The Place To Be...

Tis the Season...

2011-12-20T11:08:00.003-07:00

I want to take a few minutes to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! This is truly my favorite time of year and before we get all carried away with the gifts and all the hulabaloo I hope you take a minute to remember the reason for the season!

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays and have a terrific New Year!

Failed Miserably...

2011-12-08T15:30:00.002-07:00

I failed to take pictures of the fantastic Birthday/Christmas crafts I made for 2 of my all time favorite ladies! Oh well... I'll be making more, maybe I'll even remember to snap a pic!

Happy Holidays Teaser...

2011-12-06T14:11:00.004-07:00

This is truly my favorite time of year! The Holidays! For me it starts the end of October with Halloween and then goes right through November and Thanksgiving and finally Christmas and New Years! I love that Christmas music started non stop on FM100 November 1st (ok, truth be told I'm pretty sure I heard some of it before Halloween, but who's counting?!?!?! I love it!)

Tomorrow I'm having birthday lunch with some of my favorite women ever, the Warners! And I'm making the most fabulous gifts but I can't show them or someone might see and it will spoil the surprise! I'll take pics tomorrow with the birthday girls and you can see what I made.

I just love finding the perfect gift! My MIL is going to be so happy come Christmas morning! I get such a thrill and crazy excitement out of the waiting and anticipating and I know that Christmas morning will be here way too soon but I still can't wait! It's going to be another great year!

If I don't see you before HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Keep tuned for pics of my fabulous crafts! Now off to hurry and finish them or I'll be showing up to Birthday Lunch empty handed and that's NO GOOD!

Fall and Bubbles (IN THE EYE!)...

2011-09-19T10:58:00.006-06:00

Fall is here! We spent the weekend at the cabin and the colors are so pretty! I love wearing fall clothes! I'm pretty excited but a part of me must be sad too, for fall means winter soon and winter means shutting the cabin for the season :( It's funny how quickly we came to LOVE our families little get away up in the mountains behind Midway! I'll miss the place this winter and pray for a short one so we can get back to our pretty moutain get away :)

I've also had the pleasure just recently (Ok, so in the last 6 months or so) to get quite a lovely surprise on my eye ball. 2 actually... They're harmless little cysts and the doctor assures me that the eye drops he's prescribed will likely take care of them, however if they don't work he can numb my eye ball and stick a needle in the cysts to drain them (TO WHICH I SAY "HELL NO! ARE YOU CRAZY!"). They have actually popped on their own more than once and they fill right back up so I don't know what makes this doctor think draining them by sticking a sharp pointy object IN MY EYE BALL is going to cause them to go away, I'm sure they'll just fill right back up again on their own right? Anyway, if they get any worse I've decided a patch is in my future and my wonderful sister-in-law, Kiersti, has agreed to help be Bedazzle the thing IF it comes to that (Likely I'll let the doctor stick that sharp pointy thing in my eye before I wear a patch, although the thought of it being bedazzled certainly is appealing) Here's the pics, I only hope this helps my friend with a stye in her eye feel a bit better ;)

and in case you can't see them here, there's more below for your veiwing pleasure

and keep in mind, I haven't worn makeup because who knows how that will

affect the bubbles on my eye!!!

Please don't find me hideous and run the opposite direction screaming hysterically next time we bump into each other! I promise it's not that noticeable ;)

September 11th

2011-09-12T14:03:00.006-06:00

10 years ago 9/11 is somewhat of a blur, just like any other day, except for those few morning hours that are burned into my memory. I clearly remember sitting on my bed early in the morning watching the news, seeing Darrell in the bathroom getting ready for work. I remember the utter shock and disbelief when that first plane went through the WTC tower. I remember telling Darrell what happened and him replying in a serious tone that we've been attacked and this could not be an accident. I remember watching that 2nd plane shoot through the next tower and the revulsion and fear at seeing people hanging out of windows and some even jumping to their deaths. I remember the complete sadness that I felt for those people and their families and also for our country.

Immediately I wanted my hubby to stay home where it was safe, and I wanted our little kindergarten girl, Annie, to stay home from school unaware of the ugliness that was happening to us. Our country was under attack and I wanted her to remain naive and unafraid. But I also knew that wouldn't solve anything, I knew that if we stopped living our lives, stopped being free to live as we're able, then terrorism would win.

(Annie at the Healing Field in Sandy, UT 9/11/2011)

Yesterday for the anniversary of the attacks we went to the Healing Field in Sandy. We've done this several times before but for some reason I was especially touched by the thousands of flags, the new bronze statue "Hope Rising" and the absolute amazing number of people there. I saw a older couple planting the flag of their son, a soldier who died fighting the war on terror. I saw a couple other soldiers in their fatigues shaking the father's hand and hugging the mother. I was also touched at the stories each of the flags told, I only wish I had the time to read through every single flag! The cards attached to the flag have the name, age, location and a little story about each of the victims from the 9/11 attacks. Thinking of the sacrifices others have made for our country continues to bring tears to my eyes. Also, did you know that Sandy City was the first to do the Healing Field? It's inspired 100's of Healing Fields all over the country!

(the new bronze unveiled at Sandy City for the 10th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks)

I'm so blessed to have been born in this country, to have my babies born here, and I am so eternally grateful for all those who died serving our country. I'm also grateful for those unspoken heroes that died not realizing the impact they had, those who went to work or just went about their regular daily routine on 9/11/2001 and had no idea that their death would mean so much to so many.

(Shawna at the Healing Field Sandy, UT 9/11/2011)

I will never forget...

Today I'm missing...

2011-07-15T10:29:00.006-06:00

Yesterday I took the kids to Lagoon, I'm pooped! When did I get too old to ride all the rides and run from one to the next never missing a beat? I'm tired and I'm old :S

Today I'm missing the view from our Hawaii condo, the warm tropical breeze, lounging and not having a care in the world! Eating fantastic shave ice which you can't seem to find anywhere else in the world!

(the view from the upstairs bedroom in the condo we stayed at)

(the view from the ocean just around the bend from Hanauma Bay)

(the view from the turn out going up to Diamond Head Crater)

I wanna go back. Now. Instead I'll have to settle for listening to Iz, day dreaming a little, shuffling through my pics of our trip and maybe planning something fun. Soon. At least, hopefully, sooner rather than later!

(Sorry for the quality of pics, taken from my phone)

I need a vacation...

2011-06-07T15:24:00.006-06:00

And in a few short days we'll be spending time here...

...we are so excited! Some much needed relaxation is on it's way for the Byers Family! See you when we get back!

Beware pedestrians... Annie has her learners permit! YIKES!!

2011-04-28T11:13:00.005-06:00

Annie turned 15 on April 11th and in our lovely state of Utah that means they need to pass a written test at the DMV and they get their permit!! (You also have to show them your birth certificate, Social Security Card (so have that ready before their bday or your in deep doodoo - but that's a story for another time...) and 2 items for proof of residence (like a couple utility bills will do it). Seems like a way too easy way to be able to drive, especially for those parents that won't let their kid behind the wheel without this little piece of paper!

Well, for Easter we headed to Thermopolis to spend the holiday with Harvey and Geneva (those pics to come as soon as I can get them off my phone) and Grandpa Harvey actually let Annie drive his mustang! She was in HEAVEN! And doesn't she just rock the hot rod convertible look???

On the way home I jumped in back and read a bit (without even getting 1 second of motion sickness which is a HUGE accomplishment for me! Must have been the fact that I was nevous as could be worrying about Annie driving) and Darrell rode shot gun while Annie drove for just over 2 full hours!! She also rocks the "I'm driving a Ford Flex look!" too!!

Mommy/Daughter Date...

2011-04-01T22:00:00.007-06:00

Annie's cupcake

Last month Dippidee put a status on their facebook page about a Mommy/Daughter night they were having April 1st. Knowing how creative Shawna is and how much Annie wants to be a baker and cupcake maker I thought it would be fun to go and get some decorating tips as well as eat yummy yummy desserts! We were not disapointed! I'm also glad my girls are not too old to have a date night with their Mommy!

Face Painting

Shawna's on top and mine on bottom. Yes we each made our own fondant flowers!

Disney on Ice with the Kinyon Family!

2011-04-01T21:37:00.009-06:00

I get on my blog a lot to get to everyone else's blog, see what they're doing and what's going on in their lives but honestly, I'm terrible about updating my blog! So far we've had a pretty fun and exciting new year but not a ton to blog about.

We did go to Disney on Ice with my family, it was a lot of fun seeing the little kids get excited! I loved that when Mickey and Minnie skated out everyone was shouting MICKEY MICKEY, except Duncan who calls Mickey HOT DOG! He was just a shouting and pointing at hot dog and was so excited! I guess it's because he watches Mickey Mouse Fun House and there's a hot dog song on there. I just thought it was HILARIOUS! I also loved that Mya kept turning around (we sat 1 row behind them) and was trying to tell me all about the show but I couldn't hear her sweet little voice over all the commotion! It was fun bribing her to come sit with me and Dia (her name for Darrell) with popcorn so she could chat away about all that was going on in between bites of popcorn. I loved seeing Lo in her pretty princess dress and wearing her pretty sparkle light up crown (souvenier from the show!) and Brock with his cool light up glasses! Overall we really had a great time! Here's some pics...

Brock and Grandma showing off some cool flashy glasses!

The girls hanging out waiting for the show to start, I could NOT get Mya to look at the camera or smile, but she was excited! Below is Lo wearing her flashy sparkly crown! Annie and Mya got one too!

Duncan and Brock wearing their glasses!

My favorite picture for a couple of reasons... Kiersti and Becky! What the heck are they doing here???

