Disneyland

 A couple of weeks ago Emma, Tara, Aubri, Jenni, Dayna and I all went to Disneyland.  It was magical :)  This was the first time Emma and I had ever been there and that made it even more fun.  The only bad part about the trip was the weather...108 degrees with 78% humidity...nope, not a typo :/  Dayna and Jenni are the Disneyland queens and knew everything that we should do and when and how to do it.  I could not have had a better experience.  

Here are a few photos from the trip:  

Jenni, Emma, Tara and Aubri on It'sA Small World ride--Aubs loved it!  

 Emma with Eyore...kind of.  We did not want to stand in line for a photo, so we got creative.  Emma's hair is wet from the Splash Mountain ride.  We told her she was lightest so she had to sit in front - ha!  

 Aubri devouring an ice cream treat.  It was sooo hot and she was so good.  

 Waiting for one of the parades to begin in California Adventure.  The parades and the shows were my favorite part of the trip.  

 Emma pushing Aubs through California Adventure.  

 Emma at the end of the first day.  She was wiped out!  Dayna and I outlasted all the young gals and ended up staying at the park from open to close everyday.  

 All decked out for Halloween...

 The young Jedi in Training show...so cute.  They called little kids from the audience to train to face Darth Vador in a fight at the end.  One little gal burst into tears when she saw Darth Vador--so funny.  

 Emma and Jenni

 Poor Aubri trying to cool off while she slept.  She was such a trooper.  

 The last day there Dayna bought us matching t-shirts so we could look like twins.  We got a lot of looks and by the end of the day it finally dawned on us that perhaps the looks were not because we looked like twins, but rather a "couple" --haha!  We cracked up over that one.  And yes, we both had fanny packs.  We caught a lot of flack from the girls about our fanny packs, but even they admitted in the end that they were "necessary but not fashionable."  Jenni and Emma were even asking to put stuff in mine.  

 Aubri watching the parade...she loved it and the characters loved her.  As they passed by they would blow her kisses or say how cute she was.  

 Last night in the park by the castle.  We looked wiped out and sweaty-eddie.  

Jenni & Cordell Wedding Pictures

 We finally received the pictures from Jenni & Cordell's wedding.  Enjoy!

Cahoots

Last weekend Josh participated in a mud run called "Cahoots".  He found about it online and talked his friend, Darrell, into doing it with him.  Evidently, you have to do this race in pairs.  When Josh first told me about this I was a bit concerned.  He is in decent shape, but holy cow, this was a RACE.  He was not deterred and entered the race determined to just have fun.  

They had to give their team a name and they came up with "White and Nerdy"..loved it.  As you can possibly tell from Josh's shirt, bow tie and suspenders, he took the name seriously. 

If you look at the pictures it is funny to note that they began with nice, clean, tidy clothing.  They also had happy, energetic smiles.  By the last couple of pictures, that image changes.  Silly boys. (FYI:  they finished in the middle of the pack of about 2,000 people)

 Josh and Darryl holding on for dear life crossing one of the many obstacles they encountered. 

 Looking pretty tired...and finally, complete exhaustion.  Notice how Josh's glasses are just dangling around his neck.  He told me he was too tired to put them back on.  When I asked if he planned to do it again, he replied "of course!"  Love that boy! 

Smokey Mornings

 Emma's soccer team is participating in a tournament this week in West Jordan.  Today we had a game at 8 am and this is what the air/sky looked like - yuck.  I wish the smoke would go away.  You can hardly even see the mountains it is so soupy out there. 

Love this picture of Emma waiting to return to the game after a short break.  One more day of heat, smoke and sweat - that goes for me too, not just Emma.  It is hard work yelling cheering on the sidelines ;) 

Seeds

Christopher called me today with some great news.  He received a message from his mission president telling him that a lady he had taught on his mission was finally being baptized this Saturday.  She had somehow contacted President Sanchez and told him that she really wanted to talk to Christopher but did not have his contact information.  President Sanchez passed along the information to Christopher and he called her earlier this afternoon.

