Elizabeth's Birthday and winter

For my roomie Elizabeth's birthday we went to Divine Comedy with some friends. Elizabeth in front, then Shawna, then Emily, then my other roomie Ann. A funner group of girls I've never seen!

We set up our Christmas tree tonight, it's a little blurry but that's the best picture I could get showing the lights.




I thought the Temple looked so pretty with the snow covered mountains behind it I just couldn't resist taking a picture.

Amy's Birthday Dinner

Amy Rae had her 24th birthday (again) yesterday. I was lucky enough to go to dinner with her and Jared and Chris to celebrate.

How cute are they?? I'm so happy Amy found a great guy...now we just need to work on me...


Yummy melty cheese on her French onion soup, she looked so happy doing it I had to take a picture...(yes Mom, I totally thought of you when she ordered the soup...love you)

This is actually Amy's Christmas present from me, I got her a Willow Tree figurine but then when I went over last night I noticed she already had it. I knew she wanted the scale so I just gave it to her early, she was so excited about it, it was very cute. We're having a weight loss challenge starting after Thanksgiving so I wanted her to be able to keep track of the fact I'm loosing mre weight than her....speaking of which...if you see me with a candy bar in the coming months knock it out of my hand please.

-Andrea's Shower-
When Amy and I first moved out here to good old Utah we lived with a wonderful girl Andrea (and of course another wonderful girl Erin RIP). Here are a couple pictures from the baby shower wer just threw her.

Trying to figure flavors of baby food by smell....some don't smell all that great.

Chocolate and body wash...what could be better prizes right??

Party favors, they each had some pink M&Ms, tootsie rolls and mints....don't worry, I had extras

My room all organized....mostly

I decided to put the lights back up on my bed, they make me happy.

The view from next to my bed, the dresser and book case. I had to get rid of my entertainment center, there just isn't room in my new place and it didn't actually survive the move very well.

I used some sheer material I found at my parents as a bed skirt, it only covers the front of the bed but that's all you see anyway, it'll be easier to clean too.

The other wall is taken up by the nice big closet, it's all organized for now too, we'll see how long that lasts.

48 years and counting

>
+ 48 =


Are my parents too cute or what??

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Halloween-time

I went to the haunted house with some friends yesterday, I'd never been before so I was a little nervous but it was really fun. Yes I screamed a few times, ok probably more than a few but it was fun to hang out with Amy and Jared and a couple other friends.

I don't think Amy was as excited to be there.....

I didn't know if my new room could handle my bed posts but I realized I missed them so I put them on. I think it works because the ceiling fairly high. The cealing fan barely misses the top. I found the swags when I was home for Amy's open house so I thought I'd use them for a while.

I had to get some bed risers because I have less space at the new place so now I really need to find a bed skirt, right now you can see under the bed, not a pretty sight.

That's all for now....

Amy has officially ditched me for a boy!!

I figured I'd post a few pictures from Amy's wedding since she probably wont be able to get to it for a while.

The treat table not completely set up but almost.

One of the tables

Half of the chairs and arch for the Ring Ceremony

Amy and Jared Dancing

Father Daughter/Mother Son dance

The cake turned out amazing!!


Amy and Jared walking out of the Temple

That's all for now. They are so happy and great for each other. I hope one day to be as happy as they are!

Moving

Yesterday I spent all day moving. Amy and I have a friend Chris who is a DJ for KSOP a radio station down here. He was nice enough to borrow the radio van they send out to events to carry equipment in. We estimated it was about a 15 foot van. First off he and Jared unloaded the sound equipment and drove it down to our house. We loaded all my stuff in it then drove it over to my place and unloaded everything. I'm really bad a judging space, I saw my room and figured all my stuff would fit....not so much. I got rid of my entertainment center because there wasn't enough room and because it's the piece of furniture I owned that was closest to falling apart. I think with a bit of arranging everything else will work out.

Then we came back to our house and loaded all of Amy's stuff in. We were about to leave when the stupid aura of a migrane started. I took a pill right away and tried to relax on the drive up to Manga. I took a second pill an hour later just before we got there and then laid down for a bit. Luckily it wasn't very bad and the immetrex worked really well. One of the people that came to help unload the truck at Jared's was a genius who thought to pull the truck up half way on the lawn, pull the ramp out to the front door it was much faster that way.



