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Saturday, August 30, 2008

I can relate

DELETED to spare offense!

Friday, August 29, 2008

Someones gettin' Married!!


Okay, i need to apologize for the pic to start! This was taken last summer when Elizabeth had just gotten bitten by a mesquito, and her forehead swelled like a carnival balloon! This is sadly the most "recent" pic I have of my sweet, smart, beautiful, talented, loving, and now totally unavailable niece Elizabeth. You see readers she is getting hitched tomorrow, and I couldn't be prouder of her. She isn't neccesarily someone who conforms, she plots her own course, and follows her heart. All are qualities that I admire in a person. Not only is she an independent thinker she is also an honest and warm person. She is genuine in her love for others and has a desire to make others happy. When Elizabeth was little I use to pretend she was my little sister. I LOVED when she could come over. A memory that is always recounted whenever we get together is the time that I thought it would be REALLY fun to do her hair. I was so excited that another person would let me style them gooorgeous (sounds better if you say it with any accent). I placed one loving curl on her forehead she has beautiful red hair. Then proceeded to take my pik, oh yes I said pik, and with all the artistry I could muster gave her GIGANTIC bangs. The kind that would make any monster band of the 80's proud. Hey it was the 80's and I was a product of the times. I sprayed my masterpiece with attention to EVERY nook and cranny that human hair possess. After I was done her hair was so stiff it could have withstood any natural disaster that had ever wreck havoc on the earth. I later learned that my sister was not so supportive of my creativity and neither was my brother-in-law. Couldn't they see that a budding artist has no rules, lol!
Anyway, I have always thought of Elizabeth as a kindred spirit. I wish her and Matt the most luck, success, and personal fortune (however they value it) that any two people can have. I hope that they will always love and honor the people that they fell in love with, and grow together in love as they take on their new life. May they always find happiness looking back through each others eyes. Never let a night fall without cherishing the gifts each other has. If Jason and I have learned anything in our mere eight years of marriage it is that what we are as a couple is only enhanced by what we bring into our marriage as individuals. Yes! Elizabeth he will do things that you thought no man was capable of doing after repeated admonishments, but those will be the quirky things that will make you smile in quiet moments. As you add children to the mix, in your own time of course, you will see reflections of each other that only add to the many dimensions that is your love. Lots of love and kisses and most of all CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Houston..we have a Smile !!!



I don't have a lot to post on this except, how frickin' cute is HE. He just started smiling, like really smiling this Sunday. We have been getting these adorable little smirks, but now we are getting full on smiles, and we have heard a few giggles. This is the best part of being a mom! Bar none!!! These make all those middle of the night feedings worth the blurry vision in the morning. I live for moments like this in my childrens lives it reminds me that life has a lot of simple joys. I look forward to enjoying all of his milestones with him.

Kindergarten is the BEST!


Jarom started Kindergarten yesterday! He was soooo excited, he could barely sit still. He woke up super early and immediately wanted to get his school clothes on. He has pm Kindergarten so I had to nix the put your school clothes on at 7 am thing pretty quick. I folded however and he got all dressed at 8 am. We are talkin' shoes and all. He was then ready for me to take his first day pictures, with the backpack, he kept reminding me. I took several pictures of him and Michael (who thought he started Kindergarten yesterday too). Frankly, those pictures were taken before the sun came up so they were too dark to post :-) Finally, time came for us to go pick up a friend who is carpooling with us and Jarom could hardly sit in his seat he was so excited! They practically ran into the classroom. I nearly missed this shot above since they were so anxious to get to class. His teacher is a wonderful teacher, and she is newer to teaching so she still has that excitement for teaching Kindergarten herself. When I picked Jarom up he said his favorite part of Kindergarten was recess, of course, and making new friends. I asked him what his new friends names were, and he told me he couldn't remember. Jarom did set some goals for himself this year, and one is to write better and the second is to make lots of new friends. Jason and I are really pleased that he likes school so much. He has always be someone to ask a lot of questions and likes to read up on things, so we are hoping this attitude follows him throughout his academic pursuits. We hope that everyone has a fantastic first day!!

Friday, August 22, 2008

Back from Vacation!!!