I'm so grateful that my family is close, that we can get together and have a bunch of fun and that we rarely get on each others nerves! I'm grateful for the wonderful examples my brother and sister are and their great spouses!! I'm blessed to have the parents I do and if anything was missing on our family outing to Disney on Ice it was my dad! Whenever we do things and he isn't around it's noticed! We missed you Dad! Thanks for taking us all Mom! I love you family!!

A January Getaway...

2011-01-20T22:03:00.009-07:00

We all needed it and I'm so glad we were able to get away! It's hard to believe it was a couple weeks ago that we were in sunny Las Vegas. I've never thought of taking the girls to Vegas, I mean really, what is there to do for a couple teens??? Turns out quite a bit!

We stayed in a beautiful Hilton Grand Vacation hotel on the strip, it's fairly new and the suite we were in was just beautiful, but best of all, NO CASINO!!! When leaving the hotel you didn't have to pass through that yucky smoke smell! You didn't leave feeling like you'd just stepped out of an ash tray!

PLUS, because it wasn't so convenient to walk down to the casino and gamble we didn't lose any money gambling! Instead we spent a fantastic 3 days just enjoying eachothers company! Walking and sight seeing and shopping and just hanging out! We reconnected as a family away from the stress of everyday life and that is exactly what we all needed! I can't wait to go again! It really was so much fun!!

One of our favorite things was hanging out in front of Bellagio watching the fountain show go off every 15 minutes, it was so nice hanging out and enjoying eachothers company in the warm night air! Unfortunately the only camera we had was Darrell's phone and he hasn't emailed them to me yet!

Here's some pics of the highlights...

The girls watching the roller coaster at New York New York!

Me and Darrell enjoying the Rainforest Cafe

Darrell NOT working ;)

The M&M Store!

The girls posing outside the Rainforest Cafe

(It doesn't seem to matter how old we get, we LOVE eating there!)

And the Coke store, where the Polar Bear really

liked Shawna!

We had so much fun! Can't wait for our next WARM adventure!

New Year, Making Changes...

2010-12-29T15:10:00.008-07:00

Well, I can't believe it's another New Year! I guess now that I'm older time just flies right by! A few things I'm actually looking forward to changing in the New Year...

Budget...

Since it will be our 20th Anniversary this year I'm planning to budget so we can get out of debt but mostly so we can afford to take ourselves and the girls to

Hawaii...

Where we can spend some time showing them where we lived and visiting our favorite beach spots with our new

Healthy Bodies...

Ok, same old bodies but I'm so happy Darrell and the girls got me an elliptical so I can really work out at home and lose this baby weight I've been packing around for 13+ years now (can I still claim it as baby fat if my baby is a teenager???) and I'm making meal plans with healthy food so those of us who aren't going to exercise will still lose weight and be healthy with our diets!

But mostly I'm not doing an actual resolution list since it seems most resolutions end up being broken, instead I'm making a few changes and the best part is that I'm ready! Bring it on!

What changes will you make in the New Year???

Christmas

2010-12-23T12:37:00.002-07:00

Three Wise Men

Three wise men knowing not who you are

Ride across the desert following only a star.

Three wise men in honor of your birth

Ride across the desert chanting, "Peace on Earth".

Three wise men, wise by God's own hands

Ride across the desert traveling from distant lands.

Listen baby Jesus, sacred gift from Heaven handed down to Earth

Three wise men ride tonight to see your Holy mirth.

During this time of year we want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! May the spirit reside in your home all year round and may you always remember the reason for the season!

November Fun!!!

2010-11-20T20:10:00.008-07:00

I can't believe it's been MONTHS since I posted last! Life gets so busy and we get caught up in our day to day that time slips by without me realizing it! We've had so much fun the past few weeks, here's some of what we've been doing...

Gladys came to town and the Byers boys (minus David cause he's in Calif) went to dinner, ADULTS ONLY! We don't get togther often enough, but when we do it's so much fun! I love having Gladys come and stay, she's such a strong beautiful woman and 1 of my best friends! I'm so blessed to have her in my life and she's raised her boys to be such wonderful men! I love my sisters-in-law and I'm thankful that we all get along and have fun when we get together!

My family (the girls anyway) like doing crafts together, we've made stocking holders and hula hoop teepee tents and all kinds of stuff in between. Becky found this darling snowman that we really wanted to do and luckily Grandpa Tom cut the wood quicker than we ever expected! We got together today, had the big kids bbsit the littles, ordered pizza and painted our little guts out but the end result is fabulous! I'm thankful for the wonderful Grandparents I've been blessed with, my very beautiful loving mom, my fantastic sister (who is the absolute best friend ever!) and I'm thankful that my brother found a wonderful woman to add to our family and that Kiersti fits right in! I love you all so much!

And this last picture is of our first really big snow storm of the year! It's snowed before but melted right away, today though we got this...

In 2 hours! Darrell and I left at 5pm, it was cold and a little misty but not really anything you could call rain, at 7pm we came home to this! I am so excited for the holidays! I love the end of October/1st of November until the 1st week of the New Year! It's my favorite time of year!! I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving and Christmas! Hopefully I'll be posting again soon, but if not we'll be living life to it's fullest in the meantime!

Cabin Pics...

2010-09-18T12:57:00.002-06:00

Below is a slide show of our cabin adventures (or at least a few of them) thus far. Some things I think we all love about the cabin are...

*It's so close we can go for just the day and enjoy every minute of it!
*It's great mountain atmosphere with trees and shade everywhere!
*Watching the Hummingbirds!
*Hanging out in a chair on the deck marveling at the fantastic view!
*The cool crisp mountain air!
*Hanging with our family and friends
*The fantastic view, and sometimes including hot air balloons!
*Playing in the lake at Deer Creek (or Jordanelle next time we go!)
*Hikes and talks
*4 wheeler rides (hopefully more soon when we own instead of borrow!)
*Cascade Springs and other fun trails so so close!
*The proximity to Heber, Midway and Park City - never not a thing to do!
*The coziness! (not too big, just 2 bedrooms, a loft, 1 bathroom and the common area)
*Playing games!
*Did I mention the deck, 0 gravity chairs, and the fantastic view?!?!

Hope you like the pics below, they show a little bit of the cabin...

2010-09-18T12:56:00.001-06:00

Training them young...

2010-09-15T22:06:00.002-06:00

On Thursdays I bbsit my little nephew, Duncan. Last week he was in the toy room playing when things got quiet so I went to see what he was doing and I found this scene when I turned from my desk to get up and check it out...

Becky Warner was in Mexico and I guess D was going to help by filling in!

What a great little helper!

Swiss Days and Cabin Fun!

2010-09-10T11:02:00.010-06:00

I LOVE Midway! I've always loved the quaintness of this little town and I'm so grateful that my parents recently bought a cabin there!

For Swiss Days we had big plans, the girls (me, Becky, Mom and Kiersti) all went up Friday (with my Dad in tow who actually ditched us so he could go shopping on his own!) and walked the booths, ate and just had a great time! Then on Saturday I went back with Darrell and the girls and we had a blast! I bought this book...

And one of these cool things so I can pack away my hot curinling iron or straightener without waiting for it to cool down!!

And the girls talked us into this Beware Killer Wiener sign which is proudly displayed by the front door!

And I got some neat decorating ideas which I hope to have done this winter (including new paint in my house!)

This weekend I'm taking a bunch of friends up for a Cabin Girls Nite and I'm ohhhhhh sooooo excited! We'll be watching chic flicks, painting our toe nails, and just hanging out being girls!

I am so grateful that my parents bought this little haven the woods for our family! It's been fun staying there with everyone and just chilling out, and it's especially fun when we can steal a quick weekend away to be refreshed by the mountain air and have just our little time away! I'm also grateful that they're willing to let us "borrow" time up there with our friends!

Thanks Mom and Dad! Love you tons for everything you do for us, and so so much more! Without you guys our family would not be what it is today! Love you!

ABC, 123

2010-08-26T10:30:00.004-06:00

The girls started school today! Annie wasn't very excited but Shawna was elated to be able to wear her new clothes! Both girls couldn't wait to see their friends! Sorry about the quality of the pics, we were in a hurry and I only had my cell phone camera...

Summers almost over...

2010-08-25T14:00:00.003-06:00

The girls start school tomorrow and I'm still in awe at how quickly the summer has gone! Before we know it the leaves will be changing and then the snow will start to fly and I'm totally not ready for any of it!

As 1 last fun hurrah before school I wanted to make today special and my good friend Becky Warner provided the idea by giving me a gift certificate for my birthday to The Bead Fairy! What an awesome store!! I decided that it would be fun to go make bead watches, go to lunch, and just have a girls morning/afternoon together before I ship them off to school come tomorrow, AND with the bead watches they made they'll have a new accessory to wear to school too! We had such a blast we can't wait to go back and add more bead bands to our collection! Here are the finished products...

What do you think???

Silhouette...

2010-08-24T14:04:00.002-06:00

I read Kiersti's blog and HAD to enter this contest (all 4 times so this is my post...)

I want to win one of these really really bad! Look at all the fun stuff you can make by going here...

http://www.qksilhouette.com/whatcanitdo.aspx?mid=h92sdfln248t12gm09anb12358bnae8n

I really love the idea of decorating backpacks and bags, making book covers, etching glass, making Christmas gifts, scrapbooking, etc etc etc. There are absolutely no limitations to what you can do with this thing! I didn't even know it exsisted until now! Crazy!!

If I don't win it I hope 1 of you do! Go check it out here and enter to win...

http://karaspartyideas.blogspot.com/2010/08/silhouette-craft-cutter-giveaway-300.html

Eclipse...

