Billy Ray Cyrus----- hilarious
Dani was a Christmas fanatic.----hilarious
Kenna was a chicken---very cute. She also made her own costume.(mad skills)
Parks was Joe Dirt Jr.---hilarious
Emi was Little Red Riding Hood--- very sweet.

When I find the stinking camera I will post something good!!

That time of year

2008-10-30T19:34:00.006-06:00

I LOVE Halloween it is one of my favorite holidays. With all holidays there is one bummer side, with Halloween it has to be carving pumpkins!!!! ughhhhh.

At my children's school they have a pumpkin patch, it is a fun day of pumpkins and parties. The bad part is the whole "best pumpkin" award. Try as we might we never win. Kenna is determined this year to win she has been brain storming all year about this. She is sooooo cute. today we carved the nasty beasts and this is our final result! I think they are all winners in my book ,but then I am the mom.

They are soo funny! I love these guys. Parker did a bleeding hatchet. Kennas is a pumpkin pie!!!get it? Haaaa! When the candles are in them you see the out lines on the pumpkin, pretty cool! we even put spices in Kennas so it smells like pie!!! Emi was just happy to play in all the pumpkin barfff.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! to all our family and friends.

Snow blower, chainsaw, and Sams Club OHHH MY!!!

2008-10-29T19:27:00.018-06:00

This is kind of long but very funny!!!

As many of you know from my facebook that my two friends and I went to "The Big City" yesterday. I would like to share our adventure with all of you. It is guaranteed to please and entertain.

We live in a remote part of the United States. Our closest Wal-Mart is 2 hours away, in good weather,with snow it can 3-4 hours. My best friend Tye and my secret best friend Melanie( can't make all my other best friends jealous!!) both needed to go shopping. I am always up for a road trip. Give me a Dr. Pepper and some Baked Lays and I am good to go.

Tye is the activities committee person in our ward, she has our Halloween party this Friday she needs to feed the masses. She needs to go to Sams Club.

Melanie is sick of getting stuck in her driveway every winter and needs a snow blower, and since she is at it why not a chainsaw? They totally go together right?

Dani just needs stuff. The list is far too long and far too normal.

We need a way to get all of these things back in one piece. Thank goodness my Bri is a motorcycle maniac. Our van is totally set up for these things. We decide to take my van and little trailer. No problem I do this sort of stuff all the time. I am a force to be reckoned with, Ahhh Haaa, Haa, Haaa!!!!!

6:30 am the trailer lights aren't working. It is dark outside. Bri wont let us go unless we fix them. I promised him I would take care of it. " I will stop at the parts store on the way out of town." he says o.k.

7:10 am load up my kids to drop off at the bus stop.

7:15 Dani and Emi pick up Tye and Seth. Did I forget the part about taking 3 two year olds with us? Yes we are that crazy.... all the time.

7:25 we pick up Mel and Nolan

They are sooo Cute!!!! Don't be fooled!!!!

We stop at the auto parts store. Our favorite parts boy, Nick, is there. We nicely ask him if he can fix our lights for us. He said sure. I am certain it was because we were all so devastatingly beautiful when we smiled at him, how could he say no to us?

8:00 am we are out of here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks Nick!!! You are our home town hero.

Two screaming kids (Seth and Emi),two hours later, and a crazy old man with a truck full of junk metal, later we are there. We drop our trailer off at Molly's house. We don't need it until Sams and Lowes.

Yes this was scary he did not have anything tied down and check out the sides of his truck bed!!! need I say more? Its a good thing my van is as fast as a Ferrari!!!

We decided to do the important stuff first. Old Navy, Bath and Body Works,and Victoria's Secret. We go to a few other stores and then hit Wal-Mart. Now all of you know what that is like. I was totally pleased that Emi was a perfect angel and so were the boys. About 2 hours later we emerge with carts, bags, babies and tired plastic (already!) We unload our carts and get a little nervous that the van is pretty full. Hmmmmm? No problem we have the trailer!!!!!!!

