The Best Thanksgiving Ever 2007 !!

I am sure everybody would agree in my family. That year was a favorite Thanksgiving memory!

IT SNOWED TODAY!!

Its a winter wonderland...........

Taia says Hey won't someone please come out and lets build a snow man. Her white plastic ball was in front of her and she was nudging it to build a snowball.

We had planned on decorating the tree and when the snow started coming down it just put us more in the spirit, a perfect day for it to snow!!! Burr we will just stay inside and keep warm. We checked the chimney flume and the fireplace was all good to go, this is just the beginning of many fires in the future this season. Yea!!!

15 years at Icon

On Nov 15, it will be my 15Th year anniversary date for working at Icon. Can you believe it? I remember saying that very first year many times "Oh I am not planning on working here much longer, what have I gotten myself into working for this company." There was a meeting with the whole Returns Center and Me and my Mom were both awarded with a Gold medallion and Sams/Wal-mart gift cards. The years have gone so fast!!!

Thankful

WOW another year is coming to an end. I have so many things that I am thankful for, I am thankful for a lot of the good in my life and for my family and friends. I have made some new friends this past year, and some friendships have just gotten stronger. I want to thank everyone in my family because at one time or another they have helped me at sometime.

I would like to start off the first of this month and say thank you to Brian and Braxton. I am so blessed to have them in my life. They are such support to me, they are more support to me than I am to them I think. They are both good listeners and they show me understanding when I need to ramble on about my trials and issues. Being the only girl in a family of all boys hasn't been a easy life, its been a lonely life.

We have had quite a year these past 11 months. When Brian got layed off on January 9th, I knew this was going to be a hard year. We have had our ups and downs other years but this year has been hard and has made us grow in areas that I think we needed the most. Brian has never complained to me ever about not having a job. He has been strong this whole year, he gets down and discouraged but he is always there for me. I try to be patient and remember that I still have a job and give him positive encouragement. We joke that he is the AM. mom and I am the PM. mom, he has helped take care of Braxton and Taia during the day and some of the household duties. That has helped me alot because it has taken the pressure off of me. He gets Braxton up and off to school and drives him to the Jr. High and picks him up everyday. That alone has taken stress off of my shoulders that I used to have to deal with when he was working.


I hope to post more thoughts and feelings too on the blog in the future. I just wanted everyone to know how thankful I am just for the simple things of life.

Fall Choir Concert

Braxton is in the Celtic choir at his Jr. High which is an all Boys choir. He had his first concert tonight, the music teacher said they were all nervous because it was there very first concert but they sang really well. The whole choir has to wear identical shirts and ties and black pants. There next concert is in December which I am excited for and I plan on recording, I hope they sing some good favorite Christmas carols so plan on a future posting for that one.But when Me and Brian were on our way to the school, to take Braxton because we had to have him there a hour early before the concert, the Compass wouldnt start. There was no sign of that one coming at all. My mom and dad were going to the concert as well so they gave us a ride. Thanks to my brothers Tim and Nathan while we were at the concert they were buying me a new battery, they put the new one in and when the concert was over the Compass was running as good as new.

CSI- A HALLOWEEN STORY by BRAXTON

(I like the TV series CSI Miami and Bones, I wanted to reenact a case for fun. )The call came in on my cell phone around 9:30 am on a Saturday on Oct 3rd about a body that was found in a forest area. I am a crime scene investigator for UT. My mom had to drive me to the scene of the accident because of course I cant drive she is also my witness. I needed to look over the scene for clues and try to figure out what happened.
I found the murder weapon it was a knife and the body was now all skeletal remains. It appears that the victim was a female, and she was stabbed in the chest, the murderer put a pirate necklace on the victim which tells me that he wanted to leave his mark.

Well I got a call and I need to leave and get the body's remains back to the Jeffersonian Institute. I also wanted to say that I am a Forsenic Anthropologist. Goodbye!

What happened on Oct 1st

Today I decided to take the whole day off because in my area at work it has been really slow, I feel lucky that I did because around 1:00pm Brian discovered I had a flat tire. Look at the size of that screw!!

This is a picture of the new tire where the flat one was. I didnt end up fixing just one tire the Compass got all four new shoe tires today. I really had no choice the tires where getting bad and I planned on replacing them but not till November. Oh well, I at least made it till the First day of October one month to go!! I just hope nothing else happens this month but you never know......Just BEWARE to everyone this month !!