2010-06-30T14:18:00.006-06:00

A huge THANKS goes out to my sister-in-law, Kiersti, for getting us pre-open preview tickets to Eclipse yesterday at 530pm!! It was so great and we had a blast! Not to mention we didn't have to stay up to be apart of the midnight madness!!

Of course we had to buy shirts to really be a part of things and show our

Team Jacob Spirit!!

Here's a pic of me and the girls waiting for the movie to start...

AND a pic of us with Kiersti DURING the first couple minutes of the show (luckily it was just the commercials and turn your phone off messages so we didn't piss anyone off...)

CAN'T WAIT FOR BREAKING DAWN!!!!!

Birthday Fun and Brace Face...

2010-06-22T17:27:00.005-06:00

I haven't blogged about Shawna's birthday yet, I'm in denial...

My baby is now 13!!!!!!!

We were in Elko for her big day and we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant there, La Fiesta. We told our waiter it was Shawna's bday so she had to wear a sombero while they sang Happy Birthday in Spanish and then we all joined in and sang it again in English. It was fun and she got a delicious fried ice cream which she shared.

Now that my big girl doesn't have any baby teeth the dentist suggested braces to straighten her adorable smile. The one request she had before she got her braces was to head to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for a carmel apple. I forgot to snap a pic of the delicious apple before we devoured it, but here's Shawna posing while I snap 1 last shot before we threw the core away. Thanks to everyone who recommended the Apple Pie Apple, if you haven't had one you HAVE to try it! Pure heaven!!

She was so excited but now that they're on I'm sure she's wishing the 2 year timeframe was over! Her teeth hurt and she's having a hard time eating but that should only last a few days, then she'll be used to them. She sure is cute with them braces!

We are so blessed to have Shawna in our family, she's such a sweet and caring young lady and we wouldn't be complete without her! We love you baby!

Schools out!

2010-06-07T16:15:00.004-06:00

Schools out and the girls did very well this year! Shawna made 4.0 the whole year and Annie got 3 4.0 report cards and 1 with all A's except 2 A-!! I'm so proud of my little nerds! I never came anywhere close to getting a 4.0 when I was in school and since my mother has been heard saying "None of my children were exceptionally bright" she's also very proud of her smart grandkids!

I've been wondering what kind of fun things I can have the girls do this summer while they're home. I hate when they stay indoors if hot outside because that just means TV, Computer, WII and NO physical activity. Today however, they ditched me and went here with their friends...

Is it really "What Fun Is"? I don't know but I'm sure they're having a blast and being active so that's definately good! In the mean time, since I've been ditched and had to buy something from Deseret Book for the discount passes I think I'll sit in the air conditioned house reading this...

And I'll get my activity later!

Happy Summer!!

Chopped

2010-05-25T18:02:00.004-06:00

I cut my hair, what do you think? Grow it out or keep it short...

Sister Fun...

2010-05-24T17:32:00.010-06:00

Dear Sis,

I love you! As kids you were my best friend, always there to play with and talk to. Now that we're grown ups it's nice to know things haven't changed! Thanks for the fun this past few weeks! I can't wait for our next adventure!

Love always,

The Sugarland Concert was a blast!

AND I LOVED THE GUY SITTING NEXT TO YOU ;)

(and I know you'll forgive me for posting this pic of you because you love me too, BUT ALSO BECAUSE you loved that guy as much as I did! HEHE!)

You are an awesome aunt and such a great example to my girls!

An unexpected dinner and night of playing WII, is exactly what I sometimes need!

And a fun quick shopping trip, dinner and GLITTER TOES!

Thanks again for being the best! I love you!!

In a funk...

2010-05-13T14:05:00.002-06:00

I was in a funk and needed a laugh, thought I'd share...

SUGARLAND...

2010-05-06T16:53:00.004-06:00

Becky asked me a few weeks ago if I wanted to go to Sugarland since Mat had to go out of town. I of course was thrilled but due to my air headedness I booked 2 things this weekend. Unfortunately due to snow in Idaho 1 set of plans cancelled (or fortunately as the case maybe) and thankfully Becky couldn't sell her tickets so we're going and I'm soooo excited! It's been awhile since I had a good dose of sister time and I can't think of a better way to spend it then dinner and a concert! WOO HOO I'M SO EXCITED!!

Happy 14th Birthday Annie!

2010-04-11T11:38:00.004-06:00

When you were born we were so excited to start our family! I remember it was such a busy day, starting at 2am until you were finally born at 4pm. Everyone from our families was so excited and waited and waited at the hospital all day! We didn't have a moment alone until late that night when our final visitor had left and I think both me and dad were exhausted! We had the tv on low but no other lighting and we were talking about our future, your future, I will never forget it! Daddy was holding you while he sat in the hospital recliner in my room, the glow of the tv just highlighting your perfect baby skin and dad looked down at you in awe and said in a whisper "She's just the coolest little thing isn't she?"

It's unbelievable for me to think that was 14 years ago! You are growing up into such a beautiful young lady and you are still just the coolest thing ever! We are so proud of you and who you are growing up to be!

Have a great day! We love you "Boo"

Happy Birthday!

The Cake Boss...

2010-03-11T16:33:00.007-07:00

If you don't already know, Annie wants to grow up to be "The Cake Boss". Ok, maybe not Buddy on the hit TLC show, but she does want to be a Pastry Chef and she sure has been baking up a storm! (hence the extra 10 pounds my booty is carrying around!)

February starts off with yummy Valentine cookies...

The end of the month, my mom's bday and Annie used her new cake decorating set to make this yummy cake...

And the first part of March my sister's bday where she played a bit with fondant...

She really has done a great job so far on baking, I just need to find somewhere to ship the yummies before my booty turns into a 300 lbs nightmare! (maybe then I could make the Biggest Loser! No, on second thought, not worth it!)

Keep up the good work Annie! And if you want to venture into full meals, I'll buy the groceries and you make dinner ;)

A spoiled surprise...

2010-03-09T09:37:00.002-07:00

Dear Briggs,

You spoiled our surprise, not once but twice!

Thanks a lot!
Sharalee Byers

And for everyone else...

Since the cat is out of the bag you all might as well know we have another Panther of the Quarter! Shawna will get her award next week and I'll post pics at that time!

We're so proud of you baby! Keep up the good work!

Vacation

2010-02-18T16:25:00.002-07:00

I need a tropical vacation! These occasional visits from the sun just aren't enough for me. It's still cold. I want heat, the warmth of the sun when it visits for a long time and I can feel the heat on my bare feet from the scorching hot sidewalk. I want to wear shorts and hang out on the beach, laying on the warm sand and then washing it off in the waves that lazily slip onto the shore. I want to hear the birds (although I don't care to see them too closely) flying high overhead and swat at annoying flies. I really want to get away, but since I can't right now I'm going to enjoy the background of my blog and pretend I'm sipping an ice cold DC and just lazying my day away while my space heater blows warmth on my bare feet, and then, when I open my eyes I hope reality won't bite me in the butt too hard! Happy day!

Happy Valentines!

2010-02-08T12:21:00.003-07:00

Some friends and family have posted their favorite Valentine memory. I thought I'd join in the fun and would love to hear about yours too!

Valentines Day, almost 19 years ago, there was this handsome young boy and this pretty cute young girl who had been dating for several years. They were very young, seniors in high school and only 17 but they were madly in love. As this handsome young boy drove the pretty cute young girl to school the pretty cute young girl was freaking out because she hated being late and it was almost time for school to start. The handsome young boy was very laid back, taking his time he found the perfect parking place because he drove a really nice car and didn't want any door dings. He finally stopped the car and the pretty cute girl was grabbing her bag and saying hurry up when she looked at the handsome young boy. He was holding a card and she melted. She sat back in the car and took the card and read the most lovely words she had ever seen or heard, with tears in her eyes she read the last line "Will you be my Valentine forever?" When the pretty cute girl turned back to look at the handsome young boy he was holding a beautifully decorated sugar cookie with a sparkling engagement ring set in a pretty red frosting flower. The handsome young boy told the pretty cute girl how much he truly loved her and couldn't live his life without her and then asked her to be his wife. Happily, with tears of joy running down her face, she said yes. Then they kissed, and ran into first period as fast as they could because at this point they were very very late.

Of course they lived happily ever after, working very hard every day to have a wonderul, loving marriage and building a foundation for their beautiful family and little girls (who are now getting to be very big girls!)

Darrell will never read this post, he doesn't really like facebooking or blogs, but I sure hope he knows how much I love him and I hope I make him as happy as he makes me! Happy Valentines Day!!

Panther of the Quarter

2010-01-20T20:11:00.003-07:00

Darrell and I are proud as can be! First Shawna was Panther of the Month, and now Annie is Panther of the Quarter! We have such great kids! We are so proud of you guys!

No school...

2010-01-18T21:06:00.012-07:00

Since the girls and boys had a couple days out of school we got together with Bryan and Becky and took our kids to the aquarium and oh what fun!

Duncan watching the fish

Lauren, not excited about touching the sting ray,
But the other kids were all for it!

Shawna and Brock posing by the fish
Bryan showing Mya "Nemo"

Riding the frog...

Lauren in awe at the fish and frogs

After the aquarium we went to the mall food court for lunch

and a ride on the carousel before heading home

for some naptime! (at least I think

Bryan and the girls got naps, we on the other hand

went to my house and played Super Mario WII for the next

several hours!)

WHAT A FUN DAY! I'm so thankful that I have siblings and nieces and nephews

that I want to spend time with! I LOVE IT!

