Happy New Year!

#30 Coming Up With Unreasonable Resolutions!
#31 New Year's Eve!


Whew...there, I'm all done with December!

Reasons Why I Like December...

#27 Christmas dinner leftovers!
#28 Get to play with the kids Christmas presents
#29 After Christmas Sales

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out, Kid!

One of the BESTEST things about December is the Christmas Story 24 hr. marathon on TBS that starts Christmas Eve!

#23 "The Holy Grail of Christmas gifts"...An official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model BB rifle with a compass in the stock

#24 The Bumpus Hounds

#25 May-jhor Awards that are frajeelee!

#26 FARKUS! (Don't you just LOVE Farkus?)

Oh, Mr. Depp Has Done It, AGAIN!

Saw my boy tonight. If you like Johnny Depp even just a little bit, you HAVE to go see Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street! OMG! Lots of the macabre... throat slitting, bunches of blood. Once you get past that you will TOTALLY and COMPLETELY enjoy his singing and, as always, acting. There are little bits of Edward Scissorhands and Captain Jack in his performance. This movie is a real Depp Scoobie snack! You'll never look at meat pies the same, again!

Love December? Here's More Reasons Why I Do...

#20 Bunco!
#21 Last Minute Christmas Shopping!

#22 The New Johnny Depp Movie!!!

Santa at the Mall

#19 Don't Ya Just Love Waiting an Hour To See Santa...

Love These!

#18 Advent Calendars!!!
http://www.adventorama.com/

Click on the link and check out this hilarious advent calendar.

(thanks Jessie!)

This Is For My Neglected Friend, Melaroo!

#16 Wal-mart

#17 Nutcrackers!

One of the BEST Things About Christmas...

#15...Olivia was born 13 years ago, today!!!

They're Very Delicate...

#14 Pete Schweddy!
It's just not Christmas 'til you've watch this SNL sketch. The best evhur!
Schweddy Balls

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Here's Another One for Jessie!

#13 Bandaid!!!!!

OMG...I cried, AGAIN!

I'm convinced that Sam's Club is secretly "misting" in to the air some sort of chemical warfare! Remember a few posts back when I had just left Sam's Club, was sitting at the light, and cried while listening to the OnStar commercial, instead of breaking out in laughter? Well, last night all I had to do was pull out of my parking place and I was overwhelmed and started to cry! AND, it wasn't because I had backed over anyone! CRAP! Maybe it's because I spend so much money every time I go there.

K...here's more reasons why I love December:
#11 Christmas Ornaments
#12 Snow

More Reasons!

#7 Hot Cocoa with Whipped Cream
#8 Visits with Santa
#9 Christmas Cards in the Mail
#10 Eggnog...definitely EGGNOG!

Reason #6...this is for you, Jessie! (snicker)

#6 Christmas Shoes!

31 Reasons Why I LOVE December...#1, #2, #3, #4, & #5

OMGosh, I LOVE December! It's totally the coolest month ever!

Here's the beginning of 31 Reasons Why I Love December...
#1 The word December sounds cool and cozy!
#2 Christmas shopping!
#3 All my favorite Christmas movies start showing on TV!
#4 Christmas decorations!
#5 Christmas cookies!

Oh No I Dih-uhnt!

How totally lame is this? It's Thanksgiving eve. I've just left Sam's Club. I didn't experience a disgruntled shopper trying to grab the last pie, I haven't been sleep deprived since Sunday, and it's payday. So tell me why this happened...

I'm sitting at a light waiting to turn. It's taking for ever so I start focusing on the radio. I'm so excited today because Sunny 106.5 has started playing non-stop Christmas music. So I'm listening happily, the song ends and one of the Onstar commercials comes on. I like them because they sound sooo funny...I know, I know, real life drama shouldn't be so amusing but I have a dark side (like Shontell) and I like to laugh at them. Anyway, I go from tapping to the beat on the steering wheel to thinking I'm going to have a great ride home reminiscing about this hilarious Onstar customer and, instead I end up crying! Over a freaking Onstar commercial! AND, the driver wasn't even hurt! What the heck? That is soo wack!

Blah Blah Blah...

