TOGETHER, A PERFECT '10'

What a Wonderful World...

2009-07-09T12:39:00.010-05:00

The past few days,

Troy, Avery and I have been going over to Troy's Grandparents house.

We have been over there to visit and to clean...

I love his Gram and Gramps...

and they love me! They are always so full of compliments and say I'm the

BEST wife Troy has ever had!

I agree...

I always make sure to take a lot of pictures and try my hardest to absorb

all of the wonderful stories they tell...

I am also so thankful my children are able to know their Great~grand~parents!

What a blessing!

We truly love them and are so thankful for them in our lives...

LOVE YOU GRAMMY AND GRAMPY!

So Troy and I have almost been married for seven years...

We've known each other for Eight...

In all of that time, we had never been water skiing together!

WHAT A SHAME!

Troy's family actually had a boat when we met and they sold it one month into our relationship. They had planned to buy a new one, but never did...

So sadly we have been boat less for years!

My sister Cara has a boat and they invited us to go on the Fourth of July...
It was a riot!
We had such a great time
and let me tell ya, we are
BOAT HUNGRY!!! VERY, VERY, HUNGRY!!!

We also packed in a hiking trip that weekend.
It was fun.
I'm so out of shape it's scary!
I was dyin ten minutes into it...but it got better!

Avery was so excited about the waterfall and was in the water immediately!
I am so thankful for my family
and for all of the freedoms we enjoy every single day...
GOD BLESS AMERICA...

Okay now get this...
Troy, Avery and I went out to Ikea.
We were just walking around when I heard Megan?
So I look over at this beautiful woman and think...how do I know this lady? She doesn't look familiar but she knows my name?
She comes over to me and says we don't know each other but that I know her daughter...
Well, I actually haven't ever met her daughter, we only know each other from this blog, e~mail, facebook, etc...
So she recognized me from pictures on the computer!
Is that so crazy or what!
What a small world and the fact that she would be able to recognize me is almost
unbelievable!

So we are going up North in a few weeks and plan to meet up...
CRAZY!

Primates for sure!

2009-06-29T12:31:00.008-05:00

Well, well, here we go again.

I know it's been a very long time since I have written on my blog.

I'm sure I am writing this for myself

since no one checks here anymore...

But that's okay, I will still write.

My life is crazy busy and I wouldn't have it any other way...

My husband travels a lot and in order for me to stay somewhat

SANE

I keep very busy...

But, at the same time, even when my husband is in town we are very busy...
Anyway

we took two of our kids to the Zoo the other day.

It was fun. The Zoo is good for once a year...I don't think we could do it more than that...

I was going to write something here but I'm sure it would be politically

INCORRECT

so I won't...

So thank goodness we got that over with...

and the kids had a good time so everyone wins!

Then it was time to fish...

( Avery and the dogs...Mudge and Roxy)

So we went up to East Canyon three times in ten days.

We caught three fish...

Needless to say, my dear husband was traumatized!

I think I'm bad luck...

But it was a lot of fun and anytime I get with my husband and kids is happiness to me!

The break...

2009-02-05T17:32:00.002-06:00

Doezie 10 is taking a break...

Not a break~up

Just a break from blogging

It's a family affair...

2008-11-29T12:29:00.012-06:00

My husband and I celebrated our

SIX YEAR

Wedding Anniversary the other day...

We went to eat at Pagoda

(Our favorite!)

and of course Avery celebrated with us...and so did Troy's parents

oh and his brother Ty.

It was great!

Maybe one day, Troy and I will actually do something together

No kids...no parents...no siblings?

You never know?

A few nights later found us at

Disney on Ice...

It was long..........but the kids really loved it!

Nana always gets us the best tickets! We get to eat with Mickey and Minny...

and take pictures with them!

Thanks again Nana!

We also visited the Expo Center

'Christmas Show'

It was fun walking around looking at all the fun stuff.

Avery and Jett...

always happy to pose for a pic!

My Mother in Law...
aka Jo
aka Nana
Celebrated a birthday!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JO~JO
We had a party for her at Kandace and Tyler's house.

We had dinner, cake and ice cream
and after we watched a movie....
it was a lot of fun....
we always have so much fun together!
Love you Jo, Nana, Mom...

My darling niece Trista had her absolutely GORGEOUS baby
~KENDALL~

(Avery, Kasey, baby Kendall)
She is the sweetest little baby I have ever seen!

I am already her favorite Aunt...

what can I say, I'm cool like that!

And lastly

THANKSGIVING!!!

This was the first Thanksgiving with our families in

FOUR VERY LONG YEARS!!!
It was so dang good to be home!

We had about 37 people eating at my Mom and Dad's this

year, so we had to split up and sit at four different tables...

so I only put my tables picture in this post...

Here are my darling parents...

Irma and Grant
Thank you both so much for all that you do for this family!

We love you sooooo much!

Here's the fam minus me...

Then we were off to the Doezie family Thanksgiving...

I don't have any pictures because Kandace was taking pics with her camera

and so that's why...

So we ate again and it was DELICIOUS! and then we all went to see a movie.

'Four Christmases'

It was pretty funny...

I am so thankful to be back in Utah! I am so thankful for

our wonderful families!

A very SCARY post!

2008-11-01T21:49:00.009-05:00

Alrighty...

For those of you who don't know

but might care

I now have a facebook...

And quite honestly, I can't find time to do anything

else

such as BLOGGING!!!

So forgive me, my ten faithful readers

whomever you may be!

Ahhhh, HALLOWEEN!!!

My very favorite holiday!

I absolutely LOVE~LOVE this time of year

and

I love everything about HALLOWEEN!!!

The scary movies that play on every station...the candy ohhh

baby, the candy!!!

And most of all

THE COSTUMES!!!

Hallie wanted to be a Mime this year and I have to say

she was the cutest Mime I have ever seen!

Avery was The HULK...

and

Jett was Bumblebee~The Transformer...

How amazing is that costume!!!

My B.I.L. Tyler A.K.A. Jetts daddy

MADE that costume HIMSELF!!!

Even Avery was in awww of it...

When Jett walked in Avery was like

"Oh my gosh Mom, he is so cool!"

I really need to put more work into my kids costumes!!!

Kasey wanted to be a GANGSTA...

What more can I say???

I was a flapper...I love this costume!
I need to find a better wig
but other than that...

It was a great Halloween....

My darling niece Trista is pregnant
and having a girl!
We are so excited for her
arrival!
She will be the first baby girl born into our family
in about 8 years!
I CAN'T WAIT!!!

So we had a little baby shower for her
at my moms house.
This isn't her first babe
but because she's A GIRL
we thought she could use a few darling
little PINK things!

Love you Trista and baby Kendal...

And the last thing I'm going to talk about in
this post is
THRILLER!!!
For those of you unfamiliar with
Thriller...let me explain...
It's a play put on here in Utah
during October.
It features these little skits about scary stories.
The performers dance
and act out scenes to different music
such as Thriller by Micheal J. himself..etc
It really is wonderful and definitely worth seeing
if you DARE!!!

Thanks Nana for taking us!

The Blessing...

2008-10-25T11:10:00.006-05:00

A few days ago, my beautiful S.I.L. Kandace

and my handsome B.I.L. Tyler

blessed their baby

AXYL...

They decided to have the blessing at their home
and it was so
intimate and beautiful...

Here are a few pictures from that day...

Kasey, Abee, Jaylyn...

singing a little karaoke.

Kan and Tyler...we love you both so much

and we truly love and adore your boys!

We are so proud of you both

as parents!

We will love you always and forever...

The newest member...

2008-10-20T10:29:00.006-05:00

Our darling daughter Hallie was baptized over the weekend.

It was absolutely wonderful!

She is such a sweetheart and we are so proud of her.
The picture above is of most of the people who came.

I think about twenty people had left by then...

She is a very popular girl!

(my sis Cara, great nephew Carson, niece Nikki, sis Colby, me...)

A couple of week before the baptism, I took Hallie up to LaCaille
for a little photo shoot.
Here are some of the darling pictures...

Hallie, you are an amazing little girl!

Your dad and I love you to bits!

And remember, it all counts

from here on out!

Born a Bronco...

2008-10-13T12:00:00.003-05:00

This is what I imagine the Doctor saying, as he delivers the baby...

"It's a BRONCO"...uh I mean BOY!!!

Yes my darling friend Tami is pregnant

and is going to have a baby boy.

This baby will be born into a family that

LOVES...I mean LOVES the

Denver Broncos.

So over the weekend I attended a baby shower held in her honor.

My friends Shannon and Sarah

put it all together and it was

WONDERFUL!

I was suppose to help them in the planning of this party,

but found myself unable to help...and

I truly apologize...

Anyway, it was a lot of fun. The food was delicious and the company was

well..it was just like being back at LaCaille. About 95% of the

women there had either worked

or are currently working

at LaCaille...

And I love them all!

Tam...I love ya! And best of luck!

Diggin the dancing Queen...

2008-10-02T10:57:00.004-05:00

So my absolutely GORGEOUS daughter

Kasey

went to a Homecoming dance the other day.

Her and her girlfriend Abbe have a couple guy friends

that go to Judge

and they asked them to the dance, just as friends...
So after defending my decision, to just about EVERYONE to let a

14 year old go to a dance

she was off and had a wonderful time...

The boys picked them up at Abbe's house, so I don't have any pics of them

but they came in a limo...

took them to a nice dinner....

went to the dance...

left the dance and went to a party....

and she was home before midnight...or close to it anyway

and we all lived

Happily Ever After

Just call us the Grizwalds...

2008-09-23T00:18:00.012-05:00

Every year our family tries to get away for a week

and go to CALIFORNIA!

And usually this trip means a very short and sweet
plane ride
from the Salty City
to those Golden Gates!
However this year was a little different...
Troy, Jaylyn, Hallie, Avery and I
DROVE to Cali...
And let me tell ya,
IT WAS BRUTAL!
Let me back up for a sec...just in case you caught that or didn't, Kasey was left out of the list of family members that went on this trip.
Why you ask?
Well she made the High School Volleyball team
and their first two games took place the very week of our trip. So she made the very sad but very good decision to stay home and play with her team!

And I only say sad because we missed her so very much! But I will also say I am so proud of her that she cared so much about her Volleyball, that she would give up a trip to Cali...

Okay, back to the road trip.....we thought it
would make it

easier for the kids, to break up the
ELEVEN HOUR DRIVE
to Cali by stopping in Vegas for a night...
So we hit Vegas hard,
trying to fit in all that we could in the few hours we had
to spend there~
and then it was off to Cali the next morning...
Now this is where the
BRUTAL
part comes into play!
The drive from Vegas to our Hotel in Orange County
took about 4 hours~it felt like 20!
Honestly I don't know why? But it was bad!
I was dying! The kids were dying!
And we were killing Troy

by complaining every five seconds!
I said, and I quote....
"I will NEVER drive to California AGAIN!"
end quote.
Once we were finally there, we dropped off our bags
and went to the airport
where we met up with the SMARTER half of our party
who FLEW there!
Nana, Papa, Ty, Nicco, Kandace, Jett, and baby Axyl...
(Kandace's husband Tyler couldn't make the trip and we missed him very much)

So here goes our trip in a NUT shell.
The first thing we did was eat at our favorite
restaurant in Cali...
~EL TORITO GRILL~
Not to be confused with El Toritos.

They are not the same restaurant.....very different in fact!
The above picture is of our whole party
after lunch.

Then we were off to Balboa Beach~
intending to do a little shopping, but the kids just wanted to play in the Pacific...
and really
who could blame them!

It was absolutely
BEAUTIFUL!

How darling is this pic!
It's probably my very favorite picture from
this trip!
After we convinced the kids that there would be more time at the beach
we walked around the shops
and we all chose the multi~million dollar houses we wanted
along the beach

I guess you could say we were

~CALIFORNIA DREAMIN~
Okay, that may have been a little cheesy

but it fit!

That night we celebrated Troys birthday at
BENIHANNAS...
It was delicious as always!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!

continued....next post

Grizwalds part 2

2008-09-22T22:55:00.014-05:00

The kids just had to have more time at

the Beach.

So the next day we spent it all there!

Only this time we were at Newport Beach...

Ty and Troy decided they just HAD to have

a skim board

so they went and bought one.

Which in most cases wouldn't be that big of a deal, but in this

case it is!

Let me break it down for ya...

First and formost, we don't LIVE by an Ocean.

Second, it was EXPENSIVE!

Third, it is now sitting in my home~USELESS! AND it

still has

SEX WAX on it!

And last but not least, Troy wants to drive to Cali again

so he can bring the board in the car!

I'm sure we can fly with it sweetie! NO MORE DRIVING!

I will say one good thing about that board~

They had a ton of fun on it

and Troy still has the SCABS to prove it...

Avery couldn't take another minute in the Sun

He was cooked!
What a cutie...

The next day we did

DISNEY...

It was an absolutely perfect day

for an amusement park!

NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY~PLEASE!

Honestly I didn't know when I took this picture

that we weren't suppose to take pics?

We were on the New
PIRATES of the CARIBBEAN ride

which is exactly like the old Pirates of the Caribbean ride

except for the addition of

Captain Jack Sparrow~here and there...