AND FYI... If you're looking for a great membership I recommend the aquarium, you only have to go twice to pay for it. Adults is $18 and children $14 for the year (while it's $9 and $7 and children are anyone between 3 ant 17!) It's a great deal!

Head Wraps...

2010-01-15T11:08:00.012-07:00

I took a Knitted Head Wraps class with my friend Kristen, they're the wraps you see everyone wearing now with the cute little knitted flowers on them. She's going to be making and selling them (her prices are great!) so if anyone is interested let me know! The flowers are detachable so you can have many flowers and move them amongst your different bands, also they're on barretts so you can put the flower in your hair w/o the band. They can be special ordered in any color and only take a few days to complete!

Here are her prices:

*Headbands and flowers are sold seperately.

Headbands

1 for $15

2 for $25

Flowers

1 for $4

2 for $7

3 for $9

*Flowers can be any combination of colors and knitted or crocheted

She's working on a child's headband right now...

Pictures and prices are soon to come on those!

Sunday dinner at Moms...

2010-01-10T19:41:00.002-07:00

Sunday dinner at Moms means...

*lots of noise
*lots of yummy yummy food
*lots of great conversation
*lots of kiddies
*lots of hugs
*lots of kisses
*lots of tissues for runny noses
*lots of screaming and yelling
*some hurt feelings and then some making up
*spending lots of time with my favorite people!
*and finally yummy yummy dessert (tonight thanks to Annie and Jessica Olsens yummy Carmelita recipe! Thanks for sharing Jess! We LOVE them!)
*Goodbyes

Darrell's Christmas Surprise!

2010-01-06T17:15:00.006-07:00

This is what had me so darn excited for Christmas this year! This man is so hard to buy for and even harder to surprise!

The whole time Darrell was opening his present he thought it was pictures of the girls

He was soooo sure this was a picture of the girls he took forever holding it like this talking about it before he finally took a peek! It was driving me nuts! I just wanted so badly for him to see what surprise we had planned for him! This is a picture of Darrell's Gramps during his service. My good friend Brett Taylor was so kind to frame these pics, the flag from Gramps funeral and a Doille Darrell's Aunt LaRae made for us year ago. Darrell was so surprised and excited! Thanks so much Brett! You did an awesome job and I love the way it all turned out!

on a side note, if anyone needs framing let me know! I'm happy to give you Brett's phone number, he does beautiful work and he's very reasonablly priced too!

Christmas Celebrations...

2009-12-28T15:35:00.008-07:00

We had a great Christmas! Gladys came down and spent some time with us and that was really fun! We got together with the Byers family on Christmas Eve and ate dinner here...

Then we went to the movies and saw this...

Since we don't get together often enough it was great fun and we all had a blast! We even enjoyed the movie pick much to our surprise!

Christmas Day we woke up, saw what Santa brought the girls and then opened presents. The favorite present given to me was this...

And gift certificates to one of my favorite restraunts, here...

And the favorite gift I gave was to Darrell which deserves it's own blog when I get a chance to get the pics on my computer!

After all this we went to my mom's house and did a gift exchange and ate lots of yummy yummy finger foods and appetizers and then we headed to Grandma Marilyn's and Grandpa Tom's for lots more yummy food (I was so stuffed from my mom's I could only eat a my favs at Grandma's and pas so it was cocktail shrimp and lemon jello with cheese for me, YUM-O!) And then the fun white elephant gift exchange! My cousin's boyfriend walked away with the "Pickle" which my Grandpa made about 20 years ago and has traditionally been a "white elephant" since we started doing this several years ago! Hopefully the pickle makes it back next year!

On the 26th we got together again with the Byers family (we totally need to do this more often! I LOVED IT!) The adults (and my kids) went to dinner at Iggy's then headed to Dale and Susan's house for games. We played a couple of really fun name games but I think the highlight of the evening was "DO YOU LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR?" It was hilarious watching everyone run around trying to find a seat and knocking eachother out of the way! I laughed so hard I nearly peed my pants more then once and it was really funny when Doyle spilled his drink all over Gladys and then farted on Shawna (accidentally of course!). Truth be told I think numerous accidental laughing farts occurred this night! It was great!

I'm so happy that we have such great families we can get together with and enjoy spending time with! I love all my family and in-laws and I have been truly blessed with the best!

Happy New Year to Everyone!

Christmas Surprises...

2009-12-17T21:44:00.003-07:00

I'm so excited for Christmas to get here! I have the best surprise for Darrell and I've been using facebook as my outlet to talk about it so I don't blab like crazy to Darrell! He has no clue which is hard because he rarely gets surprised! I'm counting down the days! It's also a fun year because Annie and Shawna walked to Jordan Landing to buy Darrell and me presents with their own money! This is the first year they've done anything like that and it's fun to see them growing into such wonderful young ladies! I can hardly wait to see what they've bought us and it's all I can do not to pick up their gift to me and shake it like crazy! Oh please Christmas get here quick!

I'm still loving it!

2009-12-10T16:47:00.004-07:00

While doing my latest knitted project I started feeling a bit overwhelmed and a tad insecure about my knitting capabilities but once I put my mind to and decided I was going to actually do it this is what I made...

Shawna Rockin' the Rasta!

THE RASTA BEANIE! It was pretty easy and I can't believe I let it intimidate me! Now onto a beanie and scarf to two little ladies I just love to death! (Hope B and Lo just love what I'm gonna make them! and I hope this beanie fits Brock!)

Panther of the Month...

2009-12-02T14:29:00.005-07:00

And the winner is...

SHAWNA!!!

It's so cool to know that out of the whole 7th grade student body Shawna was picked for this honor. We are so proud of our little girl! She is growing up so quickly and is really making us proud! We love you Shawna! Keep up the good work!

(Since everyone knows what Shawna looks like now I thought it might be fun, as well as a little embarrassing, to post a baby pic! Wasn't she just so dang cute?!?!?!)

Black Friday...

2009-11-28T22:42:00.003-07:00

I've done the whole black friday things twice. Woke up before the butt crack of dawn, threw on whatever clothes happened to be close by, brushed my teeth and maybe remembered to brush through my hair, and then stood in line until the doors opened at which point I swam through the waves of people trying to keep up with my family/friends while we did our best to get the bargains! One time we had Becky in the cart, standing where the kiddies sit, and dragging Karaoke machines down from the top shelf! Dangerous as heck, but such great fun!

I guess this year is #3 and was a little different. We went to Pocatello for Thanksgiving and the lack of stores and 2 older children made me think sleeping in until 930a and then driving from store to store would be great. Darrell, his mom and aunt all came along for the fun and we really had a great time! Maybe next year (if we're in Salt Lake) I'll drag myself out again before butt crack of dawn, dragging my sister and possibly sis-in-law along since they still have littles to buy for and it's really fun to do black friday that way! We'll see, are you guys up for it? I dare ya!

Thanksgiving 8

2009-11-25T07:48:00.001-07:00

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Celebrate it year round!

Thanksgiving 7

2009-11-24T15:42:00.002-07:00

Hope your Thanksgiving dinner goes better then this guys!

Thanksgiving 3, 4, 5, 6

2009-11-23T08:32:00.005-07:00

OOPS! Went out of town to Thermopolis to visit the in-laws, no computer access at their house and I thought it rude to try the library, although chances are the library there has never heard of the internet either (such a small town!) Here's funny pics for Friday, Saturday, Sunday and today!

Thanksgiving 2

2009-11-19T08:32:00.003-07:00

Lets remember that the Indians and Pilgrims put aside their differences to learn from each other and be thankful they did otherwise we might be having meatloaf on Thanksgiving Day instead of turkey and cranberries and pies! YUMMY!

Thanksgiving 1

2009-11-18T14:48:00.002-07:00

I thought it would be fun to share a new pic I've come across everyday between now and Thanksgiving so here's number 1...

Hope you enjoyed!

Thankful...

2009-11-15T11:58:00.002-07:00

With the start of this wonderful month, where we have such a great opportunity to reflect on what we're thankful for, I just wanted to take a moment to give thanks to all those who mean so much to me!
I am so thankful for my beautiful family! Words cannot express what they all mean to me! Darrell is such a rock! He works so hard to provide for our family and he never ceases to give. I take such comfort to know he is always there for me and our girls. I'm thankful so much for the man he is, the wonderful husband and extraordinary father!
And my beautiful girls, I don't even know where to begin to say how wonderful they are and how blessed I am to have them! Annie is so great to help whenever I need something done. She is such a beautiful young lady and has such a great sense of humor! She thinks of others often, always including her younger cousins so they don't feel left out! She loves to cook and is always wanting to help out in the kitchen. And Shawna is such a sweetheart! She works so hard and even when she has had enough (especially with homework!) she just doesn't want to stop until the job is finished! She is such a hardworker and helps us so much around the house and yard! She is so smart and I am constantly amazed at how she can figure things out that even stump me! She is a beautiful young lady and she loves to make others happy.

I'm also thankful for my parents, they have taught me what a family should be and have shaped me into the woman I am. My mom is such a sweet and beautiful lady! I am thankful for the role model she is for me! She never has a bad or mean word to say about anyone and many times her perspective on things has brought me back to reality! She has taught me what a mom should be and I only hope to live up to her example! My dad, where to start! He is such a handsome man who has shown me what I should expect from my man! He treats my mom with such respect! I'm so thankful that I have his sense of humor, that I can laugh at myself as well as joke and play with others. I'm also thankful for the example he has set in his faith. He has such a strong testimony and I hope he knows that I really apprecaite who he is and his beliefs! I was truly blessed with the best parents in ever! My siblings are also wonderful! I am so lucky to have 2 of the best friends ever in my brother and sister! We get along so well and I love to spend time with them, whether it's talking on the phone or getting together to hang out! They have great supportive spouses and it's wonderful that we can all get together and enjoy eachothers company! They have the most wonderful littles who I can smooch and snuggle and love on since mine are getting big!