We then decided to go to Arctic Circle for lunch. They have a play ground, always a plus. Molly was with us and she is the best. She is Tyes sister in law and soooo sweet I just love her!!! Thanks for the fun Molly!!We ate and Molly had to get back to her real life. :(

We hit the DI for Halloween stuff, The Dollar Store, Joanns fabrics, and a bunch of other places. It is all starting to blurrrrrrrrrrr.

Finally we go get the trailer. We head to Sams and that is where it gets a little weird. We enter the store and as usual we divide and conquer. We get our" bid nis" done call the others on the celly and find out who needs help. Any of you who know Tye, know how absolutely insane she truly is. She is great. I honestly enjoy her. She makes you want to be a better you and you have fun doing it.

Have you ever seen the movie Rain Man, the one with Dustin Hoffman?....... "Kmart, I buy my underwear at Kmart, Kmart,Kmart!"This is Tye s crazed voice in our next conversation.

I am looking at the electronics stuff, Mel is in cookware, Tye is at the Bakery. I finish up and go help Mel pick out some very nice stainless steel cook ware,she has great taste!, and Tye calls " I don't know how many cookies to get and what kind and what size and what if they aren't good and what if there isn't enough and what if this whole thing doesn't work and how are we going to get all of this in the car... blaaaaaaaaa blaaaaaaaa blaaaaaaa blaaaaaaa.......................!" She was loosing her mind!!! (voice of really bad singer guy on The Wedding Singer classic!!)

She was borderline tears. Melanie and I went to find her and she was gone. I called and we finally met up with her by the avocados. "are you o.k.?" we ask? She says " Yeah I'm fine now. I just lost it a little bit, but I had a good talk to myself and I think we are good now. I think the old lady next to me was kind of freaked out when I yelled at my self!"

That is Tye. She is always making us laugh. She can get intense at times but hey.... cant we all? We help her finish up and leave the store with 4 carts 3 kids and 3 adults. Barely.

No.... we are not done YET!!!! We are off to Lowes!!!!

I did not go into Lowes, someone had to stay with the 3 screaming 2 year olds in the car.Who just happen to see the playground display set up out side and all wanted to swing!!! No freakin' way!!!!! Need less to say poor Mel had the fight of her life in there with the chauvinistic assistant manager. What a stinkin PIG!!! He totally thought she was some dumb broad. Those of you who know Mel know she is far from dumb..... This guy was going to get it!!! She called me. Tye and I traded places. Now remember the part about me sitting in the car with 3 screaming kids? Yeah I was past done. Watch out!!!! He was giving her some lame line about a warranty blaaa blaaa blaaa. So I came in and you could tell I was not, shall we say happy? We go straight to the manager. Lets just say that Mel left with everything she wanted plus her dignity. And stupid fat erring hole, bald dude was trying to cover his butt!!!!! We rule! Go Mel!! I got your back. She didn't need my help, just someone to stand by her and look really mean. I did a good job!

Now we are done. and this is how we went home.

Yes, we have mad tie down skills!! You should note, nothing got broken or fell off!!! yup yup!!

Here is a little pin up action for the farm boys!! OHHH yeahhhh!!!!

On the road again!! We got home about 11:00 pm. It was a fun trip!! We always have fun together. The best part is the conversations you get have with people you care about, and you get to share your worries and frustrations with people who you know will understand. The only thing that would have made this day any better was to have a bigger van and Kindra and her little guy Collin!! We missed you sista!!! next time for sure!

New member

2008-10-26T18:31:00.004-06:00

So today we went to see our new puppy. There were only 2 requirements for this puppy

1- MUST be a girl. (they are alot more loyal. Can not have another runaway!!)

2- MUST have a white face. ( Brian thinks they are cute!)

Those requirements limited us a bit. They only had 2 girls and only one had a white face.

BINGO!!!!!

We sat around the dinner table and thought of names:

Chancho--- pig in Spanish

Roberta

Poopie

Bob

Queenie

As you can see we are name challenged. We decided to wait until we got to know her. We are however taking suggestions!!!

