Christmas Eve

This is the best video, I know I'm a horrible interviewer, I was having a hard time thinking of questions to ask Katie, but the end of the video she hears Santa and it is great. Just keep watching, it's kind of long.


Santa brought me a laptop!!! I was shocked, I didn't think he knew just what I wanted, he seems to have something special for me every year. I guess I just am a good girl every year. :) I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Here are a few pictures.
Look what Santa brought Katie!!!


The girls had matching shirts, aren't they cute.

Merry Christmas!!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!! I hope you all have a wonderful evening tonight, it's magical in our home. I love to see the curiosity and magic in Katie's eyes. Lucky me, I have Kortney this year to be the excuse of why we need to get up at 6. I'm the one waking everyone up every year. Enjoy the quiet yet beautiful moment as you remember the birth of our Savior. How thankful I am for his example. I love the opportunity I have to teach my children this season of their Savior, and the chance I have to bear witness to the knowledge that I have that he lives, that he loves each and every one of us. Like I said it is a magical time of year. I hope Santa is good to you all this year!

Food Memmories

So, Mike and I have had this on going fued over food we ate as children. He says that if I were to eat it without the memory of loving it as a child, then I probably wouldn't think it tastes that great. A few examples:
Grilled cheese sandwiches with mini marshmellows grill in them.
Biscuits with orange juice, butter, and sugar poured over them then baked.
Kraft Mac and cheese
Cambells Tomato soup
Dipping Toast in Hot Chocolate
The list goes on. I still think all those things are the best treats ever. Do you think it has to do with the memory of loving it as a child or that I still just love it. What kinds of things do you still like from when you were a child?

Cutest Picture

This morning we were getting ready for church and Kortney was crying as usual. So I tossed her into Mike to shower while I was getting ready. She was so relaxed she just fell asleep



Sorry, I know it may be disturbing that I took a picture of my husband in the shower, but I couldn't resist. Kortney usually doesn't love the shower, but I guess she loves it with daddy.

NotSox

NotSox sale. Just thought I would let you all know, here's the link. eBay, it is not supposed to last very long, so hurry now!!! I think the link worked, if not got to www.ebay.com and then search for NotSox, they are all listed.

Ruth Crisp

Mike and I had his Christmas work dinner last night at Ruth Crisp. I heard so much about this wonderful steak house and we were both so excited to go. First, we get there and the valet guys open my door and I felt so special. We get there and the lights are low, very nice and I explained to Mike romantic. He said it was dark and dreary. :) Anyway the steak was the best steak I have ever had I think. It was wonderful. The mushrooms were soooo good. I'm not much of a mushroom girl, but I do enjoy them with my steak. I don't think it is really worth the money though. I think it cost like $50.00 ea. Anyway to make a long story short. The only people there not drinking were Mike, his brother Daniel, Daniels wife Eeva, and I. The girl accross from me was totally wasted and kept talking about how she needed to go accross the street to see the girls, plus she kept making out with her husband there at the table and he kept grabbing her ta ta's. Then the girl next to me gave me a hug gootbye and she kissed me!!! Anyways after that lets just say I was ready to go. Anyways the food was good.

BYU foodball game

BYU and Utah played lastnight. BYU played horrible, we lost. It wasn't a very happy night in our house, but at least we had a lot of fun watching the game. We had quite the crew over, and lots of food. I decorated the house, and the girls had their BYU gear on.













Kortney and her cousin Kelsey had matching onesies, aren't they great. I saw them and couldn't resist, I will have to make some more next year. I will spell Poo right.

Here's a picture of our house, notice Mike put up the light for me yesterday:



Here's the crowd:



Anyways, we enjoyed having our friends and family here. Thanks for sharing the game with us. We always enjoy having people up for the games.

Random catch up on family

Katie is having pezz soup, yummy huh. She gets a pez and then puts it into a cup of water then fishes it out with a spoon. She says it's the best dessert she has ever had.

Kortney is dancing to the music on my blog, she loves music already! She ate a ton of dinner tonight, loves those bannanas.

Mike is well in St. George again. Having tons of success, signing lots, and well missing his family. Can't wait to see him tomorrow. He is great working so hard to provide for his family.

