the one about our cute moms

My mom, Julie and Brett's mom Gleneita just had their class reunion. I have to share these pictures because they are so cute!! Gleneita was SO nervous, so she had to come down to my house so I could reassure her she didn't look like the "class hooker." (her words, not mine!) And my mom needed my help getting into her "slimming apparatus," as she called it. They were both so cute and looked so BEAUTIFUL! Brett and I wiped a tear as we sent our girls out for a fun night with their old friends. (Not really, but we kinda felt that way!!)

the one about the SuperBowl and my sister

I gotcha with my title, didn't I? I don't have a sister. Well, a real live biological sister, that is. I do, however have my Brynn. She is my sister-in-law and one of my very best friends. We are married to brothers, and both of us will argue that we each married the best brother! And we will agree that we are thrilled that we didn't marry the other brother, Cory! HaHaHa!!! Neither Brynn or myself have sisters, so we decided years ago that we would just be each others adopted sister. We have also adopted our husbands' sister, Talia, as one of our sisters. The three of us are so happy to have each other and we share such a special bond. I don't know what I would do without these girls.

Early last Friday morning, Brynn's mom, Wendy, passed away. I feel so bad for Brynn. She is very close with her mom. Wendy has had many health problems and has really struggled over the years. Brynn has done everything possible to help her mom. Wendy passed very unexpectedly, but also very peacefully in her sleep. Brynn's family is doing quite well considering the circumstances.

Friday evening, my mom and I took dinner to Brandon and Brynn. When I left, Beau'D wanted to come home with me and play with Quayd. We decided to go swimming at the rec. center. After swimming, we took Beau'D home and Brynn invited us to eat dinner with them. It was so nice. The next night, Saturday, there was a UFC fight on pay per view so Brandon invited Brett to come watch it with him. I wasn't to interested in the fight, so I went to see my Brynn. When I got there, she was working on a project for the funeral. She was doing some photo collages and she was having a creativity block. I was excited to get my hands on something crafty, and I think she was happy for the help. We finished the project and it turned out very nice. Once we finished, she was just spent. I could see it in her face. She looked at me, sighed, and asked if I would come lay by her in her bed and cuddle. I was happy she asked! We went in her room and got the bed all ready. Just as we were getting comfortable, the guys emerged from the basement because the fight was over. No cuddling for us. :( We stood in the kitchen and visited and decided to get together for the Superbowl the next night. We made food assignments and invited Brett's other siblings, his mom, and Brynn's dad. Sunday afternoon, we headed over to Brandon and Brynn's. Three nights in a row! Of course, Brynn and I were not into the game at all! SO here are some of the things we did instead. Brynn read a book. We watched Twilight. We made a bed on the floor and got our cuddle on! Ran to the store. We had LOTS of delicious beverages! We ate things that were NOT on our diet.

I waxed Brynn's eyebrows and face, and I gave her a pedicure. It was such a fun night!

The kids had a blast running around, eating non-stop and making a huge mess!

Brynn's dad, Tom, was right in the middle of all of the kids!

Brycen rolling on the love sack.

Sweet Little Kelby. He is such a good boy!

The boys of course watched the game, but they also had some type of wrestle mania thing going on.

Talia's boyfriend, Chance (in the darker colored shirt) and his buddy Pat (in the red).

Beau'D trying to referee Brandon and Chance.

They were also having wars with a marshmallow gun, drank LOTS of delicious beverages, ate lots and lots of food and made a huge mess!!! After the game, everyone cleaned up, I washed all of the dishes then we headed home.