Ella is a mommy!!!

2008-10-22T20:34:00.003-06:00

Parks is huge into animals. He wants a farm out here and he wants millions of pigs and chickens,and what ever else we can round up! He is a true boy. What he wants the most right now is a dog. About 1 year ago we had a dog named Bowser. He was beautiful, protective, and huge (he was a Gladiator Dane) Parks LOVED him. Well one day he just never came home. we searched and searched for him and he was never found. We think he was dognapped. Parks was devastated. we told him we would get him another dog once the house was done.... well......
Today my friend Melanie's Springer Spaniel, named Ella , had her Puppies!! at last count we were at 8. She called me and I was sooo excited. They will be ready at Christmas. PERFECTION!!!! so far they are all black. We were all soooo excited the whole family went to see them. They are so cute. I cant wait until they start to show their personalities. Parks is going to be so happy. what a fun Christmas he will have.
The cute part is that Mel's son is so sweet with his dog. He was in the dog house with her the whole time. Ella would not let him leave. so Mel set him up with a heater, flashlight, and walkie talkie. He gives 10 minute reports. It is the cutest thing ever. How sweet is the relationship between a boy and his dog!!!

Private debate.

2008-10-21T07:49:00.003-06:00

Brian wants our blog private. I, however, don't because it makes it harder for our family and friends to view it. tell us what you think.

This is how I feel! AHHHHHHH!!!!!

(Parkers new retainer! GROSSSS!)

My morbid obsession!!!

2008-10-20T08:22:00.002-06:00

private.

2008-10-19T20:38:00.002-06:00

Brian wants this to be a private site. :( So if you want an invite gmail me your address. I will switch it over this week. thanks to all 3 of my loyal followers!!! HAAA!

Family time

2008-10-18T11:19:00.005-06:00

I have had a fun month with lots of get togethers, and parties. Its great fun for me and Brian, however the kids dont really enjoy it.(strange) So we promised them a family party. They were very excited about that. So last night we made Carmel apples and watched Men in Tights (edited version of course) we all had a fun time, and Carmel apples are easy. WOW!!! who would have thought.

Notice Emi is blurry!!! SHOCKER!!!! Kenna and Parks were very proud of their creations.

She does like her sugar though. MMMMM! they were good.

Dirty snowman!

2008-10-18T10:59:00.007-06:00

Yes, it snows alot here. It doesn't always stay long. This particular storm was a good one we got about 4-5 inches of the white dread.

Parker was the first one out the door. Surprise. He went right out and built a mini snowman. The funny part is that we don't have grass, so his snow man is pretty dirty. Still fun though, and in typical Parks fashion, he just didn't care. it's always about the fun.

The final master piece!!

Thankfully the snow only lasted about 2 days!

Grass-ee-go-was!!!

2008-10-18T09:45:00.010-06:00

So as some of you know we just recently moved into our new home Well it is out in

the middle of a huge field,we are surrounded by weeds, rocks, and a beautifully huge mountain.Part of the charm of this location is the fact that we can breed grasshoppers out here. I know amazing, right? I mean grasshoppers are pretty rare. (ha!) Our grasshopper farm is so successful that when you walk out side its like the red sea parting , only its a sea of brown hoppers.

We recently had a nice snow about 4" it was lovely.I was real worried about all our hoppers because they are so valuable and rare. We figured that the whole lot was gone. A sacrifice to the beautiful winter weather. Amazingly enough our hopper farm is not stinted by weather either. They were still there after the snow melted. How you ask? I'm not sure. maybe our ground is radioactive and these are mutant winter hoppers.Who knows.

Emi was quite concerned abut the few brave ones that were dead in our garage. She is so cute, she calls them grass-ee-go-was. I told her they were in heaven now. She looked confused so I said, what we always said to Kenna in these situations. "They kicked the bucket." She laughed and said " grass-ee-go-was keek bkt! haaaa." she started to pick them up and didn't understand why I mildly freaked out. "Yucky Em! yucky poo!!!" She is a smart girl and figured it out. She said, "EWWW GOSE!!"