I figured I'd put a picture of my room how it is now on here so you can see how empty it is.

Now the fun unpacking begins.

Amy's Bridal Shower

Gift table before most gifts got there. Decorated with the treat bags and such.

We filled a suitcase with random clothes, blindfolded her and had her put everything on.

We made eggs benedict, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product but here are some of the beautiful eggs I poached. I had never poached eggs before so I was pretty proud of myself. These are not the first attempts, they weren't quite as pretty.

The party went really well and people had fun, I think. I'll let Amy post more later. I assume it'll happen somewhere around her first anniversary with everything else she's doing.....

Thanks everyone who helped and came and wanted to come and thought about coming!!

Favorite Memories the beginning

Kelsey did this on her blog and I loved seeing her favorite memories so I thought I'd do it on mine too. As I think of more I'll post more.

• When I realized I could be friends with my parents as well as their child
  
• When Kelsey told me they were naming Jemma after me
  
• When Kelsey called to say she wanted me at the hospital when the twins were born (even though it was really early in the morning)
  
• When Amy’s Dad got to the hospital after that horrible first night and day in the ER/ICU
  
• When Michael gave me the blessing that said Erin was with me while Amy was in the ICU that first night
  
• When Alex gave Amy the blessing that finally said she would survive
  
• Daddy/Daughter dates when I was little
  
• Every time I taught the Thumper lesson for FHE when I was young ( I thought I was so good)
  
• Whenever I’d go to Kelsey’s and her kids would yell, “Kacky!”
  
• When I realize I could tell Amy and Kelsey anything and everything and realized they’d still be my best friends
  
• When Ben finally showed up at the airport to get Kelsey and the kids and I after the trip from Hell.
  
• Making and (tasting) stuffing with Mom and Beth every Thanksgiving
  
• When I prayed about the Book of Mormon like I’d always been told to and got the clear impression in my mind that said “You already know”
  
• Playing with my siblings and cousins at Grandpa and Grandma Palmers bar downstairs (as long as I didn’t look at the scary coconut faces)
  
• Getting a self-serve ice cream cone with Grandpa Harper, he said I hadn’t put on enough ice cream and he piled it on so high I could barely hold it upright
  
• When Amy got engaged to Jared
  
• When I understood Jared was an amazing man who would be good to and for Amy and love her so much and whenever he tells me there is a lucky man out there for me some day
  
• Making the movie in response to Brian and family’s Christmas broadcast. We were pretty dang good if I do say so myself and I do

My Birthday

Thanks to all my friends and family who made my birthday amazing. Here are some pictures of my haul.

This is a picture that I colored from the coloring book I got from Carrie, Elizabeth and Catherine. They are amazing people and I love them all.

I got a gift certificate a while ago from a friend so Amy and I got pedicures on my lunch hour...see my cute flowers.

I got lots of cute stuff but the more important part was I felt loved and cared for my my friends and family.
( I promise to use the gift cards well!)

The tray is from when Amy brought me breakfast in bed, great way to start the day!

Thanks again to everyone who made my birthday amazing with their good wishes!!

Rearrangement

I got a little bored today and decided to rearrange my room. I'll only be here another 2 months but still it just felt like that kind of day. I probably get it from my Mom, she used to want to change up the living room occosionally. It would make make more impact I'm sure if I had posted better pics of how my room looked before but here goes.

This is teh view from the end of the bed looking out the door. My entertaiment center on the left with my birthday present from my Mom (see I didn't open it yet, I promise to be good). My "printer stand" on the right. It's made up of a tote and a Pampered Chef box, classy I know.

This is looking at the bed I put it in the far corner of the room and angled it, I think it makes the room look bigger.

This is the window my bed used to be under, now that wall has a side table my dresser and the cute chair I got from my Grandma.

Embracing my inner hick.....and Diva

A couple weeks ago Amy and I went to the races with Jared since he really wanted to go. It wasn't the most interesting evening of my life but one car did get up to over 150 miles per hour so that was pretty cool.

See how good I am, it only took a few tries to actually get the cars in the frame.

Here's the diva part, I spent 2 hours the night before the races trying to get the perfect home french manicure. Still not perfect but I'm too cheap to pay for it.


One last thought for the night....I'm pretty sure Costco cheated me on my frozen yogurt you could park a car in there. Ok not a real car but you know what I mean.

4th of July

I hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th, this officially starts the countdown to my birthday in one month.

