YEEHAW!!

It has been a great weekend. We have stayed busy, but not to the point of exhaustion. Myles returned home from Scout Camp bright and early Saturday morning. Well I should say most of him came home, he seemed to have lost his voice somewhere along the way. I am pretty sure that this is manifestation that prayers are answered :) I am sure the camp leaders prayers went something like this.."Heavenly Father PLEASE make this blond child stop talking before I am forced to drown him in the lake!" Myles had a great time and is already talking about when he gets to go again next year. He slept at least 5 hours on Saturday (if you know Myles you totally understand how unusual this is). I think he has caught up on his sleep now, just in time for his Hawaii trip. We have to be at the airport at 4:30 AM tomorrow morning!!



Lucy and Evie went to the Vet on Saturday. Poor Lucy has "Fat Tumors". The doc said they aren't necessarily dangerous so he would just leave them for now. The tumors on her left hip and side are so large that if they did surgery they would have to take her left hind leg!! So that option is an absolute NO. She has 4 tumors in all, the two by her back leg, her neck and her front right arm-pit. So we will keep our fingers crossed that they don't grow very quickly and she should be fine for another few year. Evie of course is the picture of health! While there Lucy was calm (as usual) and Evie was more hyper than usual, yet Evie still had the lower heart rate. That is a sign of how efficient her heart is. The doc said she has the health of a top athlete. He also said about Evie when reviewing her chart "Wow Viszla and Setter, now that's a double dose of Hyper!!" I just thought "You have No idea!"

I bought an elliptical!! I am bound and determined to get back into the half of my closet that no longer fits. I had Myles take a few pictures of me working out on it today to post on the blog, but you wont see any of the full body shots (I look like Fat Bastard!!)

Last night the four of us went to the Lehi Rodeo. We had a great time watching men wrangle the horses and bulls. They even had some dirt bike riders from the Ogio team. It feels so very Patriotic and "Small Town America" to go to a local rodeo, I love that part of it!


Today Brad has been at work and the kids and I have been cleaning the house. The bathrooms are so clean you could do surgery in them :) Myles, Shakierra and I went to Wal-Mart for a few groceries. I am meandering through the store and I look over and Myles is walking around with a cucumber between his legs totally hamming it up! Shakierra is busting a gut, and two worker ladies are pointing and laughing. Of course at this time I should have bopped him on the head for his inappropriate behavior but instead I just lose it and about pee my pants I am laughing so hard!! I swear God made that child cute and funny to save his hide!


"Kids in the back seats cause accidents, accidents in the back seat cause kids" -- Anonymous

Finally Friday!

Wow, has this week been eternally long for anyone else? I am sooooo glad that it is finally the weekend. Tomorrow night we are going to the Lehi Round Up Rodeo, good small-town fun. Brad has mandatory training all day Sunday. So the kids and I will hit church and then I plan on locking myself in the house. I want to just putter around home, tidy things up and enjoy not having any other plans :)

Brad surprised me with a sweet treat today. I came home to a beautiful Crabtree & Evelyn box waiting on the counter for me. When we went to Vegas a few weeks back the hotel had their lotion in the room and I just loved it. So Brad ordered me an assortment of skin care products from them. I thought this was so darn sweet of him!! So thanks honey, you made my week XOXO

Congrats to my friends Amanda and Bill!! They welcomed baby Silas into their family on 6/7/08 (cool B-date, huh?). She sent me pictures this week and he is absolutely adorable. Their son Asher will be Two at the end of July and he is absolutely gorgeous. So, Way too go Nanna!! Now I am dying to take a trip to Cali to meet the little guy. (FYI- Amanda was my best friend all growing up. One of the down falls of moving out of state is missing those friends you have had since before you could talk :))

"If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility." -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Unsavory Characters

Unsavory Characters is exactly what we have living here!! Our two fury family members have some serious repenting to do. This evening Brad and I were out front planting a new rose bush and doing other misc. garden tasks and our dogs decided it was a good chance to get into a little mischief. First Evie ran after another dog, and then just kept on running. So Brad went after Eve, and of course Lucy had to tag along. Somewhere along the way Lucy scored a nice little treasure, a plush horse. She came trotting home proud as can be about her new prize. The little Kleptomaniac!!

Meanwhile Brad has come home to get his car to go and get Evie.

Look at the little Escapee, she doesn't even look guilty!