Parker came to the rescue.The wonderful big brother he is. He has been catching them for one of the teachers at school, they feed them to the lizards in class, he had a jar full of hoppers so he let Emi hold them. She was in heaven. It just doesn't get any better than a jar of hoppers.

Earth shake

2008-10-16T07:09:00.002-06:00

Did you all feel the Earth move this morning?? I did . It wasn't an earthquake, or any other natural disaster. I just basically threw the world off its axis when I decided to work out this morning. Not because I am a little large in the nether region, it's just because I have had 2.5 years off and I figured I had forgotten how. NOPE! I remembered everything and It felt good. I am going to be sore later but I think that is one of the best parts. I am hoping by posting this you all will hold me responsible for continuing. I think we all need a little physical activity in our lives, I am the worst. I would so much rather sit and paint or write,or read. So no more lazy mom!! WISH ME LUCK!!!

Little miracle!

2008-10-14T02:19:00.015-06:00

Little miss priss, that is her name around here.Emily is soooooo different from Kenna as far as being a girl. Kenna is all about the science of things and hates pink. Emi---- well ,she loves pink and everything is pwitty!!

This is our baby. When Parks was about 1 yr. we decided we wanted more kids so that was the goal for about 4 years. We never felt like we needed to try alternative methods (Not that there is anything wrong with that.)We just felt that if the lord wanted us to have more we would.We were thankful for the two we had,and that was that. It didn't change the fact that each month I would get more upset.

Finally, with both kids in school all day I got a job managing the fitness center in town. I loved it. It kept me busy enough that I quit obsessing over the "baby issue."Plus I got to workout everyday. I was looking and feeling good. We finally decide after 2 more years, of no baby, that we needed to "take care of things." Literally that very weekend we found out I was almost 3 months pregnant!! How on earth do you not know that for 3 months???? I guess I was just soo busy,and the exercise made me feel soooo good.So there you have it our little miracle.

She is such a blessing to us. Even with a 7 & 9 year age span Kenna and Parks just love her.We cant imagine her not being here.

She is the boss!! don't let her sweet little smile throw you off she is all business when it comes to what she wants. Bathing suits are optional in her book. (for now) And she does not hold still for anything. You will notice most of the pictures we have of her are a little bit blurry.

She is very smart and fun. She loves peanut butter on a spoon, and chips with salsa "just like dad" In fact she just plane old loves her "daddy."Our lives have changed for the better with her arrival and that is o.k. we wouldn't have it any other way.

We love you sweet girl!

Our boy

2008-10-12T10:37:00.009-06:00

Where do I start?

Parker, he is the spice in our lives. Such a funny kid. Where Kenna is like her dad Parks is like his mom.

He was also born here, his delivery was a breeze in comparison. We walked into the hospital and he came in 15-20 minutes. NICE! He has always been hungry from day one, he still can not get enough. Especially sugar, reprocessed meat products, and did I say sugar? He is such a joy. He is so sweet and kind.With such a tender little heart.

He might very possibly be the loudest kid I have and will ever meet.(like mother like son!) He only has 2 volume levels super loud or super quiet. His talking voice is so soft, but watch out for the scream!!!!!!

Parks loves to be with his dad. He is a little shadow. He loves to do physical work, read, play video games, ride his motorcycle, and torture his baby sister.

I don't know how to rotate pics!

He is such a great kid .We are so blessed to have him in our lives.

He is also (like his mom) a little accident prone. He has his own accident policy and uses it almost annually. Ahhh Parks what fun he brings to our lives.

"Pedro can we get more nachos?"

Our sweet boy!! LOVE YOU little man!!

Our girl!