Me, well, being mom seems to be a bit busy lately. Cleaned the pantry today, can you believe it. It was a little scary. Katie and I also got them basement all ready for the big game on Sat. Excited for Thanksgiving to see my family. I love my girls. I love when my hubby is home with me.

Disney On Ice

Last night we had the Awesome experience of Disny on Ice. I was very proud of the tickets I got, I ordered them as soon as I heard they were coming, First row front and center. :)



This is how close we were to Simba. It was so fun watching Katie, notice her hands in the cup holders, they were like that the whole time, so intense. Except when the whale came out in Pinnochio her feet kind of shrunk up underneath her. I think she was a little nervous.



One of my favorites was Nemo, their costumes were amazing!!! Dori was perfect. Bruce looked great also.



Katie dressed up as a princess, and I think seeing so many princess' in one night just about blew her away.



We were so close that after the program Katie was able to stand up and give some of the skaters high fives. She was glowing and grinning ear to ear.



I think Katie knows now why I love going on dates with dad. She felt like a queen for the night. Well worth every penny we paid.

Our busy week

Last week it seemed the week just flew by. Mike was gone working St. George, that left Katie, Kortney and I to stay home and work on projects. It snowed, so Katie went out and played before school. Then she came home from school and had to play some more, this time she decided to make a huge snowball. when I went out side I couldn't believe she had rolled this snowball all by herself.


Then Mike got home, and found out he had tickets to the BYU game and couldn't find a date, so he took his favorite BYU fan, Katie. He said she got bored.



Then came her highlight of her life, the SanDiego cheerleaders came and lifted her onto the field and let her take some pictures and due a cheer with them. She was grinning from ear to ear when she got home.



I started listing things on my etsy shop, you'll have to check it out, the connection is under my fav web sites, it's called my etsy. I have decided that I need to go on project mode and finish up all these unfinished projects, I will post pics as I finish. First on my list is Mikes office, then his BYU quilt. Tonight is sisters night so I'm hoping I can work on his quilt there. AGAIN, he is gone, so I will have Kortney with me.

Christmas music

Mike got home from playing basketball this morning and turned on the radio, Christmas music!!!  So I need to get your opinion on the subject, is it OK or not OK to listen to.  I feel that we can't forget about Thanksgiving, which is one of my favorite holidays.  While we had the music playing it brought so much joy to our family.  Katie was putting on shows all day, I found myself dancing around the kitchen this evening while I was making dinner.  (Just had to mention that I cooked Mikes ducks for dinner tonight, made Duck gumbo, it was very hard for me to do.  So yes I am proud of me. :) )  So what do you think?  Do you have to wait till after Thanksgiving or does it just play into Thanksgiving.  

Jazz Game

Mike and I had a wonderful date tonight.  Thanks to Rachel who watched Katie and Mike's mom who watched Kortney.  It was a wonderful night.  I will post more pictures when the couple we went with e-mail them to me.  



Yes Korver was this far away from me.  The guy Korver is blocking had this hair on his shoulders, that was just odd.  Mike gets season front row tickets for work, well, it's not only a perk for clients but for us also.  Korver is one of my favorite players, so it is always fun when I get to go with Mike.  Most of the time he just takes a buddy, but I was the lucky date tonight.  They have a buffet before the game, and we get nachos and popcorn during half time.  Mike picks a player and asks for their shoes every time, but got rejected tonight.  Poor guy.  We got to go with a couple from St George, they were such Awesome company to have around.  It was just a nice evening out.  
On the sour side of things I had to sit by the the two most annoying people ever.  They had 5 beers each, the dumb girl kept talking about how he, the guy she was with, must really love her to have gotten those tickets.  The whole game they were texting people, comparing pictures on their phones, laughing obnoxiously, waving the sound makers (that you wave during free throws) in my face, hit the rim of my hat once.  Smelling horrible nasty.  Drove me nuts that they didn't even watch a total of 5 min. of the game.  People like that shouldn't be a loud to go to sporting events.  Maybe I'm a stick in the mud, but I'm there to enjoy and WATCH the game.  
Thank you honey for a wonderful night.  I love you.

