We went away for the weekend this weekend. We were initially going to Mesquite, NV because our oldest son was going to bring his family to meet us. But sadly, they had some car problems and weren't able to come. They're going to try and come out for Thanksgiving, but I was SO disappointed! Now the baby will be a year old before I get to see her. It's breaking my heart that we've missed so much. It kind of stinks to have your kids and and grandkids so far away.

We were going to go ahead and take the trip anyway. We already had all the arrangements made and the time off, but then we looked at the weather report - 110 degrees. Nuh-uh! That's too darn hot for me.

So instead we decided to be spontaneous and head off in a different direction. We love Wyoming and I'd always heard that Jackson Hole was a cool place, so without even knowing exactly where it was, we decided to go there. Turns out it was like a six hour drive, but it turned out to be really fun.

For one thing, it is absolutely gorgeous there. Tony and I both would absolutely LOVE to move there if we could figure out a way to make it work. High paying jobs don't seem to be in great supply there, but I just love being there. All the open space and nature just makes me feel so peaceful and happy. We've never lived in a small town and we've always wanted to.

In Wyoming, they seem to have lots of antlers. The elk just drop them every year, thousands of them. So they build lots of things out of antlers. This archway in Afton, WY was made about 50 years ago and it's entirely covered in antlers.





They also have some fantastic art. We saw lots of galleries and lots of gorgeous sculptures and statues and just fun little touches all over everywhere. Look at some of this fun stuff I found:

This is actually a BBQ. Look at the little pig teats. Isn't that funny?

This is our first picture of Blake with his poor foot in his cast. Damn! We really had to alter our plans this weekend to avoid, dirt, water, and excessive walking because he'd only been in his cast for one day. Fortunately, it will *only* be a month, but it will be a long month.

Loo at this darling mantle with these cute little critters peeking out. I just adored this store. If I ever get rich, I'm going to go back there and buy out the store to decorate my house.


This is the gate to some ranch and these birds are all hand carved out of wood. Gorgeous!

I haven't downloaded all my pictures yet, but we got a great picture of a pair of mooses (meeces). One of them was enormous! The other was either a smaller male or a female with antlers. They were just standing in a stream, in Moose, Wyoming, no less. They had a huge crowd on the bank take pictures and they were just standing there doing their thing. It was hilarious.

I wasn't allowed to take a picture, but it one of the galleries I saw the most beautiful sculptures. This guy does all these Native American brass sculptures but somehow he does tiny, extremely detailed beadwork and then he paints it all and it is so gorgeous! Then he does little individual fringe and just every imaginable detail. And he's very prolific. There must have been a dozen pieces in this one gallery. I just can't imagine how much time it must take to do all that. I'd be cross-eyed.

We also went and saw the most amazing Western dinner show. Tony and I both like country music and these guys were really phenomenal. I mean just insanely good musicians. They did old cowboy stuff like the Sons of the Pioneers or Riders in the Sky stuff along with some great comedy. One joke stuck in my mind. "Don't push through the screen door grandma, you'll strain yourself". Funny!

Look at these great metal sculptures. This guy was just sitting on a street corner with all these fabulous sculptures. He had a whole Noah's ark of animals, buffaloes, pigs, dinosaurs, alligators, horses, elephants, and some of them were life sized and some were just little tiny. How fun!


I'm sure we'll be going there again soon. This was a great trip for us.



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Boy did I have a bad day today. Yesterday, Blake asked me to take him rock climbing for his last day of "official" summer. I had a couple of quick errands to run, so I packed him up and drove him to the rec center along with his swimsuit. I figured he could alternate between climbing and swimming. I usually wouldn't leave him alone there, but they have lifeguards and guys (teenagers really) who run the rock wall, plus they have a full staff at the desk, so I figured he'd be OK for about an hour. That was mistake #1.

