TAG

8 things I did yesterday:
1. Woke up
2. fed the kids
3. ate
4. took a shower
5. Facebook-ed
6. went shopping with Mom
7. I'm sure there was something else
8. but I have major short term memory issues!

8 places I like to eat:
1. Won Won
2. Wingers
3. Cafe Rio
4. Ruby Tuesdays
5. Chili's
6. Subway
7.
8.

8 things I look forward to:
1. Dates with CJ (I've been looking forward to this one for a long time!!!!)
2. Movies
3. Visiting Home
4. my birthday
5. CJ going to Denver (and NO not just because he leaves!)
6. reading
7. bedtime
8. people visiting


8 things on you wish list
1. A house
2. CJ to get better
2. a job for CJ
3. a new car
4. energy to get everything done
5. lose 20 lbs
6. a family vacation
7. 0rganization
8. financial freedom!


8 people I tag:
Jamie... and any of the rest of you who havent posted in the last month!
Anyone else who would like to do this!

Beautiful Dancer

I love my precious Ashlyn so much! She is turning into such a beautiful young lady!!! Her new passion is dancing (and when I say passion... let me emphasize PASSION!!) Her dance group danced at an event called Festival of Trees a couple of weeks ago.. yes weeks... sorry for being slow... again! She was so beautiful!! They all did a really great job. Unfortunately the video part of the camera I was using didn't do a good job of videoing AND it didn't have any sound... so I don't have video (and the charma I sent out to the electronic forces in the world actually made my camera mysteriously BREAK just a couple of days later... so strange)... but here are pictures of my beautiful dancer...





I obviously still need practice with my picture taking skills!

You know you want it....

So check this out!! (thanks for the insight Alicia)

And for the record... I loved Twilight! There were a couple things I think could have been done better... but it was the first movie so we must give some exceptions!

I know I said I would update within the week.. and... well.... I guess I'm just a liar! I had full intentions of posting, but you see, everything I could have, or would have, posted... would have all had to do with one thing that I couldn't have posted about - or, once again, a long line of Larson surprises would have been spoiled (always trying to surprise, almost always being spoiled... but never by me, so that's good... although once I did make CJ tell... but that's a whole different story... moving on...). Tuesday the 25th was Kandis' 30th birthday!! The big 3-0!!! So for months Mom and Dad Larson have been planning on the family driving down to Southern Utah and surprising her... and boy was she surprised!... although she did see our cars before she saw us... so it wasn't a TOTAL surprise in the sense that we didn't get to say surprise (yes we did re-enact just like she never knew).. but she cried for 2 days because she just couldn't believe we were all there. Even Andrew and Lisa made it all the way from NC, they DID get to yell surprise because she didn't even expect them when she saw our cars, and they were hiding in her cottage - that's when the waterworks really began for the first time! We sure love you Kander Bear.... hmmmm, ya, I think I like Kandalicious better!!!
Here are some highlights of our trip

Kandis' cottage (yep, this is where she lives)



and some of her animals (actually the property owner's animals that she helps take care of while they're gone)there are several horses and chickens, there are also sheep that the kids got to help her feed the first day we were there.



the cabin we stayed in



Christmas gift exchange (we wont all be together again for Christmas).





We did a homemade Christmas this year. My first sewing project ever was Andrew and Lisa's "ugly" quilt.










It went pretty smoothly. Thankfully my good friend Jessica is a GREAT mentor or I would have been insane. Oh wait... I DID go insane....






I decided to make a flannel quilt for Kandis for her birthday!!! Have you ever seen how much flannel frays?!?!? Well.. it does! And I don't have the greatest skills yet... only my second project!!... but after having to tear apart the seams 4 times and one extra trip for fabric (that didn't actually match) I got it done... and it turned out pretty nice. FULL - O - LOVE!!! (it isn't shredded in the trash so it is FULL of love!!)










AND while I was working on Kandis' love quilt I realized that I/we hadn't made anything for Mom and Dad Larson yet... sooooo...



