Monday Memoirs. . . .

Goodbye Moe Moe :(

We lost a treasured friend today
The big dog who used to lay
His gentle head upon the ground
And shared his silent thoughts.

He’ll come no longer to our call
Retrieve no more his favorite ball
A voice far greater than our own
Has called him to his golden throne.

Although our eyes are filled with tears
We thank him for the happy years
He let him spend down here with us
And for his love and loyalty.

When it is time for us to go
And join him there, this much we know
We shall not fear the transient dark
For he will greet us with a bark.

~Author Unknown

This morning Brent and Christi, my Brother and Sister-in-law, had to make the difficult decision to end Moe's pain and suffering. During the last 24 hours his red blood cells stop reproducing and started attacking his body causing his liver and other organs to enlarge and shut down.

Because I work out of Brent's house and see his pets everyday, I have become very attached to them and love them like my own. So, today's Monday Memoirs are for Moe, who I will always remember as a loving and comforting friend.

Moe. . . I will miss our morning "love fest" when I arrive at work each day, I will miss you laying under my desk ready to keep my feet warm, and of course, I will miss watching you try to avoid all the scary cold air returns. . . .love ya buddy :(

For my family in Provo :)

Thanks Amy!

My dear old Dad. . .

The past year and a half has been a rough one for my Dad. Every few months he has made a trip back to his least favorite place, as he calls it, under the knife.

After dealing with serve knee pain for several years his doctor's convinced him that he needed knee replacement surgery on his right knee. It was a horrible experience to watch him go though it, so I can only imagine how he felt. The block they gave him during surgery didn't take and he was in severe pain for couple days while they tried to get on top of it with morphine and pain killers. The recovery process was long hard battle.

Next came the wrist surgery, once again on the right side. Something was wrong with the bone and they had to go in and add a metal plate and a bunch of screws. (Now we can tease Dad that he may actually have a lose screw after all ;)

Then on Thursday he went in for hip replacement surgery on his. . . right side, of course. He was extremely nervous that the pain was going to be as bad as it was with the knee replacement surgery. After he had been in recovery for a while, the nurse came to get us and said he was awake and asking when the Margarita's are going to be delivered, lol. . . . that's when we knew that he was doing okay. We got him settled into his room and, sadly, he had to settle for his next favorite, diet coke ;)

Later I discovered that, at the age of 57, that my Dad was the youngest person up on the second floor recovering from hip replacement surgery. . . see Dad, your not so old after all! After surgery he said, "it's no picnic, but the pain is nowhere near where it was with the knee replacement". This morning, probably due to all the harassing he gave his nurse's, he was released to go home a day early!

The kids like to tease him that it won't be long before he's the bionic man : )

Friday Confessional. . .

Wow. . .It's Friday again already! Since it kind of snuck up on me I haven't given it much thought, but here it goes.

1. I confess that I have to call my sister and ask her if we have read a book before I will buy it. Yep, I am terrible at buying the same book over and over again. I like to blame the publishers that change the cover of the book and then release it again, but honestly I just have a terrible memory, lol. I do remember once Susie says, "YES. . . . its about this, that, and the other". It's totally crazy. . . and she laughs at me (mean, I know) but I don't buy books until I talk to her :)

2. I confess that I wear p.j. pants to work a little to often. Well. . . . actually I wear them to work a lot to often ;) That is one of the perks of working for your brother out of his house.. I think I set a record this week and got ready for the day 3 times before coming in, and I wasn't happy about it!! My co-workers...Princess Bella (the high maintenance jack russell terrier), Moe (the lazy chocolate lab), Gordo (the attention demanding cat) and Sugar Bear (the very shy and unfriendly cat)...don't seem to care what I wear, they're just excited to see me . . .well, except Sugar Bear (she runs to hide ;). I do want it to be known that I ALWAYS brush my teeth before I come to work, lol.

