Who's that girl?

So the other day our neighbor came over to our house and asked us if we wanted another boxer? Well, no we don't, but tell us about her. He proceeds in telling us that his sisters neighbor has this boxer puppy that she leaves chained up outside all day, and rarely feeds her. Ok, yes- we want the dog!!! So he comes over the next day and tells us that now she wants 250.00 bucks for her. Uhh- no we aren't paying for this dog but now were worried sick about her and we need to get the address to where she's at so we can call the boxer rescue- Long story short, she again changes her mind and lets our neighbor take her. So as I pulled up to my house last night, he was here with the dog.

As you can see from the above picture of Kain, he's over it! Get her outta here! He won't even go near her! But that's only because she attacks him every time they get close? Which is so weird, I thought for sure Kain would be mean to her, but that's just not the case???

So anyway, the kids and I gave her a much needed bath! Seriously, I bet it was the only bath she has ever had! It was so sad! She was sooooo dirty! But now she's all clean and smells so good and the kids are spoiling her rotten and loving her every single second!

We all decided that her name would be ABBY, and I think she likes it! Although if you wish to adopt her, you are free to change her name. Anyway, if anyone reading this is interested, or you know anyone that would be, please let me know, leave me a comment! She's 8 months old. She's a sweet heart, and she needs a good home......................Thank you - From Kain...

The "TIDE" is high........."TIDE" being code for age...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my "SISTA" COLBY!!! It is my beautiful sister Colby's birthday today! She is a whopping 54 years old! Just kidding Colb!!! I love to tease my older siblings about their ages. You can do that when you're 20 years younger! Anyway, I usually like to write a birthday tribute "list" for my loved ones on their birthdays or for other special occasions, but due to the rather "long list" that this would be, (54) And due to the fact that I have Troy sitting here to the right of me doing business on the phone, and Avery needing me every single second of the day to get him this or to do that, and Jaylyn watching Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban, and Hallie running in and out of the house to get this or that, and Kasey sending me picture messages from the Hogal Zoo, I'm finding it rather HARD to concentrate! And really I'm not complaining because I love my home to be filled with this beautiful chaos, because it means I'm surrounded by my family, and that's my favorite place to be! And with all of that said, there will be no list today!

But I have to say that I have many wonderful memories of my sister Colby. I think it's hard to understand what it must be like to have a sister that was already "grown up" by the time you where born! I think we missed out on a lot of things, but through this wonderful WEB we have found a closeness we never had before! Isn't that funny to think, it took 1400 miles of separation to really get to "KNOW" one another, and I can truly say, I look forward to hearing from her on the phone, on my blog or e-mail, and I do almost everyday! COLBY I LOVE YOU!!! I miss you and I hope and pray for your happiness, always! Before I wrap this up I want to say that still to this day, when I hear the songs "The tide is high" by Blondie or "Take a chance on me" by Abba -I am taken back to my childhood, and I can see and hear Colby singing these songs! She always had the "Oldies" playing on the radio... (She still does)

Have a beautiful Birthday Colb! And next time we see each other, let's take some new pictures! I'm desperate here! Every picture I have of us together was taken years ago? Again, I love you always and forever...

A Husband, a Father and a Father in Law walked into a bar...

A year ago today, I was asked to give a talk in Sacrament meeting. It was truly a wonderful experience because the subject was Fathers. Now let me clear something up, I don't enjoy giving talks, but I do enjoy talking (bragging) about my Dad! My entire talk was dedicated to him. At the end I spoke a little bit about my Husband, but not near enough. Not only do I have an amazing Father, but I married the greatest man on this earth, and I just happen to love HIS Father too! So let me just say...

Troy, I love you with all of my heart! As a matter of fact I don't think I could love you anymore than I do. You make me so happy ALWAYS! There's a truth in your eyes, when you look at me, that let's me know that you'll love me forever... and that feeling alone is priceless to me! I am so thankful for you and the man that you are, and for the man you aspire to be! I'll follow you to the Ends of the earth if you ask me to, as long as I'm with you I can live anywhere!

