Nothing Like Your Girlfriends!

You know, I can't say enough how fortunate I feel to have such awesome girlfriends in my life! You just need them to get through all life's challenges & obstacles! This group here in particular has been a very important part of my life & know we will be friends until we're gray & old (wait, I all ready am!! :}). OK, 'til we're so old we can't even remember how much fun we had over the years! :} (this is when it's handy to have all those pictures & things! :}) This would be Connie (aka: Jones), Laci (Connie's niece), Monica (aka: Moni or Lil' One), Abrea (Monica's daughter), and myself . I first met them when I started working at Principal Financial Group. Monica was kind enough to hire me despite the fact I had a wedding in less than 2 weeks from then. Connie was helping her run the mail room & had to help train me (despite first thinking she was a tough chick that may beat me up if I wasn't nice! :} Boy...was I wrong! It must have just been the big hair...yea, we definately went through some big hair days/years!!...we'll hold off on those pictures for now! :}). We had so many good laughs in that mailroom alone...like the time I was teasing Connie about something, and instead accidently knocked over the big mail bin & screamed bloody murder (it was a big crash!). Or when she was looking out the window just in time to watch me completely trip on my own feet...she got a great laugh out of that one! Yea, they soon found out what a clutz I was & still tease me to this day! In just 16 years, it feels like we've been through so much together! Especially watching Laci & Abrea go through their teenage years & grow into adults! (as well as having our other kids & continuing to watch them grow too fast before our eyes!). I couldn't imagine life without them!

Sharing Laci's wedding together (and what a gorgeous bride she was!)

We enjoyed a roadtrip to Vegas to celebrate her Bachlorette Party

16 years of celebrating Christmas together

They always throw a great Halloween Bash every year!

You can GUARANTEE it will be a night of laughs when we're together!

Sharing the birth of our babies together

We've had some great get-aways to Wendover together!

Here's to many more great memories ahead....Love you girls!!

Old Folks & My Great Uncle Bob

There's something about older people that I think everyone really ought to respect & appreciate! And they're just so darn cute! Besides how many great stories they have to tell....think of all the things they've witnessed over time & how amazing it must be to see so many changes over their lifetime! I wish I realized this when I was younger. I'm afraid to say I wasn't very nice to my elder teachers (like Mr. Woods at Twin Peaks who we'd mess with him & his hearing aid all the time. Or Ms. Skelton at Bonneville Jr. High & how we'd move the desks around just to confuse her, for one thing. Being that I had an appt. with her & my dad every Thursday for the remainder of the school year had to be a sign I wasn't very cooperative!). I wish I could apologize to them now! I learned to have more respect for them when I was working at Ponderosa & many became my regulars for years (yea, 10 years at good ol' Pondo..and when some came every day, you would get to know them!). I sure miss many of them & how much they would brighten my day getting the chance to talk to them all the time! My dad thought it was funny that we had so many of our customers at our wedding; but, they really were all like family to us!

Anyway, one of my most favorite, and certainly one of the cutest, was my Great Uncle Bob. The "National Treasure" as he called himself. He passed away in 2005 at the ripe age of 96. I can't say enough how much I loved being around him, he had such a great sense of humor & the best stories to share!! So let me tell you a bit about Uncle Bob..he is certainly someone I wish you all got to know! His wife, Aunt Winni, passed away when they were still young. As hard as this was, he learned then he needed to take care of himself. He had an incredible garden (oh we'd love to run through it all the time!), he learned to cook very well (his homeade ice cream was the best!). He'd often have the family over for family parties & we very much enjoyed his cooking! He even brought his homemade chocolate chip cookies to his own 90th Birthday Party! I thought it was funny to hear at his funeral about how he would always take the stairs....he told his son-in-law that he'd start taking the elevator "when he was old". I'll always remember how he'd often take us cross country skiing with him when we were younger too & talked about enjoying the sports cars as they starting coming around (apparently he was a little speed racer back in his day :}). He was an Army Veteren in World War II & received a Bronze Star for courage. He was particularly proud of the time he got to meet General Eisenhower when he was the "Radar" (you know, from M*A*S*H) of the troop. When he found out he was from Utah, and asked if he was mormon, Uncle Bob proudly said yes & General Eisenhower said something to the sort of what good people they are & for his leaders to take good care of him! Of course he has many more stories; but, I think of him often & how much I appreciated his kindness towards our family. I hope you all have an "Uncle Bob" in your life...if not, I bet you could find one at the nearest retirement home. You know there's plenty of stories to be told & a lot to learn by the old folks!!

