HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Sunday May 10, 2009
Yes Happy Mom's Day to one and all (if you are a Mom that is).

4 Generations

I feel pretty lucky, I got to celebrate Mother's Day early this year. Last Saturday my Oma, my Mom, Natalie and I all went to the Annual Poplar Grove Ward Mother's and Daughters Banquet. This thing has been going on since like 1949 or something and it is a HUGE deal. The women in the ward get together and just have a wonderful night for Moms and Daughters. When I was in YW's we did some of the funnest skits and had awesome themes, it was a blast. Anyway I had a nice Young Man (yes the YM get roped into helping out too) take our picture. Don't we all look so cute (well except Natalie's not smiling-hmmm)? She wasn't even grumpy. Sometimes I think she does it on purpose.

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Now here comes the part where I tell you NOT to be jealous, and that I sometimes can be super crafty (if I read enough blogs where my friends have gone all gung-ho and made the cutest things). Anyway I decided that for Mother's Day I wanted to make my Mom and Mother-in-law Aprons. Why aprons? Well, my mom is ALWAYS feeding us on Sundays (and other times too) so she got the Kitchen Apron.

Cute Right? YES, that IS a pocket.

And My Mother-in-law is A-MAZING outdoors so she got the Garden Apron. 

Won't the neighbor ladies be jealous?

Both turned out so stinkin' cute, if I can totally brag for a moment. I think I might be on to something. The only problem...the lack of time I have for making these adorable little accessories. The only reason I had a moment this week was because my parents AND grandma were out of town so I had no one to watch Sam and didn't go to work. WOW it's crazy what you can get done when you are at home all day. OH, the dishes...hmmm well....I was going to do them. Hee hee.

(We've got TREK in a couple of months, maybe I'll use my apron-making skills again. I'll be the hippest pioneer woman out there)!

37.32

May 2, 2009

Rain is falling all around us, but you can't tell how wet we are in this pic.

Okay so it's not "RECORD" time or anything, but it's MY time. Yes I finally ran a 5K. Today in the rain. And it was AWESOME! My friend, and neighbor (and Twilight movie buddy) Lisa invited me to run the LAW DAY RUN with her and her cute family. 

The run took place up at the U campus, and if anyone has ever even had a class up there, you know how those "hills" can be, so imagine running that. We didn't RUN the whole thing but I think we probably ran at least 2 1/2 miles (mostly the down-hill parts) we hoped to make it in under 30 minutes but I'm excited that we made it under 40. If we would've run up the hills we probably could've made it in 30, but that's a GOAL for the next one! As for the rain...it was so much fun to run in, and then we stopped and realized REALLY how wet and cold we were. 

Lisa's brother's Law Firm TRASKBRITT bought everyone breakfast at The Oasis Cafe when everyone was done. It was SO good after quite a work out!

Thanks Barrett family for letting me be a part of you family today!

So much waiting for "ONE SHORT DAY!"

April 30, 2009

So it's been over ten months since I posted with the news that my "WONDERFUL" friend Sarah, and her "POPULAR" Mom Becky "DEFYed GRAVITY" and got us tickets to WICKED! And yesterday the day finally arrived!

Our evening started with a birthday celebration for my friend Kristie Marshall. Brandon, I, and our friends Levi and Tiffany went to the Marshall house and Kristie's husband Sean cooked a nice dinner. After that, Kristie, Tiffany, Brandon and I went down to Capitol Theatre. I was so excited to finally see WICKED in Salt Lake. And...

It was SOOOOOOO good! I wasn't sure if we'd get "SOMETHING BAD" but I'll tell you what, no one was "MOURNING". All the actors were amazing, and the leads (Elphaba, and Glinda) were perfect. I do believe I have been changed "FOR GOOD".

"THANK GOODNESS" we finally got to see it. I was definitely not "LOATHING" and I'll be "DANCING THROUGH LIFE" until it comes around again!!!

When in doubt...Google!

