I said a Skit-skat-how'bout that!

Today is my absolutely GORGEOUS Mother in Laws Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JO-JO
They say when you get married, you're not only saying "We'll be together forever" to each other, but also to his MOMMY...
Yes I'm sure you have heard many-o-horror stories about awful M.I.L.'s but my story is very different...

I truly LoVe my dear Mother in Law. She is an amazing woman. She has raised three amazing children and couldn't love her grandchildren more!

She is beautiful, inside and out.

She is so much fun. I don't think she EVER gets embarrassed. These pics were taken at Ty's college graduation party up at LaCaille. We started singing Karaoke, and as far as I can remember we didn't sing very well, but we had a great time...

Nana and Avery

Jo, Troy and I at a wedding in Vegas

Kandace, Jo, Me, Hallie, Jaylyn and Kasey in California. We had just eaten at our favorite restaurant in Cali (El Toritos) I'm sure I misspelled that but?

Jo getting ready for the Derby...

Troy, Me, Avery, Nana and Papa. Dinner at LaCaille

Avery and Nana

The future in broadcast news.

Jo, Kandace and I at The Children's museum at Gateway Mall in SLC

JO, I love you so very much! I honestly could not have hand picked a greater M.I.L!

I am so greatful for all that you do for Troy, me and our children. You mean the world to all of us! We miss you everyday and can't wait to pick up where we left off!

LoVe YoU AlWaYs AnD FoReVeR...

and again HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

And as for the title of this post,

All I can say is "GO FARMERS"

Trick my Trunk...

So every year our ward does this thing called "Trunk or Treating." Everyone pulls their cars into a huge circle around the parking lot and we give out candy to all the little kids... Some people go all out and decorate their trunks with Halloween decor. I myself did not do any decorating, heck I didn't even dress up this year!!!

Not because I didn't want to, because I did want to! I love to dress up! But, my Dear Husband has again chosen his GIRLFRIEND ( A.k.A. his job...) over me, and therefore is not in town and I didn't want to go through all the Hoop-la without him!

So anyway, we had purchased a darling Spiderman costume for Avery to wear this year and wouldn't ya know it, he wouldn't put it on! I think he was afraid of it. The mask and the fake muscles were just too much for him. So we took the costume back hoping to find something he would wear but he didn't want to wear a costume at all.
Then Kas and Shi took off their costumes in the car on the way there???? I guess they felt embarrassed? So none of us were wearing costumes, which is very sad to me because I have no great pictures to show!

But other than all of that it was a fun night for the kids. Costumes or not, they got lots of candy, And I had a really nice time hangin out with my girlfriend (that I love dearly) Lori...

Notice the Park City sweatshirt!!! And to think she's actually said very naughty things about UTAH................ What can I say, I guess all the really good ones come around eventually!

I heart Utah...

Does anyone besides Papa come to Chicago?

Guess what we did last night??? We went to dinner with PAPA! Yes Papa was in town again this week, and we were fortunate enough to spend the evening with him! We ate at the Cheesecake factory and I have to say, if you find yourself at the Cheesecake factory anytime soon, I recommend trying the Tempura Ahi tuna roll!

It was DELICIOUS!!!

Avery took this picture of Kasey and Papa at dinner... Papa just LoVeS to take pictures!

How funny is this picture of Avery!!! Look at his face.... what a card! Oh, and if you didn't notice the white bra under the black shirt??? Yeah, time to buy a black bra!!!

So anyway, my dear husband has been working sooooo much lately, that I've been trying to keep myself busy so I don't go crazy without him - or should I say so I don't go craZier... than I already am.


My darling niece Nikki had taught me how to antique furniture

before we moved out here 3 years ago, and I barely got around to "antiquing" something the other day!

I found these chairs, which turned out to be 'Treasures' in my neighbors 'Trash' and I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to see if I could remember how to do it. I think they turned out pretty cute! Now I think I might dare to antique my dinner table chairs, and quite possibly my dinner table- we'll see...

Another project we decided to tackle was Kasey's bathroom. When we moved into this house, her bathroom was covered with rubber duckies... Now I'm not saying I don't like rubber duckies, because I do, I just don't like them stenciled all over the walls, and on the shower curtain, and around the light switches, and on anything and everything else you can think of! And then to top it off, the paint choice in that bathroom was this shade of blue that should be illegal to put on your walls! It was a shock to your system every time you would walk into that bathroom! So finally, we got around to painting it! Thanks to my girlfriend Jill, who gave us some leftover paint from a room they had just painted in their house!

The picture above shows a picture on the wall covered in sea shells. Originally this was a shadow box picture that wasn't very cute. So I painted the sides black and then poured the paint that we were using on the walls into the middle of it. Then Kasey and I stuck the shells into the paint and let it dry.

LoVe it!

In this pic you can see a little storage unit (Another treasure from the neighbors) that was originally white. I painted it the same color as the walls and then sprayed it with this spray paint that makes things look like sand. You can't really tell from this pic but in person it looks really cool!


Well that's it for now.

Do it yourself flooring, it's SO easy...

After TWO years of complaining about the carpet in our house, we finally ripped it up and laid new flooring! The people who built the house decided that WHITE carpet was the best choice???
I don't think white carpet is ever the best choice! Not that I don't like white carpet because I do, I love the look of it but not when you have four kids and a dog!

We looked at all types of hardwood floors, which were way out of our price range, so we decided to do Pergo ( still out of range, but we HAD to do it!) the Do it yourself flooring, "It's so easy!" Ok, whoever 'coined' that saying definitely received a promotion in his flooring company! Because those three little words make everyone feel like they can just lay their own flooring! Just snap a couple of pieces in and wa-la, a beautiful floor! Huh NO! It was not that easy! As a matter of fact, we would still be working on it if not for our friend Jeremy who is a contractor, who graciously lent himself to us for two days! We could not have done it without him! We can't thank him enough for putting his very busy life on hold to help us out! Thanks again Jeremy we owe you BIG TIME!