Ok, that's not really the point of the day so without getting too mushy I just want to say I'm grateful for all the freedoms we enjoy here and I need to think about it more often. I'm glad we have this time to remind us and celebrate it.

I went to the Freedom Festival in the morning with my friend Elizabeth and had fun browsing thru all the booths and tents and things. I got a cute bracelet and we split a yummy Navajo Taco for lunch.

This guy had a cool reptile show, he was really funny and good with the kids (wonder if he's single?) The creepiest part was when he was showing how "safe" this huge black scorpion was by putting it in his mouth!! The whole thing. It was pretty gross.
Even worse though that the scorpion in the mouth part was when Elizabeth and I went past a booth where they had some muscle/joint type cream. Elizabeth has arthritis so she told the guy and he squirted some on her hand.....then he looks and me and says "How about you Mom?" What the !?!?!?! I said "Mom?" so he responded by saying, "well, you're somebody's mom right?" No actually I'm not and by the way I'm not pregnant either, I'm just chubby in case you were gonna make me feel better about myself by asking that next. It hurt at first but then I remember that most people tell me I look young for my age so I'm gonna stick with that thought.

That night we all went to Jared's (Amy's Finace') house for a BBQ and watched him eat the biggest hamburger ever, I'll have to get the pictures from Amy so you can see.

Aren't they just too cute for words....

After the BBQ we went to watch the firework show put on my Sandy city. We got some good seats on the hill at a high school near where they shot them off.


Its really hard to take a picture of fireworks because by the time I clicked the button the sparks were gone, here's the one I got.

This is Amy, Me and Elizabeth

Concert with Delia

This is my friend Delia and I at the Kelly Clarkson concert at UVU a few weeks ago. My head looks too big....wierd

We got rained on but we also got a really huge gorgeous rainbow. I guess that's how life goes, you take the rain so you get the rainbows.

We weren't too far back, it was standing room only unless you paid to be a VIP. It was the closest I've been to a mosh pit, yes I realize I'm fairly sheltered. It was really fun even when I had to keep pushing people away from jumping on me. There was even a guy there who tried to do the "Edward hair" (if you don't know what I mean by that you should really watch Twilight). It just really didn't work for him at all, not the type at all to pull it off. Delia and I kept joking that someone was going to loose something in it.