As long as you love me I can do anything. I honestly wouldn't change one single thing about you! You are an amazing Father, son, brother, friend, and most of all Husband! I don't know how I got so lucky, you are everything to me! Thank you for all that you are to me, and for all that you are to your children. Thank you for loving me through THICK and hopefully one day THIN! I look forward to this journey with you and I hope and pray we get an Eternity to spend together... Here's to us, together a perfect "10"

Dad, I miss you every single day! I love you so very much! I am so thankful for you and all that you have been to me. No matter where I was or what I may have been doing (which was usually nothing good!) I felt your love for me! I truly believe your example enabled me to recognize an amazing man when I met him!

I admire the man that you are ( Husband, Father, etc...) and even more for the talent that you possess! I may be partial to your art because I'm your daughter, but honestly I believe your the GREATEST artist of your time!

Which is a great time to plug your site....... grantromneyclawson.net

It's still a work in progress? But I am so excited to have the opportunity to sell your beautiful art! Thank you for believing in me! Pop, your the greatest! I love you so very much. I love you always and forever...

And last, but definitely not least, "The Father in Law"

Papa, I can't thank you enough for all of the love you have shown me. From the very first time I met you, you made me feel welcomed. You made me feel a part of your family before I even said "I do"

I look forward to seeing you every chance I get! I love you so very much and I am so thankful for the amazing example you are to your son. You raised a son that exceeds all other sons (In my humble opinion) and I am so grateful to you for that!

Thank you for your generosity and thank you for accepting me, even when it wasn't the easiest thing to do! I know you wanted the "best" for your son, and you needed (as any great father would) to make sure he was getting nothing less! So again, thank you for loving him enough and trusting his judgement, and thank you for loving me! I'll love you always and forever, your FAVORITE daughter in law...

Lose one, gain two...

Summer time at the Doezie house is always an adventure! We woke up Tuesday morning to a very "weak" toilet paper job! Give me a break! If you're going to t.p. someones house you better REALLY lay it on thick! It must be an "Illinois" thing, cuz in Utah we know how to do it!!!

Anyway, every summer Kasey goes to Utah for a month and Jaylyn and Hallie come here to Illinois for two months. This year we decided to "kill two birds with one stone" and have Kas fly out the same day Jay and Hal got here. Sounds simple enough, so we start our trip out to Midway Airport to get Kas on her flight. The drive is usually 45 minutes................................. TWO HOURS LATER we pull up to the airport! We are freaking out! So we get in our first line. As the guy is checking us in, he's like "Your flight is at 6:15?" (It's 6:05) we're like "We know, the Highway was a parking lot!!!" Anyway we get IN the airport and we run to the next line. I call Troy and say "What do we do?" He's like "Just tell people you're going to miss your flight, they'll let you through." So we start our apologies and make our way to the front of this line. Then we get to our next line (Security) So we take off all of our clothes and walk through the metal detectors and Kasey goes off like the fourth of July! ARE YOU KIDDING!!!! Please go in there and wait for a "lady" guard! I'm like CRAP! Anyway as she's explaining what she's going to do I'm like JUST DO IT- she's going to miss her flight!!!! After a very thorough search she let us go and we were on the run!

I was holding on to Kasey's arm as we weaved in and out of people on our way to,(of-course) THE FURTHEST GATE IN THE AIRPORT!!! I was DYING! Flash backs of college Basketball practices were heavily on my mind, well really in my throat! I couldn't breath I felt like I was going to throw up, seriously I couldn't run another step! I said "Kas go on without me! I'll walk to the gate to make sure you got on ok, I love you! " When she got to the gate, the door was closed! So she opened it and walked in and sat down in a seat! CRAZY!!! Way to go Kas!

So that was that. I called Troy, and he was like "What's wrong with you?" I was like "I'm dying, but she made it!" My throat hurt the rest of the night!

Then Jay and Hallie came walking down the hall and everything was good! We hadn't seen them in person for NINE MONTHS! It's hard to explain the feeling of seeing your kids for the first time in 9 months! It's heart wrenching! You feel this overwhelming flood of joy and love and at the same time the sting of knowing they will again leave you! Avery was going crazy! He was like HALLIE-HALLIE- HALLIE!!!! He just loves her! I absolutely LOVE it when they are with us, and as soon as Kasey comes home I'll be the happiest woman in the world!