3. I confess that I absolutely hate, hate, hate that I LOVE my new glasses. A few weeks ago our family doctor recommended that I go get my eyes checked again. I was able to get in later the next day for a complete eye exam. It was freaky scary to find out how blind I actually am. After the appointment Joel and I wandered about while I tried on at least 506 pairs of glasses. (Because I already have trouble with extremely dry eyes and I my left eye has an astigmatism (?) my optometrist recommended that I not try contacts. . . Yeah! I didn't want to stick things in my eyes anyway :) Later that week I went and picked them up. . . .and I love them, can't live without them. . . and I hate that!

The little man turns 4!.

Happy 4th Birthday Bodee!

Tonight we celebrated my nephews birthday at my Mom's house. Bodee is such a stink'n cute little kid and say's the FUNNIEST stuff. . . I love it! There are days that I wish I could take all of his energy and bottle it up! I'd be rich :) Even Ky admits that she feels like she needs an energy drink before seeing Bodee, not that she's ever had one before. . .but it's just the thought that even my 9 year needs a boost of energy to keep up with him.

Susie, his mom/my sister, hired an old co-worker to make the cake.

It was a very cute cake and. . . . . well. . . . . maybe we should just leave it at that ;)

Why so much blogging?

This video will you give you a look into our world since last Thursday. . .we have been dealing with a "man cold". So, needless to say, I've had a lot of time to get caught up on blogging, tv shows on my dvr, and laundry (yep, I got that bored). It started Wednesday night, was out from work Thursday and Friday, and only started acting like his old goofy self again tonight. YEAH! Now hopefully we can get back to our regularly schedule life :)

Monday Memoirs. . . .

Disneyland 2004

This was our first trip to Disneyland/California as a family. Boy, how time flies! I remember that we wanted to surprise the kids. . . it was so hard to keep it a secret until the early morning when we woke them up saying, "WAKE-UP! We're going to Disneyland! We've got to hurry, our plane leaves in 2 hours!". We had the car packed and ready to go. That was the hard part for me. Packing for all of us, for 4 days, without them seeing the suitcases. They were SO EXCITED! Now that I think about it, I think we video recorded waking the up. . . I'll have to look for that! Our vacation went something like this. . . ( if I remember right :)

Thursday - Flight left SLC for LA at 7:30am, arrived in California and rented a car, spent the day with friends, Karen & Tim, in/at Long Beach and then check into our hotel that night.

**When we got to our hotel we upgraded our room to the kids suite. . . big mistake! The kids suite had bunk beds that we thought our kids would have fun with, since they have friends with bunk beds. We were WRONG, they hated it and ended up sleeping in the king size bed with Joel and I the entire time :)**

Friday - Spent the entire day in Disneyland. Had dinner that night at Goofy's Kitchen.

Saturday - Finished Disneyland and then spent the remaining part of the day in California Adventures. Had lunch that day at Ariel's Grotto.

**I only remember the character meal's because they are so expensive, plus the pictures, I think we paid over $100.00 for each one. Which is a lot for a 3 yr. old and 5 yr. old. . . now days it happens all the time, sadly. **

Sunday - Our flight back SLC left LA at 10:30am. Got back home DEAD TIRED, but we had a great time :)

Ah shucks, I wish I could remember more. . . I'll have to pick Joel's brain for what he remembers and then add to this. I guess I should have started blogging many years ago, like 12 yrs. ago, but better late than never, right?

The L-O-N-G month of December

The entire month of December was absolutely cRaZy!! It was, however, a real eye opener for me. I am one that loves to stay busy and I'm always on the go, but during December I finally found my breaking point. . .the point where even I had to admit that I had too much on my plate. Yep, it's finally time to step back and realize I can't do it all anymore. It's time to re-prioritize my life. These changes will be slow coming but should all be complete by the time the kids are out of school for the summer. NOW, I just need to learn how to say NO and not take on anything new. So, if your read my blog, please do us both a favor and just don't ask . . . . . I'm kidding. . . . . . kind of ;)

On the positive side, I did start sleeping though the night!! Yeah!! Before December came along I would only sleep about 4 hours a night, on a good night. During December, and since then, I actually fall asleep before Joel does and wake up long after him! It's fabulous :) Granted, I don't get as much done as I use to, but I am learning that everything doesn't have to be done RIGHT NOW and some how we will survive.

