Sadie's first photo shoot

Kaylee had Sadie's pictures done on Dec. 12th. A friend she used to work with at Sam's Club has just started doing photography and she did an AWESOME job. I stole this one from Kaylee's facebook page because it is one of my favorites. I have the rest on my computer at home that I will post later. The photographers name is Hanna Roberts. I will post her blog and website soon so you can check out her stuff. Anyway, here is the picture that is soooooo adorable.

Sadie Claire Russell

Kaylee had her baby yesterday!! Woohoo. A beautiful healthy little girl. She was 7lbs 4 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. She has lots of super dark hair. Well, take a look for yourself. These are all photos my mom took on her phone and sent to me. She was at McKay Dee and they are taking every precaution with this flu outbreak. So every patient can only have two visitors PERIOD!! Not two at a time, two the entire time. So it was my mom and Justin.

First picture. Right after they cleaned her up and diapered her.

Mom and baby.

What a proud Pappa. She is already taking after her mom. She likes to suck her fist. Kaylee was a thumb sucker.

Right after her first bath. Best shot of how much hair she has.

Ta-Da! What a beautiful little angel.

New Pic of Taylor

This is a new picture of Taylor that Cory sent to my phone. She looks bald but she isn't. Her hair is just so so so so super blonde! But look at those cheeks. They are so squishy.

She is getting so big. Last time they were up here she was laying on the floor and she would talk to me and smile. I just wish we could see her more.

On other news, Kaylee is due one week from today!! Come on little Sadie. It's a full moon tonight and apparently a lot of babies are born when there is a full moon. Let's cross our fingers!!

Jayden, Jayden, Jayden

What are we going to do with him? He makes me laugh and he makes me want to scream. But mostly he makes me laugh. He is loving Halloween this year. He is wanting to decorate anything and everything. He makes costumes out of anything and everything. Last night he made himself a mummy costume out of duct tape.

Ammon had to pose in the picture too. What a goof.

Jayden posing for me behind the spider web.

Ammon likes me to take his picture and then look at it right after. He made himself laugh with this one. He has chocolate all over his face. The kid is always eating.

They decorated their bed with spiders and webs. I have no idea what Jayden was doing when I took this picture. He was saying something in a language me must have made up.

Now this afternoon Jayden disappeared. He had been coloring his pumpkin and waiting to carve it. The door was wide open and I was yelling for him...he didn't answer. I walked outside and there he was writing on the garage door. Now, mom was mad he wrote all over the garage but at the same time look how good he is writing.

Needless to say, dry erase markers only work on the white dry erase board. They don't come off garage doors or pumpkins very easily.

Super Powers!!!

You know sometimes I wish I had the power to read peoples minds and allow them to read mine when I want. That way I wouldn’t have to keep trying to explain things. They could just see into my mind and understand what I am saying. Or if that wouldn’t work, I could read their minds so when I am explaining something I could tell right when they don’t follow or understand anymore. That way I don’t have to try to explain something a million times over just because they don’t understand one piece of information but can’t tell me what they don’t understand. Get it? Does that make sense? I just think I have spent more time in the last few days trying to help people understand why we are doing things the way we are now and why we had to change them. It just gets frustrating.

Being able to read people’s minds would obviously come in handy for other reasons too. It would just be a cool superpower to have PERIOD. Along with the ability to fly or teleport places or turn invisible.

On a separate note: Kaylee is due in less than two weeks. A week from Monday to be exact. Only we are thinking she will go early. What sucks is the new hospital rules I can’t go to the hospital. They can only have two visitors period. That includes the husband and the bands are not interchangable. BUMMER!!! Kaylee and Justin look prepared. They have the baby’s room all ready to go and everything is set up. Now they are just waiting for baby Sadie to decide to come out.

Sick of it, Just sick of it.

I am so sick of some people. I woke up this morning with a headache, so I am already not having a great day or in a great mood. So what happens? First thing this morning I open my email at work and the company *sshole has replied to an email I sent saying to me "Lenient, who do you think you are?" And not only just replied to me but everyone I sent it to. This guy is a piece of work. He is the rudest person I have ever met. You would have to know him to understand. Well, anyway I just ignored it because with people like that it's what you do. Well a few seconds later another person comes down to bring me something. He had a question and I said it was ok. Well, he then asks me if I saw that email and I said yes. I said I hate him, he is the biggest jerk. And why does he have to be like that. Well, by now I am getting a little emotional because I am tired and don't feel good. This person then goes on to tell me to ignore him but to get over my female emotions and calm down, it's ok. GET OVER MY FEMALE EMOTIONS. Are you kidding me? Don't tell a woman that. So I said just go away because that just pissed me off even more. I know he didn't mean it to be hurtful but it was. All this after the day I had yesterday is throwing me into a meltdown. I am probably going to regret writing this post, but hey this is what I feel right now. All of this and I have only been at work 20 minutes. What else is going to happen today? I am glad I am taking tomorrow off!