Well there you have it folks, the kids are gone for the one night, so you get a blog about my other children :)

"A person who has never owned a dog has missed a wonderful part of life." -- Bob Barker

I am Woman, Hear me Roar!

With Myles out of town the lawn mowing chore fell upon me. I had forgotten how much I really like mowing the lawn. There is so much instant gratification with yard work. You put in a little sweat and elbow grease and bada-bing you have something beautiful to look at! Plus it just feels great to get outside and feel your body working. I was oh so proud of myself for fixing the lawn mower as well. One of the wheels kept falling of. Ok, so my fix-it job wasn't too great since I had to re-attach the wheel 3 or 4 times, but hey at least I got the job done! :)

"Long before the time you can remember, Our Father held you in his arms so tender. Those loving arms released you as he sent you down to earth. He said, "My child, I love you. Don't forget your great worth." -- Jamie Glenn

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

We had a fun weekend with Grace and Jane. Heather and Joe went on their First over-night getaway since having the little rug-rats, so it was greatly deserved. But I would wagger that we had just as much fun as they did!

If you are wondering what is HOT in the world of fashion this summer look no further then our stunning model Grace!! Here is a shot of Gracie sporting her SD T-Shirt, Custom made name bracelet, khaki safari shorts, and her Suzy's Zoo rain boots. Her hair was done at Salon Heather Weather Bee. And believe it or not she is old school in the tanning department. No tanning beds for this center-fold, yep those golden legs are straight from the SUN (the big yellow one's the sun!) :)

Janie dear is also sporting a "do" from Salon Heather Weather Bee (very difficult to get a booking there)!
We had a blast at the pool in their neighborhood. Grace and Brad had smiles on their faces the entire time (that is when they weren't squealing with delight!!) Grace loved being tossed into the air and also jumping into the pool. It was in the 90's this weekend, so we couldn't get enough of the water :)

Myles spent most of his time swimming around with his new water gun and then popping up and squirting unsuspecting bystanders. Gracie was finally convinced that it was safe to swim with Myles once he found a beach ball for her to play with :)

Janie was pooped half way thru swimming so she zonked out on my shoulder for a quick snooze.

Saturday evening we ordered Pizza for dinner. Grace was getting sauce all over her face and kept hamming it up all thru dinner. She reminds me of how Myles was at that age with all the "looks" she can give. In this picture below she was talking in a real deep voice and furrowing her eye brows (guess you had to be there to really appreciate this one!)

Sunday was much more low key. We hung out around the house most of the time. Gracie got to blow tons of bubbles with Manely the Lion :)

Well that was our wild and exciting weekend in a nutshell. Sunday evening we got home and got Myles all packed for Scout Camp. Once we got settled on the couch that night Brad said "I miss Grace and Jane". Isn't that too cute!

Myles got off to Scout Camp this morning. Brad got a great new gig for his window washing biz. Shakierra is home again. And I am just glad it is almost bedtime :)

"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of it for another." -- Charles Dickens

Baby Got Back!!

I know that you are all intimately familiar with the "I Like Big Butts!" song. Hell, Mom even has it as her ring tone. Any-who.... I was perusing the classifieds on KSL yesterday looking at used Ellipticals. There was the funniest ad, it went something like this "I bought this Elliptical for my wife 6 months ago because she thinks she has a BIG Butt. But it just sits in the corner so I am selling it" Could the man be any more frank! I wanted to call and go look at the machine just to see how BIG his wife's butt really is :)

Brain Damage-- Well the children have gone and proved Bill Cosby's theory of "every child having brain damage" correct! Myles has terribly sensitive skin so we have been going thru the trial and error phase of finding a facial scrub that won't irritate his delicate profile. So the other day we got some Nuetragena Deep Cleansing Facial Wash for him to try. I thought we were all perfectly clear on WHY we bought this and the fact that it says on the bottle in bold letters Facial Wash, I felt no further explanation was necessary. Wrong! I go into their bathroom last night and 1/4 of the bottle is gone and it is sitting on their sink where hand soap usually sits. The little morons were using the $5 bottle of soap to wash their hands!! I guess I should just be grateful that at least this proves they had been washing their hands!! :)

