From small and simple things...

The Distracted Blogger

2009-01-03T22:14:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know....I have fallen into the same group of those who I once mocked for not blogging. How sad. I was good. Doing so good until I succomed to the Facebook. Oh, what a bad fun addiction. Thus my own personal following of my friends became more important than journaling of our wonderful family. Great resolution for 2009. I want my followers to come back and follow me. So here is our family Christmas/New years 2008 wrap up for your entertainment.

When we look back at the year 2008, we can’t believe all that has happened, and all that we have survived! To kick off the year right we moved once again to a home we hope to buy in Woods Cross. Nothing better than moving 2 times in 5 months. It has been such a blessing to be here. The kids walk to school, Allen walks to the station (express train that takes him right to downtown), and church is 2 blocks away. What more could we ask for! We live in an older established neighborhood with fabulous neighbors. It seems no one here knows how to move..maybe some of that can rub off on us!

Wesley is now 10, and Andrew is 8 years old. They were so amazing last year attending 3 different elementary schools! They handled the transition very well and made friends no matter where they were. They attend a year round school now, and have enjoyed the frequent breaks throughout the year. Wesley is doing well in math and science, and Andrew loves reading and math. Both of them were able to play basketball and baseball and seem to have their father’s love for sports. In August Andrew was baptized. He missed it in July by 1 day. He was so ready and had a hard time waiting 1 more month. Wes and Andrew are always there when we need them to help. They are amazing boys.

Amy is now 4, and Katherine is 2 years old. Wow, what a dynamic duo! They were born with cleaning instincts and would really rather clean and help in the house then play with toys. Believe you me, I am trying to keep it while I got it! They also were born with a great shopping ability. Where did they get that from???? ;) Amy really does think and act a lot older than her young years of 4. We get a quick flash of her teenage years a little too often. She is so smart and dying to get to Kindergarten. September cannot come quick enough for her. Katherine is an amazing addition to the girls in the house. Her vocabulary is increasing everyday, whether its good words or bad words. She loves to help out just like Amy does. Katherine is the snuggler of the family. Everyone loves holding her, and she loves the love’n

Jen’s year has been one of growth. A LOT OF GROWTH! After the family was settled in the beginning of the year, she registered for 2 classes at Weber State during the summer. At the same time she was serving as a Counselor in the Young Womens. Also at the same time we came across an incredible opportunity to create a plan B for our family. So she started working ACN from home, a telecommunications company. This last year was also the first time she was able to get away by herself, not once, but 3 times! The Young Women went river rafting in Flaming Gorge this summer. Then she had an international convention for ACN in New Jersey, and Anaheim. Once summer was over, she shifted her focus to ACN. The company will be featured on Celebrity Apprentice on NBC on March 22nd. 2009 is going to be a big year. She has been so blessed to have Allen’s support in everything and also be able to stay home with the children.

Allen has been working for fidelity, and really has done well. It’s nice that he doesn’t have to drive in traffic anymore. He come’s home much happier. He likes his job and they treat him well. He will start a new position in the company on January 5th, as a Self Directed Broker. Fidelity had a softball team in the spring, so Allen jumped on that opportunity and played ball for them. He is serving as a Ward Missionary right now at church, a calling he has never had before. It has been neat for him to meet and associate with our neighbors who are less active, as well as the full-time missionaries.

May you have a great and prosperous 2009. We send our love to you and your family.

The Norton Family
December 2008

The Rush Home

2008-10-21T10:32:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning I was very very tired to be driving in a car. Yet, anxiety can keep one awake for a while. I was not going to be settled until we were in the vicinity of Layton. In my head I figured Layton is a reasonalbe time difference away that if trajedy were to hit us, someone could come to our rescue. You see, sunday was stake conference. It is actually our first one here in Woods Cross. I was asked to be the accompaniest for the Youth Choir that was singing for stake conference. I love playing for the choir. I've always liked playing in the spotlight, but yet hiding behind a huge instrument. So you see if there is no piano player it could get kind of stressful. I was to be at the regional center by 1pm. In a 5hr drive, many things have proven to cause delays.....puke, potty breaks, gasoline refills, road detours, snow storms, flat tires...the sky's the limit.

So anxiety, yes yes yes, I had anxiety. Somehow the husband, who is a classic case of anxiety, was absolutely calm and without any worries. WHAT!??

In case no one has heard yet, prayers are answered, even the smallest of get me home in time to be able to play without making a huge mistake infront of the whole stake. All was well. For the most part the whole family was ready to go in 1hr bathed and all. The husbands support is just amazing. He dropped me off on a beyond empty tank of gas, finished getting the kids ready, and put the roast in the oven, just in time to walk in on the opening prelude number.

Good Friends

2008-10-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

Looking back in retrospect of my life, I have always been blessed to have good friends. And now I know what a blessing that is in my life. California I had great friends that stuck from elementary school through high school. And I made new friends in high school. Moving on to Utah I made new friends in Lindon, and the singles ward, and at the places I worked. Then as life progressed on with Allen we moved. Those who know us know we moved OFTEN. As the family grew, it became annoying to move so often. But this weekend, I was able to recognized that moving so often was not annoying, yet an incredible blessing that not too many people receive. Each place we moved to we took new friends with us. Friends are what keep us glued together. To be able to move on to a new place, a new journey. Friends stick to us like glue. No matter where we are! I love my friends.