Tagged

I was tagged by Krista, it has taken me a while to get this posted.  so here it goes.
7 Random and/or weird facts about me:
1. I love the smell of hot asphalt/cement when it rains in the summer.
2. I love going to sporting events and watching the game.
3. I can pinch and pick things up with my toes.
4. I love the smell of babies.
5. I like using the fact that I am a twin to benefit me.
6. If I am in the cereal isle I will get a coffee bean to smell.  (I guess I love to smell)
7.  I love to play with my husbands chest hair.  :)
I don't know if 7 people read my blog.  I guess I will tag  Melinda, Missy, Tina, Jen, Kari. Alex, and Tricia.

Emma Smith, My Story

As most of you know Mike and I serve on the Joseph Smith Jr and Emma Hale Smith Historical Society I keep wanting to post this, but keep forgetting.  i wanted you all to know that if you would like the DVD please let me know, we are selling them for $13.00 ea.  This movie truly shows you a glimpse of what Emma Smith, the wife of Joseph Smith experienced here on Earth.  the Historical Society would love to do a movie about Emma's life after Joseph, if we make enough $$$ on this project then hopefully we can share a little more about this amazing woman.  I have always held a special place in my heart for this woman, she is a hero to me.  She is a woman of strength, a woman of power, a woman of love.  We owe so much to her for the sacrafice she made for each and every one of us.  i have so much love for this woman.  If you would like to watch it first, Mike and I are always up to watching movies in our basement!  Our goal is just to get Emma's name out there as the honorable woman that she is.  Like I said  before our home is always open for a movie night.  Let me know if you are interested.

My new son

Since Friday we have turned our daughter in for a son, Micah...
                        
Katie has a cousin that had an accident and his leg was shot, well, we went up there last week-end so that Mike could do a fireside, Katie was very impressed by her cousin.  We got home and nothing was mentioned till Friday, she found a cane (her crutches) and has been limping around ever since.  It is getting sooooo old.  She has to have her leg up so that it doesn't swell, she has to take her cane everywhere.  We went to McDonald's and I didn't realize she had brought it in, there she was sliding down the slide with her cane.  Good thing nobody else was there besides cousins.  Anyway long story short, she has turned into an ornery little girl who has let her imagination get to her.  Hopefully we will be done today, the cane might just disappear while she is at school.

It's been one year!

Yes, one year ago, Mike came home from basketball and we smelt something HORRIBLE!  We went down stairs and this is what we saw...
Notice this is after they started cleaning the basement.  I didn't use the pictures that are too disturbing.
Yes that is my brand new bathtub filled with poo poo water.  We came down stairs and the sewage was coming from everywhere, the tub, the toilet, that emergency drains, etc.  I about died, Mike just ran in, ankle deep and started moving things, handing them to me through the window.  He even somehow got our brand new leather sectional up on the pool table.  He was very upset I wasn't down there helping him, do you blame me...  Who knows who's crap I was wading through.  Turns out that the city sewage line had cement dropped in and luck has it that it found our basement.  Mike took 2 years building the basement, it had been done for 3 weeks then in an instant we had to start over again. Luckily this time the restoration co. finished it and after a long fight with the city I have my basement back!!!  BYU football just wouldnt be the same without our BYU room.

Pregnancy Loss

Today is stillbirth and pregnancy loss remembrance day, I know I have only had a miscarriage, but it made me think of my experience.  So I thought I would share a little of my experience with miscarriage, before Kortney (4months old) we lost 2 pregnancies, 1 at 8 weeks, the other at 12 weeks.  I don't think anyone can tell you what emotions you will go through when losing a pregnancy.  You love the fetus already so much and have bonded.  I opted not to have a D&C, and let things work out naturally.  It was very hard for me to cope with the idea of wanting a baby so bad and the fact that my body wouldn't cooperate with my plans.  I now know what was the problem, I knew that it wasn't my fault, but no matter who tells you that, you blame yourself.  Thoughts I had, maybe if I didn't lift that, or move that.  Maybe if I would have listened to my body and stopped weeding when I felt I should.  What is the Lord trying to teach me?  I know there is a spirit waiting to come to my home.  I love this baby already, why do you need to take it back home Heavenly Father.