2008-10-11T17:50:00.017-06:00

So do you remember my last comment about mentioning my family more well they agree.Makenna got after me and so did Bri. I am a bad bad girl!! Let me tell you about Makenna. This is my Bean she is a wonderful girl. I could not ask for a better daughter. She is so sensitive and kind. She has a sweet gentle heart. One of the best things about her is her ability to love everything and everyone.

She was born here. It was a long delivery and she was deprived of oxygen. She was born with Spastic Cerebral palsy. We did not know this until she was 18 months old and not walking . We got her into Shriner's Hospital for Crippled Children in Salt Lake. They are AMAZING!! we can never repay them for all of the things that they have done for her. That being said she has had several surgeries to correct things. She has had tendons lenghtened. Her tibia's broken and rotated, and hardware removed. She also does Physical therapy 4-5 times a week. Which makes her very tired, but it helps soooooo much.

She is one of the strongest people I know. A true inspiration.

Despite all of her physical limitations she is determined to be herself and not let others get to her. She is insanely smart. I know some of you are saying "How did Dani have a smart kid?" The answer is simple. Brian. He is such a wonderful dad. At age 3 Kenna could tell you how the brain worked, & name the bones in your body. Brian would sit and read his college books to her, it was his way of studying for school and spending time with her. She loves to learn and is very perceptive. She is the kid I am checking on in the middle of the night, because I know she is reading with a flashlight in her bed. She is a teachers dream student. A parents dream kid.

I LOVE YOU Bean

and don't ever forget it!!!!!

Havent changed!!

2008-10-11T07:46:00.006-06:00

So last night we went to a party at our friends Dave and Radawn.It was Daves B-day. It is always fun to get together with adults so I jump at any opportunity. Brian enjoys it also.

We played a game called would you rather. Well if you know me you know that I will do pretty much anything for a laugh. This is a fun game you are given 2 choices like (would you rather) have a perfectly round head with normal features?, or perfectly shaped feet the size of a shoe box? you pick your answer and write it down. The rest of the group collectively tries to guess what you would guess. It is fun. How ever if you get a challenge you may end up looking like this!!! Caution what you are about to see may be traumatic to young viewers.

Yes it says DORK on my forehead. Thanks TYE! I had to let the others put makeup on my face for 90 seconds, then leave it on for the whole game. When it started to itch they showed mercy and let me wash it off,however I still have lipstick stains around my mouth. I mean who really has that color laying around the house?? (Radawn) It was a fun night. And for those of you wondering.... Yes I will blog my kids one of these days, I am pretty self absorbed though!! HE!HE!
Isn't he cute!!!

Jon and the giant truck!!

2008-10-10T08:16:00.011-06:00

So my brother Jon just left :( It is always fun when he visits! Miss you already. He showed up Wednesday night in this GIANT semi -Esq truck. I guess I should explain his visit first.

My mom and dad are renting out their house in Arizona, so naturally they need to clean it out. They can't just move it all to Texas with them because they live in a fifth-wheel trailer. Due to the fact that dads job has him moving ALOT!!! Anywhooooo-- Jon had alot of stuff in their house, because it used to be his house. Long story. So mom and Jon were in Arizona for about 1 week cleaning out stuff etc.. etc.. Well naturally mom is giving away all her stuff, and naturally being the dutiful daughter I said sure I will take whatever you want to give. :) Matthew did not want anything. Because that is how he rolls. He is a very great person (for a liberal! Love you. Don't be a hater!) anywhoo Jon just wanted his stuff, dads tools, and dads furry hat. Which in my opinion is going to be the source of brotherly contention, they all loved that hat (even Matthew). T.J. got the totally sweet washer and dryer, the picture of Christ that is beautiful,and ALL the camping gear!!!! (who's the favorite now!!) I got all of the Christmas decorations, ( if you know my mom you will understand when I say my garage is FULL of boxes! and alot of old stuff. which is cool because I LOVE OLD THINGS!! (I did marry my Brian after all! he! he!), I also got some real nice furniture. No complaints here.

Those are some sweet Hats!!!!