Well it is just me and the four-legged ladies tonight. Brad was held over in Grand Junction last night, so he wont be home until tomorrow morning. Shakierra is camping with her Mom. Myles went to a camp out with YM to see the Manti Pageant. So Lucy and Evie have been helping me do laundry, change sheets, do dishes, and blog. They are such good girls, I bought them $2 treats at Wal-Mart this evening and they now think I walk on water :)

"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone." -- Henry David Thoreau

Hump Day

Well we have officially made it half way thru the work week, WAHOO!! Summer time is the hardest for me to stand being couped up in an office all day. This week has already felt really long, so I am more then happy to be on the down hill side of the week :)

For our work-out tonight Brad surprised me with a little chocolate encouragement. We went to Charlie Boys and had a cup homemade ice cream and then walked the surrounding neighborhood before heading into the Legacy Center. It was a nice break from our normal routine. I feel bad for the other poor patrons trying to work-out while we are there. Brad is constantly singing out loud to whatever is playing on his iPod (Bon Jovi seems to make him sing the loudest!). I look totally handicap when I attempt to run. And then while we were jogging Brad was trying to get me to pump my arms too. So I did like I was told and progressed using Brad as a punching bag. We are nearly as bad as the kids!!

"Why don't they make the whole plane out of that black box stuff." -- Steven Wright

Catch Up

Wow! We have had a busy couple of days, so I am just getting a spare moment to jump onto the blog and update you all on the haps!!

Myles' first swim meet went great. He did really well in all of his events and his relay team took First Place. The thing I was most impressed with was Myles' dive. When I swam I usually did the backstroke purely so that I wouldn't have to dive in :) But Myles has a beautiful clean dive! That alone will shave seconds off of his time, so keep it up dude. I helped at the Ribbons table during the meet. That was non-stop writing of times and placements for each heat, so it made the 4 hours fly by. I did take a few pictures but nothing turned out that great, so i promise swim pics at a later date. I just know you are all waiting on pins and needles to see that purple speedo!

Most of the fam came over Sat. evening for an early B-Day BBQ for Myles-the-Man (he will be with his Dad on his actual B-Day). (The picture above is of Myles "thanking" Porter for his gift card, those two are a couple of hams!!) I cant believe my baby is going to be a TEENAGER!!!! We had a nice visit and some yummy food and of course Myles scored on the present front. Then we all headed over to the Lehi Legacy Center Pool. Aunt Rikki won a private pool party in a raffle at the legacy center, so thanks Aunt Rikki for inviting us to the PARTY!! Here are the boys playing basketball, notice all the girls steered clear of that activity :)

Here is a cute snap shot of Heather and Janie. Grace and Jane were good sports for being up so far past their bed time!

Sunday we went to a BBQ at Sugar House Park for Father's day with some of Brad's extended family. It was a gorgeous day! So while the kids ran around like wild hooligans we just laid on a blanket and soaked up the sunshine.

Here is a cute shot of Brad playing Velcro-ball with his niece Sadie.

We hope that all you Daddy-O's out there had a great Father's Day. Brad got new cologne and after shave from VS (my favorite smell on him)!

"In your own personal journey through life, if a road sign appears with the words "CHEMO" anywhere in the message, my advice is to RUN, RUN like you've got a Bengal tiger on your heels. Don't look back, don't ask questions of anyone you may pass along your escape route, just run like hell screaming like a fire truck, run as fast and as far as your weak human legs will carry you. Then when you feel that you just might have out run the monster, start running again because I guarantee you haven't gone far enough....."-- Lisa Gentry (aka My Momma)

Friday the 13th

So did anyone have anything totally spooky happen to them today?!?!? I thought it was a perfect date to be reading my vampire book :) I did get stuck in major traffic on my way home from work. The I-80 was totally shut down for a bit. It just so happened that I was parked on an overpass the entire time (car turned off, that's how absolutely stopped traffic was). I was sure, seeing that it was Friday the 13th and all, that the bridge was going to collapse and that would be all she wrote! But I thought to myself "At least I finished my book just in-case I do kick the bucket" :)

Well Brad, Shakierra, and I have been doing crazy shopping this evening trying to prepare for Myles's B-day BBQ tomorrow. We hit many stores and spent heeps of money, but I think we got everything. So now our mission is to get the presents wrapped before Myles gets home from his baseball game. Myles has a game that will go until at least 10pm tonight and then has a swim meet tomorrow morning that he has to be at by 6:45am. I seriously don't know how that child keeps up with his schedule.