Thanks to getting my blood drawn a million times, thanks to medical technology we finally got our little Kortney.  She is the most amazing spirit, she is filled with light and happiness.  She just looks into your eyes and you know how wonderful her little spirit is.  When I was going in for my induction at 40 weeks (yes, we made it that long after being on bed rest, horrible)  Mike gave Katie a blessing.  In that blessing it talked about Kortney waiting so long to come to this Earth, her and Katie were best friends once before, Kortney wanted to come with her, but katie is here to be her example, her friend and protector here on Earth.  It was amazing.
              
Things I learned:  I need to rely on my Father in Heaven and be patient with his plan for me.  Also I need to depend on the Priesthood, and know I can ask my husband for a blessing whenever I feel prompted.  I also learned that love is an amazing thing.  If any of you ever have to experience this please let me know, I know there is nothing I can do, but a Diet Coke and treat can go pretty far when you feel like crap.  

Tucker

Our dog Tucker, just had his 7th birthday last Sunday.  As many of you know he is just part of our family.  Katie gets so upset when others don't recognize him as her brother.  He is a very good dog, he has been very loyal to our family.  I am so glad that we decided to keep him and raise him, we had the choice of putting him down when he got hit by a car when he was 6 months old.  Mike decided he would take him duck hunting last Saturday.  We didn't train him to be a hunting dog, he is scared to death of guns and fireworks, so we always thought he wasn't a hunting dog.  I guess the whole hunting thing was just instinct for him, he would lay low in the boat in the camo, he would get frustrated when they wouldn't shoot, as soon as they, Mike and his friend Kenny, would shoot, Tucker would jump out of that boat swim over get the duck and bring it back to Mike.  Mike said it was Awesome to watch.  We are proud of our hunting dog.  He has been begging Mike to go again, he waits by the car every morning.  

My husband

I have been home alone for the past 4 weeks, while my husband has been in Mexico and Australia.  It seemed like forever, now I am so glad that he is home with our family again.  In Mexico he was gone fishing with my brother Keith, they had a blast.  He brought home some shark for Katie to try.  He was home for 2 days then off to Australia.  Australia went really well he says.  He was there promoting the movie, Emma Smith, My Story.  He got to meet with the decedents of Joseph and Emma Smith and introduce their Grandmother to them.  He handed out many Book of Mormons, and seems to be on a real spiritual high.  I am glad to hear that I was missed by the people I had met there 3 years ago.  It was so cute, because Katie knew her dad was being a missionary, she tried telling him that he just needs to play her primary songs, then people would be able to feel that Jesus is true.  :)  He kept busy giving talks and premiering the movie in Sydney and Foster.  I am so thankful to have him home.  He is such a stud, he loves his little family so much.  It is so nice to be able to talk to him whenever I wanted to today, I have been spending lots of time with him, even if we have to watch football all evening long.  If you ever read this honey, I love you.  I am so glad that you have kept all your promises to me in cherishing me, loving me, and treating me like a queen.  I have wrote many e-mail's expressing my love to you, I love you.

Quarter Pushers

So I went to Chucky Cheese today, Katie earned her hard earned 15 smiley's so her reward was Chucky cheese.  Well I had a coupon for 100 tokens, plus I had bought a gift certificate on city deals, so I was pumped to sit and let Katie and her cousin Haley play while I chill with Kortney. Melinda and Kelsey.  Well, I took a few tokens and started playing the token pusher, before I knew it I had blown 25 tokens in no time at all, and I still wanted to play.  I did earn a ton of tickets for the girls to get prizes, but still, I just kept wanting to play.  I decided that it has to do with Vegas and gambling.  I loved doing the quarter pushers in Vegas, I would get my roll of quarters and blow it all in 1 spot.  Since President Hinckly said no gambling (my excuse was always it is like going the the arcade) I have not done it.  Mike on the other hand has some explaining because I noticed our coin jar is gone right about the time he was driving through Mesquite.  Anyway what I am trying to say I guess is that I am still totally addicted, I kept wanting to do more and more and take all the tokens from the kids.  This is a lame entry I know, but it's just been on my mind tonight.

Family Pictures

Mike asked if I would put some family pictures on, so that he can show them to people while he is out and about, so here are some pictures.  I have so much fun looking back, I wish I had more on this computer.  