I love this ride as did Avery and Jett. Ty, however looks

like he REALLY LOVES this ride!

A quick stop in Toon~town (Nicco's favorite!)

Me, Jay, Hallie, Nicco...

And what would a trip to Disneyland be without meeting

Mickey Mouse himself?

It would be the norm for us. Usually the line to meet the mouse is

sooooooo long

we don't usually wait!

But this day, we walked right into see him

and therefore we got a picture with Mickey...
I heart the land of Disney!

From L.A. to Burbank....

We spent the next day with Leno.

And it was COLD and very fun!

By cold I mean inside the studio~ Jay likes it nice and cold

and cold it was!

Jamie Lee Curtis was the "Big Star"

She was pretty funny and she looked great! She's really come a long way, considering the fact that her mom was PSYCHO!!!
(GET IT?)

Okay I'll leave the jokes to Leno!

The other star was some ex~football player

and I can't remember his name?

He was ok....he didn't get much air time and he was

a little dry.

I also can't remember the name of the musical guest?

But anyway, even thought the guest list

was a little weak

it was still so much fun to see how it all works.

And my S.I.L. Kandace

was chosen to go down to the stage, before the show started and sing!

She was AWESOME
and she got a Tonight show hat...

To be Continued...next post

Grizwalds part 3

2008-09-22T21:57:00.007-05:00

CONTINUED...

After Leno, we headed to the hills of

HOLLYWOOD

I have many times been to Cali and have driven down Hollywood Boulevard

but I have never actually gotten out of the car and walked

along the stars...

And it almost didn't happen this trip.

We were all so tired and really just wanted to get back to the

Hotel to sleep.

But we decided to just get out of the cars for a sec

and take a few pics...

and let me tell ya, it was well worth it! It was an absolute

RIOT!!!

Troy and Papa stayed in the cars so they didn't have to try to park.

And just as I was getting out of our car, I looked over at Troy and this huge face was looking at me...hence the above pick.

So I lay down in front of Sharron Stones star and this crazy

marijuana guy comes behind me

and Kandace, who is taking the picture, cuts of the star

and captures the leaf guy!

And sweet little Hallie is a

BIG and by big I mean HUGE

fan of Michael Jackson...

Well I should say she's a huge fan of his music...I don't think she really knows

what to think of him as a person?

But the music she LOVES!
So needless to say, she was thrilled to pose by his star!!!

The last day in Cali was Avery's 4th birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!

So we got him his first Rolex..............

Okay, maybe he didn't get a Rolex ~YET~
But he did get toys and clothes

and he was just as happy with that!

And then we ate one more time at

El Torito Grill

and it was even better than the first!

So the trip was over for the SMARTER half of our party, as they

effortlessly boarded a plane~

we said our good~byes

and we, the not as smart half spent the next

TWO FREAKIN HOURS

in a parking lot~oh I mean FREEWAY in L.A.

So the once 4 hour drive from Cali to Vegas

turned into a 6 hour drive

from Cali to Vegas...

Yes we were DYING!!!

NEVER again will I drive to California!
Anyway, we again found ourselves in Vegas and figured we would

make the most of it, so we walked

through a few Hotels on the strip until we could take no more....slept for a few hours, walked the strip again in the morning and then headed

HOME SWEET HOME

Zoo...

2008-09-03T10:10:00.006-05:00

Yesterday, Troy and I decided to take our little baby

Avery to the Zoo...

It was an absolutely PERFECT day
for the Zoo.
It was almost like we had the whole place to ourselves...
The white Alligator was Avery's very favorite animal.
The girl that was there, telling us about him
said that Avery and him had a lot in common
because they each have a mutated gene
that causes the Alligator to be white
and Avery's hair to be RED...

When we first came in the gates to the Zoo,
the greeter gave Avery a map
of the Zoo and honestly
he didn't put it down.
He directed us through the whole place and
had a marvelous time doing it!

It was really a great day
just the three of us
It's usually six of us, so I think a little just Avery time
was much needed...

I think she's CRAFTY!

2008-08-28T15:48:00.023-05:00

My beautiful, amazing, multi~talented

girlfriend

AMANDA

is celebrating a birthday today...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

So I took a trip down memory lane and wanted to share a few really

great pictures

with all of you....

Amanda, I hope you can laugh

or cry at the pictures I chose

and know that I love and miss you!

New Years Eve party at Amy's

This night was alot of fun

Look at Amanda and Jason

gettin~crazy!

I think we had had lunch together?

So our kids could play?

I don't know, but we took a picture...

4TH of July party at Amy's

Going to see
~WICKED~
up in Chicago

'Jeans' party at Chelsea's house
It was as fun as it looks!
Chels, you and Amy
absolutely CRACK me up in this pic!

Carriage ride up in

CHICAGO
That was one of the best nights I had

out of the three years

I lived there!

How fun was that night girls!

Uhhh, whatever I'm doing

Ruth doesn't think it's funny

but Amanda is laughing!

Thanks Amanda, I could always count

on you to laugh AT me!

Goodbye skating party for

Chelsea and her fam...

Party, and believe it or not, we are all

SOBER???

Drugs? What drugs?

Swap meet...very HOT day!

Dinner at ??? I can't remember the name?
It was for Amanda's
birthday last year...

This is the last picture we took together before I moved to Utah...

Amanda, you are a wonderful friend!

I miss you ALOT

I hope all you wish for this birthday

comes true!
Love you

OH CANADA!

2008-08-25T23:01:00.010-05:00

(Canada, Monica, Kasey, Me)

I have a darling niece named Canada! She is an amazing girl~ to say the least! She recently moved to the Midwest to go to College on a soccer scholarship! I am so proud of her and equally excited for her! What an amazing adventure for her!

She's already the star of the team! She's starting and she has scored, every game so far! The last game she played, she scored a goal to tie the game and her team chose her to kick the tie breaker. Although the goalie blocked her shot, her team has faith in her and that's worth everything!

The only thing that sucks about this situation is the fact that we just moved back home from the Midwest and she just left home to go to the Midwest!

I miss her!

(My Bro. Gavin, his daughter Canada, My Dad)

(My nieces McCall & Canada, Kasey, & Canada's friend Alex)

Again Canada and her favorite aunt~ Meg...

(Kas, Canada, Monica, Me, Alex)

A few days before she left for school, her Dad had a going away party for her at his house. It was alot of fun even though being around a bunch of darling 18 year old kids makes me feel ANCIENT!

Anyway, Canada had wanted to be baptised for many, many years.

Her parents wanted her to wait until she was older than 8 so that she could be sure that's what she wanted...

So at 18 years old, she took the missionary discussions and made the decision to get baptised.

Again, I am so PROUD of her! She made a very tough decision at what I think is a very crucial time in her life! Going away to College, being on her own, able to do whatever~whenever etc.....do you get where I'm going with this! What an amazing example she is to all of us, me ESPECIALLY!

She wanted my Dad to baptise her, but he felt like neither of them would make it back up out of the water if he tried to do it, so she asked my darling husband to do the honors...and it was truly an honor for him to baptise her!

It was so cute when I took this picture. Canada went to put her arms around the missionaries and they both stepped away from her like she had cooties! It was pretty funny! Maybe you had to be there, but it was funny none~the~less... and just in case you don't know why the missionaries wouldn't let her put her arms around them is because they can't! While on a mission you're not suppose to give hugs and touch the opposite sex any more than you absolutely have to!

Canada, I am so proud of you! And I love you so very much! What an amazing example you are to our family!

I look forward to watching you succeed in anything and everything you do!

I LOVE YOU

Here fishy~fishy

2008-08-18T18:49:00.019-05:00

I have not had access to a computer since August 8, 2008...

Honestly, I almost didn't make it!

I don't know what I ever did before I

finally learned how to use the computer? I mean really, it's only been like two years?

I still can't believe I waited so long to learn!

~CRAZY~

Anyway, it's all fixed up for now

And I really love the computer! I think I'll call him

my boyfriend!

Now back to my husband... That is him, pictured above.

And may I just take a moment to let you all know

that I think my husband is

SMOKIN~HOT

especially in his baseball uniform!

Yes he is!

I absolutely LOVE~LOVE watching him play baseball!

He always comes over for a little love between innings...

And just to let you know, that's not a big

~CHAW~

in his mouth, it's just sunflower seeds...

thank goodness!

So the other day, My dad and I needed to go down to Provo

AKA 'Happy Valley'

to do some work with his paintings etc...etc...

And it must have sounded really fun

because everyone else wanted to come too!

So my Mom, Dad, Troy, Avery and I

took a trip down south...

We called it a mini~vaca

and we had a wonderful time!

we had a little lunch at

TGIFridays...

We went to the BYU museum of art
and the Springville Museum of art...
It was awesome! I love looking at art, especially with my Dad
because he knows so much about each piece
and about the artists etc... My parents are so wonderful! It was such a lovely
day, I wish we could do stuff like that
more often!
I love you both so very much!!!
I also need to say how absolutely beautiful
the BYU campus is.
GO BYU...

For our next adventure we headed North to SaltLakeCity for a family reunion.
The above picture is of
My Dad, his only living sibling Scott and their
cousin Truman...
My dad's father Shirl and Truman's father Chet
were brothers. They were also in a fire together,
that claimed my Grandpa Shirl's life. My dad was only two years old when he died.

So anyway, the party was wonderful!
We ate delicious food, shared stories of old, and learned
a little more about our family
from another perspective.

Hallie and Avery looking darling, as usual!
They had a great time at the party
playing with cousins they didn't even
know they had!

My sisters Cara & Colby~Me & our Mom...

Finally, we are at the end of this post.
And what would you think of me
if I didn't have a fishing trip to tell about?
Well never fear, because I do in fact have one to tell you about!
Yes~ Troy, Hallie, Avery and I
drove over to Echo Lake
yesterday to fish.
And true to form, we didn't even get a BITE!

Not even a nibble!

Avery thinks fishing means...
A. Drive to water
B. Put out your line
C. Sit around
D. Eat snacks
E. Hear mommy ask daddy how much longer?
F. Hear Daddy say words I will not print...
G. Go home
H. Eat leftovers

OH HOW I WISH WE HAD A FISH...

Lagoon, without the water...

2008-08-08T09:35:00.007-05:00

Nana, Jett, my nephew Jake, Kasey, my niece McCall, Hallie, Avery, Me and Nicco who is not in this pic because she came a little later in the day...

Went to the only amusement park in the state of Utah called...

LAGOON!!!

Basically, Kasey, McCall, and Jake went and did their own thing

on the 'big kid' rides

while Nana, Hallie, Jett, Avery and myself

spent most of the day on the

'kiddie' rides...

Although the last few hours of the day, we did meet up

with the big kids, and took in a few

'big kid' rides ourselves...

all I have to say about that is

~WICKED~

It was a riot! I absolutely love, love going to Lagoon!

I couldn't even sleep the night before I was so excited!

The above picture is of Nana, Avery

Jett and Hallie
on the kiddie roller coaster...

Jett wasn't to happy about this one!

Hallie and Avery on some Dinosaur egg drop ride...

Avery was FEARLESS!

He wanted to ride all of the 'big kid rides'

but he was too little

I can't wait to go back when he's a few inches taller!

Jett was much happier on rides like this

And Avery was happy on any ride!
Those boys are so darling!

Here we are on the kiddie Tidal Wave...
It was a great day! Thanks Nana for taking us all!

~From Heaven with love~

2008-08-06T21:09:00.006-05:00

We received a letter from Heaven the other day. It was from baby Mavryk.

It was his 1st birthday and he wanted us to come to his party and celebrate.

The party was held at his grave site,

and it was absolutely beautiful.

We had pizza, cake and ice cream~we talked and played and looked through scrap books, filled with pictures of baby Mavryk...

We all wrote a little something on a piece of paper, tied it to a balloon and sent them off to

Heaven for him.

In the above picture, we are blowing kisses to Mavryk.

I'm sure he caught each and every one of them...

~We love you sweet baby Blu~

Kan and Tyler, thank you for including us in the celebration of

Mavryk's birthday...

We love you guys more than you'll ever know!

Welcome to the Jungle baby...

2008-07-26T11:26:00.010-05:00

My S.I.L. Kandace and B.I.L. Tyler finally decided

on a name for their new baby...

~AXYL~

He is absolutely darling! I am in love with him!

And I truly believe, I am his favorite Aunt already!

So yesterday we were getting ready to go see baby Axyl. I told Avery what we were going to do and he said he didn't know who that baby was?

I reminded him that he had held this baby at the hospital just the other day.

He though about it for a sec and then said to me...

"Oh you mean baby Ice cream"

Avery had given him the name Ice cream at the hospital because Kan and Ty hadn't named him yet! It was so funny! I couldn't believe he remembered that!

Baby Axyl and his mommy with his Uncle Troy. Maybe Troy isn't his favorite Uncle...

YET!

I think he just wants his Aunt Megan to hold him again!

I'll be right over!

So content with his cousins Kasey and Hallie...

Avery and Jett allotted me one quick pic, before taking off again!

Kandace and me with Grandma and Pa Hinckley.
Grandma wanted to know if holding Axyl made me baby hungry...