I'm also thankful for Darrells family! His mom is such a great, strong and beautiful woman and I'm happy to say she's also one of my best friends! I can truly talk to her about anything, her opinion means so much to me and I hope that I'm doing right by her son and granddaughters! She is such a wonderful mother and has raised 4 of the most thoughtful men ever! I'm also thankful for his brothers, their wives and ALL their kids! We don't get together near often enough but when we do it's tons of fun! I also want to express thanks for Harvey, he's a good Grandpa to our kids, he's a good father-in-law and I know if I need something from him a phone call is all it'll take. I'm thankful that he made it through his bypass and seems to be on the mend! I'm thankful for his wife, Geneva, and that he has someone who can take care of him which helps take the stress off all of us.

I have been truly blessed by the people in my life, but especially the family God has given me! At this wonderful time of the year while we're all preparing for Christmas I just wanted to take a time out and express my gratitude and thanks!

I'm a knit lover

2009-11-09T12:04:00.005-07:00

I love knitting! I love the act of making something wonderful with my hands, the feel of the soft yarn moving through my fingers and I love how relaxing it is. I love that it's cold and I can sit in my snuggie while I knit away at something that will keep me warm and cuddly while there's snow falling all around me. I love my new scarf and laugh at my new hat...

You can laugh too! It's funny! I'll probably never wear it again (maybe I'll donate it to the homeless) but I thought it would be fun to post my latest knit projects!

Friends at last...

2009-11-03T18:15:00.002-07:00

Pooski has pretty much steered clear of Molly since day 1. She doesn't get excited and happy to play, she doesn't like being jumped on or bitten. She often barks at and growls at our little pup and can usually be found out of Molly's reach on the couch. Today this is what I found...

While Pooski and Molly were both growling the whole time they played tug of war, I think they actually found a game they can both play without getting on the others nerves! Thankfully I think they're becoming friends at last!

Halloweens past...

2009-10-30T11:34:00.003-06:00

I thought it would be fun to post some of the pics from our past Halloweens. We're missing the year Shawna was the 3 little pigs (I just couldn't look through anymore pics!) And the year the girls were unicorns. I have all our costumes so if you want to borrow any for this year or future years let me know! See our slideshow below!

2009-10-30T11:33:00.001-06:00

Frist snow...

2009-10-27T18:35:00.003-06:00

The first snow of the season came today, it was beautiful, cold, wet and I've decided I'm just not ready for winter! Guess I better get ready quick!

Molly isn't sure what to think of the snow either!

Handmade...

2009-10-22T15:59:00.005-06:00

Yep, I made this scarf! I'm now a knitter! Can't wait to make the next project, a slouchy hat to go with my scarf! Then some cute Mary Jane Slippers! The options are endless and I can't wait to start my newest hobby and make lots of handmade gifts!

A Weiner or A Chicken?

2009-10-19T15:33:00.006-06:00

Molly has fit right into our family! The little weiner thinks she's queen of the castle and does all kinds of things to torment Pooski. She chases Pooski around the house, jumps on her, barks, and lately when Pooski decides to play Molly runs away with her tail between her legs and hides like this...

Yep, that's the dog under my rocker!

Pooski trying to coax Molly out of hiding

Molly waiting for Pooski to leave...

I still see you Pooski, I'm hiding until you're long gone! I see the way you're licking your chops!

MMMM, lettuce wraps and won tons!

2009-10-16T10:07:00.005-06:00

Last night for dinner I made these wonderful lettuce wraps...

and these cream cheese and crab won tons...

We invited my mom over and had a great relaxing evening! I should also thank my father-in-law for introducing me to my fryer, it's still awesome even though I don't use it very often! It looks something like this and I highly recommend it over a fry daddy!

If anyone wants recipes I'm happy to share! These came from my wonderful Top Secret 2 cookbook and a won ton recipe I found online somewhere. Delicious!

Pics from this post are not mine, I stole them from the internet, my food looked 100 times better but I neglected to pull out my camera and take pics myself!

YUMMY!

2009-10-01T22:24:00.004-06:00

For dinner tonight I made this...

The picture isn't mine, but it looked and tasted as good! It was sooo easy and sooo yummy I thought I'd share...

Applebee's Orange Chicken Bowl

1 Cup Orange Juice

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

3 Tbls Orange Marmalade

2 Tbls soy sauce

1 Tbls veg oil

1/2 tsp minced parsley

1/4 tsp chili flakes

1/4 tsp minced garlic

1/8 tsp dried thyme

1 Tbls rice vinegar

Mix all the above together in a saucepan EXCEPT for the vinegar. Simmer over medium heat about 15 minutes until sauce thickens then remove from heat and add the vinegar.

4 Cups almond rice pilaf (I have the recipe for this but I just used one of those packets of rice like the rice sides or the rice a roni)

20 oz breaded chicken fingers, baked (I just used a cheap brand of kids chicken nuggets)

1 1/2 Cups Broccoli

1 Cup red bell pepper

1 cup slice mushrooms

3/4 Cup sugar snap peas (I just bought a bag of frozen ones)

1/3 Cup shredded carrots

1/2 Cup crispy chow mein noodles

1/4 Cup sliced or slivered almonds

Cook the rice according to the directions on the package. Steam the veggies for about 10 minutes or until the broccoli is tender. While the veggies are steaming, cut the nuggets in 1/2 or 1/4 depending on how big you want your bite sized peices. Put the chicken in the sauce, place rice on the bottom of the bowl, pile your veggies on and then spoon or ladle the chicken and sauce over top. Add the chow mein noodles and slivered almonds and ENJOY!

If you make it let me know what you think!

Thermopolis...

2009-09-28T13:53:00.000-06:00

This weekend we spent some time in Thermpolis, WY with Darrell's dad. We went to the Dinosaur Museum, watched Jurrasic Park and ate popcorn, played with their dog Miko and just visited a bit with a couple of crazy old people (LITERALLY! HAHA!) Below are some pics!

2009-09-28T13:52:00.001-06:00

Molly...

2009-09-24T07:06:00.004-06:00

Over the weekend we visited with Molly again. Here are some new pics so you can see how our baby has grown! She's coming home mid week next week.

She's so dang cute! She was loving it up! She's bigger than her brothers and sisters, she seems to be the one who is exploring everything, her fat little tail wags like crazy when you're petting her and she loves to give kisses (which is ok as a puppy cuz of puppy breath and all but I'll have to break her of that habit quick!) Since the kids have next Thursday and Friday off I think we'll get her Wednesday afternoon and start right away with the potty training and such! Come by and meet our new addition!

OUCH! Sunburn after effects...

2009-09-22T08:30:00.002-06:00

So, it's been a couple days since I burned my face giving me the racoon look (if you don't know what I'm talking about look at the post below). Now instead of racoon I look like this...

All dry and scaly! YUCK! I hate this stage of sunburns! Come to think of it they just suck in general!

Great Weekend!

2009-09-21T09:33:00.003-06:00

Our family had a great weekend! First the girls and I cleaned house Saturday morning while Darrell worked a little at the store. Then he came home and we hung out and watched a little tv, nothing too noteworthy, just hanging out together was nice. We drove to Park City for the evening and had dinner, walked up and down Main Street then headed home the long way through Heber and Provo Canyon. It was chilly so we got hot chocolate and had a nice drive home. On Sunday Darrell took me for a wonderful ride on the bike. We went up through Park City, ate breakfast at a little place on Main Street and warmed up a bit, then went through Heber, Midway, Wallsburg, down Provo Canyon to Sundance and did the Alpine Loop! It took all morning and part of the afternoon but it was really fun just the 2 of us hanging out together while the kids stayed home and played wii and computer games. After that we went to visit our baby Molly (more pics of her coming soon!) and then went for another ride around the valley, ate dinner at Olive Garden at the District and then came home for a fun movie night! We relaxed most of the weekend with eachother and it was great! The only problem is I can't seem to remember SUNSCREEN! And now I look like this...

Except of course I'm red and white, not black. I either need to learn to apply sunscreen or stop wearing my sunglasses so much!

Have a good day!

Our new addition...

2009-09-14T13:55:00.003-06:00

Meet Molly, the newest addition to the Byers family!

She's just a few weeks old so we can't bring her home for another 3-4 weeks but we already just love her to death! Hope my baby girl Pooski loves her too!

Camping with the Byers Fam!!

2009-09-08T20:44:00.003-06:00

When Susan wanted to go camping Labor Day Weekend I thought we'd never find a spot! I'm so glad that she didn't give up on looking for reservations! She found a great campground just up Diamond Fork Canyon (about 9 miles up Spanish Fork Canyon) and we had a great time!

We left Friday after the kids got out of school, drove to the canyon, got our camp set up and had a fabulous dinner. Saturday morning we started off with breakfast, hanging out and playing around and then decided to take the 2.5 mile hike to the hot pools and let the kids swim. Unfortunately it started raining a few minutes after we arrived, and the thunder and lightning were frightful so we got all the kids back out of the water, dried off and dressed and then just as we were getting ready to leave it stopped raining (Bummer!) and then we started the 2.5 mile hike back down the mountain. It was still a lot of fun! We saw several snakes and lizards! We got back to camp and had another wonderful dinner followed by roasted starbursts (a new thing Susan introduced us to!) and then got the kids in bed and the adults and kids 12 and over roasted marshmallows! SO MUCH FUN! Really my favorite part of camping was hanging out by the campfire each night for a little bit with everyone, telling stories, playing word games, singing and then after awhile putting the younger kids to bed and staying up with the older kids and adults! Sunday the guys and older kids went target shooting, I stayed back and read my book, hung out in the hammock and just relaxed. And then Monday we hung out a little, cleaned up and came home. We had such a fun time, I can't wait to do it again!