April 18, 2009

Yes it's the answer to everything.
Who was that one guy, in that show with the dog? I don't know, let's Google it! I wonder why they call it blue cheese? Google it. How many cups are in a gallon? GOOGLE!
No, I don't normally have hours to spend on-line just Google-ing things. I barely have time to blog for crying out loud. But-I have to tell you about a little experience I had a few nights ago.
Now the funniest part of this story is that I can't actually remember what I Googled. All I know is, I found this blog. Princess Lasertron!
A stinkin' cute 22 year-old girl from Omaha, hand-makes the most adorable felt and button Bridal Bouquets. Yes, I said felt and bouquet in the same sentance. Anyway, besides the bouquets, she makes the "flowers" for everyone in the wedding party, she also does corsages and bouteniers for proms, headbands, jewelry, pins. You name it, and she could probably do it! I was so enamoured by this girl and her "creations" that I spent 2 hours reading her blog entries, looking at her pics on flickr, following her links, and just getting giddy over felt. Wow I am starved for excitement.

The point I'm trying to make here, is that you never know what you are going to come across while Gooling so...Google your little hearts out...Google till the cows come home, or the fat lady sings... Google till you can't Google no more. And when your done with that...BLOG!

HOPPY EASTER!

April 13, 2009

We had a lot of fun celebrating Easter this year. Last Thursday night we went down to Josh and Kenzie's house (my bro-n-law and his wife) with my mother-in-law Jann. Josh made us dinner and we visited, then we dyed Easter eggs.

On Saturday we had a Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt, and I am constantly reminded that we live in an area with lots of young families. There were SO many kids there. Five houses in the neighborhood hid Easter eggs around their yards and the kids were sepparated by age groups and got to hunt in their designated yard. Then we had sweet rolls, muffins, cupcakes and juice for breakfast.

On Sunday I taught the Easter lesson in Young Women's-complete with quotes from Elder Holland's talk he gave in General Conference (It was perfect for my lesson). Then after church we went to my parent's house and Natalie dyed eggs again! We had a yummy turkey dinner with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend Sam. Then the kids went on another egg hunt. And now we have enough candy to last until Halloween.
To make our Easter complete we had a visit from one of Brandon's long-time friends (she's of course my friend too) Amanda, who came in town from New York for Easter! She and her sister Andrea stopped by and visited with us for a bit.

All in all I'd say that Easter this year was really fun. Samuel is old enough to run around and search for eggs (kind of) and Natalie is not quite old enough to deny helping him, so it worked out well!

A HAHAHAHA WIPEOUT!

On my list of things that I'd like to do before I'm 30, I listed that I would love to surf, yes surf. Now for those of you who know me, you know that I have a tiny fear of water. Especially water that has creepy crawlies in it, BUT I have always found surfing to be totally cool and intriquing. When in Maui, I got to check off Surfing from my list. Yes I actually surfed. I stood up on the board, and rode the waves...mind you they were only two foot waves, but waves non-the-less. I loved every stinking minute of it-minus the rash on my legs from sitting on that darn board, and the cut on my back from my Wipeout. Needless to say, it was so much fun. And I didn't really think about my fear of the water with all the "rules" I had to think about while surfing. Arch back, right knee, left foot, feet flat, arms out, stand up.

My fear of the water was met head on, however, when I strapped on some snorkel gear and slowly waded my way out to sea. I didn't really like it too much at first and I'd creep myself out if I got too close to some rocks or coral, or went out where it looked dark, but after a while and seeing all those beautiful fish, AND following a turtle, I began to like it and realize that it's not so scary. NO, I'm not completely cured of my phobia, nor am I an excellent surfer, but I definately have a new respect for the Ocean. . .AND the killer bodies of all those wave riders.

Next on the list...SNOWBOARDING-I know, can you believe I learned to Surf before Snowboard. Where exactly do I live again?

To see more pics of Hawaii, scroll to the bottom...I know, all the way down there.

April 2, 2009
A very special woman and an inspiration in my life, Janin Jackman, passed away unexpectedly Tuesday. For those of you who may have known her, the shock of losing such and amazing woman is beyond belief. She was a "mom" to everyone who knew her and treated everyone kindly. She was an example as to how I wanted to grow up, and the kind of woman I wanted to be.
I will always remember her laugh, which she never seemed to be without.
We had an inside joke which started when I was 17 and quickly became my trademark, and she never saw me without calling me "Princess".
Janin's family, especially her daughter-in-law Sarah, are very dear to me and my thoughts and prayers are with them as they face this very difficult time.
All of us who knew Janin were inspired by her, and she will surely be missed.