So Jon shows up in this truck and I'm sick. "Where in the jack frost am I going to put all of that!!! Brian is going to kill me." Jon informs me it is only 1/3 full "SHEWWW!"

Thursday we unpacked it all. That didn't take us too long .We filled the garage and now I have alot of work to do.The rest of the stuff in it went to T.J. this morning. The thing that is sooo funny about all of this is that Jon HATES to drive. He is a pilot so traveling in a vehicle is like slow motion torture.He has been driving since Monday!!!! HAAAA! Poor guy.

After we unloaded all the stuff we went to Heggs for lunch. Jon likes this place because it has "cute" help. Whatever, I don't see it. No offense. Their California burger kicks BUTT though and I have no problem eating there( or anywhere else for that matter). On the way back I showed Jon where Kenna and Parks lock their bikes up in the mornings to get on the bus. He decided to move Kennas lock because she would notice and freak out. Which she did. The joy we get out of torturing our own??? Hmmmm strange.

Then Jon generously shared his media collection with me. I now have 7412 songs, 16 movies, 3 seasons of the Office, and some South Park. Yeah I am set. For those of you wondering that is 21 days of 24/7 music non stop no repeats. Can you say "life is good?" This could possibly be the most perfect music collection known to man. it has EVERYTHING you name it its there. I am a happy girl. Jon is sooo going to hate this picture but it was him in his true rockingness. He is a funny guy!!

OHHH Crap!!! Tye just showed up to help me and I haven't even showered yet I AM IN TROUBLE !!!! more later skaters.

AMENDMENT::: Tyralee Packer Larson was present and a part of all work and previously said mischief!! (just givin her props so she will quit whining!!!)

Mad cooking skills baby!!!

2008-10-06T18:43:00.005-06:00

I know I just wrote this morning but I had such a weird day, That and I am addicted!!!morbidly (Thanks Kelsi)
So this morning as I am blogging Tye calls me " what are we doing today" she says. "I have beets do you know how to pickle beets?" I ask "Yeah ,come over and we can sew bags too."
So I go over about 1 hour later. Emi is being a boogie and wont stop crying. Finally Seth distracts her and we get to work. About 1 hour later the beets are done and beautiful!! TA DAH!!!
Then we started sewing. We do a craft fair each year to earn extra moolaa. This year we are adding bags to our line of jewelry. SOOO SOOO CUTE! I will blog that later. Anyhow we got started. Things went good there too. Tye is learning the pattern (my mom sent it) and I am teaching her. She has mad skills in sewing,unless she is talking. She had to undo a few stitches but that was no big deal.Unless you are Tye. HA HA!! We got alot accomplished today it was great.All of the sudden it was 3:30 and I had to go get Kenna from Trumpet lessons. Her teacher loves her.He said in all his 35 years of teaching he has never had a student with such natural talent. GO BEANER! She is so excited and thrives off the positive feed back.Then I went to Tye's and cleaned up my mess.
This is where things got weird. I don't know where the time went but all of the sudden Brian was on his way home and I hadn't even started dinner. So I threw some pork chops on the grill, And started to prepare the veggies.
My sister in law and her husband have an organic farm in Bedford and we are shareholders in it so we get beautiful yummy veggies from them.I took out the spinach, washed it and put it in the steamer. Washed the green beans and snapped them, put them in the steamer. Put water in and started the stove. The next thing I know Kenna is all " Uhh mom the pot is breathing!" I look over and it was BREATHING!! AHHHH
Yes ladies and gentleman I BURNED WATER!!!! How does one do this? I'm not quite sure. But as I stated in the previous blog I'm not much of a cook.Oh well I try. And Brian and the kids are still around.

Whats my age again???

2008-10-06T07:49:00.014-06:00

Yeah, alot can happen in life when you start a blog.

First things first.....I won couch gate 08!! (Sort of) I got to keep the couches,however I had to put them in the kids play room instead of my living room. That's O.K. its all about small victories. hee hee!!!

And finally.........

I had my "rockin old person party" for my b-day. No theme just us old people hangin out and playing games.