VIEW THE SLIDESHOW BELOW!

2009-09-08T20:43:00.001-06:00

My last "Are you in" craft

2009-09-01T18:03:00.003-06:00

So I finally finished my last "Are you in" craft! I had such a blast making tutus and this canopy with Becky and Kiersti. I'm so glad that we sisters can get together and have fun doing this kind of stuff and that Bryan married someone we get along with so well! Enough of that, I'm about to cry...

Anyway, here it is, the cool canopy I made for my friend Jenny Warner (of course when her kids play with it I bet it won't be in the bathroom but I don't really have anywhere else to hang it!) I hope Jenny will take pics of her kids enjoying it (HINT, HINT!) and post them on her blog for all to see!

Both projects made were sewing free, NO SEWING whatsoever! I found this canopy in a Family Fun magazine and instructions can be found at familyfun.com and search cool canopy! Enjoy Jenny!

Are you in? Crafts!

2009-08-27T17:55:00.007-06:00

Back in March I participated in a blog tag called "Are you in?" where I gave 3 friends the opportunity to win a homemade craft by me! Only 2 responded so those who didn't missed out! I've finally completed the first craft for my friend Jennie (the craft is really for her daughter Makayla). My 2nd craft isn't quite completed, I'm going to work on it Sunday so I should warn my other friend, Jenny, it's a comin'!! Here are some pics ot the tutu I made all by myself! (Special thanks to Kiersti for showing me how to make these!)

This is the tutu I made for M (it's not a bracelet for Shawna!)

And these other pics are of my sister and me being silly, and Kiersti "teaching" us how to make these cute cute tutus!

This was so much fun! I can't wait to get together with Becky and Kiersti to do something like this again! Thanks for a great afternoon girls! I love you guys!

Diamond Fork Canyon

2009-08-23T17:07:00.007-06:00

We're planning a trip up Diamond Fork Canyon with the Byers clan! It's going to be a lot of fun but since none of us have ever been up there we made a quick trip this weekend to see what we were getting ourselves into. I really want to try this hike...

http://www.utahoutdooractivities.com/fifthwater.html

And I want to take a quick trip here...

http://www.utahoutdooractivities.com/redledgespicnic.html

All in all I like the campground, it's pretty nice and right by the river so hopefully Darrell will catch some yummy fish! Here are some pics I took while we were on our drive!

Shawna by the river

Annie by the river

Darrell walking by the stream on the roadside

Fresh Garden Veggies Anyone?

2009-08-13T15:49:00.012-06:00

Early Spring arrives and I'm all excited! I can't wait to till the garden and plant our pea seeds! I start planning what else we'll plant and I watch, anxiously waiting for those little baby plants to peek up through the dirt so I can welcome them to the world!

A few weeks later it's warm enough to shop for tomato plants, pepper plants, zuchinni, watermelon, and the many other fabulous things I think we'll plant. I go crazy weeding and planting for a whole day and I watch for the buds that will indicate fruits and veggies soon on the way!

Early Summer arrives, I carefully glance at the garden and try to see past the weeds. I search for the baby watermelon and count how many we have, I rush in to tell Annie (since these are hers) and we celebrate a little. I occasionally water, harvest the zuchinni and tomatoes and a few peppers, but mostly I wonder "WHY WHY WHY didn't I insist on a pool this year instead of the damn garden!?!?"

It's the same every year! At this time I absolutely loath the garden, I hate harvesting, I hate watering, I hate weeding, AND I especially hate that I go through this phase every stinking year!

On a brighter note... If anyone wants tomatoes, I've planted 6 plants, some cherry, some cute yellow bell looking things, some early girls and some beef eaters (we don't even like tomatoes, but I make a mean fresh salsa!) If anyone wants peppers I have anaheim chilles, jalepenos, banana peppers, serrano peppers and bell peppers. If anyone wants zuchinni I have it! And in a few weeks we'll have watermelon too! Just let me know when you'll be stopping by to pick them up!

And here's some fun pics...

Swimming... Maybe not...

2009-08-12T17:08:00.002-06:00

I drove the girls to the Kearns Rec Pool. They wanted to swim outside and since I didn't have cash and thought they could use their County Rec Pass at the Kearns pool I drove all the way out there, should've just went to the bank. When we got there I dropped them off and started on my way home when my cell phone chirped, I answered and Annie informed me that the pools at the Kearns Rec Center are NOT county pools so their pass is no good there. I picked them up and told them swimming today would have to be indoors so I drove them to Gene Fulmer where we always go (so I know their passes are good there!) I pulled up to the doors, dropped them off and headed home again, and again my phone chirped at me and this time Annie informed me that the indoor pool is closed for 2 weeks due to maintenance. WHAT!?!?! So again I headed back to get my girls and this time on the way home I stopped at the SnoShack because I had just enough cash to get 2 Snow Cones and a punch card for a freebie! We ate snowcones on the way home which made the last hour not so bad. We got home and I worked for a bit then the girls pulled out their old blow up pool and this is what happened...

Crazy girls! At least they made a fun day out it!

18 and going strong!

2009-08-09T21:00:00.005-06:00

August 2nd was our 18th Wedding Anniversary! 18!!!! It's unbelievable that we've been married for 18 years and have they memorable! I've been so blessed to have found my hubby at such a young age, we practically grew up together! (Which is probably why we're both trained to the other's quirks and will make this marriage last!)

We don't usually do a big celebration but this year we thought it'd be fun to go out of town and just enjoy being with eachother. We picked Vegas! It was great! We got a fountain side room at Bellagio but unfortunately we didn't spend as much time as we would have liked hanging by the window and watching the fountains! Instead we did a little gambling, a little shopping, and saw Rodney Carrington! We had so much fun for the short time we were there! We missed our girls but thankfully we knew they were in good hands with GG! Thanks so much for taking them so we could have our little getaway!

Here's some pics...

The view from our room...

The fountain show from our room...

My charming hubby in front of the Paris hotel.

And if you wanna see more go to my facebook page! It's a lot easier and faster to get pics on there!

I HATE GRASSHOPPERS!

2009-07-30T11:43:00.008-06:00

I hate grasshoppers! I hate how ugly they are with their grotesque eyes and long back legs! I hate how they kinda stick to you if they land on you and I hate that black stuff they sometimes spit on you. Truth be told I don't like them at all, they scare me!!

Today I wandered upstairs to take some mail to the mailbox before the postman came, I didn't want to drive to the post office again (it's almost a daily occurence for work) so I was in a hurry, but stopped dead in my tracks when I saw this...

So, since I was the only one home, I had a major dilemma! How do I get this monstorous beast out of my house?!?!? Solution?

That's right, I quietly snuck up on the fiend, put the cup over him and scooped him up into the cup while blocking the opening with the bowl, I then ran like a madwoman outside where I proceeded to huck the cup and bowl as far from my person as I could get them! And it worked!!! I thought for sure I'd have to leave the cup and bowl on the lawn all day but nope, the hopper finally left and I was able to throw the bowl and cup away! Hooray for me! I was my own brave hero today!

Pioneer Day? Heck no! Pioneer Weekend!!!

2009-07-27T12:56:00.009-06:00

I love Pioneer Day! Outside of Utah, mention July 24th as if it were a holiday, and people think you've gone bonkers, but where I come from it's a day to CELEBRATE! I like to celebrate that God put me in the day and time he did, the guy knew what he was doing by NOT making me a pilgrim! I would never have made it! Imagine no real running water! No toliets and who knows what those people did for toliet paper! Not to mention no regular showers and probably no deodorant. The wind, dirt, smelly animals, sometimes freezing tempatures and sometimes blazing heat, etc, etc as you tried to cross the plains in a dress! Not for me! I am happy though to celebrate that those people did what they did so we could live in this fabulous state and celebrate!
Our celebration started on Thursday night when we went to the Quidditch field (Rio Tinto Stadium) to watch Kenny Chesney! I was totally bumed that Sugarland didn't make the expected appearance but we enjoyed Lady A, Miranda Lambert and especially Kenny (mostly because the sun was down at that point and we were no longer melting!)
Friday morning we woke up early, hitched the trailer to the truck and drove to breakfast to meet our friends the Silcoxs! We then had a fabulous breakfast and drove to Bear Lake for the weekend! Friday afternoon we just lazed around, the kids played a little on the beach, and then we had a wonderful fire and smores! YUM!
Saturday we spent all day at the beach! Playing in the water, riding on boats and wave runners, tubing and having tube wars, just hanging out and having fun! Darrell's mom came up and rode 1 of the wave runners and we had a wonderful dinner before sitting around the fire and relaxing!
Usually on camping trips the last day consists of cleaning the trailer and our campsite then heading home but this time we woke up and had breakfast then headed back to the beach for a couple more hours of fun in the sun! I didn't want it to end! We didn't get home until 10pm and even though Annie sprained her ankle pretty bad, I have bruises on my back from falling out of the trailer, Shawna's little face is swollen from being in the sun so much, and we're all burnt to a crisp on various body parts, WE HAD A BLAST!! Can't wait until next time! We are so thankful those pioneers went through what they did so we could have something fabulous to celebrate!
Here's a few pics...