I'm having a really sucky day. The kind that, from the time you wake up 'til the end of the day, it just plain sucks, so I'm blogging about it with this really perky Christmas background, hoping to feel better.

Three-day weekend, (technically 4 days with no school tomorrow) supposed to get tons of stuff done, ergo...nothing has gotten done. The kids have vegged all weekend (my fault), everything we said we were going to do is still not done (my fault) and something else insignificant, like watching tv, happened instead at the time we said we were going to do our "project". It's now almost 5 on Monday, the house is messy, I have NO energy, we're all arguing...SUCKS!

We were supposed to put up Christmas lights, straighten up the living room, get the tree up in the family room, get some minor "household" projects completed, and have all day today to relax and do whatever we wanted. Didn't happen! Oh, and we were supposed to go to church yesterday. DIDN'T HAPPEN. Grrr.

Well, there's always tomorrow. We're both back to work in the morning so, NOT!

TURKEY! TURKEY! TURKEY!

Yummmm, I love November. It's one of the best tasting months! December is great because of all the Christmas cookies and treats, but November is the month you get the first official turkey dinner! I can't wait!

Here's some other great things I like about November...

getting chilly

piles of leaves

Christmas music

Christmas movies

CHRISTMAS STORY!

almost cold enough to start a fire

warm sweaters

start buying for Thanksgiving dinner

pull out the Christmas decorations

put up the tree

good movies are premiering for the holidays

more days off of school

The Grinch!

football

christmas shopping

get to light my Salt City "winter" candles

fuzzy slippers

Disneyland!

This IS Halloween!

Here's to our FAVORITE skeleton, Jack Skellington!
It wouldn't be Halloween without him!

Mayor of Halloween Town...."Great Halloween everybody."

Jack...."I believe it was our most horrible yet! Thank you everyone."

Olivia as Sally

No, She's Not My Favorite!

It looks like I only have ONE child because most of my posts are about Meghan but, in my defense, she's the only one with anything going on lately and, besides she IS the cutest thing evuhr!

She turned 6 on the 14th, but today was her party. We doubled up with one of her best friends, Mackenzie, who turned 5 on the 22nd, and had a "princess" party at the park.

Isn't this kid's hair totally hilarious?!!!

Meggie's 6!!!

Exactly 6 years ago, TODAY, Meghan entered this world!

Sunday, October 14th at 7:30 p.m., while trying to enjoy a piece of chocolate cake in my hospital room, all hell broke loose. After a good cry while on the phone with my friend Retta because I missed my family and was sooo tired of living at Sunrise for the past 2 months, I started to feel really weird. I opened my eyes after what I thought had been just a few minutes, to a barage of doctors and nurses working on me with all kinds of noisy equipment. They proceeded to tell me I had crashed, the baby had crashed, they finally have a heart beat but it's too fast and they have to take her now. ACK! Wait, I need to call my husband! Where's my doctor? I need to remind him NOT TO FORGET TO TIE MY TUBES! Most important, WHERE'S MY CHOCOLATE CAKE?!!!!!!!

My doctor arrived and he DID remember that I wanted my tubes tied. Jon was on his way. They have to do an emergency C-section, no time for an epidural, have to put me under, so Jon can't be in the operating room...he has to watch through a tiny window in the door! My piece of chocolate cake was gone and it would be HOURS before I could eat again! To this day, I don't know what happened to that piece of cake.

Did I mention I'm only almost 32 weeks along, so she's going to be way early and heading straight to the NICU. Of course the staff prepped me for what to expect. THAT was reassuring. Now I have all the worst-case scenarios to think about while on my luxury gurny, rolling at Nascar speed down the hallway to the operating room, all the way coughing non-stop because of the stomach neutralizer crap they shoved down my throat, even though I NEVER got a bite of my beloved chocolate cake! Did I also mention that I had to pee so bad? All that have been pregnant know what happens when you have a full bladder and start coughing!

Long story short, Meghan Claire arrived at 8:49 p.m., 2 months early. She was a tiny little baby bird, weighing all of 2 pounds 4 ounces and 14 inches long. Her lungs were fully developed so she didn't need to be intibated. She was perfect. The cutest little thing. She reminded us of a little cornish game hen. She also reminded us of Dr. Evil's cat, Mr. Bigglesworth, POST cryogenics...hence her nickname, Mrs. Migglesworth.