I have an amazing group of good friends. Kindred spirits if you will. Most of them are alot like myself, which in my opinion is pretty darn great!! As old people we find a diet of health food is required for optimal late night party mode performance!!! nothing but the best for me and my friends.

My gift from Tye is this B-day cake. it is not the prettiest cake. But holy cow you should taste this bad boy!!! WOW!! , German chocolate and devils food separated by this carmely pecan stuff mmmmmm and the frosting is like divinity oh yeah can you say butt expander!! I can. Tye can cook, its the presentation she lacks sometimes, that's why we get along sooo well. I can NOT cook but I am all over the pretty part.However in her defense on this particular day her 2 yr. old Seth decided he wanted a bite of cake!! HILARIOUS!!!! and so thus we have it. The perfect birthday cake!! Thanks TYE!!

This is some of us in my kitchen.My other friend Carrissa is great too. She came over with taco stuff ,not just any tacos, real tacos. She is 1/2 Mexican and man is she in tune with her Mexican cookingness. yummmmmy!! They were sooo good. She is like the mom always taking care and giving I just love her. VIVA LA MEXICO!! (just for you Carrissa)

Wow check out the glow!! and the cheese ball smile! yup it was fun fun fun!!

Thank you to all my friends and family for the phone calls, gifts and for just being you!! and most of all loving me for me!!!(sometimes that's hard to do ask my Bri.) It was the best birthday!

Brian will not like this picture, how ever it was a cute moment.

Conference is hard for kids. period. So Brian developed a spoiling system at our house. for every thing you do good you get a certain amount of points. Then those points are attached to a big prize. This year it is a wii. So during conference the kids take notes and Brian gives them a quiz after each session.Its not hard he tells them what to write down on their notes. And sometimes they will say"hey that's a good question dad"They love it. Kenna more than Parks. They get things out of it, and they do listen. They have to score 80% or better to get their points and there were 40 points on the line today. Kenna got a 96% and Parks squeaked by with an 84% You can tell who they each take after!! HAAAA! I love my kids and my man they are sooo wonderful. What a great way to start each day with them.

My big brother Jon is coming this week for a visit. That is always a story to tell!

Case and point!!! Love him.

I
DONT
KNOW
WHY
THERE
IS
SO
MUCH
SPACE
BETWEEN
MY
BLOG
AND
THE
COMMENTS
PART.
SORRY
STILL
LEARNING!!

Guess not!!!

2008-10-03T07:57:00.004-06:00

This will be short and sweet.... I am very sad today because my husband does not like my new couches!!! can you believe it. I think he has an aversion to used things. Oh well ,I think they are very cute, But not worth the fight. Does anyone want to buy some couches????

Look out Brittany Spears!!!

2008-10-02T18:08:00.007-06:00

Today I was a witness to redneck life and then I found myself actually being a redneck and winning an award. Let me explain.....

My in laws own rental properties and I help out with painting and other various tasks. My friend Tye helps me out alot , well today we went to a trailer we had just gutted and repainted to finish the final clean up after carpet had been installed. It was a huge job and felt sooo good when we were finished. It was a totally different place.

There is a trailer next door and the person that lives there is ,shall we say, less than clean?, anyhow she has 2 dogs , at last count 5 cats ,1 pregnant and one nursing who knows how many babies.And they all live INSIDE!!!! That's not the gross part. She has a window that is always open so the cats can come and go as they please. Well today Tye and I watched as one of the cats took a dead rat sized mouse into the trailer!!!!! EWWWWWWWWWW ugh! (I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit!) I don't even want to know any more than that. YUCK! YUCK! YUCK!! The part that kills me is she is moving. I told my mom in law my rates went up!!! he! he!

Now let me explain my redneck award. I awarded it to myself because I am continually bagging on rednecks and the things they do. I am,after all, living in a very small town full of them. No offence to any local followers.