Frustrated

Why won't my posts post like I want them to? They post it one big giant blob. What happened to my spacing? Does anyone know how to fix it?

2 Weeks Down-Beginning Week 3

Ok, so it has now been two weeks since I have had any soda and have cut the sugar in about half. I am not eating half as much junk food as I used to. And I have to say I feel pretty good. I am still not getting to sleep as soon as I would like and I am still not waking up easier, but I do feel better once I am awake. I am not sitting at my desk falling out of my chair because I can’t keep my eyes open. I have more energy throughout the day. I still do have those moments in the afternoon when I feel like I have hit a wall and could use a nap. But they don’t last as long anymore. It used to be anywhere from and hour until I got home and was able to take a nap. Now it may last a half hour if that. I am still working on getting the bad sugars out of my diet which is proving to be pretty hard. It is getting a little easier everyday. Anytime I see candy or junk food I just remind myself of how terrible I feel after I eat it and what it will take to burn it off. Most of the time it works and I don’t eat it. Saturday, though, I gave in. We went to WSU’s Homecoming game. I was able to get skybox seats through my work and they had yummy food, cheesecake, and in the suite were lots of unhealthy snacks. I don’t crave it if it is not around but when it is right in front of me it’s harder. Well, I had a slice of cheesecake (totally regretted it after), some M&M’s, and a few Hershey Kisses. But I did just drink water and didn’t have that refreshing taunting Dr. Pepper in the fridge. 7 Days 7 goals This week’s goals are: 1. Keep up the no soda. 2. Take it day by day and resist the temptation candy and junk food brings 3. Exercise at least 1 hr everyday. 4. Buy a notebook to keep a food journal, make daily goals, and track exercise minutes. 5. Bring lunch from home at least 4 out of 5 days. 6. Watch 1 hour less TV every night and devote that time to school so I am not stressing at the last minute to get assignments done. 7. Do something fun this weekend like a movie or a fun activity with my nephews. On some other news, Kaylee’s baby is due exactly 3 weeks from today!!!! We have two baby showers for her this week. I can’t wait. And Saturday baby Taylor is coming to visit. Wooohoooo!!

She's her Daddy!

I got to see my baby girl last night. She has grown so much already. Two months old and she is wearing 3-6 month clothes already. She looks so much like her daddy. She has her mommy's big blue eyes but after that it is all Cory. This is the only picture I got on my phone last night because she spent a while eating and then I was holding her until I left. So snuggly!!

Day 3

Where to start? My mom went to the doctor for her arthritis a few weeks back and the doctor keeps telling her she needs to lose weight. And if you know my mom she is not a big person, she has a very petite frame. However, we both have a few extra pounds to lose. Randy, our chiropractor, advised my mom that she really needs to stop drinking soda and eating sugar (other than the natural kind from fruits and veggies) and cut out the red meat for 30 day. She started last week and has done really well. This morning she said she has already lost 3 lbs. Only she isn't quite sure how much she weighed before. What a dork. Anyway, normally I am getting mad at her for buying Pepsi Free because then I drink it too. I have no willpower. So I decided if she can do it so can I. Though I am starting small just the soda for now and then gradually cut out the rest of the bad sugars and a slurpee only on the weekend (I can't give those up completely). I really need to lose a few extra pounds around my midsection and tone things up a bit. People tell me all the time I am not fat but they don't see what is under the clothes. Clothing does wonders for hiding lumps and bumps. So anywho, Monday was day one without soda and my favorite Dr. Pepper. I did really well. I had a lot of energy all day and at the gym. But then yesterday happened. Day two was terribly hard. I was dragging all day. I about fell out of my chair a few times from almost falling asleep, headaches all day. When I got off work I almost immediately fell asleep as soon as I was home. BUT, I did it. I made it through day two. Now we are in day three and I am feeling pretty good. I got this new waterbottle that I take with me almost everywhere and that really helps when I get a craving for soda. I just drink a bunch of water instead. It's not quite the same but it does ease the cravings. Anyway, here is a picture of my new water bottle. It is the camelbak brand and it has the bite piece like the backpacks do. The best part was it was FREE!!!!! There is this website clubbing.com (Club Bing not clubbing) and you can play games to earn tokens. With those tokens you can redeem them for prizes. This is what I got. I love it!!