Blogging was one of the things that suffered. . . during December I didn't get to it and missed a lot fun things :( So here is a few events that I remembered to bring my camera to. . . . .


Ky performed with the Midland Choir!

Ky loves to sing, so joining the choir has been perfect for her. They had several performances during the month. . . but I only took pictures twice and once was with my phone, so the pictures are not that great :( However, they did a great job and I am very proud of her for taking it on and sticking with it. . . . several of her friends dropped out after starting because of all of the after school practices. Joel and I loved watching her performances. . . . even when they were outside in the freezing COLD! Hopefully she can keep her front row position next year. . . and hopefully I remember my camera or video recorder ;)


1st Baby Bird Hatched!

Ky and her Grandma D. are into parakeets, they are parakeet crazy! Last summer while Ry and Ky were staying with them they took the kids to a bird refuge and fell in love. Later that evening Ky had talked her Grandma in to buying a parakeet...it was all down hill from there. They now have 7 parakeets including Precious. Snowflake, the white Parakeet, laid 12 eggs. Two out of the 12 hatched, but only one survived. . . . Precious. Since then she has laid 5 more eggs. CrAzY!! One entire bedroom at my in-laws house has been taken over by parakeets. . . . THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!!

(it's amazing how fast they grow)

Haylee's Baby Blessing!

Susie and her husband, Ryan, chose Ryan's brother, Monte (which I didn't get a picture of), to perform the blessing. Because Susie and Ryan are not active members of the church, the blessing was performed at my parents house with their bishopric conducting. I never realized how big Ryan's side of the family is...Wow, there is a lot of them. Ryan grew up in the same small town as Susie and I, so we know his parents and 3 siblings. However, they are each married and each have 27 kids, lol. . . k, not really but it sure did seem like it :) Afterwords we ate and spent time catching up. On the way home I enjoyed how quite my kids are and reminded myself why we stopped after two.

My fabulous Mother kept our blessing dresses (and didn't lose them!). So, Ky was blessed in my blessing dress and Haylee was blessed in Susie's blessing dress. Very cute, right! OH...and I can't forget the flower. My, amazingly talented, friend Amy made it to match the dress. Thanks Amy!

My grandpa, with Haylee in the picture below, is one of the few men that will Haylee will go to. She does NOT like men. . . Joel and Brent always get the sad lip with big alligator tears just by looking at her, it's cute. . . sad, but very cute ;). She does LOVE HER AUNT HEIDI though, and that's all that really matters!

Larry and Jackie came to visit from California!

Larry is Joel's cousin from his Dad's side of the family. The first night they were in town we met them at Jeremiah's for dinner. On this trip they brought the entire family plus boyfriends...it was a lot of fun! They stayed in their time share condo at up Wolf Creek and spent the week and a half skiing and snowboarding. We meet up with them again during the week at Maddox and then went up to the condo later that evening. We were invited to stay the night up there with them, but both Ky and I had bad head cold's and just wanted to be home in our beds. Before we left we made plans for them to join us at my Mom and Dad's New Year's Eve party.

Yes, Jackie is the amazing lady that hooked us up for Kid's Choice Awards earlier this year. Jackie is a Stage Production Manager, which sounds really cool, but is a highly stressful position. She is the one to que the lights and music, send out guest, is responsible for all the stage changes, and much much more. She is currently working for Conan O'Brien and American Idol, she is one busy lady!