Sorry Grampy Stevie. We really wanted you to match, so we either had to go masculine for you or feminine for Gammy JoJo... I guess you lost... but thanks for being a trooper!! We love you! (You can just keep the shirt... we wont even be offended)








Gifts from Grammy JoJo (and Grampy Stevie)

Our tour of some of Kandis' favorite places...

slot canyons




A hike up a canyon (Canyon wouldn't let us call them canyons for a while though, that was all kind of confusing... but he got used to it and eventually began to enjoy the BIG mountain canyons)








Native American art


100 hands (do you see the hands wayyy up on the flat part of the canyon wall?)


Native American grainery (this is where they built a cave into the side of the mountain to store their food away so animals couldn't get to it)





We also got to enjoy some time with Kandis at her school. She teaches at a school of 13 kids.. or maybe its 12... anyway... we played kick ball and had a blast... the game ended in a tie. Good timing!!!



Here's the entire group...

and here's the entire family... oh wait... Lisa still has to email me the picture with her in it... we'll see if she ever actually looks at my blog!

But here are the girls... without Lisa again... she IS pregnant you know... she suffers from small bladder syndrome!

and next year there will be one more!!! NO NOT MINE!!! (that would be a miracle wouldn't it!!??) Congratulations Andrew and Lisa!!!!!

We actually went down on the Saturday before Kandis' birthday and came back on her birthday, but everybody stayed for Thanksgiving (no I didn't get to cook this year but I am TRYING to get over it - Aunt Cindy did a great job though, so I cant be too sad). Jessie Bob even had a friend Annie (a.k.a. Annie Banannie) visit, and the kids all adored her... and love their time with Aunt Jessie

I heart blogs!!!

I love my friends and family... but I think I just found the coolest blog... EVER... ON. THE. PLANET!!!
So here it is.... A Year Of Crockpotting.


I promise... by the end of the week I will have more personal updates posted. I just wanted to get this on here before I lost it!

And I do think all of your blogs are really cool too!!!

Scrabble

OK, I have an addiction. It started when I was probably about 10. I would go over to my grandparents after school a few times a week and my Grandma would often find the time to play Scrabble with me.
CJ knows Scrabble makes me happy , so every once in a while when he is feeling abundantly unselfish (it hurts his head physically to sit for any length of time and Scrabble can get long!) he asks me if I want to play Scrabble. I always accept, and most of the time I win (which is another reason why it takes CJ being extremely unselfish to play... even though we have tweaked the rules to favor him a bit). I also like to play ScrabbleBlast online AND I have started playing with Anna and her friend Anna on Wednesdays... that is, I guess, if they aren't going out to lunch or something?!?! So far I think I am about 3-1, but who's keeping track?
Anyway... the reason for this post... Anna has introduced me to 9 tile Scrabble its a faster version of the regular 7 tile Scrabble - so CJ has actually asked me a couple of times in the last few weeks to play with him!! The other night we played... and when you're on... you're on!! Here are my first 3 words... Anna... eat your heart out...
1) highlight (7 letter bonus)
2) clothing (7 letter bonus!)
3) epiphany (7 letter bonus)
I USED THE WORD EPIPHANY playing Scrabble!!!!!!!!

Anna... let Boyd know I am awaiting the challenge... but I am looking forward to seeing you tomorrow... that is if you aren't too busy!!

Halloween

Ok, so the title is an explanation in itself... I don't have too much to say... and I know you all want to see the pictures anyway... so here is Halloween fun...

A diva, A candy corn,

and a fireman... but do you think that at 7:30 in the morning I could get his fireman costume on him?... not a chance!

The school sent home a letter saying they didn't want to promote the gory, bloody side of Halloween so "please dress the children accordingly"... hey, I am ALL FOR THAT!!! And the girls looked so cute! Canyon, Kailey and I went and helped with Ashlyn's class party and she asked if her friend could come home with us. I said ok, and by the time we made the short 6 minute drive home, the girls had already decided they were going to be 'dead' versions of their costumes for trunk or treating. Greeaaaat!
So this is how they ended up

a dead diva and a dead mummy... Ashlyn was obviously much more into her role than Taylor was!