Some background information:  Christopher and his companion had found this lady while knocking on doors in 2007.   I remember Christopher telling us all about her and her son, Mark.  Unfortunately, she did not get baptized and he was rather sad about it.  I had forgotten about them until Christopher called me today. 

During their conversation, Jill (the lady)  mentioned to Christopher that she still had the Book of Mormon that he had given her.  Evidently it was one I sent him with my testimony in it to pass on to someone.  She asked him who Dawna Williamson was?  Ha!  She told him that is the book she reads from all the time.  I have a vague recollection of writing my testimony in that book and after I had sent it off, I completely forgot about it--until today.  When Christopher told me this, it kind of choked me up.  All I could think of was little seeds.  He had planted little seeds and now five years later she is accepting the gospel and being baptized.  Once again, small and simple things...

It All Happens In the Kitchen

 Yesterday we celebrated Josh's birthday.  As you can tell by the pictures, our family gatherings always end up in the kitchen.  I need a bigger kitchen.  

(above- Aubri and Jenni-Aubs looks a little skeptical...)

(below - Josh blowing out candles on his brownies that Tara made.  He did not want a cake-can't blame him)

 (Christopher making Aubri laugh-she loves his Elmo voice)

(Everyone-minus Emma who was somewhere else- in the kitchen)

"Climb a Tree, It Brings You Closer to Heaven" - Author Unknown

Abigail took this great picture of my brown baby girl climbing a tree.  When I saw it, it reminded me of my childhood and the many times Dayna and I would climb trees during the summer months.  Simpler days, simpler times.  I want to go back. 

Aubri on the 4th of July

She's Gone

Emma was invited to Lake Powell this weekend by Casey Anne's parents and now my house is really quiet.  Rachel (Casey's mom) sent me this picture early this morning as they were traveling. 

Little gal already has her swimsuit on in anticipation of the water.  Looks like she will be well rested for a fun afternoon on the lake.  Have fun, Em... I miss you already. 

Milo & Henry

Meet Milo & Henry.  

These little guys are Maddie's latest kittens. 

 They were born on June 1, 2012 at 1:00 am...at least Henry was.  

Not sure about Milo.  He arrived sometime between 1:30 am and 6:30 am.

I actually had a dream a couple of weeks before they were born and in the dream she had her kittens the weekend that Jenni was to be married.  I was a little stressed thinking that this would happen while we were all gone for the weekend.  Maddie is really old and I wasn't sure she would make it through the birthing process.  As Greg says, it is like a 90 year old woman giving birth.  However she surprised us all and pulled through.  

Anyway, my dream was right.  They were born the night morning before the wedding.  Around 11:00 pm Maddie started meowing like crazy and would not leave me alone.  I realized this was going to be a long night, so I made her a comfortable bed in the family room and laid down with her and just kept petting her.  Yep, I was her birthing coach. 

 Josh was there with me and to keep him busy I had him Googling "what happens to cats when they give birth".  He was pretty grossed out.  At one point I told him that he needed to take my place and help her breath (totally kidding).  I told him to just go "hee hee whooo, hee hee whooo" hahahaha!  He was not amused but I was giggling.  

During this process Jenni got home and upon realizing what was happening began to dry heave.  Serious?  And then at 1:00 am when Maddie popped one out she really had issues.  I can't wait to hear all about her first birthing experience someday. 

These little dudes are now spunky little kittens.  We already have a home for one and the other I will be positing on KSL.  Thankfully I have never had a hard time finding homes for these critters.  In the meantime, Aubri has discovered them.  She loves to "crawl" over to them and squeeze  pet them.  Thankfully they can run a lot faster than she can crawl. 

  

On Fire

I cannot ever remember a summer with as many fires as we have had this year.  Today a fire was started about 5 miles from our home - scary.  The place it started was where we took our family pictures last fall.  Crazy stuff.  It is actually just a few blocks away from Tara's in-laws home.   I am a little concerned about what tomorrow will bring with all the fireworks that will be lit.  I for one, will not be purchasing ANY.  Hopefully others will have the same mindset. 