Click to see Ry and Ky on Kid's Choice
http://mycutelittlefamily.blogspot.com/2010/04/kids-get-slimed.html

( All of these pictures are taken at Jeremiah's except

the one of Ry and Ky on the bottom -she's wearing
the pink striped sweater- That is the one picture

I remember to take at Maddox in Brigham City.)

Susie and Ryan got a puppy!

A couple of days before Christmas they brought home a white lab puppy. Harlee (like Bodee & Haylee) is very cute and playful. Ky calls her the piranha puppy, she's all teeth and loves to chew on anything and everything. From what I hear, She is the funnest at 4am. That's when Harlee is full of energy and ready to play :) Ryan and my Dad are both working on training her to be Ryan's hunting dog, but for now she is just spoiled rotten like my parents Golden Retriever, Maggie.

Now. . . I just need to finish getting all of my Christmas and New Year's pictures together, blog about it, and then I'll be all caught up :)

Friday Confessional. . . .

I borrowed this idea from a friend, Lisa, whom I have never met face to face but inspires me in ways she'll never know! So, Thanks Lisa! After doing a little blog surfing I have decided that this is exactly what I need in my life right now, a way to get a few random things that I have thought about all week out there in the open. . . so then hopefully I will be able to stop dwelling on them ;)

So, here goes my first 3 confessions:

1. I confess that I will add people to my contact list just for the very reason that the next time they call. . . I don't have to answer it. I know that sounds REALLY bad, and I know my mother-in-law will think she falls into this category, lol, but she doesn't (love ya Lin :). . .and neither does anyone else that would read my blog. In fact I doubt anyone that I HAVE done this to would even know what a blog is or have any interest in reading my ramblings.

2. I confess that even though technically my Christmas decor is taken down, it is all still in a big box next to the couch in the living room. Yep, a big, ugly, heavy box full of Christmas ornaments, garland, Christmas stockings, and much more right in my main living room - open the front door and there it is....still. I hate getting into my crawl space and was hoping that if I left the big, ugly, heavy box there by the couch someone would either....(a) take it downstairs for me and put it away or (b) someone would offer to help me carry it downstairs and then to hand it to me after I crawled back in there. No...wait...this is a confession, so why lie? I want (a) to happen, lol.

Oh, don't get me wrong - Joel and I talk about putting it away all the time and then we get super busy and there it sits....still. Tomorrow is Saturday, so maybe I'll take baby steps and at least move the big, ugly, heavy box to the family room down stairs. . .maybe ;) Oh well, at least if it's still there next December it's one less trip into the crawl space!

3. I confess that I enjoy surfing You Tube for funny videos with Joel and my kids. I know a lot of parents that forbid You Tube and block it. However, we look at it enough together that it has lost it's appeal/coolness and honestly they really would rather do something/anything else. Both Ry and Ky have a netbook (mini-laptop) and an iPod touch. . .so really at this point hopefully I have taught them right from wrong by now because I can't always be with them, nor do I want to -- plus neither one of them has ever given me a reason not to trust them (Yes, I confess...I will often check their browsing history and text message's while they are sleeping -- but that's a different confessional all on it's own :) So, as I see it, I chose to look at all of the good out there on You Tube. . . The funny stuff, educational stuff, church stuff, and of course...the funny stuff!

This guy is one of our favorites! He has some very funny stuff out there :)

Oh Susie, Susie, Susie. . . .

Yesterday was Susie's Birthday. . . .

HAPPY 28th BIRTHDAY SUSIE!!!

(Doozer, Sorry I forgot to give you your card....I'll bring it to Bodee's birthday party :)

For Susie's birthday her husband, Ryan, wanted to take her to the Olive Garden for dinner without the kids....and because my parents were out of town, I was, after much consideration, allowed to babysit! The plan was for them to drop the kids off at my house around 4:30. I had a community council meeting that began at 4, which is usually very short -but this one ran a little longer, so she left Bodee (4) and Haylee (7 months) at home with Joel and the kids. During the 15 minutes they were alone with Joel, I had 8 missed calls, and one text, from Susie. Yep, I think she was a little worried I totally forgotten about her.