After all the troubles she and I had during the pregnancy, God brought her in to this world with NO health problems. She was placed in the "feed and grow" section of the NICU. We were so blessed. She's very fiesty. I'm sure that's what helped her through the rough times in the womb.

6 years have flown by. She's so smart. So grown up (but does have her moments). Such a beautiful final addition to our family. It's hard to see her grow so quickly.

Happy Birthday, sweet Miggie Moo.

Our little miracle.

We love you.

October 31, 2001 NICU...first Halloween costume (notice how huge the bib is)

My "Dash"

No, I'm not referring to The Incredible's kid.

I attended a memorial service today and The Dash poem was read.
It begins at a woman's funeral. The eulogizer explains the dates on her tombstone...the joy of her birth and the sadness of her death, but most important was what happened between those dates...the dash...the time spent on earth, and how only those who loved her know how much that little line is worth.

I wondered about MY dash. What will everyone say about me when I'm gone? What will God say when I arrive? Do I show love and appreciation to the people who love me? Do I love the Lord with all my heart? Or, am I wasting my dash?

For the most part I think I'm okay, but there are some areas that could use some change for a more fulfilling journey down the remainder of my life path. I don't need a eugoogoolizer to give me a fancy eugoogooly , but I do want those that love me to smile when they think about the worth of my little line and I DEFINITELY want a smile and a hug from God and a pat on the back with the words "Well done, my good and faithful servant. Well done."

I LOVE October!!!!!

October is one of my FAVORITE months! It's when God says, "It's time to change."

It's also when...football is in full swing, it's getting cool enough to leave windows open at night, the air smells different, the leaves are just beginning to drop, Halloween's just around the corner...I LOVE IT!

I peer out the window like the lady in the Mervyn's ad (open-open-open) impatiently waiting for all the yellow and orange leaves to hit the ground so we can make piles and all go run through them! I also start craving pumpkin pie with whipping cream and sliced apples with Marzetti's Carmel Dip...mmm mmm mmm!

As soon as I see pumpkins in the store I get all excited! I want to start wearing my way-comfy sweaters and long-sleeved shirts, even though it's still 90 degrees here in Vegas during the day! I want to decorate for Halloween! I want to head to the orchard and let the kids pick pumpkins and squash! I want to drag Jon and the kids to Utah so we can see the leaves turn (whether they want to or not)! I want fire in the fireplace! I want cobbler! I want to play football at the park! I want to trick-or-treat just for the candy! I want...I want...I want!!!

Ooo, I can't WAIT for Halloween!!!

It's Hard Being So Great!!!!!

Woohoo, I'm great, AGAIN.

First my nephew Ryan, and now my niece Devony...2 in the same year. Wow! My brother and his wife become grandparents in April, marry off their baby this last weekend, and now another granchild! Woohoo!

Devony and her husband Aaron found a birth mother this year and this Sunday at 12:45 a.m. they became the proud adoptive parents of a bouncing baby girl, Sydney.

She's 8 lb.s, 10 oz., 20 1/2 inches. Isn't she beautiful?!!!!!!!

Sanctuary...Sanctuary

I'm back from a wonderful week in Idaho. No kids, no husband, no worries. It was a great "recharger"! The weather was beautiful...no heat, a little rain here and there, but mostly NO HEAT and I got to meet my first great-nephew, Kayden!

With NO sleep for 2 full days and a LONG, tiring wait in the security line at Macarran, I arrived Friday afternoon in Idaho Falls and began decorating for my niece Haylee's wedding the next morning. THAT was fun working with bridezilla! She's their baby and the last to get married and leave the house (This is the niece posted in my blog about the Miss Idaho competition). My brother and his wife are now officially "empty nesters". That evening we went to her shower next door and I TOTALLY DOMINATED the steal the safety pin if you cross your legs game, even though I was delirious from no sleep. That night I was so tired I crashed at 9:00 (8:00 Vegas time). The next morning began at 7:00. The weather was great, my niece was beautiful, I got to enjoy my family and see lots of other relatives I hadn't seen in a long time...everyone had a wonderful day!