Now onto other things. Jayden has been complaining of a tooth ache for a little while now I guess and he has been sick throwing up. Well, I got home from work Monday and my mom told me to go look at Jayden's face. Poor kids right side of his face was swollen. It looked almost like mine when I had my wisdom teeth pulled. He was in so much pain. Sarah took him to the dentist Tuesday and he has an infected tooth. Not only that but he needs a couple of fillings and has some nerve damage. The bill to fix everything is going to be around $700. Which if you are unemployed and don't have insurance is a lot of money. Sarah is applying for some insurance through the Department of Workforce Services but it will be at least 30 days before they get it. I don't know if Jayden can wait that long. The kid is miserable. He has missed two days of school so far this week. They did get him on and antibiotic so that seems to be helping a bit. Well, that's all for now. I have some cute pictures of Parker to post and a couple from my trip to California. Later.

It's OCTOBER!!!!

Wow, does time fly or what?! I can't believe it is October already. So guess what this means....Kaylee's baby will be here in a few short weeks!! I am so excited. Wouldn't it be so cool if she came on Halloween? That would make her about 9 days early but that's ok and it is possible. Kaylee went to the doctor last week and found out she has low amniotic fluid. Which means they will be monitoring her very closely and if her levels get too low they would take the baby early. So it could happen. Kaylee and I both did some research on the topic (on our own not knowing eachother were doing the same thing) and what effects low amniotic fluid can have on the baby. The amniotic fluid is what provides the cushion and protection for the baby during pregancy and contractions. Well, when the fluid is low it can cause compression on the baby and the baby doens't have room to move. During our reading we discovered one of the things it can cause is club foot. Well, Kaylee, Chris, and I were all born with a club foot but we could not trace it to either side of the family. My mom's family doesn't have a history of it and neither does my dad's. Looks like we might have solved the mystery. They didn't check for things like low amniotic fluid back then, they didn't know. Needless to say it is something they have been watching with Kaylee's baby very closely. So far she doesn't show any abnormalities in her feet. I sure hope she doesn't get it and I don't think she will. Not with what they know now and how closely they are already monitoring her. Anywho, I am so excited for October and Fall. I love the cooler weather. I love wearing jeans and sweaters and sweatshirts, basically anything cozy and comfy. I can't wait to start wearing my boots again, no more smelly sandals and annoying flip flops. No more skimpy summer clothing where you see more than you want to on some people. Although winter doesn't really stop them. Ha ha :)

One more thing about October, it means November 20th is even closer. You know what that means?

NEW MOON!!!!!

Isn't this illegal!

Ok, so a few posts back I posted a link/story about the daughter of a friend at work. She had to have brain surgery, she doesn't have health insurance, and she is still in ICU. Well, Vicky, the mom, just got a text from someone, her son or someone, saying Fedex (the daughters employer) said if she can't return to work by the 29th of this month she will lose her job! Hello she is in the freaking hospital in the freaking ICU!! Isn't that illegal? I mean it's discrimination almost. What do they want her to do? It's just crap!!

I feel terrible for Vicky and what her family is going through with this. It is unimaginable. Her daughter has had other procedures since the initial surgery and she isn't doing well from what I hear. It just kills me.

I am really just dumbfounded right now. My jaw is still on the floor.

Nie Nie Dialogues

So I was on facebook yesterday and one of my friends posted a link to this blog. She had read it and was so moved. I pulled it up and I am in awe of this woman. It is about her journey to recovery after a near fatal plane crash a year ago where 83% of her body was burned. She and her husband survived the crash but a friend did not. You must read it. Her writing is astounding. Her words are inspiring. It really makes you realize what you have and to be appreciative of life. Please visit the blog and tell your friends. http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/

Random Pictures

These are just some random photos. They are mostly of Taylor. We went down to Mandy and Cory's house Saturday afternoon to see our new niece/grandaughter. She is so cute and she was awake!! The others are of Jayden and Ammon at the fair with the guy who did the bird show. Then Jayden fixing his hair. He likes to do his own hair now. He was in the bathroom putting so much gel on and combing it for forever. He has a blue tongue from eating an airhead candy. Then their is smiley Parker.

Donations Anyone?

So, this wonderful lady at work's daughter found out she had a brain tumor. She has surgery this morning to remove the tumor. All went well, unfortunately she is one of the many Americans who are uninsured. I am posting the link to her blog here where there is another link to donate money. If anyone can donate anything I know they would appreciate it greatly. Vicky is such a fun lady to work with and it is terrible to see her and her family going through such a tough time.

Here is the link

http://hollysbrainblog.blogspot.com/

No more waiting because....

SHE IS HERE!!!!

Mandy and Cory had their beautiful baby girl Wednesday, August 12, 2009. She was born at 1:34 weighing 7 lbs 13 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. She has blonde hair and is absolutely beautiful. She looks so much like her daddy but she has a lot of Mandy in her as well. She is a perfect combination. Cory doesn't want her to look like him. He wants her to look like her mommy. They have decided to name her Taylor Elizabeth Whetton. I will post more pictures besides the one on the sidebar when I get home.

