Letter to Santa

On Christmas Eve, when we finally got home from family parties, Ky realized that we had forgotten to get cookies for Santa. So I told her to go get the brownies we brought home from my brother's house and to leave them with a glass of milk. A couple of minutes later, I hear her yell "F-I-S-H-E-R"... Next thing I know she is standing in my bedroom with her letter to Santa...



After reading it I started laughing... "IT'S NOT FUNNY!" she yelled...then began her story ~ While I was writing my letter, Fisher ate the brownie I was leaving for Santa, so I had to write the P.S. part ~~ NOW what can I leave Santa?"

It was late and "Santa" still had a lot to do, so I told her to leave Santa the letter and that I was sure he would understand.

While walking away she starts to grumble... YOU would think Fisher would learn his lesson after how sick he got when he ate all of those chocolate bars ~ Geez Louise! (See: They are my babies!)

It is so funny how dramatic she is becoming... I wonder where she gets that from ;)

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve with Joel's side of the family

Christmas Eve with my side of the family

I've said it once and I'll say it again....

I HATE LAUNDRY!

My husband and kids have been bugging me about finding something I want for Christmas... So today I finally sat down and thought about what I would really want for Christmas and after much thought and a little internet surfing... I FOUND IT! I want the laundry fairy to visit my house!

Click on their logo to go to their website!

Yes, this is really a company I found when I typed "laundry fairy" into Google!

Now comes the funny part:

When I went back to their website to get the logo, Joel was on the couch next to me. When the site first comes up the lady begins talking about her service. I didn't realize he was paying attention until he said... "you can pay me $15 a load and I'll do laundry all day!"

SWEET!

So, this is the way I figure it... It would take about 10 loads to get me caught. 10 loads X $15 = $150... Which is a perfect amount for my Christmas present! I'm thinking that Joel should be my laundry fairy this year... That way I'll get what I want and it will save us $150 ~ It's perfect!

Ryan said, "If Dad had a $150 to spend on you for Christmas, you would get a new hand gun" :|

I guess I'm glad we don't!

I will keep you posted on if I get my Christmas wish though, I'm crossing my fingers :)