Well I am off to wrap presents!! Remember not to walk under any ladders and steer clear of those darn Black Cats!!

"You moon the wrong person at an office party and suddenly you're not 'professional' any more."-- Jeff Foxworthy

Brad's Ladder

Brad finally bit the bullet and invested in a ladder for his window washing biz. We actually needed a ladder for home use as well so the purchase wasn't too difficult to rationalize. He got a 15' Little Giant (but look how little it folds down too). After he bought it he extended it and climbed onto our roof just because he could :)

I am over half of the way thru the book Eclipse (the third in the Twilight series). I have figured out that little things like work, kids, husbands, etc etc.. really interfere with my reading!! Poor Brad cant wait till I am done reading these books so that he can have his wife back :) The fourth book is coming out in August. Maybe I will just have to schedule a day off work to dedicate to reading it (hehehe).

When Myles got home from Scouts last night I ask him how it went. So he rolls his eyes and goes "Here we go.." and he proceeds to have the entire conversation on his own, filling in all the questions I would normally ask and then replying to himself. He had me rolling!! I guess I need to start throwing in some off the wall questions just to keep him on his toes!


"I was going to buy a copy of The Power of Positive Thinking, and then I thought: What the hell good would that do?" -- Ronnie Shakes

Vegas Baby, Yeah!! Part II

Well as "Family Friendly" as we tried to keep the trip to Vegas the children still had some eye popping experiences while there. Here is our trip in a nutshell: Myles had the worst gas ever the entire drive down. I am telling you we were all so glad to get out of that car and breath fresh air when we arrived that we nearly busted the doors off! Next we got checked in and headed for the pool. We are at the pool no longer then 30 minutes and some dam kid poops in one of the pool! We just happened to be laying out right in front of the "contaminated" pool and over heard all the commotion. It was hilarious! Brad was literally busting a gut over all the comments that were flying. So we decide to get ready and hit the strip and grab dinner. We go to Margaritavile for dinner, spunky but still family friendly. While we are there a girl comes out of a volcano in little more then a sequined skin colored bikini. She proceeds to slid down a water slid into a huge Margarita blender. This episode goes on and on, lets just sum it up to say Myles thoroughly enjoyed his visit to Margaritaville!! The rest of the weekend seemed to smooth out overall. We had a great time and came home refreshed.

The kids each got to spend $5 on games at the New York New York. Myles found this game that is like driving a Big Rig. So Brad jumped aboard and gave him some pointers! (I just love Myles' concentration, tongue out and all)

Myles spent the rest of his funny money on a Henna Tattoo. Yes, I know that was very poor parenting on my part to allow such a thing, but oh well get over it! Below is a picture of the finished product.

Myles took this picture from our hotel window. Pretty nice view considering we were on the older end of the strip.

Well that about sums up our trip. We are just doing laundry and trying to catch up around the house from being gone.

"Well I was bullied at school, called all kinds of different names. But one day I turned to my bullies and said - 'Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me', and it worked! From there on it was sticks and stones all the way." -- Harry Hill

Vegas Baby, Yeah!!!

Here is a shot of Myles playing basketball in the pool. (And yes, he did wear his goggles on his head at all times.) The kids had fun in the pool with basketball, volleyball, water noodles, and of course the hot tub.

OK, so this picture didn't turn out the greatest, but it is the only shot of all four of us together. You can tell by the gold lion behind us that we are at the MGM.
We got to the Lion exhibit just before they brought this guy out. All of us tried to get good shots of him, but I must give Brad full credit for these next two beauties:)

And of course no trip to Sin City is complete without a trip to M&M World and the Coke shop. (Seeing that the only sin's we indulge in while there are extra calories!) I was bummed because the huge polar bear in the Coke shop was gone. They were doing a bit of remodeling so hopefully the bear will be back soon.

I cold only put so many pictures into the post. So I will leave you with these and do another post right away with the rest of the pictures.

Viva Las Vegas

We got back tonight from Las Vegas. I am dog tired so I will give you a full recap tomorrow ( I know, you are thinking is that a Threat or a Promise ?!?!?) But I thought this was cute a shot of the kids with the Excalibur behind them. (Myles' T-shirt is a hoot! It is a group of boys roasting hot dogs and says "It's all fun and games until someone looses a wiener!")

Also, Mom did great with her first Chemo treatment today. Thanks for all the well wishes!!