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!
Any babies born beyond this point will be compliments of Kandace
and whomever Ty decides to make
babies with...
I know who I'm pulling for!

And just in case you're wondering if they named the baby after
Axle Rose
from Gun's & Roses
I don't believe so...
BUT
it does make a great theme...hence the
Welcome to the Jungle title!

4~tee SEVEN...

2008-07-25T10:52:00.017-05:00

For those of you who don't celebrate the 24TH of July and are wondering why we celebrate the 24TH of July, let me tell ya...

In 1847 the Mormon pioneers
walked from Illinois to Utah.

Even way back then, they knew they needed to get as far away from that place as possible!

And come to the AMAZING and GLORIOUS,

"This is the place UTAH!!!"

We honor the Saints with parades, rodeos,

parties and fireworks...

This year we didn't make it to the Parade. It was just way to early for Avery and I,

but we did watch a little of it on t.v...

We did, however, make it to the 'Days of 47 Rodeo'

Originally our seats were in the nose~bleed section, but ten minutes into the show, one of the ushers came over to us and asked if we wanted to go down to the front row.

Of course we did and it was GREAT!

It got even better when we found out the very special guest in the audience...

Look closely to the above picture.

There is a man standing in the middle with his arms folded.

Go down a little to the right of him, there is a man in like a orange shirt and next to him a man is in a suit....

It's President Monson!

Yes, even the President of our church loves the Rodeo!

It was awesome!

Next it was pool time!

My niece Trista and her son Shay, who is pictured above with Avery, invited us to their pool for a little fun in the sun.

It was the first time I made Avery go into the deep and he
FREAKED OUT!
He loves water, as long as he can touch the bottom.

I don't know how he'll ever learn to swim!

(Troy, my Dad, my bro. Gavin)

Then it was party time at our house.
Well it's not actually our house it's my Mom and Dads...
but we inhabit the lower half of it
and we appreciate it
IMMENSELY!!!

Here I am with the newest addition to my side of the family
Baby Carson.
He is my niece Nikki's baby.

This picture is a little blurry, but it is so cute I had to post it!

(Kyle, Ryker, Avery, Hallie, Cassidy)
Out watching fireworks...

Avery was a little scared of the sparklers.
At first he wouldn't even touch them.
You can tell by the picture, he still isn't completely
comfortable with it.

Danya holding Nikki's baby Carson, Me, Colby my favorite sister who USE to comment on this blog regularly, but for some reason doesn't anymore??? And Nikki, who just had baby Carson two months ago and is already skinnier than me!

Yucky!

What's in a name?

2008-07-20T20:28:00.011-05:00

Today is my very dear friend Tami's birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEGS!

Before I met my amazing husband, I could often be found with these two girls pictured above!

Shannon is on the left, and Tami is seated in the middle

PREGNANT!

I am so excited for her!

Anyway, after church today, Troy, Avery and I headed up to LaCaille for a little birthday celebration.

I haven't had the chance to see these girls very much since moving back here, so it was really fun catching up today.

Avery didn't want to do anything else but feed the peacocks.

And I tried to get a good picture of him doing that but the peacock

wouldn't cooperate!

On our way out we had the valet snap this pic.
I've said it before and I'll say it again,
GET UP TO LACAILLE!
It is so beautiful!

After Brunch we were of to the hospital. My S.I.L. Kandace had her baby today!!!
Yeah.....He is absolutely
PERFECT!
And absolutely beautiful!
As Avery was holding him he looked over at me and said "I want one of these!"
And my reply was...
"Maybe Kandace and Tyler will let us borrow him!"
It worked, he agreed to that!
(insert, I just got away with something whistle)

So are you just dying to know what they named him???

Well so are we!
They haven't named him yet!
Poor little baby without a name!

But even without a name, he is darling!
And we just love him!
Congratulations Kandace and Tyler...

Almost famous...

2008-07-15T13:08:00.018-05:00

Our daughter Kasey invited two of her friends from Chicago to come stay with her for a week.

Shianne and Karli

They are having a wonderful time here. Kasey has missed them very much and is just loving every minute of their time together!

They are keeping busy and they both say they love it here!
(what's not to love!)

Anyway, it has been good for all of us to have them here except for the night I had to go in and tell them to wrap it up at 4:30 in the morning!

They hadn't gone to sleep yet and I hadn't either!!!

Sandy city has a horse show every year. So this year Tyler Kandace, Jett, Nana, Avery and I decided to go. It was a lot of fun!

We are all horse lovers so it was really neat to see all those beautiful horses up close.

Jett and Avery also had a great time.

They just loved watching all of the 'Princess's' on their horses!

(Horse parade royalty/princess's)

Just another fun filled day
with all the pretty horses...

(Mike and Danya, Me and Troy, Steve and Nikki )
And the star of the day baby Carson. Who by the looks of this picture had had enough of looking cute for pictures!
And for those of you who don't know, but do care, Danya and Nikki are sisters ~ they are also my nieces...

Steve and Nikki blessed baby Carson this Sunday and had the fam over to their house after for lunch.

It was a lovely day and we are truly thankful to have been a part of it!

(Jett, Avery, my nephews Devin and Ryan)

@KSL

Monday was showtime!

The company that my D.H. works for, McDavid, had purchased a little air time on daytime television. So Troy was chosen to talk about some of their products LIVE!

Needless to say he was THRILLED to do it!

(Yea right)

Thrilled or not, he did a wonderful job!

You can view the segment at

ksl.com click on TV then 11:00 am Studio 5 HD scroll down to~McDavid
Anyway, he also got to bring some darling little ones to model the clothes.

They definitely stole the show!

Avery and Jett went on first.

They were so dang cute! Just try not to laugh when you watch it!

Then my nephews Devin and Ryan went on. They too were absolutely darling!

At one point, while the cameras were on them, Ryan turns around and starts to pull down his pants. He was doing it to show the padding in the shorts, but the producer didn't know what he was doing and I swear he almost had a heart attack!

He didn't know that Ryan had compression shorts on underneath his other shorts and it was hilarious!

Honestly I thought the producer was going to run out onto the set and block the cameras!

It was so dang funny!
We also had my niece Canada's friend Alex's, boyfriend Egor model some clothes, but they ran out of time and only showed him for a second...
Did you get all that?

This is Troy and I right before he went on.

You can't tell from the pic, but we were both very, very nervous!

You did great baby!

Especially considering the fact that the girl interviewing him changed the questions 10 seconds

before they aired!

Last night we decided to take in a ball game.
Me, Avery, Troy, Nana, Ty, and Nicco
enjoyed a night out with
The Salt Lake Bee's
It the closest thing we have to a major league baseball team.
So maybe it's not exactly like watching the Cubs play at Wrigley field,
but it's home and it's all good!
PLAY BALL!

FIRECRACKER!

2008-07-06T21:12:00.019-05:00

CAUTION!!!

If you are sick and tired of seeing pool or fishing pictures-

do not proceed beyond this point!

But for those of you who haven't had enough, here we go....again....and again...

So we found ourselves at the pool again, and it was nice and hot!

Just like my husband!
I have to admit, the pool is cheap entertainment and I get a tan.

Really it's a win~win...

And it was even more fun because Troy came!

After the pool we were off to the ball park.

Here's a rare photo of Jett and Avery actually stopped in one place long enough to take a pic! They run up and down the stairs the entire game...every game!

Here's the fam after the game.

Usually the 4Th of July weekend is

packed with softball games. But for some reason

they were cancelled this year so the 'boyz' only had one game

on Thursday which was nice because it left the rest of the weekend open...
so where did we go?
FISHING of course...

Friday the Fourth O' July found Troy, Avery, Kain and I at East Canyon.
We got there around 11 o'clock a.m.
And I tell you the time we arrived for this reason...
Troy said, and I quote "We didn't catch any fish because we got here too late in the day!"
He was really mad!
Oh I almost forgot, we were also only there for two hours, which is obviously not near enough time to catch anything!

Anyway, Avery and I had a really nice time. Just being at the lake,
even without a boat, is a lot of fun!
Even though I would love~love a boat! Hopefully someday soon!

That night Avery, Troy and I went to a park to watch the fireworks.

Avery absolutely loved them!

He laughed and screamed and just loved all ten minutes of fireworks.

Yes~ ten minutes of fireworks, three hours of waiting for the fireworks to start.

People watching at a park on the Fourth O' July~

PRICELESS!

Saturday morning again found Troy, Avery, Kain and I at a pond

FISHING!

Troy couldn't go another second without catching a fish!

He didn't even care what kind of fish he would catch!

He just HAD to catch one!

(Sushi anyone?)

After a couple hours of Troy trying to catch a fish,

I caught this monster!

I named him 'Charlie'

We un-hooked him and left for home.

I can't remember the exact words he used, but I heard my husband say something about a bomb and throwing it into the pond?

Yes, he is taking this very, very hard!

So what else would we do after fishing?

Swimming!!! Yeah! I love it!

Okay how dang cute is my S.I.L.?

Is that the cutest tummy-EVER?

Not to mention Nicco and her darling, perfect, TWENTY~THREE

YEAR OLD BODY!

('Charlie's Angels' have nothing on us!)

Nicco, Kandace and I probably have a million pictures of us three in this exact pose, different clothes...

Maybe it's time for something new.

We'll see.

Anyway I love you girls!!!

And the Grand finale had nothing to do with water!

YEAH...

Kandace and Tyler invited Nicco, Ty, Troy and I over to watch the UFC fight.

My very favorite fighter (Forrest Griffin) was fighting some monster named "Rampage" Jackson

Seriously the guy was a real monster!

He was hard to look at!

I was so scared for Forrest!

Let's put it this way, if you just happened by Forrest Griffin, and you didn't know who he was, you probably wouldn't even give him a second look. Or if you did give him a second look you would probably be saying to yourself...

"Oh, poor guy."

He's a little goofy looking. His ears stick out and his nose is reminiscent of a small monkey's nose.

Basically all of the endearing qualities that put me on

"Team Forrest"

Anyway, the guy doesn't look mean or tough or anything like that, but man can he fight!

And after five brutal and bloody rounds, he beat "Rampage"

IT WAS AWESOME!
Thanks to all that made this fourth O'July weekend so much fun.

Thank Heaven for little Boys

2008-06-30T10:40:00.015-05:00

My beautiful S.I.L. Kandace is about to have her third baby any day now!

HURRY, I CAN'T WAIT!!!

So her Mom decided to throw her a baby shower...

Now I know you don't usually have baby showers for your

third baby, but we aren't exactly your

"USUAL" family!

And this is a very special time for our family and really it could not be more appropriate!

So in honor of this post, I would like to dedicate it to two little angels...

M.B & J.P

Jaylyn honored Kandace with a song. She sang

'Here comes the Sun'

It was absolutely beautiful! And you can believe me when I say, there was not a dry eye in that room!

The last verse she changed the words a little and sang...

Here comes your Son, and we say, it's all right...
It was just perfect and Jaylyn's voice was as beautiful as ever!

A picture of all who attended...
Everyone was suppose to make a funny face or do something funny for this pic...
just in case you were wondering why some of us are being silly!

(Nicco, Kandace and Me...)
It was a lovely shower. I can't wait to meet this little baby, what ever his name may be...
I love you Kandace! I couldn't ask for a sweeter sis~in~law, but I could ask for another one meaning Nicco, whom I also love!

On to the next party...
The above is a picture of Me, Nikki, her husband Steve (holding baby Carson)
and my sister(Nikki's mom) Colby.
We are at my other sister Cara's house. She was hosting a 'farewell' party for her son
Mitchell who is leaving for his mission in a couple weeks.

Here's a picture of some of our family who attended his farewell.
(not shown are three of my four kids and my husband)
who were already in the car!
Can anybody say IMPATIENT?
And rude!

Anyway, this is my darling nephew Mitchell and me. And judging by the amazing farewell talk he had just given, he will be an AWESOME missionary!
Not to mention the fact that he is 6'4 and very handsome! He has maintained a 4.0 g.p.a his entire life, including the year of College he decided to "squeeze" in before he left for his mission!
and he is an accomplished pianist!
Really the only fault I can find with this kid is the love he has for
The University Of Utah. But really that's not entirely his fault because he was raised that way!
GO BYU!

He will serve his mission in
BRAZIL~ it couldn't get any better than that!
I am so excited for him and I am truly grateful to him for his example to all of our family!
We love you Mitchell!

Troy, his brother Ty, Avery, Kasey and I took a little fishing trip last night up to Silver Lake.
The boyz didn't catch anything but it was fun anyway!
It's hard to believe the beauty that surrounds us here in Utah.

I'm sure there will be many fishing posts to come...

Hopefully they will picture some fish instead of Ty being a goof-ball!

A place of Love and Beauty...

2008-06-23T12:06:00.011-05:00

Yesterday we took a trip downtown to walk around Temple square.

It was an absolutely perfect day to do so and we had such a nice time...

Of course we couldn't get Jay and Kasey off the couch to come with us. They were still complaining a little from just coming home from 'Trek'
so we didn't make them come with us.
Although I will say, it makes me so sad to think that they are always missing out on the family
adventures.
Especially the spiritual ones!