Misc. Pics

Girls Night Out

Build a Bear workshop, it is the best place, kids of all ages love it.  Katie just loves to brink her bear in and get it washed and a new outfit.  Last night I let her get a new animal, she picked the elephant since we were on our way to the circus.  It drove me nuts though, they would show the girls all this extra stuff and ask if they wanted it, of course they are going to say yes.  What about me, I'm the one paying for it, shouldn't they be asking me...Anyway the girls (Katie and her cousin Haley) loved Build a Bear.


               The Circus was so much fun for me.  I have so many great memories of going to the circus with my dad when I was little.  Back then, you were able to ride on the elephant, I wanted to ride on the elephant sooo bad, but I was scared.  So Rachel and Melinda, my sisters, rode on the elephant and I just watched.  I regret that to this day, I wish I had guts when I was little.  I still loved watching it through a child's eyes.  They loved the clowns the most.  It was so much fun though to bring back my childhood memories of the circus.  It was a fun night for us girls. 

Halloween!!!

I got the Halloween stuff out to decorate the house!!!  I know I am early this year, I just thought it is so fun to see the kids enjoy the fun decorations.  They love to help decorate also.  I think one of my favorite joys in life is decorating for the holidays.  I took the beginning of the year off because of the sewage flood we had, but now I'm on board again.  Hooray!!!  Katie is going to be a princess this year, she wants to use her special birthday dress from daddy, Kortney is going to be a skunk.  I found the best skunk costume at children's place when I was pregnant, it was $1.00, I love Children's Place!!!  I guess I just need to buy candy, then I will be ready to go!!!

Brushing your teeth

First off, I have to say I went to the dentist, 3 cavity's can you believe it.  I think it was the pregnancy or something.  I about died, Katie came out clean this time though.  
So Mike and I had this little discussion today about brushing your teeth.  Am I normal?  We went on a date tonight (dinner and min. golf).  Anyway right when we are about to leave I run into the bathroom, touch up my makeup and brush my teeth.  He walks in "why are you brushing your teeth we are going to dinner right now?"  I say, "I want you to enjoy kissing me" He says, "I'm probably not going to kiss you before we eat dinner."  I kiss him.  Anyway, is that a normal thing?  He thinks I'm crazy obsessed with my teeth, obviously I'm not, I have 3 cavity's.  What do you think?

The case of the missing snake...

So this morning I got our carpets cleaned!!!  hooray!!!  Mike thinks he is jungle man or something and needs to have 4 snakes living in our home.  I don't really care for the snakes, but will allow them to stay because the kids love to come and play with all of our animals.  (We have a dog, cat, 4 snakes, toad, plus the bugs the frog eats, the fish and the mice the snakes eat).  I have the guy cleaning the carpets and Tucker is in Mikes office so that he doesn't run on my clean carpet.  I hear him barking and ignore it, after the guy leaves I go to let Tucker outside and I notice the snakes cage is wide open.  Good thing it was the cage with only 1 snake in it.  So Katie and I go on a snake hunt with flashlights.  Katie says that she will get the snake because she is not a scared cat like mom.  Anyway Kortney is screaming because she has got a little cold and Katie is yelling, "Mom!  Mom! I found a clue."  Anyway i go look and sure enough there is snake poop on my baseboards.  So I help Katie look under the book case and there the little sneaky thing is.  He get's scared and goes behind the chair so I tell Katie to hurry and get it while I am trying to shew it away.  She freaks and says no I can't get it I'm scared.  So I get her a t-shirt of Mikes to use to catch it like her daddy does when he is playing Jungle man.  To make a long story short she got the snake and it is in his cage now.  I can sleep good tonight knowing he is safe in his cage.

Sisters

So last night we had our "sisters night", the night that all of us girls that live around get together and have a finishing night.  You know a night that you can work on unfinished projects, like:  Eagle projects, scrapbooking, crocheting, ironing, mending, etc.  Anyway we all have so much fun together.  Out of all my six sisters four of them live here in Utah County, it is so nice that I have some of them who have settled here along with me.  I sometimes wonder if I would have been able to make it here in Utah if I didn't have any of them.  I rely on my sisters for so much, it is so much fun seeing our families grow up together knowing their cousins so well.  It seems that at sisters night we just have so much fun laughing and enjoying a moment without being mom.  I am thankful to my brother in laws for stepping in and being fathers so that their wives can have a break.  