So here are a few before and after pics. It's hard to see how beautiful it really is, I guess that means you'll just need to come HERE to see it in person-MOM... and anyone else who wants to come over.

This is the office before...

And after.

The living room before...

And after. It looks like Avery had a long day too...

Same room, different angle-before...

And after.

We are so happy with the results! It's like living in a new house! Now, when the time comes to sell, we might actually have a chance at selling!

Golden...

As I was going through the motions of yet another day without my husband, I started to think about my girlfriends Amanda and Chelsea. I miss the days of Chelsea living here with us in the glorious city pictured above...CHICAGO. I also love this picture! Not just because we all look sooo dang gorgeous, but because of the beautiful colors in the background. The orange and gold, brown and yellow...the reflection of light off of the river, the mist in the crisp night air... It reminds me of this time of year, a time that I love for many reasons but mainly for the beauty you can see all around you. I also love it for the magic that it casts on all who let it!

Which brings me to the reason I started this post in the first place.........................HAPPY MAIL, from my darling friend Amanda

Just look at these beautiful, hand made cards! They're so cute, I'll never want to use them!!! Then the packet of Hot buttered rum, SINFUL...can't wait to warm up with my husband and some HOT buttered rum (minus the rum, not the HOT!) also some ribbon, and blank business cards with a beautiful floral design on them.
Amanda, you're so very sweet, it was just what I needed! Thank you for thinking of me...

If you're interested in purchasing some beautiful hand made cards, click on Amanda's shop, listed under 'Check it out' on the sidebar>>>>>>>

The one about the costumes...

Halloween, my very favorite holiday! I love this time of year when the air turns crisp and smells like UTAH! I have so many wonderful memories of Halloween, trick-or-treating, Carmel apples, scary movies, and most of all the COSTUMES!!! I absolutely love to dress up for Halloween. So I thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane and re-live some really cute costumes, and some really not so cute costumes... enter at your own risk... (Cue the scary laughter)

So in no particular order, here I am as the blonde bombshell herself...Marilyn Monroe

Hallie as a cheerleader, Ty as himself (scary) Jaylyn as a big baby!

This pic was taken at Kasey's old Elementary school. This guy dressed up like this every year. The kids just loved it! Unknown man as Frankenstein and Kasey as cheerleader

Hallie as a scary (but darling) Bloody Vampiress

Jaylyn, as a Beer wench/ LaCaille girl, same thing...

Jay as a sexy witch, and Hallie as a pink kitty

Awwww, Kasey trying on a darling fairy dress. How cute is she!

Kasey, as Snow white

Okay, how cute is this costume!!! This is Jett wearing a cookie monster costume that his uncle Troy wore when he was little. Nana made the costume.

Kasey as Pocahontas and her cousin Mason as a pumpkin

Jaylyn, following in her Dad's footsteps as a baseball player

This is Kasey as Snow white (again, years after the first time she was Snow white) and her friend Mackenzie as Madeline

My friend Shannon as a 'Naughty girl scout' I say Naughty because her badges said naughty things on them. But because this site is usually rated PG, I am unable to say... and Me as Dorthy

Hallie as a darling showgirl.... Start spread'n the news...

Okay, before you ask- WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING??? I plead the 5th

Anyway, this is Shianne and Kasey dressed as maids. Chelsea sorry I never returned your maid costume that Kasey borrowed. I promise it's in the mail!

Kasey as a Flapper

Hallie as a Pink Princess

Hallie as a Flapper

Jaylyn as a Red Devil and Me as Wonder Woman. I wore this costume a lot! I guess I knew that one day I wouldn't be able to wear it...

Kasey as Cruella De Vil

Me as Cruella De Vil and Hallie as Dorthy

Hallie as Dorthy

Hallie as a Zebra/cat of some type? Kasey as a baby( I don't know why she didn't dress up this year?) J/K And Jaylyn as Dorthy

Jaylyn as an Evil witch

Avery as Tigger. Notice, out of all of his candy what he wanted...Suckers

Avery as a Dalmatian. Again notice the candy choice??? Really I'm not complaining, it just means more chocolate for me!

Avery, Cubbie player

Jett, as a Cowboy/Sheriff ( The hat on the table is a cake! How cute is that!)

This pic was taken in 1978. My niece Nikki is the witch, my niece Danya is the ghost, and I'm the scary looking princess? And ironically I'm holding A SUCKER- funny...

I believe this was taken circa 1985. I'm dressed as PeeWee Herman. I won first place in the costume contest at school for this one.

One of my favorite costumes of all time! This is Jett dressed as an Umpa-lumpa. My sis-in-law Kandace and my Mother-in-law Jo-Jo, made this costume...SO DARLING! And it gets better, Jett was the one who decided he wanted to be an Umpa-Lumpa... This year he wants to be 'Harry' from Harry and the Hendersons... I can't wait to see it!

Kasey as a Geisha Girl. She had washed her make-up off before I took the pic, which is very unfortunate because she looked soooo dang cute.

And last, but not least... This pic was taken a year after Troy and I had met. How I got him to wear this costume is still a mystery to me. I'm sure it had something to do with the fact that we were not yet married. I think that if I were to ask him today to wear it again, he would DECLINE...

Well, if you made it here ALIVE congrats, and I hope you have a SPOOK-TACULAR HALLOWEEN... (cue scary laughter, and fade out)