By the time I got back, he was sitting in a chair with his foot up, looking like he was in pain. My heart sank. Sure enough, he'd fallen off the rock wall. Turns out they'd been letting him do something called "bouldering". I don't know exactly what it is, but they don't use a safety harness because they're only allowed to go up a little ways. Well, he's not that experienced a climber, so he missed a foothold and fell by about 5 feet. I would have felt bad anyway, but the fact that I wasn't there made me feel even worse. (However, I am going to have a word with those stupid kids at the rock wall for letting an inexperienced climber do something so dangerous!)

He could walk and it wasn't particularly swollen, but he was hobbling and obviously in a bit of pain, so I decided to run him in to the Instacare. Mistake #2. Not so much in taking him to the Instacare, but in picking the one with the stupid doctor who didn't know how to read an X-ray. So we do the X-ray and the dumb-ass doctor reads it and says it's not broken in his opinion, but that he would have the radiologist look at it in the morning. Doesn't show me the X-ray and I didn't think to ask to see it - Mistake #3. At my suggestion, he at least decides to tape it up and says to elevate and ice it for the night. OK fine.

Blake wakes up this morning, says the foot hurts a little, but is basically fine and after all, the doctor says it's not broken. So I remove the tape so he can get his shoe on and send him off to school with instructions to take it easy. At least I drove him rather than letting him walk, so maybe I get a half a point for that.

Then I leave my cell phone in the car - Mistake #4. During the day, the radiologist tries to call me to tell me the foot is broken. In three places. Maybe four. My husband finally gets the message and calls me at 5:00. At this point, my poor child has been walking around on a broken foot for nearly 24 hours and says it's "starting" to hurt. Mistake #5.

Then, I'm so upset, I come home and yell at the poor kid. Huge Mistake #6. I yell at him because I'm going to have to drive him to and from school for all these weeks because our carpool just fell apart. I yell at him because we might have to cancel our vacation this weekend. I yell at him because I have to worry that he will get sand in the cast on the playground. I yell at him because he's going to have to miss the bowling program we've set up. I yell at him because he's likely going to have to miss his Scout campout and Lord only knows what else.

I don't know why I'm yelling at him because he's the one whose going to suffer from all these things, but when I'm upset, I tend to yell and I am so upset at the Instacare doctor, I could just rip his lungs out (the doctors, not Blake's). They sent home a set of the X-rays and even we can see that are probably several breaks. You'd think a guy who stands around an Instacare all day looking at kids with broken bones would be able to read a damn X-ray, or would at least err on the side of caution and send him home with a brace on until someone more competent can read them.

Oh and I'm also feeling a whole lot of guilt because this is his second break (or possibly his second, third, and forth break) because my Mom always told me that I didn't make him drink enough milk. Two years ago he broke his wrist at the skate park, so I'm starting to wonder if this is going to be an on-going occurrence with him because my poor mothering skills have caused him to have paper-thin bones.

So, needless to say, I'm feeling lower than dirt right about now. How was your day? Want to adopt a slightly used, calcium-deficient child with a slight limp? Maybe you'd have better luck with him.

PS: Cross your fingers when we go to the Orthopedist tomorrow. I'm hoping for something of the hairline variety....

PS: In case you're wondering, I did calm down, give Blake a sincere apology and a big hug and took him out for an ice cream. I also promised him a video game if he can manage to keep the sand out of his cast. Fortunately, the breaks were of the hairline variety and he will only have to have the cast on for a month, no crutches, thank heaven!




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Life can be such a roller coaster sometimes. Our friend Clark was a perfectly healthy 24 year old last month, but this month it's a totally different story. He was admitted to the Instacare for nausea and vomiting. They did some tests and found out that his liver was failing. As part of a large Mormon family, he doesn't touch alcohol or drugs, which are what usually destroy the liver, but instead they found a very rare virus that was attacking his liver and within about a week, he was in the ICU and was rated #1 on the nationwide transplant list.

They weren't sure if he was going to survive long enough to receive the transplant, but he managed - barely. Then there was the whole blood clot episode that caused part of the new liver to die off and scared everyone to death. The blood clot dissolved and that part will grow back, but it was a possibility he might have to have a second transplant.