Anyway, we walked around the Temple grounds and told stories to Hallie and Avery
about all of the hard work that went into building that
absolutely AMAZING TEMPLE!
For those of you who don't know, in the above picture we are standing in front of one of my Dad's original paintings titled
'Nebuchadnezzar's Dream'
It is one of my very favorite paintings.

It is just one of many paintings of my Father's that hang in the North Visitor Center on Temple Square...

Hallie has just started the Baptism discussions with the missionaries.
(We were living in Chicago when she turned eight)
so now she has to take the missionary discussions,
which is wonderful for our family, we love any reason to have the missionaries over!

We have been teaching her everything we know about being baptised.
So what better a teaching tool could there be than a picture of the Savior being baptised.
And even better, a picture painted by her Grandpa!
What a very special time this is for her and for our families...

This painting is titled
'Jesus in the Temple at Twelve'
A copy of this painting hangs in every Temple in the world!
I can hardly explain in words just how proud I am of my Father!
His talent and love for his Savior is seen all over the entire world.
What an amazing part he plays in building up
The Kingdom of God.

What a beautiful experience it is to visit Temple square.
And what a blessing it is to have it so close to us.

I am so thankful to be home...

I am so thankful for my family...

Did you know that the Dodo bird went extinct circa 1680...

2008-06-21T10:28:00.015-05:00

I can only imagine a time when we can go a whole, entire week without a trip to the Dr. or E.R.

Yes we were again at the Dr. this week, this time for our sweet little daughter Hallie...

I know that it probably looks like I take my kids to the Dr. with nothing more than a runny nose!
But in fact I do not!

I NEVER take my kids to the Dr. unless I absolutely have to!

Seriously what can't Tylenol and chicken soup heal?

MY CHILDREN~OBVIOUSLY!

Anyway she's getting better with some antibiotics....

And how darling is that picture! Avery just adores Hallie! And she adores him!

We were at the mall the other day, just Hallie, Avery and myself. When Hallie said to me...

"I am just so lucky to have Avery in my life"

and I was like~ You are the sweetest little angel in the world! And he is equally as lucky to have you in his life!
Those two kids just melt my heart!

But these two kids, well that's another story!

Just kiddin!

Kasey and Jaylyn decided to see how our ancestors felt as they traveled across the United states

looking for a life of freedom...

And even though a few things were different like the Nike shoes

and the cell phone in Jay's bra!

(Yes I caught her with it and took it away!)

I hope they had a wonderful experience on their

TREK...

I guess we'll know soon, they get home today!!!

Pool day....
Avery, Hallie and cousin Jake

My sister Cara invited us to go to the pool with her and her son Jake this week.
It was wonderful!
I love going to the pool to work on my skin cancer...
No I'm not trying to make a joke out of it, I really don't want to get skin cancer
but I do nothing to prevent it, actually I'm asking for it the way I cook myself in the sun!
But I just love having a tan???
Anyway, Cara, we had a great time, let's do it again soon!

My DH has been out of town all week!
Although on Thursday he flew home just long enough to go to dinner and play in a softball game!
Then it was back to the airport...
This pic above is of the 'little' boyz at the softball game...
The little cutie in the Utah hat and sun glasses is Avery and Jett's cousin Kai.
His Dad Chris (Troy's cousin) also plays softball, for another team.

While the mice are away...... ~meow~
So while all of our husbands are up in Idaho GOLFING together,
we decided to meet for dinner...

Avery, Jett, me, Nana, Nicco, Hallie, and Kandace had dinner at a restaurant called
The Dodo...
The food was pretty good. The company was great! I absolutely love a night out with
the girls, especially these girls!

And just for fun, who's missing a button?

Love you Nicco...

All fun and games

2008-06-09T15:06:00.009-05:00

I don't think many of you know this but my S.I.L. Kandace and I have a dirty little secret...

WE LOVE THE TWILIGHT BOOKS

and we can hardly wait for the last book and for the movie!!!

I haven't really talked about it that much on my blog, but Kandace and I always talk about it when we're together. It drives our husbands away because they can't stand to hear about the books, the movie, the way we feel about Edward and Jacob etc. etc...

Anyway, we are soooo looking forward to it!

So anyway, Papa wanted to take Jett and Avery to the arcade to play a few games. That's where we took the pic with the Twilight sign...

The little boys had a great time and so did Jett and Avery...ha ha

Jett and Avery sharing a ride...

No matter what we are doing we always have a great time together! I could not ask for greater

in laws...I love them so very much!

Step right up folks...

2008-06-03T10:15:00.021-05:00

Yes, another eventful week with the Doezie fam...

Hallie's school had their yearly carnival and we were lucky enough to take her to it!

Is there some prerequisite dress code you must follow before attending a carnival?
I believe there is and this is how the list reads...
1. Five or more tatoos
2. No bra
3. Men in cut off tee shirts and cut off shorts
4. Tee shirts must have some type of beer advertised on it
5. Women must wear clothing three times smaller than they should

But other than all of that, Avery and Hallie had a great time, and really so did Troy and I...
Just watching all those people was definitely worth the 30 bucks!

And if I'm being honest, I fit at least three of those requirements!

Next it was up to LaCaille for family pictures.
But not just the Doezie family it was all of the Aunts and Uncles and cousins etc.

It was a lot of fun and truly you could not ask for a more BEAUTIFUL backdrop!

If you've never been to LaCaille I would highly recommend taking your family and going up there as soon as possible!

You don't even have to eat there, just go walk around the 22 acres of absolutely gorgeous property!

( Where's Waldo or Megan?)

Here's a picture of Kasey and Jaylyn standing in front of the wall of LaCaille fame...

and NO they will NEVER be on this wall!

I don't know if anyone ever notices, but all the pictures I take with my DH look like cheezy engagment pictures...
I love that he'll take pics like this with me...

He's so darling!

After the photo shoot, we were off to the softball field.

Troy, Ty, Tyler, and Papa all play on the same team. It's always so much fun to go to their games. Jett and Avery don't usually watch much of the game but they do have a lot of fun running around the park...

And what better way to end this post than a trip to the

ER...

Yes our darling daughter Jay was diagnosed with strep throat. Ok, simple enough? So we took her to the Dr. but after 4 days she wasn't getting better, she was getting worse! So we took her back to the Dr. and the Dr. said she could possibly have an absess? on her throat and she could possibly need surgery to remove it and blah, blah, blah...

basically it was a weekend and we had no other options but to take her to the ER...

and this really wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that our ER deductible is

RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE and to top it off she was fine! She just needed a stronger dose of penicillin! OUCH!!!

Better safe than sorry, yes...

but we will also be accepting donations...

just send them to the Doezie fam aka the carnies...

With an Oink~Oink here...

2008-05-24T20:31:00.008-05:00

Today was the first Saturday in months that was not filled with ball games!!!

It was really nice to lay in bed until nine o'clock!

But then we didn't know what we were going to do to entertain these little ones all day?

So we decided to take them to Wheeler Farm.

Kasey and Jaylyn had stayed the night at friends houses and didn't want to come with us!

So anyway, Troy, Hallie, Avery and I had a great time at the farm!

They have darling animals that let you pet them and just love it when you feed them!
Oh look, Kasey and Jaylyn decided to show up after all. Here they are pictured above with Hallie and Avery! Hee-haw...

Avery and Hallie peeking out of a window in a tree house...
So darling! I love this pic.

You can't really see it, but this is a pic of a huge Box Elder tree that had broken in half. The part that broke off some how started to grow again in like five different places in the ground.

It's hard to explain but it was really awesome!

After the farm, we stopped by the cemetery to leave a little windmill and a note on baby Mav's grave. Kandace,Tyler,and Jett just happened to be there having a picnic lunch.

So we stayed and visited a bit while Jett and Avery ran around.

We needed to get to Costco before they closed so we could get a new propane tank for our BBQ.

So even though we didn't want to leave we had to...

And lookie what I found........... a copy of 'The Host'

Kandace, do you have yours yet?

But now I don't know what to do? I wanted to read Breaking Dawn before I read The Host, but I'll have to wait until August for it and quite honestly I don't know if I can have an unread book of Stephenie Meyer's in my possession and not read it!

IT'S HAUNTING ME!

I don't even know why I feel the need to read Breaking Dawn before any other book but for some reason I just do?
Oh Edward where art thou......or Jacob, I can't decide?
And I CAN NOT WAIT!

Tell me Tuesday, ALOHA style...

2008-05-21T10:25:00.015-05:00

As a child I can remember many wonderful family vacations. Most of them were to places close to where we lived like St. George Utah, Arizona, and California. We almost always drove and the trip usually served two purposes. For instance, when we went to St.George it was to see my sister in a musical at college, or if it was Arizona we would take paintings of my Dad's to put in galleries. California was for the Ocean and on occasion a day at Disneyland.

But by far my very favorite trip as a child was to

HAWAII...

My sister Cara (pictured above) served a mission in Australia (Good day Aussie)

So our family decided it would be the perfect time to take a family trip to Hawaii to met Cara half way home from her mission...

It was a riot! I was only in sixth grade but I remember it well!

So here's a little trip down memory lane. I will describe the pics from left to right and please forgive me for the poor picture quality. Our scanner is still packed somewhere so I had to try and take pictures of the pictures and so this is as good as it gets!

I'm assuming we are at Pearl Harbor in the above pic.

My Mom, sis Colby, sis Cara, bro Grig, niece Danya, Me in the purple shirt giving the "Hang loose" sign with not just one but both hands! Niece Nikki, sis Darcie, and bro Gavin...

Me, Nikki, and Danya at the Polynesian Center trying to learn to Hula...

Who wears short, shorts?

Cara, Colby, Nikki, Me giving the "Hang loose" sign 'again', Danya and My Mom.

Nikki and me caught in the surf. We are definitely the picture of grace and style!
Oh that was so much fun!

My Mom and Dad...I'm not sure why she is looking at him that way, but they are sure a darling couple...

Nikki, me(the goofy-goober in the back) Cara, Colby
Colb~You can thank me later for the bikini pic...

This is one of my very favorite pictures from our trip.

Colby, Darcie, Nikki (picking her suit out of her bum) Me, Cara and Danya trying to help my poor Mom up. She wasn't really use to being in the Ocean. It proved to be a little too much for her.

Danya, Mom, Me and Darcie on the ground and my always a ham for the cam Dad!

What a wonderful experience it was to have a family vacation like this!

I wish we could do it again!

I have to say there is absolutely NO value you can put on pictures! They are truly priceless...

Family fun!

2008-05-20T19:59:00.008-05:00

For some reason I can only find time once a week to write on my blog???

And by doing so, I have to cram in twenty different things that we did that week...

So anyway, we took the kids to a park nearby our house to just get outside and walk around and try to have a little peace and some fun family time!

And truly it was lovely! The weather was absolutely perfect and everyone had a good time!

I definitely don't have a hard time getting my kids to pose for the camera...

Wonder where they get that from?

We also had the great pleasure of going to dinner at Pagoda (our fav restaurant!)

It was sooooo dang good! I could honestly eat there three times a week

and not get sick of it!

My gorgeous Mother also celebrated her 81st birthday this past week!

She didn't have a "party" but a few of us got together for cake and conversation etc...

Happy Birthday Mom, I love you and thank you for all that you do!

And last but definitely not least, another baby joins this wild and crazy family!

Yes my darling niece Nikki had her baby!

He is PERFECT in every sense of the word!
We got to visit him in the hospital today and I was in heaven! There is nothing quite like holding a brand new baby!

We love you baby CARSON...and remember, I am your favorite GREAT AUNT MEGAN!

Congrats Nik and Steve...love you

Mommy Dearest...

2008-05-12T10:08:00.011-05:00

So this past week consisted of... performances, games, dinner dates, Mexican Fiestas and of course Mothers Day...
Jaylyn had a dance performance Wednesday and Thursday. She was wonderful! She is such a natural on stage. She dances, sings, acts, basically she can do it all! We absolutely LOVE to watch her perform!
They wouldn't allow us to film or use flash photography during the show, so I only have after pics to share...
We love you Jay!

Friday night was date night/Ty's birthday dinner. Now I say date night because for Troy and I it was the closest thing to an actual date that we had been on for...well...I can't actually remember the last time we went on a date?

Crazy!!! Anyway Nana and Papa took Avery and Jett to see 'Iron Man'
They had a great time at the movie.

And we had a great time at Benihanna's...

I am horrible at remembering names! So forgive me Nicco...the above picture is of Nicco's brothers girlfriend in the yellow dress? Sorry... then Nicco, Me, and Kandace

Moving on... Saturday was a day full of games (no pics shown)

then we went to Nana and Papa's to celebrate Ty's birthday/Mother's Day.

Ty was born on 'Cinco De Mayo' so the theme of the party was a Mexican Fiesta~

OLE'

Tyler and kandace with baby Jose, Juan, or Carlos??? They just can't decide on a name.

Nicco and the birthday boy himself Ty. And no she's not smelling is finger, he's making a mustache on her face!

Very funny, very Ty... You're such a good sport Nicco!

We hope you had a great birthday Ty, we love you...

Sunday was spent at my Mother's house. I don't know why but I only took one picture and this is it!

This is my niece/best friend Nikki and me.

She told me to make sure I put this picture on my blog, or she would kill me!