That's all for now.

Well, there are a few posts for now. I haven't had much motivation or time to post lately. School is getting to me. I don't know if it is stress or what but I have been so tired lately and getting headaches. I must be making myself sick or something. Earlier this month I had a migraine and was throwing up. So hard in fact that I burst a few capillaries in my face and a couple BIG ones in my eyes. Just this last week I got sick again. Sarah burnt some popcorn Monday night and the whole house stunk. I was already having a bad day and stressed to my max with school. Well I had to get out of the house because I was starting to get really sick from the smell. Well, needless to say thirty minutes later I was home and throwing up again. So much harder this time that I broke many more capillaries in my face. This time all on my forehead, around my eyes, on my nose, my chin, and down my neck a little bit. I looked diseased. It really scared me because I couldn't stop. I had to quickly drink water out of the faucet just to have something to come back out. It got so bad that at one point I thought I might have been throwing up a little blood. Well, about thirty minutes later I finally stopped. I just haven't been the same all week. Even more tired than before. I can barely keep my eyes open and I haven't been able to get any school work done. Every time I open my book I want to fall asleep. I am just really ready to be done with school. Everytime I think about it I get anxiety. I just have no more motivation. Well, I guess I better try and get on my school work now. It is 10:30 and everything for the week is due at 11:59 and I have done nothing. Oh well, I don't even care anymore.

Pretty Rainbows

These pictures were taken July 12th. It had rained a bit that day and Jayden looked outside and pointed out the rainbow. Of course I had to grab my camera. There was actually two rainbows and they stretched forever. The sunset that night was beautiful as well.

Baby quilt

So this is the baby quilt we made Mandy. I didn't get a picture of the finished product so this is a picture of it right before we tied it.We found this kit at Sew N Save right after we found out her and Cory were having a girl. We didn't have time to get it quilted so we tied it instead. It turned out really cute. The back was green with white poka dots.

4th of July

So I let myself get behind on posting.

For the 4th of July I decided to take a little road trip alone. I drove up to Boise to visit a friend who I have not seen in a long time. It was a nice relaxing weekend just hanging out. I don't think I could ever live in Boise. I would miss our mountains too much. Downtown Boise is nice right around the campus. I love that the river goes right through town and there are some fabulous parks.

These first set of pictures are from the park. We stopped and got burgers at Five Guys. Wow what a burger. I got the regular cheeseburger which is TWO patties. The think that is cool about Five Guys is you tell them what you want on your burger and not what you don’t want. They have a nice list of things you can put on it and none of it is extra. The dog is Nicole’s pet poodle Oliver. What a funny dog very nice but very skittish. He hid behind Nicole half the time. He would let me pet him but only if Nicole was holding him. There were a couple of squirrels running around on the picnic benches and since I took a picture of a squirrel in Charleston I had to take one of the Boise squirrels.

Oh and I won $8 playing the lottery cards. Woohoo!! The grocery store down the street from Nicole's house actually has a vending machine that sells them. I thought that was hillarious!!!

If anyone watched or watches The Girls Next Door on E! then you know about Sprinkles cupcakes. Bridgette talked about them all the time. Well thanks to my cousin Andrea I found out they sell the mixes at Williams Sonoma. So we were at the mall in Boise and they had a Williams Sonoma store so we stopped in to see if they had them. Ta DAH!!! They did so we bought some. Can you say EXPENSIVE?!?!?! Oh well. They were yummy. Note: when making cream cheese frosting it is imperative that the cream cheese is still cold. If not the frosting is runny and doesn’t set up.

(My wannabe photography skills, ha ha if that is what you can call it.)

Wow!! I need to post something.

Ok I haven't posted in a while. I have stuff to post. Here is just a quick one. These pictures are from the Pleasant View Founder's Day fireworks. It is my cute cousins Emily and Megan playing with Jayden, Riley, and Jaycee. I just loved the sunset in the background. I took these with my cell so they are not the greatest.

Thanks to Andrea who helped me figure out how to get the pictures to upload in order to use bighugelabs.com to create this mosaic picture tile. I love that site.

Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Father's day to my dad and all the other dad's out there!!!

So my mom had this cute idea for Father's Day cards for primary. She has been working on them all week. She made a shirt out of construction paper and then cut out ties and pocket squares from different patterns of scrapbook paper. This is how cute they turned out. This is one Jayden actually made for Grandpa.