Friday we were lucky enough to see many of our "Idaho" friends. Carrie and Paul Jensen were sealed in the temple as a family for all eternity. The greatest piece of heaven one can ever witness is seeing a husband and wife sealed to each other and then their children. Beautiful just doesn't begin to describe it. The Jensens are friends that are glued to us forever....sorry jensens... In order to have gone to the temple I needed help watching the kids . My great friend Becky found herself busy, (she originally was going to take all 4 kids! great friend, yes she is) so I needed to find back up plans rather quickly. Jodie came to my rescue with the girls, and Janet took the boys. Kim stopped by Jodie's as I was gathering kids. I was in desperate need of a hair makeover and Gretchen was willing to come to my rescue with her ridiculous schedule that she has. We changed our traveling plans and I was unable to visit with her...but I have to make mention of her because great friends come to rescue when makeovers are necessary! Hotel LaFord is where we shacked up for the weekend. (LaFords are original "St. George" friends now "Idaho" friends) Friday night saturday morning was our itinerary but somehow making eggrolls and playing cards til 130am made us want to stay longer! Saturday we all hung out in Boise at the Discovery Center where we ran into more "Idaho" friends the Lancasters. Once again we played cards until 12am and talked until 2 am. 645am came rather early and we headed home.

A 5 hour drive, hay fields, and cow farms can cause you to ponder on alot of things. This trip taught me gratitude. Gratitude for a Father in Heaven who has blessed me with an eternal family, eternal friendships, and eternal lessons of gratitude. Gratitude Attitude...isn't that the saying?

stay tuned pictures will come in the near future!

Thanks Jamie

2008-10-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

What does a crazy stay at home mom do to unwind?

I knew you would ask.....

Which one is which? Pretty trippy, eh?

http://www.yearbookyourself.com/

check it out for some good mom let down time

Thanks to the other family members who tackled this website first and shared the laughs.

A visit to Grama J

2008-10-06T08:55:00.001-07:00

Sunday night we all headed down to provo to give grama a blessing. She keeps finding her way to just about every floor of that dang hospital now. ENOUGH ALREADY GRAMA! She is in Medical ICU this time and the kids had to wait in the waiting room until we were ready to go in. Simon says and many trips to the bathroom was our choice of entertainment. Once Jazzy and Jared showed up, we were able to go see grama. She slept the whole time, didn't even know we were there. Terri has grama's room all decked out for Halloween. That's aunt terri. So it's not a visit with Aunt Terri without Nilla wafers and Oreos. She stocked the kids up again as well as all the left over decorations got sent home with us. They can't wait to put them up. And the highlight of the night was all of us made it down the elevator to the 1st floor without Amy!!! We made it back up, she was still there with Terri, she walked in the elevator and with her hand on her hip said..."berry funny guys!" man....got to love that child!

Yes I claim all 4 of these kids.........

...but really don't they look like they belong to Jared???

I Believe..

2008-10-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

Why is it every 6 months I find myself desperately needing a spiritual refill? Funny, huh? Conference weekend, wow, I was a sponge soaking up almost everything I heard. Saturday morning was my very favorite. For the first time on every session I found myself saying...is that it, it's over already? Now it might have taken me 31 years to say that, but needless to say, my spiritual well has been past the drought stage. I'm going to work on being better. That's my part. During all the commotion of papers, crayons, tears, "hey that's where I was sitting" moments, the kids actually were also listening. They kept picking up on some of the articles of faith quoted during some of the talks. Amy is so proud because she knows #1. They also loved the childrens choir saturday afternoon. Amy loved singing along, and you could find Katherine leading the music, that's what she loves to do! They are good kids. It was great fall, rainy, cold, utah weather. Nothing but sweats and blankets and lots of chocolate for us. Love conference weekend! Ok, and here's a new sign for me to make....."Come what may, and Love It!" thank you Elder Wirthlin.

PS......did anyone else see this on the news??It came through my house again! Gosh, 2 weekends in a row...I am going to start loving mondays one day the way this keeps going ;)....and the man has an interview at work today to move up to investments...exciting!!!

2008-10-01T23:12:00.000-07:00

2 Words for you

Free Handbag

That's music to my ears...check out this site to make your ears sing too

http://handbagplanet.com!

I'm not bragging...but

2008-10-01T22:37:00.000-07:00

Ok, so please add a dozen whole wheat herb pita bread to that betty crocker list.....and the weeks not over yet.

Yes they are soooo tasty. I impressed myself. Never knew how to make a pocket..the man helped put them in the oven. He was my timer.

I knew I needed to document this for the whole world because there is a

very very very high chance this event may never happen again!!

After 11 years of attempting bread...I can make bread...yessssssssss

My sunshine Katherine

2008-09-30T14:12:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-30T07:53:00.000-07:00

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!!

2008-09-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-22T09:14:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-09-18T15:25:00.000-07:00

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!!