Long drive....almost

Kelsey and her family moved to Texas for a job for Ben. He drove the moving van down with his sister Friday-Saturday, they drove for just about 24 hours straight.
Kelsey and I planned to drive their van on the 22 hour drive with the kids. We left Saturday morning at about 9:30. We had plenty of snacks and stuff to keep us entertained. We got about 4 hours into the drive and needed gas so we were exiting into Grand Juction, CO when Kelsey said that something was wrong. She was pushing the gas and nothing was happening. There was a gas staion right around the corner so we sort of coasted and drove to it. We filled up the tank and Kelsey went inside to get something, she had me move the van over to a parking spot. I turned it on and pushed the gas and nothing happened, I pushed the gas few times and it moved so I got to a parking spot. She called Ben and her Dad to try to figure out what to do. Luckily, her parents just moved from Grand Junction and her Dad had a friend who owns a transmission shop there. He came over and said that the transmission was basically toast. Unfortunately transmissions take a while to fix so they said the car wouldn't be ready till at least Wednesday. Luckily again, we were right across the street from a Super 8 motel. They guy hardly let her drive the van across the street to get to the motel but with 4 tired, hot and grumpy kids and lots of stuff there was really no other way to get it there. We got to the motel and got everyone out of the van and to the front desk. At this time I was thinking it's amazing Kelsey and I aren't crying, I'm proud of us. Then the lady at the desk asked how long we'd be staying. Kelsey immediately started crying and that's all it took, we were both bawling while she explained what happened. The lady was really nice and we got checked into a room. Motel rooms aren't that big and the kids were already tired and confused and grumpy so they were bouncing off the walls fighting and pushing and crying and getting into everything. They kept playing with the phone and calling the front desk. We got all the kids in the tub to cool them down. I took some cute pictures of it on Kelsey's camara, if she posts it on her blog I'll steal it and post it for you, it's way cute.
At first we thought we could stick it out and drive out when the car was done but then realized that was not gonna happen. I love those kids like they were my own but I was ready to rip all my hair out and it just breaks your heart to not be able to comfort a crying child. Then we went between renting a van to continue the drive and flying out. Everything was crazy and stressful when my phone rang and it was Kelsey's sister Deon saying not to worry about dinner, it was on it's way and paid for. Of course we both started crying again. Thanks Deon! I hadn't even worried about that yet but I'm sure Kelsey had.
There was no vans available to rent and by that time we realized we couldn't handle two more days of crazyness so we had to fly out. After a lot of searching (and even more tears) Kelsey and her Dad and Ben found flights for Sunday morning.
After a few hours of not good sleep we got up and took what was absolutely necessary and we headed to the airport. We got on the plane after hanging out in the airport for a bit. There was alot of turbulance which usually makes me sick but I've realized if I'm worried about kids then it doesn't affect me as much. Aurora and a twin were sitting with me and I conviced Aurora that it was like we were on a roller coaster, Charlie however just wanted "Off two plane!". We got to Denver where we had a layover, it started off with nice people offering to help with bags (it's amazing how much stuff you have to have with 4 kids) then we got to ride one of those cool airport golf cart things because we had to go down about 20 gates and we obvioulsy looked like we couldn't do it because we didn't even have to ask for it, they just said wait here the cart is coming. The kids were actually pretty good on the plane. On the second leg of the flight Aurora actually slept for about half of it. The lady sitting next to me was really nice. As soon as she sat down and saw the kids she said, "dont' worry, I have a 4 and 5 year old, nothing they can do will bother me" She was very helpful when Aurora randomly decided she didn't want to sit in her seat or be belted in anymore. The woman told her she had a special prize to show her but only people in seat belts could see it. It shows hot tired she was that she actually bough tit. We finally got to Dallas and were so relived to se Ben and Terry (Kelseys Dad) there to pick us up.
It was an incredibly stressful trip and while we were going thru it it was awful. It was so nice to get to her parents house with nice people and be able to relax and hav help with the kids.
I felt better after sleeping for almost 8 hours that night then I heard the Kelsey and Aurora were throwing up that night, I wondered what else would happen. Luckily it was short lived and she's doing much better. I think it might have been a reaction to all the stress of packing/moving/the trip from H E double hocky sticks, and all that.
We did see bright sides of the situation and evidence we were being taken care of throughout the trip, we could have broken down in the middle of no where but we broke down as we got off the exit right by a gas station and a hotel and in the town where her parents had just moved from, where they happened to know a guy that owns a transmission shop. The airport was only about a mile away so the cab fair was really cheap.
I flew back to Salt Lake the next day (Monday) on probably the longest flight I've been on. For some reason whoever plans Southwest's schedule decided that I should go from Dallas to San Antonio, then Denver, then Salt Lake. I didn't have to change planes but I was on the same one for 6 hours with 3 take-offs and landings. The funniest part was when I was rushing down to meet my friend Delia who was picking me up. We were about 20 minutes late so I was walking fast and decided to trip over my own feet just past the baggage claim. I now have a large bruise on my knee to remember my amazing performance in front of a hundred strangers.
Now that it's over it doesn't seem as hard as it was in the middle of it but belive me it was not something I would recommend going thru. Kelsey kept saying that I wouldn't miss them as much because of all the drama but I'd go thru it again to move them back here. I miss them all already.
I love her like a sister, and am grateful for friends that become family and that her family is so wonderful and they love me too.


PS. Lee called, we're going out again tomorrow....what? I didn't tell you about him....will write more after our date tomorrow.

Haircut

I forgot I was supposed to put a picture of my haircut on here too so my Mom could see it.




Wow, I'm not that photogenic....

Lemonade Party

Kelsey had a Lemonade party yesterday for Mommy's and daughters and was nice enough to let me help and come along even though I don't technically have any children. I have one of those "Mother Hearts" that there was a talk on a few years ago. Anyway, we went all out on the food and stuff. Mostly due to Kelsey's creativity and a fun magazine. Here are a few before pictures.

We put some toulle on her awning to make it prettier. There was little pink flowers pinned to it too but those are hard to see.

We had jelly rolls, home made lemonade, cream puffs, fruit salad and pettit fours. They were taking forever to frost so we didn't frost them all.

Here are some place settings, we made fans, napkin rings and place cards to match.

It was a lot of fun to help put together and to get to be with friends to just visit and eat. Two of my favorite activites I must admit.