We had a BLAST on our family vacation to Texas! I love to visit family especially when that family includes all the cousins. My boys were in hog heaven with all their cousins to play with, joke around, swim with, and learn a little Karate (thanks Uncle Wade!). We started our journey on Friday the 8th . We left from Auntie B's house in West Jordan. We drove to Gallup, new Mexico and stopped at what I can only call a "charming" motel 8. The bathroom lacked the charm of a toilet brush but we were so tired we didn't care. Early the next morning we were on the road again driving through ABQ, New Mexico and my favorite city in Texas Amarillo. We made it to GranMary's about midnight, and it was a blessed time to get into the guest bed and sleep. On Sunday we went to church with Auntie Carla, she goes to the nicest ward I have ever visited. I would move to McKinney just to go to that ward, honest!! People remembered my sil and I from May when we went out for the funeral. So nice. Monday was family day. We had a talent show and man our J's relatives talented!! One brother played the trombone while his daughter sang, and danced. His other older brother demo'd some Karate for us. Neat! His older sister's family did a fun little "dance/interpretation" of a song. Man are her kids cute. His brother Glenn sang a song with his wife and did a great job. Glenn's kids did the Flamenco. Sooo darling. Our family sang and did some magic tricks, well I should say J did the magic and little J helped. Auntie B sang a song that she wrote with her husband. It was such a fun song. Tuesday, we blessed Samuel and it was a really great moment for our family. I was nervous before but had a wonderful confirmation about J's blessing for him. We were very fortunate to have my dad come down from Missouri with my sister Karen, and nephew A.J. That made this special day for us even more special. We had family pictures taken and that was a trip and a half. For anyone who doesn't know this already getting a picture with 10 kids under the age of eight is nearly IMPOSSIBLE, but we tried none the less. I know you think we would know better but hey, its for posterity :-) The rest of the week was just chillin' with the fam, and that is where some of the funniest moments were. I mean nothing in specific, but lots of kidding around, talking, and playing games. Oh! and who can forget all the time we spent watching the Olympics. Good times! On our way back from Texas, which we hated to leave :-(, we stopped at Four Corners. It was good times, got the obligatory photo of everyones foot in another state. We left there and drove straight throught to our house in Northern Utah. It was a great vacation and we already miss our cousins, Aunties, Uncles, and GranMary. The one bonus to not traveling though, sleeping in our OWN beds...ahhhhh....! I never new that I loved my bed that much but apparently my body knows better, and really enjoyed the jersey sheets a little extra! I also loved that Utah has like zero humidity, and in TX in was like 85% ...eek! Not good for the 'do, if ya know what I mean . In the end we love our family even more and are glad that we can share special moments with them. Next family renunion is in Utah, ummkay!

This post is an ode to Texas and the motto is "go big or GO HOME!"

Monday, August 04, 2008

What does yours say?

Not to be a Debbie Downer (see photo at left), but my mil made a statement that got me thinking. She said, "Everyday you write your eulogy." Now to me there is no more depressing thought then to ponder your own death. However morbid it may sound it has crossed my mind. Especially, after the death of my fil I have actually thought about death, in abstract terms. I know there was a period of about two weeks that every time I would look at my dh I would wonder if this was going to be the last time I looked at him. Mind you I was eight months pg when my fil passed away so I wasn't in the most emotionally healthy place ;-). I do believe that most people don't like to think on their impending demise for fear that it makes it real. Well, newsflash we were born already knowing that we would , eventually, die. Okay, so you can see where the Debbie Downer part comes in. This is not a post about dying, but rather what does your life say about you. What do you want it to say? More importantly, because its my blog, what do I want my life to say about me? While I don't think that I can answer that question in just one blog entry I can say that I have a few things that I would like for my "eulogy" to say about me.
When I leave this life, a loooooooooong time from now, I would like to be remembered as someone who served others. Someone who learned from her mistakes, and then used that knowledge to better others. I would LOVE to be remembered as someone who really LIVED life to the fullest. I know that my closest friends say that I am funny, and I am okay with being remembered that way. I think that humor does so much for the soul, and not only the soul but the waistline, a good belly laugh burns 3 calories. Anyway, what I am trying to get at is that everyday I am trying to be better than the next in the hopes that my life is more full, and meaningful than any eulogy could ever do justice to. I know this is an odd post for someone who hasn't even turned 30 yet, but maybe its a good thing to have an eye-opening experience such as a death or a well intentioned statement to bring our minds back to our center, what is really important to us. I know that a little re-adjustment is vital to optimum performance in a vehicle, why not in our lives as well?? I hope that as a member of my blog audience that you will take a second and think, what does my life say about me?

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Hercules, Hercules !!!


I cannot even begin to tell you how psyched I am that big J fixed the sink. I mean it I am seriously giddy, like a little school-girl!! The old faucet was not only installed wrong in the first place, but it broke right when we had a house filled with guests..ugh!! Happily, that old ugh-faucet is in the garbage, and in its place sits a wonderful, fully functioning faucet in Stainless Steel.
During the course of tenure here, 19 months, J has learned to drywall (thanks Sam), texturize said drywall (again, thanks Sam), install lighting, fix our sprinkler system, and now we can add PLUMBING to that ever growing list of things he's learned. Granted, he did have to make a trip to Ace Hardware, okay make that 2 trips. The first trip was in J's words, "because I didn't have the right tool, like my dad always says 'Have the right tools before you start a job' !" I think that the job turned out beautifully. So wonderful in fact I dirty my hands just to wash them in my new, non-crappy faucet!! Oh, I am so a simple person when the joys of a new faucet fill my heart to the brim with gratitude.
Thanks Big J, your my heeeeero (said swooning)