So glad my kids got a chance to know him a bit & hear some of his stories! Plus they always loved how much candy they always got when they went to his house!

At his 90th Birthday Party

He always treated my dad (who was his nephew) like his own. Since Grandma lived in California, I think he made extra effort to know we had family here too!

Enjoying a family birthday party together

Uncle Bob with his family

Finally.....the new couches arive

So, now that the party is over...we can bring in the new furniture (we're not stupid after all! :}). It was actually supposed to be delivered tomorrow; but, came in a week early. So, once again, our neighbor, Paul, saves the day & lets us use his garage for a night. As long overdue as this was (and trust me, we had the same torn up thing since we first lived together 19 years ago!), it wasn't our intention to get it right now. We had our budget for the patio & planned to finalize it with the new seating area we had visioned. But, while searching about EVERY furniture store in the city the past month (have I told ya how I just hate shopping? It's so exhausting! I mean, don't get me wrong....it's fun to get new stuff; but, spending $ is just not fun either really!)...we never really could decide and found ourselves looking at all the living room sets too while we were at it. We were really impressed with the new store in the area, Ashley Furniture..I would suggest you check it out if you need something. It's not just "cheap" stuff, just much less expensive (the way I like it!). So, for now atleast, our old stuff is now on the back patio (the old one)...which fits & works for now since all that stuff went to the new patio. But, my ? is....does that make us "White Trash" by definition now :} (isn't that what they say?) Or is it the fridge in the garage that does that? j/k...I could care less...it's just always a joke if we are in fact there sometimes! :}

BIG DADDY'S CHAIR! (it's so comfy too!)

Random Thoughts....

You know when you're kids say the darndest things & you think, I ought to write those down before I forget...well, I say that often. So, if I remember, I will put them in the blog. Here's a recent one that will make you smile...

• Kaley likes to say the blessing before we eat (she'll fight over it even if Dylan dares & tries to take a turn! :}) What's so cute is how she'll say it...Dear "Emily" Father. When the brothers have tried to correct her, she gets very demanding saying "His name IS Emily!" So there!! :} She also just makes me smile everytime because of who she'll bless.."bless our family & friends, and especially mommy's friends" (aparently she thinks they need extra blessings?). Or specifically, she blesses Tracy (oh how she loves Tracy!). Or when we've said in the past to bless certain families going through hardships, she'll still randomly add them in..like just the other day she randomly blessed Kelly's family (friend of ours that we grew up who passed away in December) or the Prince Family (Tanya who passed away this year). I hope she always stays this sweet!!

My sister, Sherrie, always likes to throw out these sayings (yea, runs in the family!). A few that I think of often, and will always remember her by...

• "Peace, Love & Family Home Evening"
• "When you're down & out, lift your head & shout...I'M A PRECIOUS POO POO!"
• "What do you think it is, YOUR BIRTHDAY?!"

I have a question: What is it about the free samples at Costco that are so darn exciting? You would have thought we were going to Lagoon when I told the kids we had to drop by there the other day. And God forbid if you missed an aisle that may have had someone with samples! I really do feed them...you would think they were starving or something! Which this goes for the dentist/dr. too....Kaley in particular gets VERY excited to go (she even had to wear her pretty dress on the last visit & was counting down the days until we got to go). Now I realize Dr. Pond would say it was just to see him-he is a great & hillarious guy; but, no offense....it's really all about the prize! That silly 5 cent object that becomes one of the many pieces of junk you have to clean out of the toy box.

There's so many classic Saturday Night Live skits; but, I have to say one of my favorites is Jack Handy & his "Deep Thoughts". Here's just a few of many

• "I'm good enough, I"m smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like me!"
• If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did".
• I think my new thing will be to try to be a real happy guy. I'll just walk around being real happy until some jerk says something stupid to me.
• I wonder if angels believe in ghosts.
• I hope that someday we will be able to put away our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people.
• Sometimes life seems like a dream, especially when I look down and see that I forgot to put on my pants.
• Instead of studying for finals, what about just going to the Bahamas and catching some rays? Maybe you'll flunk, but you might have flunked anyway; that's my point.
• One thing that makes me believe in UFOs is, sometimes I lose stuff.
• I hope, when they die, cartoon characters have to answer for their sins.