What A Difference A Color Can Make

 Dayna and Peter recently painted the home they purchased last summer.  The last few times I have been in Boise, Dayna has been showing me paint samples getting my opinion.  When she showed me this one I feel in love with it.  It makes me want to copy her and paint my home the same colors!  

She debated about what color to paint the front door.  One of her friends suggested eggplant purple - EEEKKKKK!  I about had a heart-attack when she told me.  She was adamant that she did not want black (I suggested that), so I mentioned ochre yellow.  I love the black, but you know, I think the ochre yellow would have worked!  I especially love how the new color makes the flower beds pop :) The picture above is 'BEFORE" and below is "AFTER"...much better...

You Just Can't Make This Stuff Up, Folks

Last night I was visiting with Marja after Pack Meeting and as our conversation progressed, I told her the following story.  She told me that I needed to add it to my blog, so here goes...

Jenni and Cordell bought a condo just before they were married.  It was dirt cheap and a great deal, so great in fact that I wasn't sure it was legit.  However, when all was said and done it ended up being the deal of the century and they now have a cute little place to call home.  

Jenni and Cordell had Greg and I come take a look before the sale was final.  As we were going through the house I asked them if it had A/C.  I could not see a unit anywhere.  Jenni assured me that yes, it did have A/C.  I remained unsure, but whatever...it wasn't my house. 

After they were married they could not figure out why the A/C was not working.  They had tried everything with the thermostat and still no luck.  They had purchased a home warranty with the house so they decided that when they returned from Hawaii that they would have someone come out and see what was wrong with the air conditioning.  

Upon returning from Hawaii and encountering 100 plus degree weather here in Utah, they contacted a repairman to come out and see what was up.  He told Jenni on the phone that it was probably just something simple like a switch or something.  I was still a little skeptical...

When the repairman arrived and inspected the home he discovered that the home did not have air conditioning.  Surprise! ( at least to them haha )   Hmmm...no wonder it was not working ;)  Jenni called me and could not figure out how that could of happened.  I asked why she thought it had it and she said because on the inspection paper the little box by "air conditioner" was checked.  Wow.  Any of you reading this and know Jenni realize that this comment makes perfect sense to her.  My concern is Cordell....I always thought this young man was pretty bright.  Maybe not so much :)  Or maybe she is just rubbing off on him.  Either way, one of them should have figured this out. 

But wait!  The story gets better.  Since they recently discovered that their home does not have A/C, Jenni and  Cordell went out shopping for window units to get them through this summer  (They plan to install a permanent system next Spring).  While they were shopping, Jenni called me with some questions.  She was wondering how many units they would need to buy.  *Sigh*  Really?  All they needed to do was look to see how many square feet the unit cools and do the math comparing the square footage of their home.  Not exactly rocket science -- at least for some people ;)  

She was calling me during my conversation with Marja and we were both (Marja and I)  dying of laughter by the time I hung up.  Thus the encouragement by Marja to blog about this.  Silly kids. 

First Sleepover At Grandma's House

Last week Tara and Austin celebrated their 3 year anniversary and asked if I would watch Aubri overnight for them.  Sure!  I had her almost 24 hours straight and she was an angel.  I cannot get over what a good little baby she is. 

 I took her for a walk, played outside with her, sat on the porch where we watched people go by, read books, played patty cake, gave her a bath and many more other silly things that I do not normally do anymore.  It was great. 

My favorite thing I did  with her was snuggling.  There is nothing that can make the world stand still quicker than to hold a sweet, innocent baby and watch her slowly go to sleep.  When she got tired, she just nestled into my arms.  So sweet.  She went to sleep at 7 pm, woke up for one hour around 9:30 pm and then went right back to sleep until 5:00 am. When she woke up at 5:00 am it was because she was cold so I brought her into my bed where she cuddled right up to me and went right back to sleep until 8:30 am. (the picture above is when she was in my bed.  Not sure how comfortable that position was, but she did not seem to mind too much so I left her).

Yes, I was tired the next day --not sure why other than I am just plain OLD, but it was worth it.  I can't wait to have more sleepovers with more grandchildren someday.  Did you get that Christopher and Jenni???