In my drunken state...

WOW! What a "sweet spirit"! In my defense, it was a rough weekend. But wouldn't it figure, the one picture you find of me on my camera is this one. Perhaps you have heard and if you haven't no, I haven't fallen off the wagon! I had an infection under my gums. A dentist had incorrectly done a root canal. GOOD TIMES! I am feeling much better now. Honestly, 3 c-sections and an abdominal hysterectomy do not even compare to this pain. The pain was so out of control I was unable to keep the meds down. That's when I got scared. Have you seen the movie "She's Having a Baby", where the father in law has heard the story of his wife's labor and delivery so many times he quickly adds, "but you're alright now!"? I love it! I am alright now! But it was terrible!

Crazy 8's-I've been tagged for crazy 8's

8 TV SHOWS I LOVE TO WATCH
This, sadly is way too easy!
1. Project Runway-LEEANN WON, YEAH!
2. Amazing Race-Troy and I will do this someday!
3. Survivor-neither Troy or I could be a survivor
4. The Office
5. Samantha Who?
6. Boston Legal-very irreverent!
7. American's Funniest Home Videos-Troy will always record this for me, he knows it's my favorite!
8. Jon and Kate plus 8-they amaze me!(Notice the theme? I love Reality TV)

8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS
Again, very easy, everyone knows I can't cook so it doesn't matter where it comes from as long as I didn't cook it! In no particular order...
1. Olive Garden
2. Quizno's
3. Cheesecake Factory
4. Iggy's-mostly Troy loves this, he can watch sports while we eat!
5. Rock Creek Pizza-I think that's the name, down by the river bottoms
6. Panda
7. Arby's
8. Wendy's-love the southwest taco salad with regular ranch not the chipotle crap!

8 THINGS THAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY
1. Got on the scale to see a few more pounds-crap!
2. grounded my daughter for deliberately defying me-she cried herself to sleep!
3. Partied with the third grade!
4. started the laungdry AGAIN!
5. Squashed my amish friendship bread bag! (thanks Amy!)
6. Bought paint for Max's room. We picked green as a compromise, he wanted PINK!
7. Watched Alex's football practice
8. Watched Project Runway finale

8 THINGS I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO
1. Losing a few pounds-say a prayer for me!
2. Saturday's football game
3. teenager's who don't talk back and obey. (yeah, I'll be waiting awhile!)
4. a shower-I did run today, It's 6:42 pm, hopefully I'll get one before I work at 9
5. OUR CRUISE IN FEBRUARY! Assuming we don't lose our passports again!
6. finishing the paint in Max's room. BTW it's looking awesome!
7. The holidays-the Genessy's are coming!!!!
8. the day our tree starts growing money!

8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST
1. a new washer and dryer-a complete set, not "previously owned"one. The one that you can fill with 6 months of detergent and softener-yes, there is one!
2. tires for my car
3. being on "who wants to be a millionaire", I did have an audition, the flights just sold out for standby so I didn't go :(
4. TUMMY TUCK AND LIPO!
5. to be on "What not to Wear"-who wouldn't want that?
6. my house paid off
7. Happy, well adjusted kids (I think I'm close on that one!)
8. a bank account with unlimited funds-again, who wouldn't want that?

8 PEOPLE I TAG...Not sure who has done this either so here goes!
1. Natalie T.
2. Jenny G.
3. Rachelle K.
4. Nan B.
5. Kristy, yes Kristy, get to work on that blog!
6. Tecia B.
7. Candace
8. Janae F.-you too Janae, time to get to work on the blog again!

More moments of joy!

After the Sunday morning session of Conference, we decided to go up American Fork Canyon and take in the fall colors while listening to the afternoon session. Amazingly, we never lost the radio signal up there. I wanted to add these pictures just for my siblings who insist on leaving outside the beautiful state of Utah. Maybe it will inspire them to come home for the holidays!









This really is a great pose! Troy and Alex are having a GQ moment. They really aren't pointing at anything, they just want to be more intresting!

Finding Joy...

Like many, I loved President Monson's conference talk during the Sunday morning session. I think for moms it's hard to find the joy sometimes! That sounds terrible, I know. But some days are better than others! So I thought I'd share my most recent "joyful moments". Here's hoping a few minutes of reflection will make today's journey more joyful!



Saturday, August 23 Max's 8th Birthday. We armed Kaiti and Alex with silly string early in the morning and woke Max up with "Happy Birthday"! I was really worried Max would freak out, he is a little weird when he isn't fully awake! He took it well. Likely because HE HAD SLEPT IN OUR BED!!!



Some are more joyful than others!

Who doesn't love bubble wrap?

Need I say more? This was as much for Troy as it was for Alex!

THE KATYDID

We are very easily entertained at our house. It really doesn't take much to get us going. The other day, I noticed a Katydid out on the back rail. The kids were fascinated and much to my dismay, Max brought it in the house. He took the katydid on a full tour including our room, Alex's room, Kaiti's room and of course his own. He named him Bob. He wanted to keep him forever. Then suddenly, the katydid flew off his arm. This sent us all into a panic. Freaked out, we couldn't find Bob. I was trying to be nice, but I have to say, the thought of Bob crawling on me during my sleep was making me nervous. After a little chasing, laughing and a few tears (of mine) we found him. I told Max he would need to set him free in the back yard. Fortunately, Max was as wigged out as I was with the thing flying all over and it wasn't much of a fight. But I thought I'd share the pics of Bob for your Halloween enjoyment!

$%$# CELL PHONE!!

Clearly I am not very technically savvy. When I got my first cell phone, two years ago, I took it shopping with me thinking that I was "all that" because I had a cell phone. Anyway, I went to the mall and thought I'd call Troy. I couldn't figure out how to turn the #$%^$ thing on. I looked at it from every angle, turned it over and over still could not find an "on" button. Frustrated, I came home, dug up the instruction manual and figured out how to turn it on.

We recently got new fancy phones. Kaiti, Alex and Troy got the new Sidekick, while I got a Blackberry. Troy set up my contact list for me. Mostly because I didn't want to have to deal with it. He set up "My Fav Five" with himself and the kids. Of course he couldn't just name himself Troy, instead he named himself "Sexy". Cute! So every time he calls or texts, I know it's my sexy hubby! When Alex saw that, he asked, "Who's 'sexy'?" I laughed that he didn't already know! Then he thought he would one up Troy and added, "Sexy Beast". Again, each time Troy calls or texts it shows me it's my sexy beast!

It wasn't long before Kaiti got in on the action. She decided to add picture icons for my fav fives. My crappy camera cannot focus on my phone to be able to post a picture of the icons, but hopefully if you use your imagination, you just might get a visual.

My "Sexy Beast" is an African American hottie! Am I lucky or what! Alex is now a blonde bombshell... of the female persuasion. While Kaiti is a frothy mug of what I can only assume is root beer. As for my mom, well, she is a lovely Asian women! When I realized what had been done, of course I had to giggle. But they all know it's not likely to change anytime soon, at least not if they expect me to do it!