I had to do my part in the festivities (my costume was 'the color black'. CJ made it very clear that "you cannot go out on Halloween night dressed in all black!" I managed to be in before dark and stayed safe... rest assured!) so I made dinner...
Dead rats baked in blood, and Ghost brains!

the best part of dinner was that Kailey was going to eat none of it!!! I finally had to explain that the "rats" were, in fact, hamburger, the "blood" was tomato sauce and the bones in the "rats" were just rice... she had already figured out the "ghost brains" were just biscuits (we both have carb issues!... notice the only thing she served onto peoples plates?)

So here is my little group... ready for the real fun to begin


And the fruits of their labor!


They happily exchanged all but a sandwich bag of their candy for $10 each!! Canyon was able to buy the Thomas Train figures "Emily" AND "Harold" the helicopter, so the fact that he didn't have ALL that candy didn't make an ounce of a difference to him! Kailey got a Barbie and Ashlyn got some doll house furniture... and CJ got the peace of mind in knowing that Halloween 2008 was not going to be the source of 2009 dentist bills!!

Grammy, Papa and GG

We've had another family visit come and go. It is so fun to have family visit since we live so far away... I'm just hoping that some day my brother will decide that we are worthy for a visit!!! (Love you D)
Grammy, Papa and GG came to visit. This time Papa Choo Choo had to stay home... not only to take care of the cat, but to prepare for retirement! He is planning on officially "retiring" (he retired from the railroad, hence the name Choo Choo, several years ago) from being a taxi driver in January. Grandma is a little nervous about her allowance, but I'm sure she'll be fine (its actually Grandpa I worry about... he technically wont be retiring since he'll have Grandma to keep him occupied!!)! We had another fun visit. First off, they weren't getting into town until around 9 pm. Our kids usually go to bed between 7:30 and 8, so it was a challenge finding things for them to do to keep them up and not let on that they were getting to stay up. The reason for this is that they were coming a day early! SO, at about 7:00 Kailey asked if they could take a bath,. I agreed, knowing full well that once they were in there they would lose all track of time... which they did. About 1/2 hour later they asked if they could have the tub crayons, to which I agreed, again. Now Canyon wanted in too... SCORE, all 3 of them occupied (mind you, CJ is in Denver for a treatment). Another 1/2 hour passes and I hear "Mooooooom, can we get a wash cloth or something!".... ????? hmmmmmm, whats going on... I go into the bathroom to see every line of the back splash filled in with RED tub crayon! OH MAN! The plus side to this is that it will keep them very busy until our company shows up. After about 15 minutes I walked in and still saw...

Notice anyone missing???? Oh yes, Canyon... totally innocent!

Just as they were finishing as much as I could let them suffer, they were drying off when Grammy, Papa, and GG showed up and surprised them in the bathroom. They couldn't have been more excited.
The only down part to the whole visit was that Krissy had a... little gland issue (I wont go into detail). Mom called when they were on their way here and asked if I'd schedule a vet appointment, and found one that would take her the next morning... anyway, when they got here I insisted her "issue" be covered... she wasn't very happy

One of the reasons I don't want a pet!

The women got to spend a day out shopping (Tai Pan, Quilted Bear, IKEA, dinner at Ruby Tuesdays... YUM!!!!!... and a stop off at Kohls where we found a fabulous sale!!), and the best part of that is that I get very spoiled when Mom and Grandma are around!! (Thank you again!!!) Ashlyn got to join us this time, and really didn't show how tired she was until the NEXT day! We'll see if she comes along next time.
I even got to go work out every morning which I loved!!!
Then Daddy and Papa took the kids to..... the pumpkin patch!!!!! (NOTHING like Greenbluff, but they don't know that!!)

Isnt Kailey's expression PERFECT!!!

We also enjoyed our first Thanksgiving of the year, and some very nice family time together. We sure miss you all!!!

Now we're just hoping for a visit from the rest of the Larson's in November... and whoever else wants to visit any other time!!!