Now, they are worried that he might have to have a bone marrow transplant. The nasty virus that caused all this mess is still lurking in his system and now it is attacking his bone marrow. Everyone is fighting so hard to keep this poor guy alive and everything just keeps going wrong all the time. His father has passed on, but his poor mother is about out of her mind with worry, as you can imagine.

To top it all off, the family is facing financial ruin with all the medical bills. The transplant bill alone is about half a million, and Clark is going to have to take the anti-rejection drugs for the rest of his life. I was shocked to find out that the cost of them is $2,000 to $5,000 a month. That just boggles the mind, doesn't it? I think there is something so wrong with our medical system that someone would have to come up with that kind of money just to stay alive. It's like extortion or something. Can you even imagine? Most 24 year olds can barely manage their rent, car payment, and a little left over for some pizza and soda or something.

This hits pretty close to home for us. Matt, my older son has a medical condition that might require a transplant one day and it absolutely terrifies me. Everytime I go to his blog and read about this whole nightmare, I see Matt in that hospital bed, and I see myself suffering the way his Mom is suffering. I can't hardly imagine a worse situation, so that gives me a little extra empathy for them.

In a way, I don't actually know them and haven't actually met them, but in another way, I feel like I've known them forever through the blog they've set up and the updates my family has been sending. I think that's what makes blogging so powerful. Clark is my niece's husband's cousin, as ridiculous as that sounds and he works for their company, where my sister was the office manager. That's Utah for you, relatives of any degree are relatives for life!

If you'd like to read more about Clark's story and possibly consider donating to their cause, please pop over to the blog they've set up SuperClarkKimble.blogspot.com. And of course, any and all prayers will be greatly appreciated.





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Oh my gosh! I can't believe that the summer will be over in just days and school will be starting on Wednesday - freaky. I think I am the only mother in America who completely detests sending my kids back to school. I think all the other Moms are going crazy with a houseful of bored kids and can't wait to get them out of the house, but my kids never get bored, so I'm just the opposite. I love the freedom of letting them wake up whenever they want (usually earlier than I would like!) and not having to have them ready and out of the house by a certain time.

I never understand that whole "I'm bored" business. I literally can't remember any of my kids ever saying those words. As long as there is TV and a reasonable supply of video games, my kids would never dream of being bored. And even if they are, why the heck would they tell me about it? I'd probably just come up with some chores for them to do. Even when they were little, I never felt like I needed to "entertain" them.

On the other hand, electronic entertainment time was much more limited this year. We did some math and writing tutoring for Blake this year, so he had to do several pages of "homework" every day, along with 30 minutes or so of reading, which he usually managed to drag out for about half the day, so by the time he did a basic chore or too, he was lucky to get an hour or two of time to indulge himself. Just between you and me, that was just FINE, I hate damn video games anyway!

Then we had scout campouts (several), church camp, a couple of mini vacations, and a whole lot of playdates and swimming - we had a membership to a rec center for the first time, so that was nice. One way or another it was a darn busy summer!

So now, we've got to figure out how to get back in the swing for the school year. As usual we started off with a bang last year, but by the end of the year, the wheels pretty much fell off!

I browsed a few websites for ideas, but it's all kind of the same old stuff:

Launch pad - yup, we pretty well got this from Flylady years ago. Blake has his "dog butts" to hang his backpack and stuff on. I think you really need a visual on this one.



Aren't they a scream? They're from Ikea and I think they're really for hanging leashes on, but they work great for backpacks too.

Organization Station - Check! We've got this all set up from last year. There are folders for things to sign, completed homework, fundraisers and other flyers, and a spot for lunch money. Lunch calendars and band schedules are taped up on the insides of the kitchen cabinets (I love that idea, saves a lot of clutter on the fridge).

Lunch Station - No, not so much. Blake does make his own lunch 3 days a week, but honestly, it's not that hard to roam around the kitchen and put together a PB&J, some cookies, and a go-gurt. Although now he's got the late lunch, so he may need to pack a snack too so he doesn't starve to death by 1:00.

