5-10-2011

Laughing Cow Cheese is my favorite snack right now. The french onion with celery is heavenly and with only 35 calories it's like a free treat :)

5-9-2011

My new best friend. Kleenex. I have been sick for way too long. I've been using toilet paper but Josh felt bad for me and went and got me some Kleenex and it has made my nose soo happy. Thanks Josh!!

5-8-2011

Happy Happy Birthday Preston!! I now have four teenage boys at home. We had a little gathering of family tonight for his birthday. Preston has wanted a Mac Mini for a couple of years and today he finally got it. He was very happy!!

Preston is such a joy to have as a child. We are all very lucky to have him in our family.

Today was also Mother's Day. I was woke-up to breakfast in bed made by the Birthday Boy, Preston and Collin. It was so yummy. Collin fried the bacon perfectly. They also cleaned up the kitchen after making the breakfast which was pretty impressive (if you know my kids, you'd understand)

Josh got me a very nice "mom" necklace.

William got me a gift certificate for a pedicure, made me a picture and wrote me a note about why he loves me. Sooo cute.

Justin took Kaylee to get me some roses and she wrote me a note that said that I'm her favorite mom :)

Justin got me some chocolate covered strawberries and a card. More about this card in a bit!!

My Father-in-law sent me a card. I read it during sacrament meeting. The card was so perfect but it was the note that he included inside that was so touching. I cried for a long time after reading it. It was very very touching and really made my day.

While making dinner Justin brought me in his card. When he handed it to me I didn't think it was possible for anyone to top the card and note I had gotten from my father-in-law but I was wrong. It's a personal thing but I AM going to post what he wrote because I do not EVER want to lose what was said. Posting it online means it will always be here :)

"Mom,
This card is so true. I've always remembered you trying to help me feel better and boost up my mood. You could always tell when there was something bothering me and right away you would want to talk me through it. You have always been so supportive of me in anything and everything I've wanted to do. You are always trying to find ways of making me happy and pleasing others and never yourself. You have been such an inspiration in how I want to raise my own children and live my life. You will always be my best friend and I will always want to be around you. So thank you Mom, for everything you have done this past 18 years of my life for me. I will never forget it. Happy Mother's Day Mom! I love you more than anything in the world [even Noel :)] - Love Justin"

Yes - Justin did say he loved me more than he loved Noel. My closest friends and my husband know how worried I've been but this card relieved so much fear that I've had. Of course I shouldn't have been worried... but..I'm a baby :)

What a wonderful Mother's Day. This has been the best Mother's Day I've ever had. I think things improve as your kids get older!!! I feel so lucky to be a mommy.

5-7-2011

These are Ring Pop Popsicles. They are soo fun and I think all moms should get them for their kids. You can find them by clicking here:

Ring Pop Popsicles

5-6-2011

I went to a late night showing of Something Borrowed with my cousin tonight. This movie is now one of my top five favorite movies. Maybe it shouldn't be but it is....Could have something to do with Colin Egglesfield. He's now my secret crush :)

5-5-2011

Tonight we went to the theatre as a family to watch Rio. I'm so glad we did. This is such a cute movie and a must see for all families.

5-4-2011

Josh has finally decided that he will head off to school this August. He's going to SUU, which is Southern Utah University. These papers are the last that SUU need to get him enrolled. At least I sure hope so :)

I still can't believe that my little (not so little) Josh is graduating and heading off to college in no time at all.

5-3-2011

My personal iPad 2 came today. Now between my iPad, Kindle and iPhone I can read read my books anytime I want.

The iPad is great for night reading.

The Kindle is light and can fit in my purse so I can read when I'm away from home.

My iPhone is perfect for brief reading moments when I don't have the kindle or iPad with me.

I use to hate reading but that has changed in a big way. I love reading and when I find an author or series that I like, it can be hard to stop.

5-2-2011

Well in 24 days I'll be over the hill :) Yup, I'm turning 40 this year. I still can't believe it. With age comes a change in skin and maybe I should have started wearing moisturizer years ago but I never have but have decided that it was time. I hope it helps!!!

5-1-2011

It has finally started to warm up some. Spring might actually be upon us :) Spring and warmer weather means Grilling and outdoor fun. We enjoyed Pork Tenderloin and Grilled Fresh Pineapple tonight. Loved it.

4-30-2011

I know I should probably posted a picture of Doris and Jim because it is their wedding day BUT, I loved this picture too much.

These boys can not help but goof off at every moment they can get away with it. David even danced down the aisle today :) Fun Memories.

Congratulations Doris and Jim. We all wish you the best.

4-29-2011

William had his Pinewood Derby tonight and he did great. He had four races and got first place twice, second place once and third place once. He didn't win the over all first, second or third but he was still very pleased and happy with his car. Kimball and William had lots of fun building the car.