Well of course just a shirt isn't enough. Jayden said it needed pants and shoes. So my mom cut and made some pants and shoes to go with the shirt. She also drew on pockets, a belt, and the zipper/fly. Here is Jayden holding his card for Grandpa. It actually turned out really cute.

Saturday morning my mom came down stairs to find Jayden coloring in the zipper/fly. Needless to say it really didn't look quite right anymore. This picture doesn't do it justice. It was so funny.

Cory and Many came out with their new addition, Parley. She is a cute springer spaniel. I guess she isn't that new they have had her a few months now. Here is Jayden and Ammon playing with her.

Parker's favorite thing in this world is balls. He likes to play catch, throw them in the basketball hoop, and bounce them off walls. I was trying to just take a picture of him holding the ball up but he decided to throw it. Well, if you ask me I think this picture turned out quite cute.

My own OMG! did he just say that moment.

Just a little story about Jayden that corisponds with my previous post.

Sarah was mailing some letters to Bryan for Fathers Day. Jayden wanted to put them in the mailbox but he was worried the mailman wasn't going to come tomorrow. So I told him we could take them to the BIG mailbox at the post office. That way we know the mailman will get them for sure. After we dropped them off I decided to take Jayden to get a slurpee. Kiera and Jayden time, plus I was craving a coke slurpee. As we were driving down the road Jayden wanted his window down. So I rolled it down for him. He was loving it. He said he liked all the wind blowing in his face. He had been quiet for a few seconds and then he blurted out "Wow, your jeep is going fast!" I said "Yes, my jeep is fast. Only we aren't going really fast it just looks like it because everyone else is going slow." (Yes they were going slow I was going the speed limit of 50). Just as I said this the car we were passing sped up and I said "Well, looks like this person decided we can't go faster than them." I am not sure what he was doing in the back seat but the car pulled up next to us and I glanced over. The girl in the passenger seat and the other person in the back seat were waiving at him and laughing hysterically. Jayden then proceeded to yell out the window that they need to slow down or they will get pulled over or in a wreck. I started laughing so hard I almost couldn't drive. We stopped at the stop light to turn right and they were going straight and Jayden was still "scolding" them for going to fast. He is into the "why?" phase so he proceeded to ask why were they going so fast. I didn't have an answer. Luckily they had their windows rolled up and so they didn't hear him. Only I wish they would have. It would have made the whole situation that much more funnier.

So by now we have pulled into the 7-Eleven parking lot. Let me say first, if you know Jayden you know he is not shy and he is anything but quiet. We are walking into the store and he looks up at this girl and says "Wow, you have really sharp teeth!" I turned to look at her and she had two lip piercings that are hoops with little beads on top that make her look like she has fangs. Luckily she just laughed and said "I love it." She seemed to be quite flattered he thought she had sharp teeth.

My mom told a story about something he said to a lady at the store yesterday. She apparently had red, white, and blue hair. He looks up at her and says "Wow, your hair is beautiful. It is so colorful." So at least it was a complement. He loved her hair.

I love my nephews and Jayden is getting too smart for his own good. The way his little mind works baffles me.

OMG! Moments

I stumbled upon this article on aol.com "Parents' Most Embarrassing moments" today and thought I would share some of the stories with everyone. There are several stories but here are my favorites. Just thought all you mom's and dad's out their would enjoy a good giggle. Heck, I am sure a lot of you have probably experienced similar stories. This first one made me about fall out of my chair.

“We were at the golf course where Daddy was playing a round. I took my eyes off my son, 3, for a minute to scan the course. When I looked back, he had dropped his shorts and was peeing into the little golf ball cup in the middle of a green! Perfect aim, of course. I grabbed his sisters, loaded them up in the cart, started to back away and he came running. We pulled out of there so fast! I'm sure whoever was up next to golf that hole had an interesting round!”

“We have a new baby on the way, and I was explaining to our 2½-year-old son that babies don't eat food like us, they drink milk from mama. One day at day care, as his provider knelt down to give him his goodbye hugs and kiss, instead of hugging he yanked the top of her shirt down, grabbed her boob, and said, "Baby milk?" All before I could even react! I was absolutely MORTIFIED! I could feel my face turning bright red as I tried to tactfully release his death grip on her shirt.”

“We were on line at Costco, waiting forever to get checked out when my 3-year-old daughter (with horror in her eyes) shouted, "MOM, look at that scary man!" So I turn around…and it was an extremely unattractive LADY! I didn't know where to go, because I was surrounded by people and it's not easy moving around once you are on line. Meanwhile, my daughter didn't stop -- "MOMMY, it's not Halloween, why is that man so scary!?" The woman was shocked. I finally shut my daughter up by opening an unpaid-for bag of chips, which she started munching on.”