Stake Confrence

So I went to sake conference tonight alone, (Mike isn't going to be home till late from camping) well, the whole thing was on money management.  I find it so interesting how we (latter day saints) have been told over and over to save your money, pay off debt, get a food storage.  Mike and I have been working on paying off our debt, but for some reason I can't get it into my head that I have to pay the Lord his 10% first.  We pay a full tithe, but sometimes I will go 2-4 months then pay a large amount since Mike's checks are different every month due to commissions.  Last month I commited to paying my tithing first each month before any other bills.  So what they talked about tonight is that if you will pay the Lord first, you will find it easier to pay off those debts.  Any way it seems like we get ahead, then something happens and we create more debt.  (Mike's little zodiac boat for fishing he just bought)  :)  I think it is a personal thing, but I do know that whenever we are caught up on tithing it seems that our lives are blessed not only financially but it seems that our marriage is better, that the choices we make are for the best.  One of the speakers pointed out that we are given commandments for a reason (tithing)  if you are not obeying one of those commandments it is easy to slip up and not follow them all, or maybe just one that you might struggle with.  I was glad I went and felt a little uplifted tonight.  I hope I didn't bore any of you.  I don't even know if anyone reads this.

Silly Kids

So, Sunday morning we had two of Katie's cousins over and I was being a great mom and aunt, letting them help me cook.  We made some bread, and had some bread starts to take to some people, well Katie chose to take it to her Primary teacher.  So I tell the kids to go get in the car while I make copies of the recipe.  I head out to the car, no kids, I start yelling for them to come out and get in the car, no kids still... I get frustrated and start yelling that I'm not playing a game, so come out now.  Still no kids.  Then I start to get a little nervous and ask Mike to go to the neighbors while I drive around the neighborhood.  I am driving a can't see a child outside even.  So my heart sinks and I wonder where they could be.  They all know that they can't pass the mail box or the lamp post when they play in the front and they have followed that rule for at least the past two years.  Mike has my neighbor get in the car with me and drive down to our church (at the end of our street)  and he would look there since he was dressed in a suit.  So as we drive up to the church there are three children walking out the church with my old t-shirts on, barefoot, and their hair not brushed.  Well, Katie had some how talked Sierra and Clay into walking down to the church and deliver the bread to her teacher.  Well, her teacher wasn't there so some other lucky lady got them.  The laugh she must have got when she saw them walk into the church.  :)

Katie started school

So Katie started Kindergarten this week, she is doing so good!!!  It is so nice having her in school, she loves every minute of it.  She is so independent and wants to go to school and do things all by herself.  I enjoy the time alone with Kortney, but in a way it feels so strange, the house is so quiet.  It is so much fun seeing your children grow up.  What a great time in our lives.

My family

So i better tell you all about my family...
There is Katie:  The little princess, this is at her 5th birthday party.  Her daddy bought her this special dress.  It was so cute one of the other little girls was having her birthday party the following week and asked Katie not to wear that dress because she had to be the most beautiful at her party.  Katie just loved it.  Katie keeps herself busy playing with friends, she loves friends, she loves to catch grasshoppers for her frog, she loves to color.
Then Kortney finally decided to come this June, boy was she an answer to her families prayer.  It took quite some time to get her here, she made her mom go through so many emotions, but in doing so I learned to rely on the Lord.  Katie loves her sister, in a blessing Katie received, she was told that they were special friends before this Earth life.  Kortney has been a blessing in our home, we all love having her around.  It doesn't hurt that she is a great baby.  

Trying this blog thing

So, I thought I would get on and try out the whole blogging thing.  I figure there is nothing better to do while nursing Kortney so I will try this out.  This is Mike and I at the premiere for Emma Smith, My Story.  Mike's family was very involved in making this movie, it is Awesome if you haven't seen it yet, you have to buy it when it comes out.  Mike is going to go show it to the Parliament in Australia next month.  Wish I could go, but I'm staying home to play mom.  He is the ambassador of the Joseph Smith Jr. descendants in Australia, so we love to go visit family there.