Back to my story. Now we have all seen those pictures of Brittany Spears looking like trailer park trash. Well aside from me being way hotter than her I definitely out dressed her today. This morning was the case lot sale at the local store,and times being as they are Brian and I decided to stock up. I went with Tye(we don't function alone) I was wearing my work out pants(not that I work out anymore) a tee shirt and a sweat shirt. Not bad for 7:45 A.M. I was golden no problem. We loaded and un loaded and loaded and un loaded etc.... Then we went to previously stated trailer. Then I hurried Emi to picture day at the Elementary.Very cute picture with Pooh Bear. WHHHOAAA hold up garage sale!!!! on a Thursday. SWEET! I was all over that. We are trying to furnish our new house, and what do I see but a totally cute couch set for 75$ So I purchased and loaded and unloaded the couch plus a play house and kitchen set for Emi. Went home and put all of my food storage away. Finished cleaning the house and did a little Halloween decorating. When Kenna and Parks got home I left to go to the store again (forgot the cheese for taco salad and other things cause that's how I roll) I got home and put it all away. Then I saw my self in the mirror. Oh my my my! Can you say wheres my beer and a cigarette? My shirt was totally not white any more. Dirt and food all over it and my pants. Not to mention the gaping hole that now adorned my favorite work out pants. My hair was in a huge mass of pony tail ,I think. And lets not mention the 10 -15 lbs of stress fat I have gained in the last 6 months. Yeah I was lookin' TIGHT!! mmmmm! No wonder my hubby loves me soo much its all about appearance!! Yes I win !! I am often in public wearing my painting clothes and that's o.k. but today I was in rare form!! I am just glad that I can clean up o.k. No pics for this entry. sorry Those would have been black mail worthy. (TYE) However I will show you what I looked like after painting our house.I went out in public like this ALOT! and it is better than I looked today. Trust me....

The grand adventure

2008-09-29T22:43:00.006-06:00

So on Saturday Kelsi and her beautiful family left for Cali. via Utah. (Thanks for coming!! It's never long enough.)
We in turn immediately jumped in the car with my in laws to go to Roosevelt This is Dianne and I. She is such a great lady,and has a great sense of humor.One tough cookie.
Soooo anywhooo we Drove to Roosevelt. You might ask "Why would any one go there?" Simple our nephew was having his mission farewell. Now we don't travel alot.(I know shocker) so the fact that we came was big, the worst part was that his sister has lived there for like 7 years and it was the first time we visited.( can you say lame? I can!) At any rate it was ALOT of fun. They have a mini farm with alot of things to do. Our kids were in heaven. Thanks Dave and Shirl you guys rock!!!!( I'm workin the spring break angle)

So back to the farewell. Dayton did a grrrrreat job. His talk "had me at hello" he is a great kid and will do great things.GOOD LUCK!!~

One of the other things I was fascinated by was "MONSTER PIG" holy buckets this guy is bigger than big. you can't tell from the picture but his ears are the size of an adults head. I think he is @ 1000 lbs. AMAZING!!!!!

I know you may think I am a dork and well you may be

totally right. The good thing about that is I am very aware of my dorkiness, and well I'm sooooo O.K. with it.

The best part about this whole "monster pig " bit is that Brian's little sister and her hubby took him home so now I can go stare at him all I want!!!! WHOOOHOOO!!! I'm in hog heaven. Heee heee! Well, that was our great adventure. and now if any of you come to visit I can take you to see "MONSTER PIG."

A little side note:: My camera doesn't ever show the right date its jacked up!!

Also I hope to get better with the picture placement.

Miracles do happen!

2008-09-26T23:36:00.003-06:00

SO as you all know I do not do this whole Internet computer thing. So "my best friend Kelsi" drove all the way to my house just to teach me how to do this. I think she did a good job teaching me so far but we will see what happens when she leaves and I forget it all!!!! I am going to keep you all posted on my very exciting life! HA! If you know where I live you will be laughing right now. (I don't even have a Wal-mart!!!!) but my husband is so HOT it doesn't even matter.