“When my oldest son (now 12) was 3 years old, we were at the mall at one of those little toddler play areas. There was a Muslim woman there too, watching her daughter play. She was wearing a head covering and a long dress, and she had olive-colored skin. My son pointed right at her and said very excitedly, "Mommy!! Is that Jesus?!"”

And in honor of Father’s Day this Sunday…

“I was at Walmart with my toddler son, and this old lady started talking to him. He told her that, "My Daddy has a big wee wee and I have a small one, but one day it will get big like my Daddy's." I thought the old lady was going to have a heart attack; I know I wanted to have one!”

This is something my nephew Jayden would do…

“When my son was about 2½ years old, he and I were at a store. We approached the check-out counter when my son told me he had to go to the restroom. He said this in plain earshot of the clerk, who informed me that there was no public restroom. My son, being the headstrong individual that he's always been, marched right out the door and right up to the post at the front of the building. With out missing a beat, he unzipped his pants and proceeded to relieve himself right there on the sidewalk. I could have crawled in a hole from sheer embarrassment!”

Hope you all enjoyed these stories. They sure made me laugh. Here is the link if you would like to read more. http://www.parentdish.com/2009/06/17/parents-most-embarrassing-moments/?icid=mainmaindl5link3http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parentdish.com%2F2009%2F06%2F17%2Fparents-most-embarrassing-moments%2F

Downtown Charleston, SC

Well, day one on my much needed getaway was pretty uneventful. My flight into Columbia was delayed about an hour. Shannon was there to pick me up. It was so good to see her. It has been at least 7 or 8 years since we last saw each other. The best thing was it felt like no time had past at all. She lives in Goose Creek so it was about an hour and a half drive back to her house. We talked the entire time. Shannon has two cats and I am very allergic so our first stop was Walmart to get some allergy medicine. Since of course I forgot to buy it before I left. We hung out at her house for a little bit waiting for her husband Tim to wake up. He was working graveyards and so he was still sleeping. Once he woke up they took me to their favorite Mexican restaurant. It was delicious. Some of the best chips and salsa I have ever had. I am still craving them.

That first night was pretty rough. My allergies were terrible. I fell asleep on the couch and they stopped bothering me. But then I woke up and my eyes just went crazy. They were puffy, itchy, and bright red. Luckily the rest of the trip I didn't have a problem because I kept medicine in me.

So, day two was Sunday and Shannon took me into Downtown Charleston. I have no words to really describe it. AMAZING!!!! The weather wasn't really great. It was raining but not really hard. We walked around for forever up and down market street, over to the pier and down the battery, and then we walked back to Market Street to eat at Bubba Gumps. I loved the mashed potatoes!! The pictures above are what I took as we walked around.

Monday we went to the beach, Isle of Palms. The weather forecast called for cloudy and thunderstorms in the afternoon. It turned out to be a beautiful day. The sun was out and it was HOT!! We went back downtown later that afternoon and did some more shopping. I LOVE that place. I can't wait to go back.

Tuesday morning we got up and went to a plantation before I had to catch my flight home. We went to Boone Hall Plantation. If anyone has seen the Notebook they will recognize the plantation house. I am really glad we squeezed the visit in. I will post another slide show of those pictures later.

It's A Girl!!!

So Kaylee and Justin are having a baby girl. We thought we were lucky to get a girl with Mandy and Cory and now we get two!!! I am so excited. My poor wallet is going to feel the pain because I am going to buy way too much. I guess I better start saving!! Kaylee is due around Nov 9 and Mandy is due Aug 18. YEAH!!!!!!!!! I will post pictures of my trip to South Carolina sometime this weekend. It was a lot of fun.

PATHETIC!!!!!

So this is my pathetic attempt to keep myself awake this morning. I don't know why but yesterday and today I just cannot keep my eyes open. I was turning into a bobble head this morning. Seriously, I just about fell asleep so many times. And on top of that this office is like a subzero freezer in the morning.

So, it was only 9 am and I knew I had to get out of the office for a few if I was ever going to make it. I forgot to bring my lunch so I decided to drive to Wal-mart. I parked halfway out in the parking lot and made myself walk. I did a few laps around the store before grabbing what I went in for. I made chicken salad the other night so I went home and got some. On the drive back to work I was feeling pretty good. I felt like I was finally starting to wake up. And then I got back to work. The minute I walked back in the door the sleepiness hit again. Except now, 20 minutes later, I am finally starting to wake up due to the nice sugar rush to my head. I know it is only a short fix but I just need to get through this morning. I know the afternoon will go by faster (it usually does, sometimes). Plus I can go home and take a nap after work at 4 if I am still tire.

The Biggest Loser and more...