Grandma Gladys on the wave runner

Shawna waiting at Merlins for a shake!

Lana, Shannon and Randi on the tube

Little Riley sitting at the campfire looking thru his

star brochure trying to find constellations

Annie and Pooski sitting by the fire

The man is back in the house...

2009-07-21T09:11:00.010-06:00

Last week/weekend Darrell went on a guys trip to Island Park. They took their motorcycles and met some friends from Spokane. Luckily Darrell's uncle owns a cabin up there and let them use it for their trip. Here's some pics...

The cabin, my truck and the trailer used to get the bikes up there.

Darrell's bike, the green and silver one.

Above: a bald eagle.

Below: all the bikes lined up at the Yellowstone Park entrance.

A HUGE SCARY BUG ON KEN'S BACK! Leave it to Darrell, he grabbed the camera before saving Ken!

It looks like the boys had a really good time, and Darrell got some needed away time from work! I'm just glad he's home now!

WE MISSED YOU HONEY!

Painful morning for Shawna

2009-07-21T08:59:00.005-06:00

A week or so ago Shawna was complaining about 1 of her K-9 teeth hurting, the new teeth were coming in on both sides but the old teeth weren't wanting to fall out. We saw the dentist 3 months ago or so and he told her to really work on them but that obviously wasn't working so I made the appointment, we went in and he YANKED 'em right out! She was such a trooper! And her wonderful big sis took pics!

Since she did so well at the dentist I thought "SHOTS!" So I drove her over to the county clinic and had them give her the immunizations needed for middle school, poor Shawna, she only needed 1 to be caught up but they suggested 4 so we went all out and did 4! Annie also had 1 and my guess is that's why she didn't bring the camera in with her this time!

Luckily my kids are now both happy and healthy! No hurting teeth and no need for shots anytime soon! YAY!

Camping, a little bit of heaven!

2009-07-12T17:36:00.010-06:00

Enjoying the world God created, feasting on the food He provided, and spending time with the family He blessed me with! What a wonderful way to spend the weekend! The Provo River Falls

Grandma and Grandpa at the fallsThe Grandma's with baby Dunc

Darrell and Annie at the falls

Annie and Grandma Marilyn at campOne of my cutest little neices, Lo, at camp!

I am so glad that we were able to spend the weekend with my sister and brother, their wonderful spouses and the cutest little kids ever! I'm also grateful that my grandparents and parents were there too! SO MUCH FUN! I can't wait 'til next time!!

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-04T15:35:00.003-06:00

Our family wishes everyone a happy and

safe 4th of July! We are so

grateful to be free and live in the

best country in the world!

Shawna July 3rd at the Real game

We are Mountain Men...

2009-06-25T21:46:00.009-06:00

Our school carnival is called the Mountain Man Rendevous. When I was little and went to Oquirrh Elementary we had cake walks and gold fish ponds and all kinds of old school carnival games, also the mountain men would come with their teepees and tell stories and show animal skins and neat things! Now that my kids go to Oquirrh the school carnival has morphed to a fun thing that the kids today enjoy, I miss the carnivals of old but since you can't bring homemade goodies anymore and nobody wants to win a gold fish that'll be dead come morning this is what we did...We ate snow cones that turned our tongues blue,

and yummy cotton candy!

We played in the bounce houses and the won at the midway games

And best of all, we hung out with friends and family!

Obsession?!?!?!

2009-06-22T21:52:00.003-06:00

I have recently discovered I have an obsession for books, but especially cookbooks! I love cookbooks and own a ton of them! I'm so excited because of my newest addition...

so many good recipes that remind me of being a kid! Plus, a ton more that I can't wait to try! The best cookbooks are ward cookbooks and this is the ultimate!

YAY GIRLS!!

2009-06-16T14:53:00.002-06:00

Annie found out before the last day of school that she made it into 8th grade honors english! YAY ANNIE!! She was also given homework for this class by the teacher before the last day so she could complete it during the summer! She's been diligently reading books so she can write an essay, 2 pages double spaced with specific criteria (not just your old time book report like I used to write!)

When we got home from lunch today and got the mail there was a letter for Shawna welcoming her to the 7th grade honors english class!! HOORAY FOR SHAWNA!! She lucked out though, no summer homework for her!!

I know that we put a lot of pressure on our kids to excel in what they do, I'm so proud of their accomplishments but mostly I'm proud because they try their hardest and do their best and it definately shows! Congrats girls! I knew you could do it!

Sunrise...

2009-06-15T17:33:00.005-06:00

This weekend we headed up Logan Canyon to the Sunrise Campground which is 1/4 mile from the scenic lookout of Bear Lake. It was just the 4 of us and it was super fun despite the terrible weather!

Darrell and the girls on our hike

Shawna and Annie on our hike

Darrell and Shawna at Bear Lake

Kidnapped...

2009-06-11T17:33:00.004-06:00

Annie made Shawna's Bday cake this year!

Today Me and Annie kidnapped Shawna from school. What a great birthday surprise! We took her to see UP in 3-D and then to lunch before heading back to school with bday treats! What a fun day!! Makes having my baby turn 12 seem not so bad!

Us wearing the 3-D glasses from UP!

Another last...

2009-06-09T19:37:00.003-06:00

Tonight after dinner Shawna had homework, cleaning her tote tray. It's always been a tradition that we go outside, get the hose and I turn the girls loose with a can of shaving cream (that's right, shaving cream gets all the crap off those totes! All you with littles should make a mental note now!) The girls would have a blast cleaning their totes and playing in the shaving cream/hose until I finally came out and finished the job! Today was the last of our tote cleaning! Since middle schoolers and high schoolers have lockers and don't carry tote trays around I'm feeling melancholy while Shawna cleans her tote tray, in the sink because we're having thunderstorms, but still with shaving cream and an added bonus this year, the SOS pad. I think she did a pretty good job and I didn't even have to help!

Shawna is a Mountain Man!

2009-06-09T14:52:00.007-06:00

Shawna started Oquirrh Elementary in the 1st grade and worked very hard to earn her 1st Mountain Man Award. The Mountain Man Award is a very prestigious and hard to earn award that is given to students at the end of each school year. Shawna has 6 of them, 1 for every year she's attended Oquirrh, and she's worked hard to get each one! Today she got the last award, 1 of 4 kids in 6th grade! Way to go Shawna!!! We are sooooo proud of you!

This is Shawna's Mountain Man Award and Physical Fitness Certificate!

Shawna wearing all 6 of her Mountain Man medals (but only because I made her for this pic! LOL!)

Goals

2009-06-04T10:52:00.002-06:00

Last night on our walk Shawna announced that she has some goals. First she'd like to run in marathons. For anyone who knows me, you know I do not see any reason what-so-ever that gets people in these crazy marathons where they run and run and run event after event. I figure it must be some sort of sick drug-like stupor that has them doing this type of activity! However, if you know me you also know there is nothing I won't do to support my kiddies so... I think I've talked her down to a 10k! I've printed off our "schedule for training" from the internet AND in just a short 8 weeks we should be able to run a 10K, but I'm hoping Shawna will train with me for a year and we can start doing this next spring!! The other goal she has is that she someday wants to run the border of UTAH! She assures me that she doesn't want to sleep under the stars or go w/o a bath the entire time she's doing the border, she'll make sure to eat in resturaunts and sleep in hotels so she'll be clean and refreshed each day she heads out, but she wants to run the entire border of Utah! I don't know where she's getting this type of ambition from, but I think when she decides to do the border run, I'll drive her luggage! LOL!!
WISH US LUCK! And if anyone is an experienced runner and has advise for us PLEASE PLEASE SHARE! We're obviously not runners... YET!

Biker Momma in the Making...

2009-06-03T20:40:00.006-06:00

Just a few pics of my adorable nieces...

B Mya wishing she was old enuf to go for a ride!

Lo with Uncle Darrell on the Motorcycle, she loved her short ride and didn't even mind that Uncle Darrell was the one taking her! She must be overcoming her fear!

B Mya cheering Lo on!

Dear Friend...

2009-06-01T15:28:00.005-06:00

Dearest Becky Warner,

Thank you sooo much for the beautiful souvenier you brought me back from Boston! I wasn't expecting anything from your trip and I am so touched that you thought of me while you were away! I sure missed having you in the office and I thought of you often! I'm glad that you had a nice time with your wonderful hubby, Mark, and your friends but I'm sure grateful your back!

I'm so glad that you are working with me! You are an extrordinary woman and I love having you around! Thank you for being the person you are and for being such a good friend to me! Words cannot express how grateful I am to have you in my life.

Love,

Shara

Wonderful Crafts!

2009-05-29T09:11:00.002-06:00

This is mainly to the wonderful ladies who replied to my 3/16 post "Are you in?" (Jennie and Jenny) I have the MOST fabulous craft project in the works girls! You are going to love it! And for the rest of you, you missed out! HAHAHAHA!

Letter to nowhere...

2009-05-28T11:46:00.002-06:00

Dear Email Solicitor,

You are not my friend, don't be so presumptious as to call me friend! Your nice words and offers of lovely gifts, prizes and money will not make me drop my guard. If you were truly my friend you'd take the time to find out where I live, show up on my front door and bequeath me with a suitcase full of the money and prizes you claim to be holding on my behalf.
I will not reply to your email, open your attachment or call to buy your diet and cleanse products just because you're using nationally recognized corporatation names or the famous Dr Oz.
I will not believe I've won some kind of fabulous lottery that I haven't bought tickets for or that I am the beneficiary to someone I've never heard of.
I will not respond with the request for my checking account number or banks routing information. If you were truly my friend you wouldn't think I had stupid written all over my forehead.
These email solicitations you are sending me every day and sometimes every hour are a total waste of your time and mine! I AM SICK AND TIRED OF HEARING FROM YOU! Go away and leave me alone!