(Haylee 2 1/2 at MY wedding 18 yrs. ago...........JC, Haylee and my brother's family)
Sunday was a crash and burn day. Lots of relaxing, visiting with Ron and Gaylene, having great food (she's a super cook) and enjoying a Johnny Depp movie. Can it get any better than that?

Monday was Yellowstone day. We grabbed a shaved ice in Rexburg and hit the road.
I LOVE shaved ice with cream AND Yellowstone Park. Can't get enough of 'em. We try to do both each time we visit my brother. This is the first camping trip, though. It was sooo cool. Our campground was right by the river and you could see the stars at night for miles. There were elk and their harems at the end of our camp just walking around. It's during the rut and the males got pretty noisy bugling constantly that night trying to attract their "women". Enough already! I sure wouldn't want a guy who made that much noise! After the tent was set, we headed up to Old Faithful before dark. We arrived about 5 minutes before it began to erupt (usually we've just missed it and have to wait about 90 minutes) and it was so beautiful with the sunset in the background. After a trip to the gift shop and dropping some postcards in the mail, we headed back to camp, ate a great fire cooked dinner, made yummy pies over the coals and stayed up talking around the campfire, listening to the sounds of the river, elk, and a few car alarms while gazing at the stars.

(Old Faithful and the stupid bull elk that wouldn't shut up that night!)

(50 feet from our campsite)
Tuesday was a perfect day! We traveled around the entire park visiting the usual geysers, rivers and waterfalls. I got to see my FAVORITE waterfall, Lower Falls. Ansel Adams black and white of this falls made me fall in love with it. This trip we saw bison, coyotes, antelope, deer, more elk, and the hard to spot bears. We happened upon a momma brown bear and her cub, and shortly after a huge grizzly down in a meadow full of bison. The only animals we didn't spot this time were moose and grey wolves (I hoped to get a good pic for ya, Michelle). This was a great trip!

(momma and her cub)
After we left the park, we wandered around the town of West Yellowstone on a quest for 23 painted bison statues. It was dark, started raining, and my camera battery died, but we got pictures of most of them thanks to my sister-in-law, Gaylene!

Wednesday was a sad day with some disappointing news from home, but it was salvaged later that afternoon when Gaylene took me to Artco (the place where about 90% of all wedding invitations come from) to buy paper and cardstock for scrapping at $1 a pound! I spent almost $3 and got close to 100 pieces! My craving for shaved ice and cream was again satisfied.

Thursday was Eastern Idaho State Fair day. We traveled to Blackfoot, got a great parking place, and entered the fair grounds to immediately experience the wonderful, greasy food smells. If you think about it, fair food is probably the absolute worst for you, but it smells soooo good! We had ice cream, scones, tornado chips called "tortatoes", burgers, and funnel cakes (not all at once...we were there for several hours), toured the livestock corrals, and entered lots of drawings for free stuff.

(HUGE pig...200+ lb. pumpkins...a sheered lamb)
The night was topped off with an outdoor Chicago concert (with Peter Cetera). I LOVE CHICAGO! Jon and I have seen them several times in Vegas (without Peter Cetera), but this was THE BEST experience! We had track seating, which was basically general admission-find your own-type seating on the dirt track in the outdoor arena. Thanks to Gaylene, we were right in the middle and about 10 feet from the stage. Lots of memories in their songs...it was GREAT!!!

(Peter Cetera)
Friday morning sadly came, I said my goodbyes and headed for the airport. I missed seeing my family but still wanted to stay longer. For the first time in 25 years I was able to enjoy my brother without any distractions. No kid fights to break up...no "when are we leaving" as soon as we get there...NOTHING! I will cherish this trip as long as I live. It was sooo cool!

Before I left on my trip, Meggie and I had a conversation about airplanes and the sky. She had asked me "Mommy, what do clouds look like on the top?" So I took a few pics from the plane on the way home to show her they look the same on top as they do on the bottom. She thought it was pretty cool!

Needless to say, as soon as I got home the dream ended immediately.
Let the cleaning begin.