So not much has been going on. Life is pretty boring around here. Work, school, the gym, and sitting in my room watching TV. I watched the last half of the Biggest Loser finale last night. I was so happy for Jerry who one the at home prize. I can't believe he only spent two weeks on the ranch and was able to lose 177 lbs at home. He deserved it! Congratulations to Helen who one the $250,000 grand prize. She was the big (no pun intended) underdog. No one thought she would take it home. She looks amazing! When she came out my mouth dropped. I felt terrible for Tara who worked so hard and had hardly ever lost a challenge and was never below the yellow line. To win so many weigh ins and to lose at the finale, I can only imagine how heartbroken she was. But no matter what, the real reward was how great she looked and you could tell she felt good. I have never really watched this show before this season. I am hooked.

So, onto the "more..." part of this post. Bryan is going to be going to officer training for the Utah National Guard in a few weeks. He will be gone for two months in either South or North Dakota. I can't remember. Which means Sarah and the boys are moving in with us. It is going to be a huge adjustment but I am excited to have them. My mom is exhausted just thinking about it. They could stay down in Lehi in the apartment they are living in now. From what I understand Sarah doesn't want to be down there alone with the boys. They have a neighbor upstairs who is a little scary. I guess Sarah heard him fighting with the woman who lives there as well. It must have been pretty bad because Sarah called the cops.

We have so much to do before they move in. My mom wants to finish painting the hallway upstairs, paint Kaylee's old room, and move in the furniture my aunt gave her. Then once that is done we need to get the garage cleaned out. It has all our old cupboards from the kitchen when we remodeled it last year. My mom wants to use some to put up in the laundry room. Then we need to get the basement cleaned out and organized so we can hopefully get some tile or something down there and move the computer and the rest of the family room back down there. And then I want to finally get my bathroom downstairs done. I have had the stuff for it purchased for over a year now. My dad was supposed to help me with it but then they decided to do the kitchen and my project got put off. Plus, when we went to prime the walls to paint I noticed that the old paint was chipping in some spots. I started to peal it a little and it didn't stop. When Brad painted it years ago he didn't prime the walls first. So wherever the plaster was the paint just pealed off and where the drywall is it stuck. So we needed to replaster and smooth the edges where the paint had pealed but the guy who did it missed a few spots. I have been begging my dad for the past year to help me finish it. If someone will just finishing replastering and sanding the walls I can do the painting. Then I just need someone to help me lay the tile, put up the light, install the toilet, get the sink working, and I can hang my fixtures. It will just be so nice to have that bathroom when Sarah and the boys move in. This way I can keep all my makeup and hair stuff down there so the boys don't get into like they do. And we won't be battling for bathroom time in the morning, just shower time. Ha ha. We only have a few short weeks to get all this done. Move in day is just a few weeks away. Any help anyone would like to give would be so appreciated (especially with my bathroom).

Wow after writing and reading all of this my first statement is quite false. We have a lot going on and life is definately not boring. This was just supposed to be a quick post. So much for that.

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So this has been a slow but crazy week. I started two new classes at school and I am already having a hard time with them. I am so not a writer and I am supposed to write a 500 word essay, 1-2 pages double spaced, organized into at least five clear paragraphs (introduction, body, and conclusion). It is for a critical thinking class and the topic is "Identify the various positive and negative influences that have shaped you. Which one of these influences has had the greatest effect on you?" My answer? I don't know. I have been so tired this week I can't "think" of what to write. Or every time I do and start writing my mind ends up going blank. Or I getting thinking about something else. Or I get frustrated because I don't know how to word things or arrange them to make sense. I have to have this turned in before noon tomorrow. I know it's only 500 words. It shouldn't be that hard but it is. And now I have a headache. I am also so distracted because I want to go somewhere fun over Memorial weekend. I do not want to spend another one sitting at home alone. And I SOOOO do not want to go camping. I had the idea of flying to Charleston, SC to visit a friend who is living there now with her husband. I haven't seen this person in a good 7 or 8 years. The problem is the Delta flight I want (because the flight times are make more sense for me) is more than I want to spend for the dates I want to go. There is the option of coming home a day later but that means I have to take two days off of work (I would leave Saturday and come home Wednesday morning). I just don't want to use up the few hours I have saved. I have the money in savings. I can't find anyone who would sell me some sky miles because I would need so many. I just keep battling in my head whether to spend the money or not. Because I keep thinking of what I really should use the money for. I really should just keep saving it. But I really want to go. Can you tell I am torn? Does any of this make sense? Ugh my head hurts. I give up.

Creepy 7-Eleven dude.