An Amazing Women

Lynne Turner 1931 ~ 2009 Erlene "Lynne" Slater Turner, beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt and friend, returned to her Heavenly Father on December 10, 2009. She was born July 11, 1931 in Salt Lake City, Utah, a daughter of William Earl Slater and Emma Maudella Merritt Slater. The family moved to California, living in Lawndale and North Hollywood, where Lynne graduated from high school. Her father had a gold mine near Yerington, Nevada. Here she met and married Paul Fred Turner (deceased) on September 19, 1957. She was sealed to him in the Jordan River Temple on July 28, 2001. They lived in Nevada and California, returning to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1970, where she has lived the past 39 years. Her husband, Paul, was a long haul truck driver, so she had a lot of time to devote to the various organizations that she belonged to. During the summer months, she and her husband built a two story log cabin on Cedar Mountain, near Duchesne, Utah. The whole family enjoyed working on it and seeing it grow over 10 years, before Paul died in 1990. Lynne was an employee of the Utah State Legislature, and held several positions over the 26 years she worked there, including House Rules Committee Secretary, Senate Minority Secretary for Senator Beck, Senator Black, Senator Waddingham, and Senator Fordham. For four years, she was employed as a Tour Guide for the House of Representatives, and gave tours to school children and people visiting the capitol. When Lynne returned to Utah, after living in California and Nevada, she was a Mary Kay Beauty Consultant, joining the company when it was first founded, and working for 15 years. Lynne was very active in the community and in many heritage societies. She was the State Secretary for the Utah Society of Mayflower Descendants for several years, then she became the State Historian for 10 years, helping over 250 applicants to become members. For over 26 years she was on the Board of Directors for the Days of '47, Inc., as Chairman of the Territorial Ball, Street Shows, Wheeler Farm, and the Essay Contest. She was a member of Utah Choral Arts Society of Utah, singing in many concerts. She was also Chapter Regent for the Uintah Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, going on to hold the State DAR positions of State Historian, State Secretary and State 1st Vice Regent. Lynne organized the Taylorsville Daughters of Utah Pioneers, and served several times as Camp Captain. She was the County President for the West Salt Lake County DUP. Lynne was a member of the Daughters of the American Colonists, where she held many State officer positions, including the State Regent of that society. She was also a member of the Order of the Crown of Charlemagne. Lynne was the founder and first Chairman of the Taylorsville-Bennion Community Council. She was a member of the Salt Lake County Planning and Zoning Commission. She was the first PTA President of Eisenhower Jr. High School. She was also the President of the Granite Secondary PTA Council. For over 48 years she was with the Utah Girl Scout Council, as leader, trainer, Camp Director, Public Relations, and Silver Trefoil. She was a member of the Oregon-California Trails Association, Old Spanish Trails Association, and the Jedediah Strong Smith Society. Lynne was also a cousin, several times removed, of Jedediah Smith. With the Daughters of the American Colonists, she was Marker Chairman, and placed two markers, one in Grantsville, "Cherokee Trail" and the other, "Jedediah Strong Smith" at the Rest Area west of Black Rock Beach, on the Great Salt Lake. Lynne was an avid genealogist and historian and loved going to the Family History Library, to do research. She wrote several books on "The Merritt Families of North Carolina"; "The Merritt Families of Virginia"; and three volumes of "The Descendants of Edward Merritt." In July of 1996, she had a spiritual experience near Devil's Gate, in Wyoming. She subsequently wrote "The Emigrating Journals of the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies and the Hunt and Hodgett Wagon Trains." For many years, she was active in politics and was an employee at the State Legislature for over 24 years. She ran for the State Legislature two times. She is survived by her children; Linda Ann Turner of West Valley City, Ut; with sons Rusty and David; Cynthia Diane Peterson (Brad), West Jordan, Ut; with daughters, McCall, Melissa, Paige and Jaycee; Tamara Sue Slock (Fred), with son Tory Skylar Hardy. Lynne has one great-grandson, Tyrrell Mark Matos Hardy. She has four sisters, Shirley Huesgen, Nola (Albert) Ostraff, Cleo (Dohn) Bronson, and Debra (Scott) Alvey, along with many nieces and nephews. Also special "daughters" Debi, Emily Kellett, Mindy Hardy, Patricia Richins, Pam Kline and Karen Merritt. She also has several special "sons." Funeral services will be held Tuesday, December 15, 2009, 11:00 a.m. at McDougal Funeral Home, 4330 South Redwood Road. Viewing will be held Monday 5-8 p.m. and Tuesday 9:30-10:30 a.m. Interment, Leavitt's Aultorest Cemetery in Ogden, Utah.

Ky's Christmas Dance Recital

My little dancer is absolutely perfect,
however, my camera skills are not ;)

They are my babies!

Thursday, after a long day at the hospital saying goodbye to my Aunt Lynne, I came home emotionally exhausted... I came in and told Joel that I was going to go lay down for a while. He decided to take the kids to run some errands. Later that evening we discovered that the boxes of chocolates I had bought from the school fundraiser was missing. Once we started looking around we found bits and pieces of the cardboard boxes...hmm, not a good sign!

50 bars in each box!

When I went to lay down, I took the dogs with me. When I woke up, I remember that Fisher was still in the same spot he was when I fell asleep. I didn't remember Zoe still being with me... So, we thought that Zoe had eaten them all... Little did we know we were wrong!

We immediately began looking online about dogs and chocolates. We had heard that chocolate was bad for dogs... After reading about symptoms and warning signs, I called my brother, who has many animals, to see if him or his wife knew where I could get active charcoal which was recommended to give dogs to absorb the toxins in chocolate. Christi said that only vets could give it to you and to take Zoe immediately to the Animal Emergency Center in Sunset.

Brent then offered to come take me so Joel could stay home with the kids, it was after 10 pm by this time, on a school night. Joel was not happy with me... He thought we should wait it out and see how she did. I didn't agree and started getting her ready to go :)

Once we got her there, the vet induced vomiting and got a lot of it out of her system. It was gross - yes, the vet brought the bucket full of chocolate, wrappers, and cardboard pieces out to show me! Because her heart rate was in the normal range, he gave her the first dose of active charcoal and sent us home with the second dose. We got home just after midnight and both of my kids were still wide awake waiting to make sure Zoe was okay.