Ten years ago, if you would have asked me what I wanted for myself or what I hoped for -for my future, I would NEVER have said- Married, house wife, four kids, a dog, living in Illinois! But if you ask me now, there would only be one change on that list.................................

Ya'll come back real soon now!

I don't know where to start? Grandma's face in this pic could pretty much sum up the whole week! We had family in town, Troy's parents and Grandparents. It was a very, VERY memorable visit to say the least! Let's just say, if it could go wrong, it pretty much did!

They decided to stay in a Hotel right down the street from our house, because Grandma can't get up and down stairs very well. Looking back on the week- it all worked out for the best, and the swimming pool was definitely the highlight!

Let's back up a minute, here's how it all began... We drove to the airport to pick them up, and on the way I got a MIGRAINE? I've only had about three Migraine's in my entire life! I was just dying! That was THE worst two hour car ride I've ever had! We came back to our house and had a nice visit. Within a few hours I felt better and we went to dinner. Day one over.

Day two. Grandma wanted to go visit her brothers grave. It was at a cemetery that was about two hours away, and it down pored almost the entire way there! For some reason the cemetery wasn't showing up on the GPS system (why would it) so we drove around for about 45 minutes looking for it. We finally found the cemetery and after 30 minutes of wondering around looking at the head stones we found her brothers grave. It was beautiful. We put flowers on the grave, took some pictures and headed home. Grandma and Grandpa where very tired so they took a nap and we went swimming.

After swimming we had planned to go back to our house and barbecue, but Grandpa wasn't feeling well. As a matter of fact, he was REALLY sick! So sick in fact, Grandma wanted to take him to the ER! We talked her out of that idea, and they just laid in bed at the Hotel. Grandma was NOT happy about that believe me! So Nana came back to our house to BBQ and watch the Jazz game. We took her back to the Hotel later that night and Kasey slept over with her there.

The next morning, day three Grandpa was so sick he said he was dying! He was throwing up and had diarrhea, which he could not control! Nana, Kasey, Avery and I went to the store to get some "depends" which really didn't help! Poor Grandpa, and poor MAIDS! Like I said he couldn't control it! After a couple hours of cleaning, Grandpa got cleaned up and back into bed. Grandma was going a little "stir" crazy so we took her to lunch. When we went back to the hotel to check on Grandpa he was feeling a little better, and they wanted to come to our house to hang out, have dinner, etc... That sounded easy enough. Two minutes after arriving at our house, Grandpa sat down on my couch and like I said before, couldn't control it! On my couch!!! Now I was dying! And poor Nana, she had to clean him up, AGAIN! Anyway, a few hours later we took them back to the hotel.

Day four. Avery woke up at four o'clock this morning THROWING UP! I was beside myself! He had just been in the ER with the same symptoms! We could NOT go through this again! We hadn't even paid the last 1,500.00 bill from the ER!!!!!!!!!

Then Troy had to go into the office for a couple hours this morning. He had planned to be back by 11:00 because Grandma and Grandpa had gotten an earlier flight home, and he needed to drive them out to the airport. Needless to say, he wasn't home by 11- so I had to take my poor little sick baby in the car for a torturous two and a half hour car ride to the airport and back! After a few hours of rest, Avery was feeling a little better and we decided to go to dinner. Now it was just Nana, Papa, Troy, Kasey, Avery and me. Dinner was delicious, like Benihana's always is! But it wasn't over yet! On the way home from dinner, I got sick! Yes I had the stomach flu! I couldn't get of the toilet, which in the end (no pun intended) wasn't such a bad thing because I lost 4 pounds!

Day five. Time for Nana and Papa to fly home. Let's just say DELAY....... They were on different flights so Papa got out okay, but poor Nana sat at the airport for about six or seven hours, because of rain delays. And just to top it all off, Troy got sick that night! Honestly, I didn't think it would ever end!

We're all feeling a little better now, and can hardly wait for our next visitors! Come on to my house, my house a come on... You can always just sleep on the couch...