Sincerely,
Shara

It's what FUN is...

2009-05-24T14:17:00.007-06:00

For the 6th Grade DARE program Lagoon is closed to the general public so that DARE Graduates and their family/friends can enjoy a discounted rate and tons of FUN! This is what we did Friday and it was a BLAST!! We had so much fun I forgot to take pictures but here are some of what I did capture on film...

Shawna and Randi, Annie and Riley.

See my Facebook page for more pics from this fun adventure!

My Little Entertainers...

2009-05-21T20:22:00.004-06:00

We've finally run into a scheduling problem with our girls, I'm sure parents who have many children have run into this nightmare LONG before we have and I now feel your pain! Annie had a choir concert on Thursday at 7p, but had to be at the school by 630p. Shawna's school had their yearly 6th grade Shakespeare play which is HUGE for them, Shawna was cast as Lady Capulet and she really wanted us to all see her performance!! What to do?!?!? Luckily Shawna's class did a performance for the school on Wednesday morning so we took time off work, my mom took time off work and we checked Annie out of school (Surprise for Shawna!) to see the Wednesday performance. Then on Thursday night I rushed Shawna to her perfomance and stayed until it was over, I hurried her to the bathroom to change out of her costume and then we drove like crazy to JPJ and barely made it in time to see Annie! Luckily we worked it out so nobody missed out on either performance but boy was it tricky and tiring! WHEW! I'm glad that's over! And I can't wait until next year when they're in the same school again so these issues don't occur! I also guilted my sister into coming from Layton with her newborn and 5 year old to sit through Shawna's magnificent performance (because it was a big deal and no1 else was going to be there Thursday night) and like the champ my sister is she drove like mad to JPJ so she too could watch Annie's performance! I love you so much Becky! Thanks for your support! And now that I've rambled on and on the best part... PICTURES!

Shawna in full costume, what a beautiful Lady!

Annie surprised us with a solo, what a beautiful voice (hahahaha! you'd have to be there to get it! A one liner and she just spoke her "solo" but did a beautiful job!)

I'm such a proud momma! My girls truly shine and I'm so grateful for the young ladies they are becoming!

I love to read...

2009-05-19T21:34:00.002-06:00

I LOVE to read! I love sitting in a comfy chair, or relaxing on the couch, or just sitting at the kitchen table immersed in a book! I love absorbing the words on the page and becoming one with the story, I LOVE TO READ!

My most recent adventure was Recovering Charles by Jason F Wright,

I love this book! I also love a good deal, and this was less than $3.00 at Deseret Book! I only bought it because it was cheap and my sister said it was good, she was right! Thanks Becky! Anyone interested in borrowing it is welcome to it, or any other books on my shelves in our living room, just come on over!

Horses and Puppies

2009-05-17T15:53:00.004-06:00

We spent our Saturday in Heber with our friends, the Huntsman's. We

share horses with them, the brown one is Dolly and the

black is Stormy. We're hoping Dolly found LOVE

the other day with a STUD and if it all

worked out we'll have a little colt in about 11 months and 11 days! YAY!!

We also got to see some brand new puppies! There are 10 of them! I can't

imagine being prego with 10 babies but boy are these pups cute!

If anyone's interested let me know, I'd be happy

to call dibs on one for you!

Thanks again to the Huntsman family for letting us hang out with you, take you

away from your yard work and forcing you to feed our faces! LOL!

Mothers...

2009-05-09T09:11:00.006-06:00

I am so lucky to have the best 2 mothers in the world!

It seems like Darrell's mom has been in my life for ages! When we started dating (almost forever ago!) she accepted me like I was her own. I love her so much! She has been such a wonderful friend to me, one of my best friends no doubt! She is a fabulous Grandma and such a great example for my girls! I don't think she realizes what a strong and beautiful lady she is and I am humbled by her modesty. She is truly AMAZING! I love you so much Gladys, I hope you know what a huge part of my life you are!

(Gladys with her boys!)

In 1973 God blessed me with life and the best mother I could ever ask for! My mom, is so kind, she's gentle, sweet, considerate of others. She never has a bad or mean word to say about anyone! She is beautiful. She is such a great example of what I want to be. She is strong in her faith and she loves her family more then anything. She is an amazing wife, mother and grandmother! She is also such a great example for my kids as well as me! She is married to a wonderful man who is not always easy to live with (I must have followed in her footsteps! JK!) but mom thrives with him and she's always by his side! I hope she knows how much it means to me to have that example of unconditional love! I love both my parents sooooo much! I am so lucky to have such great people to call Mom and Dad and I just want them to know how much I love them both!

(My Mom and Dad with Brock, Annie, Shawna and Pooski at Lake Powell!)

I hope both of my moms have a wonderful Mother's Day! I love you both so much and I want to thank you for everything you've each done for me and my family! I am so blessed to have such awesome examples to live up to!

Basket Case? YES!!

2009-04-23T10:57:00.009-06:00

With Annie having a boyfriend I am a basket case! She's barely 13 years old, her text messages to him refer to "Handsome" or "Prince Charming" and they always have "I love you" or "I love you soooo much" or "I miss you!" Am I going crazy?!?! I don't think I had a boyfriend at this age that I talked to let alone wrote love you messages! AND the cutesy name thing is killing me! I'm soooo thankful that he moved to Virginia but I wonder what kind of closure is this going to leave her with when they "break up"? And then I look back on my experiences and think I wasn't much older then she is when I met Darrell (I keep telling myself I was WAY older, but almost 16 is less then 3 years older then she is now!) MY KIDS ARE GROWING UP WAY TOO FAST!!! And they think I'm lame! What happened to those sweet little girls that adored me and didn't want anything more then to spend time with me and Darrell? When did they stop believing that boys were bad? And what happened to our family rule, NO BOYFRIENDS UNTIL YOU'RE 30?!?!? I can't deal with boyfriends, this is going to kill me!

I miss the days when all she wanted to do was love on Pooh!

The first day of school! Precious!!

And the days when it was hard to whistle! (Shawna doesn't have a boyfriend yet, thank goodness!)

I'm stil trying to pound into this ones head that boys are bad!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

2009-04-22T09:37:00.005-06:00

Today is my wonderful hubbys birthday! I know he'll never read this blog but I just wanted to shout out and say how much I love this wonderful man! He is such a good husband! Who would have thought that when we started dating our Sophmore year of High School that we'd have made it this long! Guess I knew what I was doing (or he did!) I get to see the best side of him! He's always so tuff and gruff around people but I've seen him tear up watching "What a girl wants" and cuddling with our kids when they need a hug. Darrell is by far the more patient parent of the 2 of us! He's such a good daddy for our girls! He's kind and caring and he tries to keep me from loosing my temper too often (which is an amazing feat!) He works so hard and I give him such grief for the long hours he sometimes keeps. He takes pride in his work and he's successful at what he does! He loves his family! He's so close to his Mom (hard not to be when she's such a wonderful woman! Thanks to her I have this fabulous man!!) and he tries to keep in touch with his Dad which isn't always an easy task! His brothers all know they can count on Darrell if they need anything, and even though we don't get together often, when we do you'd never know that they don't see eachother every day because they're all so close! Darrell is truly a good man, I'm so blessed that he picked me to live his life with and I love him with all my heart! Happy Birthday Honey! I LOVE YOU!!!

Food for Fattys!!

2009-04-21T22:20:00.003-06:00

I'm living through recipes and pictures! These are DELICIOUS!! My sister asked for this recipe and I had to oblige, however, don't bring them to my house!

HOMEMADE OREO COOKIES

1 devil's food cake mix (any cake mix will use, lemon is good too!)
1/2 c. shortening
2 eggs
Mix the above ingredients together. Roll the dough into dime-sized balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool cookies.

FROSTING:
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 square butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 to 4 c. powdered sugar
Mix all of frosting ingredients until smooth. You can also use premade frosting found in the cake section of the grocery store, it's just as good! Frost BACKS of cookies and place together to make sandwich cookie.

Working Out!

2009-04-17T17:32:00.004-06:00

I've worked out 2 days in a row! Killed more then 600 calories each day and I'm feelin' pretty good about myself! I've been keeping my food log and yesterday I killed more calories working out then what I ate for breakfast and lunch combined! That's pretty awesome! My muscles are really sore (Thanks Raylnne for kicking my butt yesterday!) but I didn't let that stop me from going this afternoon! I can't wait for Monday when I hit the gym again!

I'm gonna do it!

2009-04-16T10:02:00.002-06:00

I'm so tired of being overweight, of feeling bad when I eat, of letting myself down because I stood on the scale and again it's not changing (or it's changing towards the wrong end!) I'm tired of taking blood pressure medicine and aspirin. I'm tired of getting naked and feeling like I need to hide my body from my husband because I hate the way I look! I'm tired of putting on pants that are too small because I can't bear buying another pair of bigger ones! I've done it before, lost 20 pounds and then I jumped back to where I am now, I don't know why, just laziness?!?! It's frustrating to see, and I'm tired of being the example I am to my kids! Today is the day! I'm making the change! I'm going to meet with my trainer today at 4pm, I'm going to work my butt off (and hopefully some of my stomach and thighs and arms and back fat and I can go on and on!) and I'm keeping a food log of every single thing I stick in my mouth! Today I'm gonna do it! I'm on my way to losing weight but most importantly I'm on my way to feeling better about myself and the example I'm setting for my kids!