4-28-2011

Fingers Crossed - this is our last load of stuff with helping my Mother-in-law move to her new home with her soon to be husband (two days from now).

4-27-2011

I LOVE NETFLIX!! Because of Netflix I have found the BEST TV series ever. Prison Break is amazing and I love watching it one episode after another. Kimball and I have spent HOURS in our bed this week watching one episode after another. Love it.

4-26-2011

I spent the day today putting in all the places we want to go on the West Coast to map it out. I'm so excited. It looks like I might have to remove Forks, WA from my trip because the family is having a fit about going but I might surprise them with going anyway :)

4-25-2011

My new favorite drink...sort of. I'm trying to get off caffeine and sugar sodas. We will see how long this last. I've done this one too many times :)

4-24-2011

Happy Happy Easter!!!



With so many pictures to pick from this was so hard. Kaylee isn't in her beautiful Easter Dress in this picture but it is still my favorite because I love seeing how much love they have for each other. They melt my heart.

We had Easter Dinner and egg hut at my cousins house. Of course my kids have always known that there isn't an Easter Bunny because Easter is about the Resurrection but they sure do love the egg hunt. Kaylee found four of the five "golden" eggs which had money in them. She seems to always find the golden eggs at Easter. Way to go Kaylee.

4-23-2011

So this morning, bright and early, I went and picked up my very first Bountiful Basket. It's so wonderful. I'm so glad that my friends told me about this program. I will be using Bountiful Baskets from now on, it truly is one of the best $15 I've spent in a long time.

4-22-2011

Kaylee is sure on a roll this week :) I came out of my room this morning to find Kaylee in the Kitchen dying Easter eggs, all by herself!!! Of course the eggs have yet to be boiled and when I tried to explain this to her she said "But if we boil them they won't splatter when I throw them at my brothers." Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I love you Kaylee!!

4-21-2011

Tonight I had a movie night with two of my old Laurels. I love and miss my YW so much.

This is Brittney, she is living in California now but came to visit tonight to introduce me to her boyfriend James. They are so dang cute together.

Kaylee deleted the picture I took for today and she took this one to replace it. :)

4-20-2011

Kaylee came into my room to tell me that she was ready for school. She did her own hair and her makeup. OH MY GOODNESS. I'm throwing the play makeup away. It was impossible to get off :)

4-19-2011

William is all smiles today now that the doctor was so easily able to diagnose what his problem has been for the last FOUR months.

I won't go into too much detail here except to say that I feel like a horrible mom for thinking he just needed more fiber. He would cry every single day about not wanting to go poo because it hurt him too bad. Well no wonder, the poor kid has Perianal Streptococcal Dermatitis which is strep in the rectal area.

I'm sure that he would KILL me if he knew I posted about this but he was just too smiley and happy that he will start feeling better in less than two days.

4-18-2011

Kaylee came into my room this evening with this "Sandwich" that she made me. A marshmallow sandwich :) She said "I took the Easter Marshmallows and melted them. I'm sure it's delicious, please try." Yum....NOT :) She's always doing something in the Kitchen and I love it.

4-17-2011

We picked Justin up from the airport today. He had gone with the Bertola family to Oregon for Spring Break.

It's been 3 weeks since I've seen him and I was so happy to get to give him a hug. How am I going to handle two years??

4-16-2011

I have no clue how she is able to sleep this way but she is. Kaylee just couldn't stay awake with all the shopping we were doing.

4-15-2011

Meet Rosco!! Justin had me go pick up this little Yorkie pup for him. He bought it for Noel but it will be staying at our house?? He's a cutie and likes to attack Gator.

4-14-2011

William heard me complaining about the weather and how cold it was so he drew me a picture of "Spring" to help bring Spring into the house. I love my little William.

4-13-2011

We are HOME. We took the kids to Rib City and spent the evening just catching up with them. We missed them like crazy. With that said I wouldn't have mind staying gone another two weeks :)

4-12-2011

Today we are in Ensenada, Mexico. We had planned to get off the ship today but after getting a security warning from the ship we decided to spend the day enjoying ourselves on the ship. No need to risk our lives.

I've been to Ensenada, Mexico before and it is pretty dirty and gross but it sure does look pretty from the ship.

4-11-2011

Happy 19th Anniversary to my sweet husband.

Our waiters brought us this yummy cake and sung "Happy Anniversary" to us. What an enjoyable evening.

Today is also Josh's birthday. Happy Happy Birthday Josh. I'm so glad to have you in our family.

4-10-2011

After going on a couple of cruises we learned a few things. One - Bring a small fan to keep the air in your room circulating. Two - Air Freshener spray for the bathroom and Three - Bring Oreo Cookies :)

Even though the ship has amazing food and lots of cookies, there is nothing like an Oreo in Kimball's book. He eats a couple every single day.