Or was it don't you dare put this picture on your blog or I'll kill you?

Oh I can't remember...

Anyway Happy Mothers Day to all you wonderful, amazing Mothers,

ESPECIALLY YOU MOM! YOU ARE THE GREATEST!

31

2008-04-30T20:45:00.003-05:00

My list of 31 simple pleasures...

1. My Husband

2. My children

3. My car

4. plastic surgery and a prescription to pain killers!

5. perfume

6. having me, my husband and all of our children in matching clothes

7. coming home to our dog (he gets so excited to see us)

8. losing weight without trying!

9. basically everything Avery does and says right now makes me happy!

10. vacations with my husband and kids

11. pay raises

12. watching dancing with the stars, The Bachelor, Greys Anatomy, and Desperate Housewives

13. magazines

14. Utah

15. clean clothes

16. clearance items

17. talking about the Gospel with my parents and my brother Grig

18. watching my Dad paint (it's truly INCREDIBLE)

19. looking at pictures

20. going to the dentist and him finding NOTHING wrong in my mouth!

21. Alison Moyet

22. Michael Buble'

23. HOT showers

24. finding pants that hit the floor, even when I have high heels on

25. eating out

26. holding brand new born babies!

27. the smell of rain

28. beautiful wrapping paper

29. painted toe nails

30. having Hallie brush my hair while we watch TV

31. bottled water

As for my favorite ice cream, I guess I would have to say

Watermelon Ice. It's actually a flavor from Baskin Robbins, but I think it's seasonal because they don't always have it.

'King pin'

2008-04-24T11:13:00.007-05:00

Yes this is my son. His hair is getting very long and often bothers him. So instead of giving him a trim, I just put his bangs up in a little pony tail. Doesn't he look pretty...

His daddy just loves this look on his son.

So anyway, the other day Troy, Avery and I took a little drive. As we were going by the Salt Lake Temple, I snapped this pic of Avery...

I think he looks absolutely darling!

Avery's cousin Jett celebrated his 4Th birthday yesterday. So my sis~in~law Kandace wanted to get Jett's picture taken with his two cousins in their tee~ball uniforms for his birthday pics...

This is just a picture I took with my camera, which I'm sure the photographer didn't exactly appreciate, but I'm a blogger and I need pictures right away so that I can blog about them...

The actual pictures the professional took are far Superior and absolutely DARLING!

But I guess it's not really that hard to get a great pic when your subjects are so dang cute!

Introducing the king....'DUTCH'

Dutch is Avery's nickname and he would really appreciate it if you would call him that!

It is so funny, he loves his nickname. The lady taking the boys pictures that day called Avery, Avery. He turned to me and asked why she didn't call him Dutch? I said she didn't know he had another name. So from then on she called him Dutch and he was truly happy about it!

Jett's real party will be celebrated this Saturday with all of his friends and the rest of the family. But Grandma and Grandpa won't be able to make it that day so we went to dinner and bowling last night with them.

Look at Jett's face in the above picture! Is that funny or what!

The boys could have cared less about eating. All they wanted to do was build race cars out of booster seats!

Then it was time to bowl...

It was so fun to watch these boys bowl! They could not have been more darling!

Sometimes it took the ball about ten minutes to get down the lane! But they both played great!

Their scores were almost identical, 72~73

It was difficult to get them away from the lane after the game was over. They could have played all night! I had to bribe them with cookies and an icee...

Jett happy birthday! You are the greatest cousin and best friend Dutch could have!

On the cover of a magazine...

2008-04-22T11:29:00.007-05:00

The tell it to me topic for this week, as chosen by Amanda is...

If you had your own magazine etc...

If I had my own magazine it would be called

'THE D TEN'

Of course meaning Doezie 10. I would almost always grace the cover of my mag~ but unlike Oprah, I would share the cover with my kids, husband, animals, friends, etc...

Each cover would tell a story of what you should expect to find inside. Every month my magazine would have a new 'theme'

Say it were October. The entire magazine would be about Halloween. Where to find the best costumes to how to scare the 'HECK' out of the trick~or~treaters...

One month would be dedicated to animals, and 25% of all magazine sales for that month would go to animal shelters...

Wow, this really sounds awesome!

Anyway, I would definitely hire my family first. I actually have a very talented family so I wouldn't be compromising there.

Then if I needed to hire other people, I would just look for regular, hard working people, who were in need of a good job. No degree required...

Broadway, Bigs, and dig~dig~digs...

2008-04-20T14:18:00.009-05:00

This weekend has been a very busy one for the Doezie fam...

Hallie had a 'Broadway' performance for her school Thursday and Friday.

She was AWESOME! She is such a doll! The first night I did her hair in two pony tails and she looked darling. But the next night I really wanted her to stand out among all the other kids so we did corn rows. It worked! You couldn't miss her! She was truly the

STAR ON BROADWAY!

We are so proud of her...love you Hal~

Next was tee~ball. What a riot! Jett and Avery are on the same team and it was so much fun!

Of course it took a little bribing to get Avery to play, but that's alright, I'm a firm believer in bribing!

Jett and Avery getting ready for team pictures...

Avery was knocking them out of the park! That south paw will surely be playing in the

'BIGS' one day!
And if not that's ok too. We'll settle for the P.G.A. tour! We're easy...

I'm so proud of him and I love him so much I could just eat him up like a piece of cake!

Then he would say "I love you so much I could eat you up like a piece of chicken!"

And last, but not least, Kasey had a volleyball game. And can I just say

SHE ROCKS!!! She totally takes after me.

I am so proud of her! Last week she missed her game and her team lost. The coach said she 'IS THE TEAM' so don't miss another game!

Keep it up babe, I love you...

Tell it to me Tuesday...

2008-04-15T16:47:00.003-05:00

A few of my girlfriends have started a 'Creative writing' group.

It is called (Tell it to me Tuesday)

Obviously they will allow anyone to take part in this group if I am allowed?

I can vaguely remember a class in High school called creative writing?

So anyway go to the link and check it out. Each Tuesday there will be a new topic to write about.

Today's topic is by Stefanie. It was a quote by Benjamin Franklin...

"Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead."

I knew this girl who once said, "I will step on anyone I have to, to get what I want!"

I never told her another thing I didn't want the world to know! I know this was probably an extreme case, but quite honestly I was happy to know the kind of person she was upfront. This way I knew that I could not trust her.

Secrets, oh secrets. I am keeping a very big secret right now, that I have only told a couple people. So far so good. Although this secret is not meant to be kept for life, I have still asked the people I have told to keep it locked up until further notice.

What I find most interesting are the people I have chosen to hold my secret. Would I chose the same people with a secret that would need to be kept for life, probably not. Let me tell you why. I have been burned enough times in this life that I can still see the scars. I want to trust people, but quite honestly I don't! There are two people, on this entire Earth, that I would trust with my deepest secret! I KNOW that if I told these two people never to tell anyone my secret, that they would ABSOLUTELY NOT TELL!

I would love to say that I had more than two on that list, but I don't...

So in my humble opinion, I would have to say that old Benny was wrong. Maybe he just didn't know the right people!
And just for the record, my darling dog (pictured above) is not one of the two...

although I do trust him!

I've got two words for you. VE~GAS...

2008-04-13T17:48:00.011-05:00

I have a darling girlfriend named Shannon that use to always say that when it was time for a trip to Vegas. So still to this day, when there is talk of going to Vegas, I use that line and it makes me laugh! I miss you Shan...

Although this trip was minus my girlfriends and plus a husband and two children it was definitely a trip to remember!

My DH had to travel to Las Vegas for work this past week and so Hallie, Avery and I decided to tag along for the ride.

And since this trip was half work half play for Troy, we stopped at Southern Utah University so he could get a little work done.

It just so happens that my dad's painting of Utah's old Governor Mike Leavitt

hangs there. So Hallie, Avery and I went to see it. This pic does not do it justice, but I just couldn't get a good one of it. I tried everything from dimming the lights, turning off the flash etc... But the varnish on the pic would cast a glare no matter what I tried. So anyway, Governor Leavitt went to SUU and wanted that picture there more than anywhere else. The entire room is filled with his Governorship memorabilia and truly that painting is a MASTERPIECE!

So Vegas was great! Hallie and Avery are THE BEST KIDS to take on a trip!

They NEVER complained! Not in the car driving for 7 hours! Not when we walked for hours up and down the strip. Not when it was too cold and windy to swim! Seriously they are ANGELS!

It was the complete opposite from when Troy and I first met, we took Jaylyn and Kasey to Vegas and we vowed NEVER~EVER to do it again! They fought the entire trip! They cried and complained and it was truly NOT FUN!

Anyway back to this trip. Here are a few pictures...

The kids in front of the Excalibur

Me giving a little love to Caesar...

Remember the movie 'Big' with Tom Hanks? We relived that part in the movie when he played Heart and Soul on a giant keyboard at FAO Swartz toy store. It was a riot!

I'm sure anyone who has ever been to Las Vegas has a picture of themselves in front of this now infamous Siegfried and Roy LION statue...
Poor Siegfried......or was it Roy?

Here we are at Treasure Island.

Troy and Avery as close to a bike as either one of them will ever get...

And lastly Avery and Hallie with Humpty at the Palazzo...

Well that's or trip, I can't wait until the next one! We might even consider giving Kas and Jay another chance? What do you think girls, do you feel LUCKY?

'Stands with a baby'~Kandace's Indian name...

2008-03-30T13:04:00.007-05:00

We went to dinner last night to celebrate my darling sis-in-laws birthday!

Her actual "Birth" was on the 27Th, but Troy was out of town (I know rare?) so we had to postpone the party to last night...

Happy Birthday Dear Kandace. We are so thankful to be home and able to celebrate with you!

We love you!

So before I get too far away from the picture above, let me explain...

Our beautiful daughter Hallie has been reading a Biographical book about

Sacajawea. She has to give a report 'as her' tomorrow at school. She will dress up as Sacajawea and tell about her life. I wish I could be there to watch her, she's going to do GREAT!

So anyway, at dinner last night we sat in a room that was completely painted in wilderness, trees, cabins, ships, tee-pees etc. So I felt it only fitting to take Hallie's picture in front of the Indians...

Here's the birthday girl and her favorite sis-in-law...

A shot on the stairs. I don't know why my husband is not standing by me? But our little son is definitely acting just like his father!

Input construction worker whistle...

Just the gals...we took some much cutter pics on other cameras...

there's no goofy stuff on mine.

And of course the "couples" shot... the pic is a little blurry but still very cute!

We hope you had a nice birthday Kan... we just love you so much! And we always have such a great time when we're together!

And thanks again to Nana and Papa for dinner...

The search for the "Golden Egg"

2008-03-24T12:08:00.015-05:00

My husbands Grandpa is an old cowboy. He grew up with horses and has a million stories about them. I could listen to him talk about horses all day!

And usually, when we're with him, that's exactly what he talks about!

So the other day, we drove by this horse pasture that was home to about seven horses.

Two of the horses were laying down and they looked dead! We were on our way to have brunch with Grandma and Grandpa and some other family members.

So I asked Grandpa if he thought the horses could be dead? He said we should go check on them after we ate.

When we got there, only one horse was still laying down. I thought for sure he was dead! So Grandpa gave a big cowboy whistle and the horse got right up! We were all so happy!

The darling horse pictured above just let me play with her hair and loved to be scratched on her neck. What a cutie!!!

Earlier that morning (before brunch) we had taken the kids to an Easter egg hunt at a huge farm. Avery and Jett loved it! Here they are sharing their loot!

Avery and Daddy at brunch, eating a Belgian waffle...

The next night, Kas and Avery colored eggs. Kas didn't want me to post her picture from that night because she didn't think she looked good? Hummmmm, wonder where she gets that from???
Anyway, the eggs looked great! I can't wait to make deviled eggs with them!

Usually on Holidays we split our time with my fam and with my husbands.
But this year, due to a time conflict, we spent all of Easter with Troy's family.
One of the "Doezie" Easter traditions is to go to a park for an Easter egg hunt. Ty and Nico go a few minutes before the rest of us and hide toys, money, and candy.
Then the kids run around the park, and load up yet ANOTHER basket!

This year Nana and Papa added a hunt for the adult couples. So Ty, Nico, Tyler, Kandace, Troy and myself ran around looking for eggs. One of the eggs held a "Golden Egg" which was the grand prize. Of course Ty found the coveted Golden egg because he CHEATS!
He and Nico won movie tickets, popcorn, drinks and candy!
Congrats NICO...

Avery and Jett are so darling!

And what would a party be without a very competitive game of Ping-Pong between brothers?
Troy just spanks Ty over and over again!
Ty just can't seem to find his rhythm when he plays Troy! Oh well, better luck next time TY...

Here's the fam after a wonderful day of food, fun and games!
(Of course Kasey and Jaylyn are no where to be found?)
We love you all and want to again thank Nana and Papa for sharing their beautiful home with us and our messy, rowdy kids!

And just one more thing, about the Ping-Pong game...........................Ty beats Troy almost every time they play!
There are you happy now TY!

Four Weddings and a lot of dead deer...

2008-03-15T21:47:00.009-05:00

Okay, so it was only one wedding but you get what I was going for......right???

