My sunshine Katherine

Today we took the annual trip to Kiddie Kandids for Katherine's Birthday picture. She turned 2 on the 11th. To preface it...I told her this morning that we needed to get dressed to go take pictures. So we are all dressed ready to go at the back door, and she yells something to me in katherine language and runs....she comes back with daddy's camera case for taking pictures...genius. So I told her to leave it we are doing different pictures. We had 45 min to wait at the mall so we played and she started looking at all the other kids pictures on the wall and started to copy their pose (hand on cheek, hand on chin...it was cute). So now it's our turn, and she clings to me like saran wrap (this is gona be fun). But within minutes we just had to show her the cute "katherine chair" and her job was to sit and smile...OH MY GOSH...she was in her element! Unbelievable! We took 6 pictures in 5 minutes with 2 different backgrounds. AWESOME! And you can witness for yourself, she was pretty good in each one. I am the luckiest mom to get such a beautiful little girl. Her twinkle just brightens my day, whenever things might not be so great...i.e.....driving 30min north to ogden to get my $60 refund from the campus bookstore, and they were closed only today!! GGRRR...thank heaven I have a piece of heaven, and her name is Katherine.

Betty Crocker

For the most part, I have a pit in my stomach every monday morning. Kids ran their way out of the house to school. The man is already gone before we really get moving. And I start my day looking at the weekend tornado that hit.

my house is at the end of this road

There was not one room in this house of ours where the carpet was visible. And I am the lucky one to sit amongst the mess all day. So supermom charges the batteries and away I go! But wait, I have 2 girls, who literally snuck in right behind as I left each room, to see how much more damage they can do. Are you kidding me? It's monday, I already have no patience for anything let alone terrors running around my ankles to create more nonsense! The magazines/scriptures on the table were no longer on the table, water is running in the bathroom, toilet paper on the floor, water is spilled on the kitchen table, and on the counter, amongst 4 night nights and 2 baby dolls in my walking path! Whew I'm getting all wound up just talking about it. Ok so by noon, I was done. No matter what I told both girls to go laydown in their room....well i knew sleeping was not going to take place, but at least they were confined to one room. I then cleaned the carpets in the living room, and forgot the boys had a half day all week. So they were home early. I needed to run to get cinnamon at the store, so I left for a bit....have i mentioned I can't find the van keys....yeah can't find them, so i'm stuck with allen's car......Well, because it was my LUCKY DAY after shopping, I returned to my car with a dead battery!! Wow I love Mondays. Thanks to a great friend who answered to the call of desperation, she gave me a jump and I was on my way home.

See, I knew all those times in high school when I had to jump the van just to go home, would pay off one day

So amongst the chores in the morning I started a batch of bread. Yes this is so out of my league, but I did it last week and it worked, and everyone ate it, so I thought to try it again. So I have 2 loaves of bread rising, zucchini bread baking (an attemt for the gals I visit teach, cuz there won't be much visiting ;) and well why stop there, I made biscuits for dinner. So even after spending the morning cleaning the kitchen, it still looked like betty crocker threw up all over my counter. But it's all good. So good we ate it! The man was impressed. Thank you Betty for pulling the best out of me yesterday.

Happy 11 yrs. to us!!

Holy cow! 11yrs really? September 26, 1997 That's unbelievable. What a journey we've been on. Allen took the day off to be at home with me and the girls. We went on a bike ride (no bike, I ran) and played with the girls at the park. It was a nice change. My wonderful brother Jared and his wife Lindsey were willing to take the kids for us overnight. (the best birthcontrol they'll ever get!!) So we jetted away to beautiful park city, utah for the day. Oh, how we've needed a break. Stress, money, kids, stress, money, kids....is that how it goes...yep! So we've been so worn. We loved staying in our room and doing NOTHING!! It was great. Today we took it easy and drove up to the top of a mountain. There really is nothing better than the mountains of utah in the fall. Incredible. We noticed the road at the top kept going, so we went for an adventure and found ourselves on the backside of the mountain into heber city and midway. It was so breathtaking and beautiful. It was better just to be with Al and be us for a time. What's provo canyon without a stop at bridal veil falls....still beautiful. It was a great day. We do have pictures but because we have an AWESOME computer that WILL NOT let us download ANYTHING, they will be added later! Once again , i love techology. Thanks man for a wonderful getaway, jared and lindsey for putting up with the chitlins'.....photos coming soon....

My old stomping grounds

I guess you could say my saturday was not my typical saturday.
First I was awake early enough that it was still dark.
Second my day consisted of sitting for a total of 14 hrs!

And third, it is possible to travel from woods cross to boise and back in one day.

Allen's mom Mary (this was the only picture I had of her)

and I had regional training in boise for

Training was absolutely amazing. And we had a great time. It's not a trip to nampa without going to the karcher ranch market. Yummy stuff. Oh, as well as Hobby Center where I could spend hours just staring at all the craft projects. It is a crafters heaven!! We swung by quickly to say hello to a few of my friends and then we were...On the road again.....

Thanks to the man

who is amazing. He didn't flinch or complain about being with the kids all day!! Kids were fed, dressed, dishes were done, and drum roll please......HE EVEN CLEANED THE FRIDGE!!! I think he's found his element ;)

What a catch I've gotten! Love ya man.

PS...after I got home, I realized it was the exact same saturday 1 year ago that we moved down to bountiful...pretty crazy...eh?

I LOVE FM 100!!!

For a first post THIS ONE IS AMAZING!
I've been cleaning up the house, for most of the morning, fed the girls and put katherine down for a nap. I was in need of quiet time. So I plopped on the bed with the computer and looked at the clock...it was 1:20! Fm 100 here in salt lake has an "at work song of the day contest"(....um yes I was at my work, at home with my girls working all morning!!! And I have a home based business, i qualified!) You can register online and they'll show you the song of the day and the hour that it will be played. Today was U2 "With or without you" between 1-2. I had amy quickly turn the radio on while I was quickly looking for the song and a phone number. In case there still was a chance, I'd be ready. Sure enough before I can find the number the song starts playing. I quickly grabbed the house phone and the cell phone and started the mass dialing. Now yesterday. I waited around for 45 min for the song of the day, and called 25 times on my cell alone! No luck! Today, by the 3rd try on the cell it was ringing....oh my gosh I didn't know how to react to a non busy signal. So I kept the house phone calling just incase i was caller 9! (the winner was caller 10) Then my new best friend Bob Nelson said hello and immediately WHAT CALLER AM I? came shooting out of my mouth. I was number 10!!!! In my head iIwas thinking it was all a vision of what would happen if i did win...but for reals it was real. And guess what? Monday-Friday the winner gets 500 bucks...but on Thursdays which is today....I WON $1000!!! WAH WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! I looked pretty ridiculous jumping on the floor from room to room. So what does one do when there's great news and no one to tell? You call the sister. Thanks James for sticking around...it was fun! She heard me on the internet. I love technoloogy...(work with me napoleon) So to all the moms.....listening to the radio alarm while in your bed cuz you dont want to start your day does pay off! Man do I love U2!!