(Sadly, everyone knows I need my reminder calls and texts -- One day I would like to be able to slow down enough to just be able to remember everything I need to do, but I don't see that happening anytime in the near future, so keep sending those texts or make sure it's on my calendar in my iPhone...it will text me for ya. Again, sad.....but very true)

Anyway. . . .

While walking out of the school at 4:45 I called her back. She said, "Haylee is going to be hungry and needs to be feed...so HURRY!". I walked into my house a few moments later and started looking through her diaper bag (Susie usually forgets a few things like...diaper, wipes, food) to see what I had to work with. AFTER warming up her sweet potatoes and making her bottle I noticed the note attached to my frig. . . .

The picture is kind of lousy, but it says....

Heidi, She eats 7 oz. off (of) food. All you have to do is dump the food in. Heat sweet potatoes for 15 sec. If you choose applesauce don't heat up. Any questions call me.

I sent her a text, that said..."Wow, Thanks for the instructions! I'm pretty sure I forgot how to make formula and heat up baby food :P". She immediately called me back, laughing, to tell me that she left the instructions for Joel in case I didn't get home in time to feed Haylee.

--- RIGHT.....that's why the note says "Heidi" at the very top ---

(Sometimes I swear she thinks my kids were born big enough that I got to skip the baby/toddler stage. Trust me, at the time, I endured it just like everyone else does --now I'd give anything to go back to spend a day that they were 2 and 4--. However, Susie just happened to be between the ages of 16-20yrs old at the time and I don't think she was really paying attention :)

Anyway. . . .

After I was done harassing her about the lame note, I called Joel into the kitchen to get his reaction. The response was classic. He said, "I saw that. . . .I guess all you have to do is dump food into babies these days". It was all very funny...even Haylee was laughing with us. I love it when babies laugh, it makes my heart smile!

The 2 hours flew by and somehow both of her adorable kids survived...granted, Bodee probably did go home with a few new words he learned from Ry, and, I PROMISE, I will not let Ry play Black Ops on the Wii with him anymore ;) Okay, Okay. . . .maybe I'm not the world's great babysitter after all, lol.

Ry and Haylee on Wednesday Night
(She sure looks traumatized, right?)

She is SO fired!!

Early today I called my Mom to tell her I was coming down tonight to get copies of the Christmas pictures. . . . . . . .I just got back off of the phone with her telling me not to worry about coming down tonight because she can't find her SD card with the pictures on it. SHE'S SO FIRED!! Love her, I do, but she's still fired!

This is the second year that I have no Christmas pictures because of that my sweet, adorable, FORGETFUL mother of mine!

I'm not sure if you remember this post. . . . .

http://mycutelittlefamily.blogspot.com/2008/12/roys-most-wanted.html

That was the year I was in charge of taking the pictures. Little did I know that at the end of the night she stole my SD card out of my camera. . .she thought she was pretty cute, lol. This year she wanted to take the pictures so that I could enjoy playing the games with my kids. . . . and now the card is lost, misplaced . . . M.I.A.

I will eventually, even though it could be years from now (um...EASTER DRESS ;), get the pictures from her, but in the mean time I will have a big gaping hole where my Christmas pictures with the A side of the family should be. So, come July when I post Christmas pictures you know that the SD card has finally been found, lol.

I just hope it's July of this year ;)

p.s. Saying "your fired" to your own Mother might sound kind of harsh. . .but they're all used it. I fire everyone (Mom, Dad, Sister, Husband, Kids, and my Brother . . .aka MY BOSS) on a weekly and even daily basis. I wouldn't fire ya if I didn't love ya!

p.p.s. Miracles DO happen!! She found the SD card! But she already read this post and now, tonight, when we go down to Bountiful we're having spaghetti for dinner . . . . . again ;)

My New Car :)