School picture 8th

What's up?

I decided about a month ago that I wanted a change with my hairstyle along with the change in weather. I guess I was "Falling" for a change in my appearance or something. The Fall season always works magic on me every year it stimulates me somehow. So on Sat the 19th I got my hair cut short up to my collarbone and I colored my own hair to a medium brown. What do you think? I got a lot of compliments on the color at work which surprised me and I am deciding that maybe I will consider Out with the dishwater blonde and In with the brown. Why not?
Okay onto another story last night I was in the kitchen dishing us all up some ice cream when all of a sudden there was a loud bang that scared Me and Braxton to death. Braxton was standing next to me hiding from Brian, so me and Braxton were like what the heck!!! I turned around scared and than my expression changed to pure laughter. (I still get a chuckle about it still) There is Brian standing with a Disneyland souvenir Mickey Mouse hat on his head, a sword and a shield and he has a funny expression on his face.....probably because he sees my expression. Than the fight begins right in the kitchen these two are sword playing. I am in the middle of it and I am laughing the whole time. A hour ago this had all just started out as a tickle fight, it than got carried off into the back bedroom out of my sight. These two were no doubt having fun in there creative make believe world of Final Fantasy games Braxton was White Mage and Brian was Freelancer, that's what they told me.

Yard Work and Such

(There is no particular reason for posting today, only this is what we have been up to for the past month) A couple of weeks ago Me and Brian were out pruning back long tree branches on a lot of the trees and cleaning up the yard, to get ready for the sale. The huge pile of branches in the back! (waiting for the dumpster to haul them off)

Taia was helping us and she was having fun with the branches at the same time. I bet she thought "Oh my gosh look at my big stick to chew on", we were having fun with her too!

Taia and the kitten next door are best friends, the kitten comes over a lot to play with Taia. They spend a lot of time with each other, its really cute!! I promise the kitten is not trying to get away from Taia like a big scare-de cat how it looks in the picture.

Hanging out on the back deck with the screen door closed.

The Yard Sale!

I had a great advertising team McKenna and Braxton they stood down at the corner and waved Hi to cars and held signs! They did a good job they deserved a rest!! (I got around to adding the pictures I took when it was over)

All the clothes that I still had leftover. We were getting ready to take everything back in the house.

Our FREE stuff on the sidewalk after the sale for anybody to take at there own will.

Just some odd stuff that didnt get sold, but very bare compared to when we started.

The sale was a success , we were so busy with people that I completely forgot to take pictures, we had people coming and coming there just wasn't a second that I could even think about it! But everything got sold except for alot of clothes, the TVS, love seat and recliner chair. It was alot of fun, but it will take me awhile before I chose to deal with the public again. In alot of ways it was a neat experience to help some good people that I knew I was helping! The lady across the street had wandered over and we had never met until than, it was fun talking to her she brought her little ones over later again and they all got new toys. Her daughter got all the Barbies that were still in there boxes, she bought the whole box her daughter made out like a bandit she had like eight new ones to play with. Her two sons got a new huge firetruck still new in the box and a Huffy Bike w/training wheels. I had such a good feeling afterwards for the whole sale and the way it went, it was definitely a learning experience and I tried something new that I was scared to try sometimes.

Working hard, Job Update

This week Brian and I started a project of going thru everything in the house and deciding on what we are going to make a donation to the DNI or contribute it to our yard sale that we are planning on having next month. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us but with a good attitude and determination we can push it through all the way to the end. We have set the date for the sale on Sat Sept 12. We are going to have a lot of stuff to sell and hope we can make it a fun family event!!

Anyways Brian's update with a job: He did have a interview and a orientation with a company at the end of July called AmeriCOLD but we decided as a family to not accept it, he wasnt happy with the job for several reasons. Thats all for now.

Unita's

We went camping in the Unitas this week with Nathan and Leora and there dogs. It has been a few years since we have camped up there. It rained a lot when we first got there but than it turned over nice. On one of the days we went sight-seeing and stopped at Provo River Falls and took pictures of the beautiful scenery, there was actually four waterfalls in one continous river, I didnt happen to get all of the falls. (My battery was going low on my camera so I appreciated the pictures that I did manage to get. )

Nathan was so tired that he was able to sleep on the bench of the picnic table.