Point System - I'm struggling with this one. Reward systems work really well for ADHD kids like Blake, but you have to keep them fresh to hold their interest. Last year, I put together a fabulous daily list of things for him to do with added incentives of electronic entertainment and cash (allowance really - $1 a day if he completed his list), but about halfway through the year that one just kind of died and I haven't been able to get him back into it. The problem is that it has to be simple, easily sustainable (for me!), and something that gives him the responsibility for doing the chores, homework, personal hygiene stuff, etc. 'cuz by the time I get home from work at 6:00, I'm lucky if I can remember my OWN name and get my own list of stuff done!

So feel free to submit any ideas you've got for back to school (shudder) organization, or just motivating kids in general. Hey, us Mom's have to stick together!



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One of the speakers at the Stampin' Up! Convention said something that really stuck with me. She said that men and women have totally different approaches to to-do lists. If men ever bother to make a to-do list, they put maybe 4 or 5 things on it. Then they start at the top and do them in order. The second they are done with the last one, they celebrate. They sit down, pop a beer, and turn on their favorite sports program. After all, they deserve it, they finished their list! I think there's a lot to be said for this approach.

Women, on the other hand, always have these endless to-do lists. Even if it's just in our heads, we always have this enormous list of "things" we feel that we have to do to keep everyone happy and keep the homestead running. And if you work outside the home, you have two sets of to-do lists. I literally have a to-do list that reflects this.



I've been using this one on and off since January and sure enough, the Home section has a few pages used up, the Play Section almost never gets any pages, but the Work section has at least twice as many pages used up. And that whole celebration part? It's just not happening. Even if I get 10 things done on my list, I'm too busy beating myself up about the other 5 that didn't get done. Or worse, I'll make the tasks so enormous that I might only get one or two done in a whole day and you can't really celebrate that, can you?

This is funny though - I had to put in a little sidebar. Have you ever seen a guy with a to-do list? It never fails, you give him a list and he starts right up there with #1 and then moves to #2, etc. Even if #1 and #3 are in the same neighborhood, he will drive all over town before he figures out the efficient way to do them. But if you give a woman the exact same list, she instinctively puts them into a logical order - OK, I can pick up item 4 when I'm on the way to take the boys for soccer, I can get this when I drop off the dry cleaning, and I can stop at the post office on the way to the bank. That's just the way we think. We have to, it's a matter of survival for us.

I remember when my Mom retired. I would ask her to come over for something and she'd say she would try to fit it in because she had such a busy day. And I'd ask her what she needed to do, and she would say that she had to go to the bank, pay the bills, and pick up something for dinner. And I would just be dumbfounded. "Geez Ma, that's #26, #32 & #38 on my to-do list. Are ya kiddin' me?" But I guess that's the difference between a working Mom with a couple of young, active kids, and a retired senior citizen.

Anyway, I think my point was that we need to be more like men - more celebrating, less do's! And if you give a man a to-do list, for heaven's sake, sort it out for him first - poor lamb. He'll never figure it out on his own!




By TwitterButtons.com

I went to a pool party today. As usual, I didn't go anywhere near the pool. In fact, I've yet to slip into a swimsuit one time this whole summer. Why? Well, because it's a swimsuit, silly! Whoever invented these little spandex torture devices?

Because it doesn't matter if it's a one piece, two piece, or three piece, a bikini, a tankini, or a monokini, it is not going to look good on anyone over the age of 18 or over 115 pounds and I am most assuredly over both of those - considerably over. That's just not fair. Why can't we go into a pool in capris and a t-shirt, or a pair of shorts and a tank top, or in anything that doesn't immediately plaster itself to every fat globule you've ever had? I mean really, who's idea was this? I'm sure it was someone in Marketing.

I've even got the old lady kind of swimsuit, the kind with a little skirt to cover some small portion of your hips and fanny, but it's still about 65% less clothing than I wear on any other given day of the year, and it shows off every pasty, white bit of cellulite I possess and I just don't want to inflict that on other people. So I sit by the side of the pool, baking in the sun, wishing I had the time (and money) for a Brazilian wax and a personal trainer and maybe a tanning salon.