"My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income." -- Errol Flynn

My Momma

This is a picture of our 4th of July BBQ last year (2007) (Dad, Mom, U. Steve & A. Nan). Mom goes in to start her Chemo Therapy for Leukemia on Monday. She is being very brave about it and even let Heather and I help pick out wigs and scarfs that we think she would look divine in! So remember Mom, Grandma, Ol' Steady Foot, Aunt Lisa, Brad's favorite Mother-in-Law, or whatever you refer to her as, in your prayers :)

Summer is in full swing! It finally feels like summer now that we are taking a little vacation. Myles is going to swim practice every morning and playing baseball nearly every night. Now that Shakierra is with us during the week she is able to go to the church Young Women activities every Wednesday. The kids are already calling me at work complaining that they are bored :)!!

"Real difficulties can be overcome; it is the imaginary ones that are unconquerable." -- Theodore N. Vail

A's

Well it is official, Myles got straight A's again this semester!! We are so proud of him. He really works his tush off to keep up with his school work, band, scouts, young men's, and whatever sport he is playing at any given time. So way to go Myles!!
I have a couple of contacts that are helping me gather info on the Air Force Academy in Colorado. I think that would be perfect for Myles. He is a little unsure of thinking of college so soon, but to get into a program like that he needs to start working on it now. Do any of you know someone that has graduated from a military college?
We spent the evening at yet another baseball game. They didn't win, but one of their players got beamed by a ball and was out of the game leaving them a man short. Myles got to pitch for the first time tonight. For his first time on the mound he did great!! He has been working on his pitching lately.
We are taking a quick family vacation to Las Vegas this coming weekend. We plan on spending lots of time by the pool and walking the strip to see the sights. We are looking forward to dinner at Margaritaville, it is one of our favorites!! Brad wants to hit a buffet while we are there, so any suggestions on the best buffet bang for your buck?

"Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there." -- John Wooden

Purple Speedo

Myles went to his first swim practice today. So this evening I asked him to show me his team suit and asked if he like it. His humble reply was "I look sexxy in it!". It is really too bad that the boy has such poor self esteem, not! So now he has a purple speedo (Sing along to the polka-dot bikini tune -- He wore an isty bitsy teeny weeny purple speedo on his w**nie). Lehi colors are always purple, I still haven't gotten used to my SON always playing sports in purple. Brad was great and went tot he parent meeting this morning for us. He was shocked at what a big deal all this swim team business was. So I am excited to see how the meets go, I will keep you posted.

I finished the book "Twilight" this evening. Wow, it is a must read! I was a bit hesitant at first of reading a book based on vampires. But my sis Heather insisted that I read it and I am so glad that she did. I cant wait to go borrow the next book in the series from her. I was soo hooked on this one that I was reading at every stop light!!

"Now let me tell you about the 7 Deadly Sins:
1. Pride...Thou shalt not have pride in thy neighbor.
2. Coveting...Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
3. Lust...Thou shalt not lust after his neighbor's wife.
4. Anger...Do not be angry with your neighbor's wife.
5. Gluttony...Do not eat thy neighbor's wife's ........popcorn.
6. Envy...Do not envy your neighbor's wife.
7. Sloth...Do not be a slob.
And the eighth deadly sin is............PIZZA!" -- Jimmy Buffet

Happy Happy birthday Gracie dear!!!! Gracie is turning 3 today!! Time for Auntie April to buy her make up :) We had the girls yesterday, we always love a chance to play with them. Grace is a hoot with how wild and rambunctious she is. While Jane is the sweetest little pixie. They definitely have two very different personalities. They were great!! We went out to lunch and ran a few errands and even went to Baskin Robbins (yummy). Back at the house the girls were playing with some large holiday bells and Grace took Jane's from her. I told Grace to give Janie's back to her , so Grace threw a line drive right into Janie's head! So what did we learn from this; 1- Janie has a hard head and 2-Grace has a future pitching in the major league :)
Last night we had both of our parents over for games and b-day dessert for Brad. Yes, I did find him a Coconut Cream Pie!! We played Scatagories and Catchphrase and then had a great little fire in our new fire pit. It was a fun mellow evening.

"If you're being chased by a police dog, try not to go through a tunnel, then on to a little seesaw, then jump through a hoop of fire. They're trained for that!" -- Milton Jones