By the time the kids fell asleep and I reassured Joel that I didn't have to re-mortgage the house to pay for it, I laid there wide awake listening to Zoe breath - making sure she didn't start showing new signs of being in danger, the vet gave me a list of things to watch for. Just as I started dozing off, around 3 am, Fisher started throwing up chocolate all over my bedroom. GREAT!!

I woke Joel up to tell him I was taking Fisher in. Once again - as he was telling me NO - I was looking for his leash.

By this time it had been over 7 hours since he had eaten the chocolate, so inducing vomiting was no longer an option. Fisher had already began to digest the toxins and had an extremely high heart rate. Fisher ended up with numerous shots for all of his symptoms as well as the first dose of active charcoal. After watching him to make sure the medicines were working and he was going to keep the charcoal down, they sent us home around 4:30 am.

I was a, very tired, nervous wreck and I had two very sick black labs... Their tummies were rumbling and grumbling, and they were not allowed to eat or drink for several more hours... Zoe was able to bounce back to herself by late Friday afternoon, probably because we were able to get most of it out of her system before she digested it.

However, Fisher was not back to himself until today :(

So, I learned a very expensive lesson...
It's true, Chocolate is VERY bad for dogs!

Snow Day

Saturday, after getting Christmas pictures taken, we met my sister and her family at Rohmer Park, in Washington Terrace, for sledding... It was really COLD and WET!





After walking back up the hill a few times, Ryan, my sister's husband, decided that sledding would be easier if you were being pulled by a four wheeler! So, we packed up and headed to Susie's house.




And of course, the day would not have been complete without me and Susie getting our turn!

Yes, that's me and Susie back there in that sled (Susie in front and me in the back)... We were laughing so hard, it was the most fun I'd had all week!

Merry Christmas!

Too Funny!

My Dad emailed this to me today... I loved it!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Our holiday weekend began on Wednesday night. Joel and I decided, at the last minute, to take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner. Wow, it was really LOUD in there! The kids had a great time using tokens to play games and Joel and I sat and played on our phones. Oh... and earlier that day Ry caught this big ugly fish at the Roy Pond, icky!

Thursday morning, after sleeping in, we headed down to my parent's house around 11:00 am. Everyone was there, except Brent's wife - Christi - who had to work, can you believe that the McKay Dee NICU doesn't close for Thanksgiving ;)

Around 3:00 we left Bountiful to go to Joel's parents house. It was great to catch up with his grandparents but things got interesting when a friend dropped in to visit Joel's brother, Judd ;)

THEN THE FUN STARTED!

After making our black friday shopping plan, my mom and I left for Walmart around 10:00 pm. It was great! We were able to get most things that the other stores had in there ads, knowing that Walmart would match there prices...at 5:00 am. During the night we ran into family and friends and kept track of where the hot items would be... okay, and we might have snuck a few items early ;)

By 3 am the store was crazy! Luckily I was able to have my stuff - plus Amy and Heather's, who I was helping - in my cart before the madness began. Two hours later we checked out...pretty quickly considering. After Walmart my mom and I went to pick up Joel, my kids were sleeping over at the in-laws for the night, and met my sister and her little boy for breakfast at Moore's.

Then it was home for a two hour nap before heading back out shopping with Joel. We finished our shopping list just in time to meet our friends, Chris & Amy and Heather & Joe, for dinner at Lucky China. After dinner the six of us went to see a movie...The Blindside. A great movie with Sandra Bullock. I loved it!! We finally made it home for the night around 11 pm and CRASHED, I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow! It was the most fun I have ever had on two hours of sleep, but you can believe I paid for it the rest of the weekend!

Saturday we were all looking forward to the BYU vs. Utah game. Every year my parents supply lots of yummy food and everyone is invited to come watch the game. It was a tense game for my Ry, however, BYU ended up winning by 3 points in overtime ~ It was fabulous!! Well...until Max Hall went and ruined it :( but we all know that story...