I think we ought to go on strike and boycott all the swimming pools until they let us wear whatever we darn well please to swim in. I'm opting for a pair of sweat pants and a turtleneck!




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I found this idea over at A Little Dose of Toni and I thought it was a great idea. These are just little silly things that are fun and harmless to do:

It's OK:

To eat dessert first sometimes
To just sit and read a book for a few hours, especially on a rainy or snowy day
To spoil your kids a little sometimes
To pretend to listen to your husband sometimes, especially when he is talking about stuff that is of NO possible interest to you!
To splurge on a new pair of shoes sometimes, because you know you'll never find that same pair again
To decide that you no longer want to be friends with someone because they just exhaust or irritate you
To bring your kids up short if they are being disrespectful to you. I would NEVER allow a child of mine to call me names, slap me, or be rude to me. My kids know this instinctively and wouldn't even think of it.To admit that sometimes you're just bored and lonely
To ask for help, or sympathy, or support from your friends
To declare a Happy Meal night sometimes (a happy meal is anything in the kitchen that makes you happy!)
To be lazy sometimes and not want to go to the gym (but not all the time!)
To be addicted to reality shows. If you get your kids hooked on them too, then you'll have someone to watch them with.
To check Facebook and E-mail lots of times every day (at least I hope it's OK 'cuz I do it a lot!)
To take a nap - sometimes you just need one. Preferably in your cozy bed with the door closed to escape interruptions.
To be a little bit on the work-a-holic side and be proud of it!
To act like a kid sometimes, just not ALL the time.



By TwitterButtons.com

On Sunday, I took Blake and his little friend down to the Olympic Legacy Fountain in downtown Salt Lake. This fountain is so much fun and my kids just love it, even Matt. It just squirts these jets of water up randomly and a couple of times an hour, it does a little mini-water show with all the Olympic music. It's silly, but their favorite thing is to take an old cup and put it over the jets and then watch it fly up. This time, they got the idea to use two cups and make it into a cup race. That's priceless!



I just love stuff like that, simple and silly kid fun. I can't help but think how much longer they're going to love silly little things like that? On the way up, we had even more fun. We took Trax, which is our electric train system. I showed the boys the joint where the two cars fit together. It turns slightly when the train goes around a corner and they were having SO much fun standing on it and spinning around when we would go around a corner. They had the whole car smiling - goofy kids!


Then on the way home, they were both so worn out, they curled up on the seats and went right to sleep like little tired puppies. How's that for cute?






By TwitterButtons.com

THE TRUE SURVIVOR SERIES

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and three kids each for six weeks. Each kid will play two sports and take either music or dance classes. There is no fast food. Each man must take care of his three kids; keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, help complete school science projects, cook, do laundry, and pay a list of 'pretend' bills with not enough money.

In addition, each man will have to budget money for groceries each week. Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives and send cards out on time--no emailing.

Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment, a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment. He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to Urgent Care. He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.

Each man will be responsible for decorating his assigned house, planting flowers outside, and keeping it presentable at all times.

The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and only when all chores are done. The men must shave their legs, wear makeup daily, adorn themselves with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep fingernails polished, and eyebrows groomed.

During one of the six weeks the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties. They must attend weekly school meetings and church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting. They will need to read a book to the kids each night and in the morning, feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair by 7:00 am.

A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each child's birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size, doctor's name, the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.

The kids vote them off the island based on performance.

The last man wins only if...he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice.

If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years, eventually earning the right to be called Mother!




By TwitterButtons.com

I'm baaaack! Didja miss me??? What a dynamite four days! I was actually having second thoughts about signing up for Convention this year. I haven't been quite as active in my business lately and I was even thinking about quitting. I've been with Stampin' Up! for six years now and it's natural to be a little less gung-ho at this point than I was in the beginning. But that's what Conventions like this are all about. It's a chance to get re-energized and hopped up a bit and also to get some new ideas. So, I am very pleased that I went. It was a terrific Convention, as usual. I don't think anyone cares about their people and provides more support and excitement than Stampin' Up! So now I'm ready to get back in the saddle and keep it going for a while longer.