Ok, so everyone who knows me knows I love my coke slurpees. If I were going away to a desert island and could only take one thing with me...it would probably be a slurpee machine. So the point of this post is there is a guy that works at the 7-Eleven I usually go to. He is farely new. He is very nice BUT he totally creeps me out. He calls me sweetie all the time. "Hi, sweetie how are you today?" or "Have a good day sweetie." Dude, you don't know me and I am not your sweetie. And he is friggin married!!!!! His wife and kids were in there the other day. I know, I know, he is just trying to be friendly and nice. But come on! Sweetie? I was just in there a few minutes ago. I walked in like normal. Not smiling or anything but I didn't think I looked mad. So, he asks me "having a bad day?" I said no. He says "Oh, you just look mad." I said nope just tired (which is true). He says "oh, ok. Have a good night sweetie." I must look mad when I don't smile. I didn't think I did. But just because I am not smiling every second doesn't mean that.

I don't know what it is but I attract the creepiest people. There was another guy who worked at 7-Eleven a few years ago who always did the same thing to me. And he was super super creepy. When I worked at Meier and Frank there was a guy who ran the Sbarros that kept asking if he could cook me dinner at his house. The guy was my dad's age. That might not bother some people but it bothers me. And then one day he comes into the store with his GRANDKIDS and tried to ask me again.

Anyway, I just had to vent for a second.

Congratulations Bryan!!

Bryan is now a BYU graduate. He had his graduation ceremony yesterday afternoon. I don't remember what his degree was in (especially since it seemed he was always changing his mind). My mom, dad, and brother Chris were all able to attend. Unfortunately I could not go because I had too much of my own school stuff to do. My mom said there was about 6,000 graduates and their families there. So you can only imagine how crazy the place was. I called her just after it ended and they could not find him.

Way to go Bryan!!!

Thank you!!

I just wanted to thank Holly and Chris who are in Hawaii right now for sending us some of Hawaii's beautiful warm weather.

Mmmmm....food

Chris cooked us dinner tonight. One of his favorite meals he cooked on his mission. The last few things he made for us I didn't try. I was too afraid. Anyway, I don't remember what he called it but it is similar to an alfredo pasta dish. He started by dicing up some red and green peppers. Then sauted them in a pan with some onion and olive oil. Then he mixed in some chicken bullion and salt and pepper and let those cook up for a minute. Then he added some chicken breasts that were cut up into strips. Let those cook a minute and then added some stewed tomatos (from a can of course). That simmered for a minute before he added some milk (evaporated I believe). Then he and my mom added some seasonings. After it had cooked a few minutes, he added some cheese and let the sauce thicken up.

Once that was done he tossed it with some whole wheat penne pasta. Now I was a little skeptical but it turned out really yummy. And it smelled delicious. He said it turned out a little different than when he made it in the DR because we had real ingredients here. I was quite impressed.

So tired...

I don't know what it is but I have been so tired this week. Maybe it's the weather and the fact I was sick last week. I don't know. All I know is I can't go to bed and I can't wake up.

Anyway, not much has been going on this week. Work has been scary slow and I can't seem to focus long enough to get any school work done. So I decided to take a half day at work Wednesday and drive down with my mom and Kaylee to watch the boys. Bryan and Sarah were going to a dinner of some sort for his school (I think). He is actually graduating from BYU next week. Anyway, we had a good time with the boys. They completely wore us out though and that was them being good. They were really well behaved. It's mostly just the million questions Jayden asks constantly that exhaust you. He doesn't accept "I don't know Jayden" as an answer. I swear had we not been in their van we would have called them to make sure they were outside when we got there so we could just drop them off and run. No, we would never do that. Here are a couple pictures of the monkeys in the car.

I told Jayden to say "Cheese!" and this is what I got.

Ammon did a better job at it.

And then there is little Parker. He was getting tired. He is finally starting to fill back out. His cheeks are getting chubby again.

And here is Kaylee hiding from my camera.

Enough is Enough

Ok, so I am not really a summer person because I hate the extreme heat (and the clothes). I love wearing sweatshirts and my boots and being bundled up. But even I am sick of the snow at this point. Monday was such a nice day that I even pulled my bike out and went for a ride after work. It wasn't too hot or too cold. But today is friggin ridiculous. Snow!!!! Not just small light snow, big giant heavy snow flakes. And we are supposed to drive in this to go watch the nephews in Lehi. I am so dreading it now. Just the drive not the boys.

What a day for it to snow...TAX DAY!!!! I am glad I did mine back in February and e-filed them.

Just Some Funny Pics

Grandpa and his boys.

Parker fits perfectly into the new bathroom sink.

Kaylee playing baby wrangler with the boys on Halloween this year. Let me tell you, it was a battle to see who got to be spiderman this year. As you can see Ammon won. Parker is just wiped out.

What is that on the porch? Is it a baby, is it doll, or is it a monkey?

Oh look, it's the baby Parker.