Try and stay with me here... My oldest brother Grig is married to a beautiful woman named Paula. One of her daughters got married this weekend.

So the above picture is of my brother Grig and two of my three sisters, Cara and Colby at the reception...

And it was a beautiful reception. Her colors were lime green and turqoise and it was GORGEOUS!

The bride (Brooke) tied a lime green satin sash around her dress and wore turqoise stilletos, she was beautiful!

I also need to mention that her wedding photos were some of THE VERY BEST I HAVE EVER SEEN! I don't personally know the photographer but I picked up one of her cards...

http://www.lindsayjanephotography.com/

If you know of anyone looking for a great photog, in Utah, I would recommend checking her out!

Here are a couple more pics from the reception. I have to take pictures of Kas and Jaylyn by themselves, because they are way too cool to sit by their family???

Good thing they're so cute!

left to right
(Jake, Cara, Mike, Colby, Paula, Grig, Troy, Avery, Me, Mom, Dad, Hallie)

So today we went to the Outdoors show.
For all of you that are unaware of the fact that my Dear Husband, his bro.Ty, bro-in-law Tyler, and Grandpa Hinckley are all COLD BLOODED KILLERS!

Yes, I married into a family of HUNTERS! So we spent the day looking at dead animals, guns, boats, lab puppies, safes, tents, and of course every White, Black, or Hispanic 'trashy' person that inhabits this great state! I made all of my family wear whatever camo clothing they had and we fit right in!

But really, it was a lot of fun. Anytime we get to spend with family is fun!

Kandace, your face in this picture is TOO DANG FUNNY!

I laugh everytime I look at it!

And last but not least, Avery and Jett have the best seats in the house! They are watching the 'Dog-Splash' show and loving every minute of it!

Happy Hunting!

This family has gone to the DOGS!

2008-03-10T13:20:00.011-05:00

February 28Th marked the 57Th Wedding anniversary for my Mom and Pop!

We celebrated with a dinner party and of course my Mom's very favorite

CAKE!!!

If throwing a party at her house means there will be cake, she will do it!

A few days later my Mom saw yet another opportunity for cake, my sister Cara's birthday! We had her and her family over and my Mom made another cake!

As a matter of fact, I just took a small break in writing this to eat a piece!

I'm trying to limit myself to one piece a day...
Anyway, happy Anniversary and Birthday

We have also kept busy going to basketball games. I have even started playing again,

CHURCH BALL... it's been brutal!

I'll post more later on that subject!

We were driving around looking at homes the other day and stopped over at Kandace and Tyler's house. Or should I say 'Diesel and Turbo's' house!

Diesel and Turbo are Kan and Tyler's two HUGE Great Danes!

When I look at our dog Kain, when he's not around these two giants, I think he's pretty big. I mean he weighs 85 pounds! But just look how tiny he looks next to them!
Kain can literally walk underneath Diesel (the black dog)
It's just crazy to me! And they are the sweetest dogs you could ever meet! They might knock you over and whip you with their tails, but it wouldn't be on purpose... They just want you to scratch them and love them!

Then we took a break from the dogs and played with Kandace's tummy!

Then it was back to the dogs! This is Troy's brother Ty giving his little baby

'Roxy' a bath.

And here are Daddy and Avery getting ready to wash Kain. This place was AWESOME!

It's called "Dirty Johnson's Dog Wash"

You wash your dog in a tub that is raised off the ground so you don't have to bend down or get on your knees. Each tub is equiped with a high pressured warm water hose. They have all types of shampoo and conditioners, ear cleaner, polish for nails- you name it!

After they're all clean you blow dry your dog with these giant hoses, that blow out warm air and then you brush them and spray them with doggie cologne!

Avery absolutely loved it! Kain, however didn't! But he's so clean and smells so good!

A call to GREATNESS!

2008-02-27T12:05:00.009-06:00

My parents have officially replaced my husband! Yes my DH is out of town AGAIN!

So in his absence, my darling parents hang out with me, and truly

I LOVE IT!!!

So we went to another basketball game last night, only this time it wasn't to see my niece Canada, but to see Dylan and Chase play... Dylan is my niece Nikki's son. She is pictured above with me. Chase is my niece Danya's son. She is pictured below next to me.

(I'm not exactly sure what that makes their children to me?)

My Mom just told me I'm their

GREAT AUNT and they are my GREAT NIECES and NEPHEWS

I had always felt that I was great and now it's official!

(Danya and Nikki, please inform your children of my new title)

GREAT Aunt Megan...

(Tami, Nikki, Danya, Me...)

Here's a very long story made not so long...

These two people just happen to be two of my very favorite people in the world!

Steve and Susan

Throughout my terrible, horrible, very bad teenage years they witnessed first hand the truths of that description of myself. They are the parents of two of the most handsome boys, me and all of my girlfriends had ever seen. Therefor we were constantly over at their home vying for the attention of their boys!
We must have driven them crazy! Nikki and I even apologized to them last night for our wicked teenage years!

So it was absolutely delightful to spend the evening with them,

(as a somewhat mature adult)

catching up and reminiscing about days gone by... I love them so much! So anyway, they were at the game because they have a grandson that plays on the same team as my GREAT nephews...

The beautiful blonde, in the above,above picture, is their daughter in law (Tami)

She married one of their very handsome sons, Bryon

Hopefully we will all be able to get together again soon so we can create some new memories...

My very pregnant niece Nikki, made me promise not to post this picture of her! She said she looked as fat as a whale. But I made an executive decision, because this is my site and the pic was in my camera and posted it... Personally, I think we look the same size, which is not very funny being that I am not pregnant!
But actually I think whales are darling so whatever! Whales we are...

(Susan and my Mom)
Looks like I need to get my Mom some 'UTAH' gear! So she can stop pretending to like ILLINOIS!

(My Dad and Steve)

Together at last...

2008-02-20T12:02:00.002-06:00

Finally, after living in the same city as my girlfriend Chelsea for over a month!, we got to see each other!
Chels threw a little bridal shower for a friend of ours named Jaylyn. She's sitting next to me in the yellow shirt, then next to her is Shalain (sp?) and then the little angel baby that you can barely see is named Kacey (She didn't make a peep the entire time we were there!!)
She's Shalain's niece, her sister is sitting next to the babe, but I can't remember her name???
Then Stefanie and of course Chelsea...
We ate at a restaurant at the Gateway mall and I can't remember the name of it but I know it starts with a 'Z'
The service was pretty bad and the food was ok, but it was still a wonderful time with friends...
Although my night was cut a little short. I had left my daughter Kasey to babysit Avery. My parents were home with them too, but they had to run down to the church for a sec
(you can see the church from their house)
So long story short, someone came to the door while they were gone and it freaked Kasey out so she called me and said she was scared???? So then my mind starts going crazy and I felt I needed to go home... So I got home in 12 minutes from downtown Salt Lake and of course everything was fine. My parents were already back and that was that!
I have only left Avery THREE TIMES in his entire THREE years of life! So I was a little bummed that I couldn't spend a little more time out, but I'm sure in another year or so, I'll get out again!
But seriously, it was so good to see you again Chels! I have missed you and can't wait for another date! Love you

Let's play dress-up...

2008-02-12T10:26:00.000-06:00

So yesterday I was going through the closets downstairs, just trying to make a little more room for our clothes, when I came across my niece Nikki's wedding dress...
I don't think that there's a single person in this family that doesn't have something stored here at Grandma's house.
So anyway, Kasey was working on the computer and I asked her if she wanted to try on the dress. Of course she did (we were very careful Nik) and it fit her perfectly!
My daughter Kasey is about a size 1, if that! She is so dang skinny! My niece wore that dress when she was 20! Nik I can't believe that you were that skinny!

So of course I had to put on my wedding dress and have my mom take a pic of us! You can always tell when my mom has taken the pic, because someone will always have their head cut off! Love ya mom...
And of course Avery had to be in the picture.

So Kasey is all excited now about getting married??? SCARY! Maybe it wasn't such a good idea, but it was still fun...

Jay-j

2008-02-10T19:10:00.001-06:00

Our beautiful daughter Jaylyn celebrated her 15Th birthday today!

Well actually she has celebrated this birthday all weekend long...

but today is the actual day of birth-

(15 years ago)

On friday, her Mom threw her a sleep-over dinner party.

It was lovely. Troy had always said his x-wife couldn't cook, but I thought dinner was delicious!

(are you laughing Denise?)

No really, dinner was great and we were very thankful to have been invited!

(Jay and her favorite daddy)

Now is when I make up for my last comment...

As you can see, Troy only marry's beautiful women...
The above picture is of the xxx wife Denise and her boyfriend Luis-
and I say triple x because she looks naked in the pic!
(please tell me you're laughing?!)
Anyway, we had a wonderful time and we again thank you for inviting us...
(Hopefully, after you read this, it won't be the last...)

And just in case anyone was wondering if I was aware of the fact that I referred to myself as beautiful the answer is yes, I do in fact realize this.

Here's the birthday girl standing next to her Grandpa's latest masterpiece.
I would tell you the name of the painting but I can't remember! It's a very long German name that I can barely pronounce let alone spell...
And since I'm on the subject of spelling, my spell check doesn't work on blogger???
So I'm sure you'll find plenty of mis-spelled words- let's all just try to get past them and read on.

(Jay and her favorite Step-mom)

Troy's mom, dad and bro Ty came over today for a short visit, to wish Jay a happy birthday before they left for the airport!
Troy and his Dad had to go to Chicago... so I'm without my D.H. for a few days, but I'm not alone and so it's ok...
Jay we love you so very much! You make us so happy and we are so proud of the young woman that you are! Please always stay this sweet, it would make it so easy for us!
We hope you had a great 15th-
we love you ALWAYS and FOREVER...

Move over sprinkles, there's a bigger and better cupcake in town...

2008-02-07T15:29:00.000-06:00

My darling girlfriend Shannon has started her own company called...

Little Miss Cupcakes...

You can buy them individually wrapped in a darling chinese take out box, fully equiped with knife and fork!

Or you can purchase them by the half dozen or dozen.

Now let me tell you, she just came by and left me with these absolutely delicious cupcakes! Seriously they are so dang good!
She offers numerous different flavors and colors, not to mention the

SECRET INGREDIENT

that truly separates these cupcakes from the rest!

So if you're looking for a delicious gift or if you just want to indulge yourself

call or e-mail Shannon at-

(801)809-0286

littlemisscupcakes@gmail.com

9 1/2 weeks...just kidding only 3

2008-02-05T13:47:00.000-06:00

I absolutely love being busy all the time!

We are having the greatest time being home with our friends and family!

There is always something to do and I just love it!

The above pic was taken at Nana and Papa's house for the Super Bowl party.

And even though my Patriots lost we had a blast!

Great food and family...It just doesn't get any better that that!

So anyway, like I stated previously, we are on the go ALL the time! It's quite a contrast from living in Illinois, where we sat around day after day. And yes I take full responsibility for choosing to sit around but really there wasn't anything to do there. Or should I say nothing I wanted to do... I just couldn't see past my unhappiness while I was there, I hope and pray I never have to live anywhere but Utah again!

So back to the good stuff... In the past three weeks of being home, we have gone to three of our very favorite restaurants, one being Pagoda (of course) where Jett and Avery had more fun playing in the rocks that eating the egg-foo-young...

I have had the chance to finally spend time with my favorite sis-in-law Kandace

who can not, for any reason stop talking about the 'Twilight' series books!

Her husband is not very pleased with me for letting her onto the books! I guess he's sick of questions like...

"Tyler, who do you think would win in a fight, werewolves or vampires?"

It has been wonderful getting lost in our conversations about Edward.

We have officially become The Geek squad, of books...

If Stephenie Meyer ever comes here to UT.

WE WILL BE THERE... book in hand!

We have also been able to watch my darling niece Canada play Basketball... She is so darling, I am so proud of her! I hope I haven't embarrassed her too much at the games. It's really not my fault, I was born into a family of yellers! ESPECIALLY at ball games!

And I wouldn't want to forget the SNOW. It has surely kept us busy...

So that's all for now... I need a nap!

"The West is the Best"...Jim Morrison

2008-02-01T09:04:00.000-06:00

This was the last picture we took in Illinois! This was a very happy day for the four I mean five of us (I almost forgot Kain)

We were forever leaving the land of Lincoln, and heading west for

THE GREATEST SNOW ON EARTH!

(Jill and Me)

But before that glorious day, a few of my darling girlfriends stopped by to say

Adieu...and to leave us with treats and memories that will last a lifetime...

I know that was really bad, but the writers are still on strike!

(Amanda and Me)

(Avery and Graham)
I also want to let Kathy know how much I love and appreciate her! I would post a picture of her, but she won't let me...
I also want to thank my girlfriend Mercy for all of the clothes that she altered for me.
I will miss you girls...

So after a couple days on the road and only one speeding ticket
(I was only going 91 in a 75)

We arrived Home. And even though it has snowed every single day since we got here, I can not complain, it is beautiful and life is good!

We made it...

2008-01-25T13:20:00.000-06:00

So we made it home, but I still don't have my computer! I'm going crazy without it! I'm borrowing Papa's computer right now, and he wants it back!