4-9-2011

I stayed in bed and read all day long. I loved it. That is what vacationing is all about right? :)

4-8-2011

I love how all our desserts are always so fancy on the ship. I loved the desserts, except for this one. So pretty to look at but it wasn't good at all. That plate of pretty food went to waste. :)

4-7-2011

Today we are in Maui. This tree is amazing. I wish the picture was better but I'm hoping you can still see that this is ONE tree. All the trunks that you see come from the main tree itself. Its amazing.

We were suppose to go snorkeling today but we worried about my parents so we canceled that tour and decided to rent a car. What a disaster that was. Got to the rental place and was told they were out of cars and they wouldn't have any until 1pm. Long story short...we went shopping today :)

4-6-2011

Kimball is enjoying his time in Kauai. He's had his camera in his hand all day and I sure can't wait to see all the pictures he has taken.

When we went on our Hawaii Cruise for Kimball's 40th birthday Kauai was my least favorite Island. The excursion we went on was not enjoyable and I was actually thinking of not even getting off the ship for this Island but I had heard so many people talk about how great this Island is. So we rented a car and went sight seeing. I actually think that Kauai is now my favorite island. It is stunningly beautiful.

4-5-2011

This is the LDS Temple on Oahu's North Shore. It's one of the prettiest sights ever. After visiting the temple I sent Justin a text and told him that he needed to get married here so I could come back :)

Today we also went to the Polynesian Cultural Center, walked Waikiki Beach. I won't go into details of how we got lost and ended up walking 2 hours to get back to the ship :)

4-4-2011

What a full filled day today has been. It is so hard to pick a picture for my POTD, but here it is. This is Rainbow Falls on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Today we went to the Volcanoes National Park, walked through the Thurston Lava Tube, walked around the Akatsuka Orchid Garden, had an island-style buffet lunch at Nani Mau Gardens and walked around the gardens there. Went to the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory where we had some of the BEST Macadamia nut ice-cream. We finished the day with stopping by Rainbow Falls.

4-3-2011

Frog Legs

I Tried Them

I spit it out!

All I can say is GROSS!!!

4-2-2011

I'm trying to take this picture discreetly :) You go on a cruise for 14 days, you see lots of older men wearing speedos. It's a scary sight!!!

4-1-2011

The first thing I have eaten in over 24 hours. When I left home, I had a house full of kids that had the flu bug. They were all at the end of the 24 hours but I still felt bad. Well I got my payback for leaving :) I got it pretty bad on Thursday Night and all day today. I felt good enough to go for dinner but I wasn't able to each much and did go back to bed as soon as dinner was done. So glad it didn't last long and that Kimball never got it.

3-31-2011

My favorite spot on the Ship!! I love layout at the back of the boat on deck 14. Sooo relaxing!!

3-30-2011

My home for the next 14 days!!!

We are on the Golden Princess, on our way to beautiful Hawaii to celebrate our 19th Wedding Anniversary.

3-29-2011

Sitting as a family, eating popcorn, snuggling under blankets and watching Tangled. What a perfect evening with my family. I love the movie Tangled and love my family even more.

3-28-2011

So happy to have this done and it is the best chart I have ever made. Anyone helping out with my kids while Kimball and I are gone will know where, what and when. It feels good to know that things should move smoothly while I'm gone.

3-27-2011

David and Julie are expecting!!!!

This is news we have all been waiting for, well at least I have :) David gave the blessing on the food during our family dinner tonight and at the end he added "We are grateful that Julie is expecting, in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen". It shocked everyone. They then unzipped their jackets to reveal their shirts.

Congratulations David and Julie. We are so excited for you.

3-26-2011

That is a picture of what my phone said was the time when I woke up this morning. I REALLY slept in this morning and it felt great.

Food Budget

I'm sooo bad. I do not have a "budget" for food. I spend way too much on it. I have decided that it is time to put our family on food budget. So what is a good amount? How many do you feed and what is your weekly budget?

Thanks for sharing :)

3-25-2011

I finally got my luggage out of storage and maybe, just maybe, I'll start packing before a couple of hours before I leave for the airport :) I'm so looking forward to this vacation. I need it!!

3-24-2011

Date Night with William and Collin. So much fun and I FINALLY found something that I like on their menu. I love spending time with my kids. I hope they enjoy it as much as I do.

3-23-2011

I pulled down my "shore excursion" bag from the top of my closet and found a wonderful surprise - Josh's Camera!!!!! I used it in October on our Hawaiian cruise and never knew where it went. So glad to find it. And even more excited to see what pictures are on it.

3-22-2011

I can NOT believe that I went and got myself a pair of shoes Toms, but I'm sure happy that I did. I love them. I just might have to go and get a couple more pairs!!