Brian was cutting us some firewood. We stopped at some pretty lakes, Lake Lilly and Teapot were just some of the names.

Brian and Nathan did some fishing, and the rest of us just stayed back at camp. It was nice to get another camping trip in before the summer is over.

WARNING-Learned his Lesson

Braxton was blowing big bubbles with his new pack of delicious Orbit watermelon gum on Monday. He took the gum out of his mouth and was trying to get the gum off of his face where the bubble had popped. He only made it more stickier and than he had a big gum mess all over his face, so he took a wet washcloth and tried scrubbing it off along with his skin. I was at work and talking to Brian on the phone when this event happened. I suggested alcohol, but there was none in the house Brian said. I didnt know the severity of it until I got home and saw his face. I than got more details as well, that Braxton sprayed his Sour heads watermelon mouth spray on it trying to get it off so may this be a lesson not to try this stunt at home. We hope that his face has healed by the time he goes back to school!!!

My week off in July

I so needed a break a very long break, the week of my birthday was perfect. My fun began when My co-workers on my last day of work (Friday) before I officially was off gave me a birthday party with cake and ice cream. That same weekend I had the chance to go to a community fireside at the Ogden Tabernacle on Sunday to hear Alan Osmond and his sons speak with just my mom and dad It was great!
MONDAY- ( Day #1) was just doing errands and catching up on things that was much needed.
TUESDAY- we went to the Roy Aquatic Center with McKenna to get cool from our HOT days it was a fun day and we were also able to catch the new Harry Potter Movie in the morning.







On WEDNESDAY - my birthday it was a physical work day. We set up the swimming pool and Taia was the very first swimmer, we barely had any water in it and she was ready to dive right in! Tyler and Tiffany flew in from Florida too!!





THRUSDAY- I made my Patriotic birthday cake for the 24Th. It was my practice cake for the future I hope to make one for Braxton and Brian....it was fun!





Still on Thursday later that evening we went to see the open house of the Oquirrh Temple with the whole family except Nathan. Brian went and it was his first time to see the inside of the temple. It was a neat experience.

FRIDAY- In the morning we went to see the 24Th of July Ogden parade with the whole family again. Later that day we went back to mom's and had a barbecue and swam in the pool in the backyard all afternoon. Its been a fun and busy week and I enjoyed every minute of it!!

"Looked out the window and what did I see?"

I looked out the window and what did I see? Two baby raccoons looking at me. There little black masks were looking at me, they were scared and climbing the tree. There house got tore down cause they were living in a tree, now there living in Brian's front tree! Boy what a surprise we had today seeing homeless raccoons going up the tree in Brian's front yard. The neighbor behind Brian was cutting down big trees in his backyard (we think that's were they came from) Now these poor little guys have no home. There old tree house and there new tree house well for now!!

Chicken Noodle Soup When Your Sick

Taia hasnt been herself for a few days and she has been losing her food alot on the first end of her body. We took her into her Vet today and she had a temperature and a irritated pancreas. So with some prescription medicine and a bland diet that consists of cottage cheese, chicken noodle soup, yogurt, rice and oatmeal with chicken and boiled hamburger for a week, we hope she will be good as new. Who knew that chicken noodle soup was good for sick dogs too as well as people!

40th Wedding Anniversary

Mom and Dad are celebrating there 40Th Wedding Anniversary this year. They were married on a Friday day June 27Th 1969. They are making plans but it has not yet been finalized, to go on a quick road trip.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!

Getting out of School Sleepover/More S'mores

Mom invited the grandkids over for a sleepover on Friday night for getting out of school, we planned on pitching up the tents and camping in the backyard. I got to help with this event, we had a good time and the kids were really good. Colt was a big help with the air mattresses and sleeping bags. We cooked up hot dogs and hamburgers out on the grill for dinner and we all ate outside, it got windy and was a little bit chilly but it never rained.

Me and Brian slept in the little tent with Taia, and mom slept in the big tent with all the grandkids. I love sleeping in the tent in the backyard, from my own childhood days we did that a lot in the summer.

Here is everyone all situated in there sleeping bags!!

 

 

 

 
the S'mores event from the sleepover bash with the grandkids. Yummy gooey and messy fun!!

 

 

 

 

Of course just before bed we had to eat the famous camping tradition S'mores. There was chocolate everywhere Yum!

More S'mores anyone?