I'll update ASAP...

Murphy's Law...

2008-01-15T15:06:00.000-06:00

Our latest project is the basement...

Troy decided we had to paint some of the walls down there and of course Avery also has to paint! He just loves it!

He would paint a few lines and then hand me the roller, run upstairs to watch a little Spongebob, come back down, paint some more etc...He is so darling!

So anyway, I was on the Internet, looking for the best way to clean walls and I came across this site that talked about the 'Magic Eraser'

I had seen commercials for them before and had even read about how dangerous the are for children.(Don't let them rub their skin with them)

But I had never bought them before. So today, while at Lowe's for the 36Th time this week, we picked some up and let me tell ya, I am the new spokeswoman for

THE MAGIC ERASER!!!

These things are so flippin cool! They clean EVERYTHING! I've never had so much fun cleaning!

I guess the only thing they can't erase are the 20 lbs I've put on eating these stupid doughnuts!

WHY? WHY did I buy them? I can't stop eating them!

Anyway, in my last post I had mentioned how messy our house was and how if a Realtor

were to call we would be in trouble!

Well we got the call! Sunday driving home from church a Realtor called and asked if she could show the house between 2 and 3

We pulled into our house at 12:45...we all ran in, tore of our church clothes and started cleaning! It was crazy!!! We walked out the back door just as they pulled up to our house!

Sadly they didn't want our home! And even worse, they made an offer on the house two doors down from us!!!

OUCH!

But, I guess it's good that the houses in our 'hood' are selling...

our fingers are crossed!

Even the cut-off-ones...

Oh, and she never gives out and she never gives in, she just changes her mind.

2008-01-12T20:29:00.000-06:00

We decided to try and tackle the Master bedroom today. We had a million holes in the walls, and the paint we had for touch ups was purchased in 1999-

Yikes!

We've already had to buy paint for almost every other room that needed touching up, because we had stored the paint the previous owners had left for us in the garage! Not smart...

FRIGID Chicago temperatures and paint don't mix!
It looks pretty good (considering) the age of the paint, but I guess we'll see tomorrow in the sun light...

Anyway, the house is driving me nuts! It's so not put together and it makes me feel a little uneasy...If we were to get a call from a Realtor, wanting to show the house, we would be in big trouble!
Plus, trying to sell an empty house will be a huge challenge!

It's hard to try and make everything look clean and new! The alternative would be for me and the kids to stay here until the house were to sell, and really that's just NOT and option! I will clean and paint and scrub and anything else it takes...just don't leave me here!

One of the really great thing for me about moving is that we get to eat out almost every meal! I love it! I wanted to take advantage of this eating out thing, and try to only eat at restaurants that they don't have in Utah...

So tonight we ate at Buffalo wild Wings. We love B.W.W. We will miss this place for sure!

(Kas was embarrassed that I wanted to take pictures. She is sporting a very fake smile!)

We bypassed dessert at the restaurant and went to Cold stone for some ice cream...

In the car, on the way back to our house, 'Always a woman'-by Billy Joel came on the radio. It reminded me of going up to Chicago with Chels, Amanda, and Ruth for a little going away dinner for Chelsea, who was moving to UTAH!!!

We went to a little piano bar after dinner called 'The Redhead' and the piano man played that song. As I listened to it tonight, I felt a little sting of sadness to know that I would never again go up to Chicago with those three truly amazing woman that I love dearly!

Instead, I will have to settle for only one of those amazing woman

CHELSEA. And even though downtown SLC is no Chicago,

it's home...

Are you ready Chels? Cuz your always a woman to me...

Where there is chocolate, there is hope...

2008-01-11T15:50:00.000-06:00

My darling girlfriend Amanda gave me a 'sinfully' good going away present. It was a gift certificate to this swanky little chocolate

bar located in downtown Naperville.

I wanted to get some pics of the store front, but because of the lack of parking

my would be photographer/Husband

had to drop me off and circle the block while I went in...

Anyway, the pics I did get don't even come close to doing this place justice!

It is soooo cute!!!

GO THERE if you can! The address is on the web site...

http://www.ethelschocolate.com/

And the chocolate is to die for!

Amanda, thank you so very much! I know you wanted us to go in and do the fondue chocolate, but we just couldn't swing it! But we did leave with boxes full of "hope"

Thank you again...love you!

Then we stopped into Einsteins Bagels for a quick bite...

Now, here's the reason I don't post as

often as I would like to...

My ability to post pictures on my computer is now a serious pain in my .....................

SIDE!

We got a virus on our computer for Christmas. We took it to the Geek squad to get it fixed, and the ONLY thing we lost was the ONLY thing I didn't want to lose!

Before the virus, I able to just slip my memory stick in

and wallah, my pictures would pop up, and I could do what ever I needed to do with them.

Now I have to jump through 25,000 different hoops, just to get to my pics!

Yell...Yell...scream, huff-n-puff

Really, I'm just not good at this computer thing, so even small changes are difficult for me to accept!

Did I mention I don't particularly care for change, unless it's a change of

ZIP CODE!!!

Without further adieu...

2007-12-28T08:41:00.000-06:00

There has been quite a bit of excitment in the air at the Doezie house!

I celebrated my 35 birthday on the 23rd...

Which in and of itself was not that exciting, but it gets better...

The missionaries dropped by for some NON-alcoholic sparkling cider. For some reason Avery was not very happy about this picture? Maybe he thinks we should be avoiding the very appearance of evil!

Actually he looks how I feel! I don't want to get any older. Half way to 40...YIKES!

I also want to thank my darling friend Amanda, who came over to visit

and leave me a very 'delicious' birthday present! (I forgot to take a picture of us together) DANG IT!

Then came Christmas...

Avery had SO MUCH FUN! This was really the first year that he 'got it'

and it was so dang cute! Every present was better that than the next and it was so darling to watch him have such a great time!

(Dad, I found the 'magic' again through Avery's eyes!!!)

Kasey also had a very expensive, I mean great Christmas! She got her own digital camera, (among many other gifts!) which she had been asking for, FOREVER!

She has already taken a million pics! Look at that, she's taking after her Mommy!!!
Like it or not Kas, we're really not that different!

Well the only thing missing from this picture,
of course is Jaylyn and Hallie!
We have had to celebrate Christmas FOUR times without two of our children!
My heart aches just writing that!
Three years, 1 month and 17 days ago Troy, Kasey, Avery, Kain and I left two of our children and everyone and everything else that we knew and drove to Illinois.
At the time we HAD to come here.
Truly it was our best option. We had planned to be here for a year, TWO at the absolute MOST!
I thought I could do it... and I guess I did, but I didn't do it well!
I'm sure if you have been in hearing distance from me, at any time during these last three
years, you would agree, I did NOT do it WELL! And for this I sincerely apologize!
I am truly thankful for the love and patience that you have all shown to my family and me!
We have learned a lot about ourselves and can say in hind sight, this experience
was good for all of us!
(maybe not so good for all of you, again SORRY!)

So without further adieu............

We say goodbye Illinois! It has been.......well...
Let's just skip over that part!
Yes we are moving HOME!!! My dear husband FINALLY got that transfer, and we are goin HOME!
I have dreamed about this very post for sooooo long!
We could not be more excited! And as for Jaylyn and Hallie....Let me tell you the story...
We called Jaylyn and asked her what would be the best Christmas present EVER?
And without hesitation she said "For you guys to move home!"
Let's just say after that none of us could talk, we just cried!
A little later, after Hallie was out of school, we called and asked her the same question...
She thought about it for a minute and her reply..."A puppy!"
We hope to sell our house within a month (Yeah right)
but even if we don't we leave the end of January...

Again, thanks for sharing your love with us...

Holiday fun...

2007-12-20T12:52:00.000-06:00

Ya, he's so dang cute!

All I have to do is point the camera in Avery's direction and he's ready for the shot!

Troy has to send out 'work' Christmas cards every year to all of his clients. So this year we took this pic of Kain in front of a McDavid sign and had it made into cards at Costco. We couldn't get one with his eyes open because

of the flash. But it turned out pretty cute anyway...

It was our ward Christmas party a few days ago. It was pretty fun. The food was good and Avery had a really fun time. But we can absolutely NOT get him to sit on Santa's lap.

We promised him anything he wanted and still NO WAY!

He kept saying "Santa's a nice guy, Mommy."

And I was like "Yes he is sweetie, so sit on his lap."

I think he was trying to convince himself that he was a nice guy, but he just couldn't do it...

He wouldn't even come in the room at first. I can't believe we got this close to him?
Anyway, he told Santa everything he wanted from the comfort of my lap and it was very cute...

Here he is jumping off a rafter into his daddy's arms. This started a string of little boys wanting to jump into Troy's arms too.

BOYS...

Amanda and I are on the ward events committee together. From the look of her body language I was just a little too close for comfort! Actually every picture I have with her she looks like I'm too close. She's not real big on touching, which just makes me want to get even closer to her
just to tease her!
Love you Amanda, really I do...

Then came the box of Christmas presents from Nana and Papa. This happens every year, the kids can't get the gifts out fast enough so they can play in the box and get those stupid 'peanuts' all over the house! That drives me crazy to try and clean those things up!

But thank you for all of the gifts Nana and Papa, we are so very thankful...
Which brings me to yesterday. Papa was in town (I know-rare) And even more rare we went to dinner with him. I bet you can't guess where we went for dinner???

Give up?
BENIHANNAS
It was great, like always.

But before dinner we went to the mall. Every year Nana and Papa get all the grand-kids
'Build-a-bears' On top of all the other gifts they give them...
Avery chose a dinosaur which he named 'Cubbie' he dressed him in a Cubs uniform and
absolutely loved it!

Kasey, however, wanted clothes more than a B.A.B. so Papa let her choose a couple things from Abercrombie....She was very happy also.
I would have pictures to show from last night
but I forgot to take my camera??? I never forget my camera. I was a little bummed. Papa, however was happy about that. I drive him a little crazy with all the pictures I take...
Thanks again Papa, we love you!

Hallie...

2007-12-18T10:56:00.000-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HALLIE!!!

Today marks the 9th birthday for our darling daughter

Hallie...

We love you and miss you every single day! You are a very special little angel, and we love you so very much!

Have a wonderful birthday sweetie!

Here are a few pictures of Hallie. It was very hard to limit the number of pictures that I posted. I have a million (at least) of this darling little girl.

We love you ALWAYS and FOREVER!!!

A quick stop in Chi-town...

2007-12-07T13:46:00.000-06:00

Nana and Papa just spent the last two weeks in Italy, to celebrate 35 years of blissful marriage!

Today is their actual anniversary,

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY you love birds!

On the way back to UT, they had a layover here in Chicago and we decided to go get a room at their hotel and spend 24 hours with them...

We went to dinner and then back to the hotel to swim... Avery had been talking about swimming for two days straight! He was so excited!!!
It was all he could think about...

And the pool was AWESOME!!! It was huge! And so warm! I imagine it would cost a fortune to keep that pool heated like that!

You could swim under a bridge and it would take you outside. It was so cool! The heat coming of the water would make this thick steam and then the snow falling made it really magical...

This is the only pic that we took with our camera, but Nana took some with her camera that really show the pool better.

Even KASEY got in! She wasn't going to until she saw the pool. She went back up to the room and got her suit on...

(She doesn't like to get her hair wet with chlorine water because it makes it very unmanageable)

This is Avery after he found out we weren't going swimming again... Awwww, poor little guy!

So we had breakfast this morning and tried to fit in as much talk as possible before they had to leave...

As we dropped them off at the airport, Avery was very sad and said he didn't want his Nana and Papa to leave. He said "Why can't Nana and Papa come to our house?"

It was so sad!

It really is sad to think of all the time we have lost with our families, but especially for Avery, he NEEDS his Grand parents, and his Nana and Papa, and his cousins...

Hopefully soon, hopefully soon...

We came home and put on all of our gifts from Italy. Kasey wouldn't get in the pic because she had just gotten out of the shower and didn't want to take a pic without getting ready!

So we couldn't wait...Troy is wearing his new chefs hat that he will be expected to wear whenever he is cooking...(Other clothes optional)

And his darling Italia sweat shirt- Avery in his Ferrari hat and his Le-Gondole shirt, so dang cute! And me in my apron which I will probably NEVER really cook in because I don't want to get anything on it! And showing my beautiful glass pen that you dip in ink...

I already tried to write with it and it was really cool, but a lot of work! I couldn't imagine having to write page after page like that. Thank goodness for bic! Also the darling hat that I'm wearing two pics above, was also from Italy.

Thank you Nana and Papa! We love you so much and miss you ALWAYS!!!

I heart Mormon humor...

2007-12-02T18:14:00.000-06:00

I found this on a friends blog...

Mitt Romney Tackles top LDS Issues

At last — Mitt tackles top LDS issuesBy Doug RobinsonDeseret Morning NewsPublished: November 20, 2007 Good morning, everyone. I'm Brother — I mean, Mitt — Romney, and I'm running for president. As you might know, for months people have been pressuring me to discuss my Mormon faith the same way my twin, John Kennedy, discussed his Catholicism before he was called to be president.Somehow my religion has become the issue of my campaign. One Washington Post poll showed that people would vote for a woman and a black but not a Mormon.So Gladys Knight just missed.Ba-da-boom.A Harvard professor called me the "most qualified" of all the candidates — have I mentioned in the last five minutes that I saved the Salt Lake Olympics? — but noted that my faith could prevent me from moving into the Oval Office. So I have called this press conference to address this issue. I am thankful for this opportunity, and I know that I'll get more out of this than you will. I'll take questions now.