My favorite part of Convention is hanging out with my peeps. We have a great group of ladies (and one Diva dude!) in my Utah Divas group and they come in from all around the country. We set up dinners, swap projects, and just generally goof and giggle our way around the whole place. Max is normally our fearless leader, but since she's on staff with Stampin' Up! she had to work the whole time. However, our fabulous Diva Dude Michael and his wife Kellie stepped up admirably! Kellie came up with a darling bee theme in honor of Utah (the Beehive State). We had cute little bee pins and bee-themed name tags that were hilarious - such as Bee-youtiful, Blond-bee, and even a Zom-bee (that was me!). And of course, we had to have our little bee antennas. Here's me and my friend Karen at one of the main stage presentations.

Michael even made this fabulous light-up sign for us so we could find each other every morning. They were there at 7:00 every morning to stake out a spot for all of us. How's that for dedication? Oh and he made CD's for all of us of all the project boards. How cool is that? I think all of us wished our husbands were that excited about our stamping business!


Then there's the projects. The thing I'm most excited about is our new digital product - My Digital Studio. I am not kidding when I say I have been waiting for this product for years. I love the idea of scrapbooking, but I always end up getting frustrated with it. I end up not having the right sized picture, the right color cardstock, or the right number of embellishments. With a product like this, I have a huge list of coordinated digital "stamp" sets, dozens of patterned papers, unlimited embellishments and effects and best of all, everything coordinates with our 48 fabulous colors plus our whole line of special In Colors. How cool is that?

If you guys know me at all, you know how much I love my computer, so this is the perfect product for me. They showed us how you can create photo books, scrapbook pages, cards, and wonderful photo gifts. I think the photo gifts are actually going to be my favorite. That's my favorite gift in the world, and there are all sorts of fun effects you can do to jazz up a photo to make a great personalized gift for a parent, grandparent, or a kid.

So now, I'm back to the real world and it's time to start using some of this great stuff I learned. Oh and here are some of the projects I created.

By TwitterButtons.com

Well - I'm back now, but I didn't get many entries. In fact, I only got one, my friend Carol E-mailed me her answers, but she got most of them right, so I'm going to declare her the winner. But just to give someone else a chance, I'm not going to post the answers just yet. Feel free to go ahead and give it a try and just see how many you can get, just for fun.

I know I don't post as often as I should anymore, but I know I'm going to be especially busy for the rest of the week, but hopefully I'll be back late Saturday with some fun stuff to share. I'm going to the Stampin' Up! Convention here in town - woohoo! Being a conference veteran - this is either my 3rd or my 4th, can't remember, I know that I'll be dead on my feet - literally, by Saturday night! These things start early, early in the morning and go until late, late, late at night and you end up walking until your feet fall off.

But I'm anticipating spending some fun time with a group of very fun ladies, eating a lot of good food, getting tons of great ideas and inspiration and don't forget the free stamp sets and cool bag they give us. Should be a great time. My little group - Utah Divas usually ends up with a mob of 30-40 of us running around. Don't let the Utah part fool you though, we have Divas (and one Dude!) from as far away as Australia and almost every state in the US. That's the best part of Convention, getting to meet people face to face that you've been E-mailing with for years.

In the meantime, I thought I'd give you some little puzzles to keep you busy and out of trouble while I'm gone! These are some simple word puzzles - each is a common saying expressed in a little word picture. Some are easy and some are HARD. I'll even bring you a little prize from Convention. They always have fun little keychains and lip balms and stuff for sale.

I'll check back after Convention and give you the answers. No cheating now!

1. BA NANA (I'll give you this one, it's so easy - Banana Split!)

2. VA DERS

3. CHIMADENA

4. TIMING TI MING

5. WINEEEE

6. CO144ME

7. EILN PU

8. JOBINJOB

9. TAILR
RIALT
AIRTL
TLRIA

10. 1, 2, 3, ......38,
39, 40, LIFE

11. $0 ALL ALL ALL ALL

12. ME1111ONEONE

Good luck!



By TwitterButtons.com