Hope somewhere in there you got a good laugh...now go back to work would ya?! :}

More Party Pics

My good friend, Connie, sent over her pictures from the party, just had to add a few of them here. Memories, memories....always good to have! (I know, I just can't get enough pictures, huh?! :})

I mentioned these 2 earlier: Beth & Tony. I just can't say enough how cute they were & I just thought this picture was so sweet. I gave her the "Ms. America" crown for being the best dancer. I realize having down syndrome is a handicap, and can not be easy by any means; but, again, to have the kind of outlook they do & enjoy such simplicities in life could only be something we should all strive for!

Me & Connie (Jonesy I like to call her)

Laci & Nick

My brother, Glenn, with our dog, Toby

ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL ANNUAL BASH!!

Happy 4th of July!
God Bless America & the Freedom we are so fortunate to have!!

With complete trueness to our moto in life to Live Well, Laugh Often & Love Much...I believe we succeeded that task just last night alone!! We really look foward to this night every year (despite the exhausting work that it takes to pull it off!)...it's ALL WORTH IT!! I have to say big kudos goes to Doug's buddy, Alex, who so kindly offered to bring over the 3 inflateables for us to use. Who knew the adults could actually have funner in those bouncy things than the kids?! (they might beg to differ; but, I'm sure every one of us adults who tried it were all laughing hysterically!!) Especially since by the time we got to them it was dark & really the only way of knowing who was there was by their blinky necklace & the dim lights outside...which then I also must give big kudos to Jeff & Carla (Jeff, "The Glowstick Man"), who also rocked with giving everyone there their own! It was actually pretty cool when we were out doing fireworks & seeing everyone's going off. Who says they are just for kids?!! :} And speaking of fireworks..wow, lots of people brought some & our show went on for a while!! I realize that gets a little scary every year with so many people; but, no injuries so we're good (well, none that I know of :}). And we can't forget giving kudos to Doug's brother, Greg, who does most of the BBQing for us every year! (when Doug had to be somewhere else! :}) It was nice to finally put the new patio to use! Despite a family dinner on it, that was it's first initiation! And it survived! We still have things to finish-the pond & posts will be next year's project; but, it's done for this year & we're loving it all ready! It's been a lot of work, but well worth it! The best part of the night though was just being amongst so many people we truly love & adore & mean a lot to us!! We are so grateful, and feel fortunate, to have so many that care about us as a family....we hope you know how much that means to us!! (even those of you who unfortunately couldn't make it...we missed you!). So, with so many pictures of the eventful night (yea, I tend to get carried away when it comes to pictures..they don't call me Ms. Kodak for nothin'! :}), I just picked out a few of the bunch to share here for now...should sum up the night for the most part! :}

The BBQ Masters at work!

Cute Lil' Jazzy Sleeping Away! (Amazing how babies can sleep through anything!)

Finally taking a little break with a few of the Jazzer-Babes!

So good to see Abrea again...who recently came home from Iraq this year! She is one example, of many, as to why we are so lucky to live in the country we do. We're proud of you 'Brea...thank you for serving our country! God Bless Our Soldiers!!

This was a "No, she's MY Shauna" moment (boy, do I feel special! :})

Our friends from Jazzercise: Shauna & Beth Livingston, and Beth's boyfriend, Tony. They are so cute! I was just enjoying watching them dance & their excitement for the night's events. She was so excited & he was such a gentleman too! Shauna is such a great mom to her too! I love having them at class!!

As fun as the night was, the hard part was saying Good Bye (for now, until they visit!) to our close friends, Natalie & Eric, who are moving to Portland this week. You understand life takes us all on our own adventures; but, it's always hard to see someone you care about so much go away! We'll miss you guys terribly!!

My sister, Sherrie, really thought I WANTED to give her a piggy back ride! :}

The 3 Inflateable Bouncy Things...certainly entertaining!

My dear friends: Connie, Laci & Abrea, Sherrie & I; having all kinds of fun in the bouncy thing!

Doug even got in for a bit!

SURE DO LOVE TIME WITH THE FRIENDS!!










IT'S GREAT TO HAVE SUCH AWESOME NEIGHBORS TOO!