No. 1. Why is this press conference starting 10 minutes late?It was scheduled to start at 9 a.m. MST — Mormon Standard Time. MST is about 10 minutes later than the rest of the world. Most BYU football fans, for instance, have never heard "The Star Spangled Banner.

"No. 2. Can you discuss the widespread rumor that Mormon men are subjected to horrible violence and unspeakable ugliness regularly in the Mormon culture?I'm not here to talk about church ball. Not in front of the women anyway. Next question.

No. 3. If you win, will there be a Second Lady and Third Lady in the White House?Listen, the only thing Mormons know about polygamy is what they learn on "Big Love" and the 10 o'clock news. We marry one partner — of the opposite sex — and have 3.5 kids and that's pretty much it.

No. 4. What about this Warren Jeffs guy we keep hearing about?Warren Jeffs has about as much chance to become the president of the Mormon church as a Mormon has to become president of the United — oh, wait; never mind.

No 5. Do Mormons have horns?Yes, and they use them frequently in the traffic jams that form outside of general conference biannually. No, in all seriousness, we drop our horns at puberty.

No. 6. Do Mormons still drive wagons on the roads?Please, that's the Amish gig! We do like vans and Suburbans, though — aka the Mormon Cadillac.

No. 7. Is it difficult being a Mormon?Nah, it makes life easier. LaVell Edwards noted a few years ago that one of the benefits of church membership is that when you forget a first name there's always an out — "Hey there, um, Brother Smith.

"No. 8. Are Mormons a threat to national security?Not unless you're on the road on the first Sunday of the month. It's an inside joke.

No. 9. Why should we trust a Mormon?Because the 49ers and Eagles did. Because the Miss America pageant did. Because so did Black & Decker and voters in Nevada. Here's a list of Mormons (you can sing it to the tune of Adam Sandler's Hanukkah song) "Sharlene Wells-Hawkes is a Mormon; so is Dale Murphy, Steve Young and J. Willard Marriott; Warren Jeffs — NOT A MORMON! Neither is B.J. Honeycutt, but everyone thinks he is; We've got John and Glenn Beck and a senator and coach named Reid; Robert Redford and Larry King both married Mormons; Mike Wallace is not a Mormon, but he really likes our leader; Larry Miller, Johnny Miller, Donny and Marie; all of them are Mormons, just like Ann and me.

"No. 10. Could you discuss the confusion about your former Mormon leadership title of steak president?I've had several people ask me if they could have theirs "medium well." It's s-t-a-k-e, not s-t-e-a-k.

No. 11. As a long shot, how do you ever expect to move to the White House? The elders quorum.

No. 12. Can we count on you to visit us regularly once you're in office? I'll bring a friend. How about the first Sunday of the month?

Let's talk Turkey...

2007-11-23T16:41:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was our third Thanksgiving away from our families...

It really isn't getting any easier, but we still had a nice day.

I really like cooking, especially big meals with lots of left overs!

Everything was delicious, although Kasey later told my Mom that my Turkey was dry????

It was NOT dry, it was perfect-JEEZ

I asked Avery what he was most thankful for...

His reply "MILK, I LOVE MILK!"
As a matter of fact, that's all he had for Thanksgiving dinner. I can't get him to eat anything?

Anyway, we have a lot to be thankful for. And even though the holidays

will be spent away from our families,

we are grateful for the Internet and phones and mail!

The baby that inspired two tattoos...

2007-11-20T09:46:00.000-06:00

It's hard to believe that it's been 14 years since I had my first baby!!!

I'm still holding onto 20 lbs from that pregnancy!

Kasey Happy Birthday!
My beautiful baby girl was born 14 years ago today!
What a journey it has been for us! She was the most beautiful baby I had ever laid eyes on, and everyone else who saw her couldn't agree more!
We couldn't go anywhere without someone stopping us to look at this beautiful baby!

Kasey is definitely something special!
It was hard to decide which pics to use in this post. A lot of my pictures are still in UT. with my mom, so I just went with a few that I think best showcase Kas for who she is...

This might be my very favorite picture of Kasey. You never had to tell her how to pose, she would do it on her own... a natural

The future NEXT TOP MODEL... Move over Tyra...

And of course a darling pic with a darling dog... Kas loves animals. Every other picture I have of her is with an animal. This was my girlfriend Shannon's dog, his name is 'Tank'
So cute!

So anyway, we celebrated her birthday with 10 of her friends on Saturday...

She got lots of cute gifts, and a lot of money- thanks to Grandma and Grandpa

Last year for her birthday, we rented a couple rooms at a Hotel and she invited about 15 girls to come swim and spend the night there. It was a nightmare! They were so bad, I could not believe it! I don't know how we didn't get kicked out of there!

Anyway, we decided then and there that we would never again do anything like that!

So this year she had 10 friends over for dinner and a sleep over...innocent enough right?

WRONG! THEY WHERE EVEN MORE ROTTEN THAN LAST YEAR!

What is it with girls?

Why is it IMPOSSIBLE for them to get along when there's more than two of them! Instead
of just having a good time, there's DRAMA...

I don't know what were going to do next year?

Well, here's to you Kasey. You're an amazing girl with endless talents!

I am so proud of you and the young woman that you're becoming!

I am so thankful for you. We have been through a lot together, and I am so grateful for your strength and love!

Please continue to be a wonderful example to your little bro, he loves you to bits!

My only bit of 'Birthday' advice to you is this,

If you ever have a question about anything, or if you're wondering if you should do something or not, just think to yourself, 'Would I do this in front of my Grandma?' that should clear things right up for you!

I love you sweetie, always and forever...

I'm mad about you, you're mad about me babe...

2007-11-13T08:59:00.000-06:00

Yesterday marked the fifth year of marriage for Troy and I... Yes five AmAzInG years of marital bliss!

So even though we no longer feed each other cake with our hands, we are still mad about each other!
So the day played out this way...
Lunch at Red Robin with Avery, then we did some shopping- blah blah

Picked up Kas from school...

Then we ordered some take out and came home for dinner and Dancing with the Stars/The Bachelor... Which Troy was NOT very happy about! He can't stand "My shows" so he did a little work until "My shows" were over!

Yes, a marriage made in HeAvEn...

So even though some things have changed, we are still madly in love with each other,

and quite honestly I wouldn't have it any other way!

Smiley- Mailee...

2007-11-12T12:59:00.000-06:00

We just received very bad news about my niece Danya's doggie Mailee. She was hit and killed this past Saturday night. Danya, Mike and kids, we are so sorry for your loss. This post is deticated to the cuttest little pug ever! We loved Mailee very, very much!

We got to doggie-sit Mailee all the time and honestly I never wanted to give her back!
Here she is napping with Hallie. The bed was one of her very favorite places to be!

Mailee was always invited to our house for parties and different events! Here she is at Kasey's birthday party. She is so darling! Look at those skinny little legs trying to hold up that fat little body!

She loved to chew on balls! You can barely see her behind this one! This picture is of Chandler my nephew, Kasey and Chandler's dog Sadie, who wanted her ball back!

Again on the bed. She would sleep with us at night and it was such a crack up! She would snort so loudly and I just loved it! I loved her so much!

And last but not least here she is sleeping with Kain. Kain loved Mailee because she never bugged him! All she wanted to do was sleep and have people rub her fat tummy!

Mailee, we will miss you but we will never forget you!

Indiana, The crossroads of America...

2007-11-06T07:54:00.000-06:00

When we first moved to Chicago, I had planned to go with my Dear Husband as often as possible on road trips. He covers about 10 states in the Midwest, and drives often. So we thought it would work out that we (Avery and I, possibly Kasey) could tag along and stay at the Hotel, and swim and shop etc. Well three years and ONE ROAD TRIP LATER we got to go with Troy to Indiana for a couple days...
I suppose when we first moved here we forgot?? that we have a D.O.G.??? We knew Kas could stay at a friends house or come with us if she wanted too, but the dog we forgot to calculate into this little equation? He has been the reason over and over that we could not go on these trips.
And quite honestly, after just returning from a (very long) 5 hour road trip, I am so thankful for the dog!
I just really don't like driving long distances in a car?
It's not that I didn't have a great time, because I did! But the drive just kills me! I'm sooo impatient! I'm like the 8 year old in the back seat asking "Are we there yet?" "How much longer?" "You mean three more HOURS???"
Seriously I don't know how my DH does it?

So anyway, we stopped in Indianapolis for dinner on the way to Richmond, ( which is about an hour away from Indianapolis.) We ate at Pf Chang's. It was delicious, as always. When we pulled up to the restaurant Avery said "Where's Papa?" I guess he associates eating out with Papa. And if you read this blog regularly, you know why...

When we got to the Hotel, we took our bags to the room and rushed down to the pool. Avery was SOOOO excited to go swimming!

Right when we got in, Avery swallowed a little water and started throwing up! Thank goodness we were the only ones in the pool! We spent the rest of the time in the Hot tub...

The next day, Troy had a show at the Hotel. So Avery and I hung out for a while in the room, got ready and went down to the show. It was fun! You definitely get A LOT of attention when you're the only woman among 180 men... I think I scored us a couple of stadium seats and a new Wilson woman's basketball! I guess we'll see if the stuff shows up in the mail!

Lunch break during the show, found us at Red Lobster. Avery loves the Lobsters and our waiter came over and got one out for him! It was cool. We got to touch is fuzzy tail and as you can see, took a couple pics. When we asked the guy what the Lobsters name was he said, "LUNCH!"

How sad, but how good...

After the show, we packed up and started home. We again stopped in Indianapolis but this time we ate at ST. ELMOS

If you ever find yourself in Indianapolis Indiana, go eat at St. Elmos!

It was great! Avery slept the entire time we were there, which was such a blessing! No one ever brings kids into St Elmos! I'm sure they about died when we walked in with him!

But you wouldn't know it! Everyone was so wonderful to us!

One thing about St. Elmos that differs from a lot of other restaurants, they have all male servers, or so we thought! A woman brought us over our dinners, and so we asked her a few questions. She is the 8th woman to ever work there, in over 100 years! She said Avery was about the 10th kid she's ever seen in the restaurant! She also said that on average she makes 500.oo dollars a night! ON AVERAGE! Holy crap! I made about 200.oo, a night on average at LaCaille, and I had to wear a corset! She was in a tux!

She said she made 800.00 the night before AND they get benefits AND they have it set up that they actually get taxes BACK! Servers NEVER get benefits let alone get taxes back!

Pretty cool! She said it's almost impossible to get a job there because nobody EVER leaves!

After dinner we were back on the road. It wasn't too bad... Well yes it was! Driving with all those huge trucks is so dang scary! It makes me even MORE worried about Troy doing it all the time! Avery slept another couple of hours, when he did wake up, he just snacked on chips and brownies, and watched Scooby-Doo DVD's

He was better in the car that I was!
All and all it was a very nice trip! But I will NOT be taking another road trip anytime soon!
And even though she doesn't read my blog (she's WAY TOO COOL FOR THAT!) thanks KAS for taking such good care of Kain! And thank you for having the house clean when we got home!

And thank you for NOT having a party while we were gone!
You didn't have a party while we were gone, right?

Don't forget to brush!

2007-11-01T09:48:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's come and gone... This was probably one of the strangest

Halloweens ever? It was warm and we had finished Trick or Treating before it was even dark? It just seemed to come and go too quickly for me...

As for Avery, he would NOT under and circumstances put on a costume??? It was almost as if he was afraid of them? We tried everything from a Spiderman costume to a skeleton sweatsuit but he would not budge! How could a child of mine NOT want to dress up for Halloween! INCONCEIVABLE!

He would, however, put on his cubs shirt and baseball pants? I guess these things really weren't considered " A Costume" to him?

So as you can see, he looked absolutely darling as a Cubbie baseball player! And as for all of our neighbors, they thought it was the greatest costume EVER!

He definitely got special treatment! People would say to him "Take a handful of candy, we have to support our own!" I was thinking one of our own??? These people think we LIKE the Cubs? They think we like anything about Illinois??? OH my HECK! We aren't Cubs fans were

RED SOX FANS!

Just kidding, we like the Cubs- a little...

Anyway, Avery had a great time and got a ton of candy!

Kasey was an Army girl. She had gone straight to her friends house after school so I didn't get to take a pic of her and her friends before they went out... I made her take a pic when she got home. She was a little reluctant to let me take one, but I made her!

Kas and Avery combined their candy...

Troy and I sadly not dressed up.

We hope you all had a spooky and safe Halloween...

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

2007-10-28T09:28:00.000-05:00

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...

2007-10-27T20:07:00.000-05:00

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?

2007-10-25T10:41:00.000-05:00

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...

2007-10-22T07:40:00.000-05:00

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...

2007-10-13T19:12:00.000-05:00

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>>>>>>>