We have had a blast with Brandon and Brynn and their family the last few days. My poor little Brynn. I feel so bad for her. I feel bad that we have been at their house everyday for the last 3 days and we have made mess, after mess, after mess! But we have cleaned it all up and we have sure had fun together. I guess that makes it worth the mess, right?

the one about salsa

The Galley family has the best recipe for salsa. They used to make it every year. The bad thing about it is that it takes so much work that everyone who makes it is kind of stingy with it, so nobody ever really got any. (After making it, I totally understand that!) We are such salsa people so we knew we needed to figure it out. Brett and I started making and canning it about four years ago. It is seriously so good!!! We made a ton in 2005, 2006 and 2007 so we were well stocked. We actually should have canned it again last year, but we were just to busy. We ate our last jar this winter. This is the perfect time of year to make it, so we started last week. We made one batch last Monday and another on Friday. We will still probably do another batch or two, but we needed a rest! It is SO MUCH WORK! And you don't really get a whole lot. When we are making it, I always think, "This is in no way worth all of the work and the HUGE MESS!" But once I see it all bottled up, I am glad we did it. And I am even more glad once I eat some! It takes forever. First, you have to cut and chop all of the peppers, jalapenos, chilies and onions. Then you have to blanch all of the tomatoes and, of course, they need to be chopped too. You add all of the other stuff and once you get it all put together, it has to cook for 2 hours and it must be watched carefully. (We helped some friends make it several years ago and they burned a whole pot of it!!) We try to recruit people to come and help us, and Talia was the lucky winner of batch #1 and Gleneita was here for batch #2. Yes, we shared..... a little bit! ;) Anyway, this is the fruit of our labor. Isn't it beautiful?
We have already eaten some and it is delish! It is definitely worth all of the work.

the one about the trampoline spring

OK. I love gross things. But this was pretty bad. Don't worry, there are no pictures of the actual event so all of the nastiness will be left to your imagination. I did take pictures today, but they aren't bad, I promise. I used photo shop to add some graphics to help you better understand.

Yesterday, Quayd's little buddy Shade came over to play. They had a BLAST! Well, right before Shade's mom came to get him, they were playing on the trampoline. Our trampoline has started to rip a little and a few of the springs have come off. I guess they were using them as fishing poles or something and somehow.... here it comes.... the end of the spring got caught in Quayd's bottom eyelid!!!! It was hanging there and everything! I heard a scream from outside and I ran to the door. He was holding his eye and FREAKING out. I was so scared to look at it! I was just sure it was going to be bad. I told him I would get a washcloth and when I moved his hand to put the washcloth over his eye, I could see that there was no major injury. But.... GROSS! Anyway, it was really bothering him last night but everything in his eye looked good. He could still see and everything and it had flushed out really well. He said this morning when he woke up, it was all crusty and stuck together, but he is doing fine today. Brett was gone when it all went down, but Gleneita was here for a visit. She was pretty freaked out because it reminded her of when Brett was about 3, he stabbed himself in the eye with a steak knife! He had to have surgery and everything. It was a pretty big deal. He is actually blind in that eye because of the injury. Anyway, here are the pictures from today.

This is the spring. I have marked the end that got caught in his eyelid.

The arrow in this picture shows where the spring was hooked. The circle shows the black eye that is starting to form. Here he is today.... CRAZY STORY, Right?

the one about Christmas 2008

Phewwwwwww....... It's finally over.

I don't know what my deal was this year, but I just never really got into Christmas. We had an amazing time, everything was perfect, Quayd was spoiled, I was spoiled... seriously, everything was perfect. But I am SO GLAD its over.

On Christmas Eve, we always go to my Grandma's and have dinner and gift exchange. We have done it for as long as I can remember. I always look forward to it. We always have a great time, awesome food and perfect gifts. This year did not disappoint. We had turkey, ham, funeral potatoes, veggies, rolls, and lots more. My Grandparent's, Mom, Brother and his family and me and my family were there. Ten people total. Quayd got a bunch of those magnetic things. One set is even a roller coaster thing and he was in seventh heaven! He also got a mini table-top pool table. It is super cute!!!! I got a nice new digital camera. My camera has finally had it, so that is why there are no pictures. Anyway, it was great!! Probably the best gift was having my grandma home, and doing MUCH BETTER!!!!

After we got home, we got everything ready for Santa. We were all so tired, so we all went to be around 9:00. Quayd was so tired that by 9:30 he was sound asleep. Brett and I were crazy tired too, so we "took care of a few things" and we were in bed by 9:41. I don't remember anything after that until 7:00 am. Then we woke up to find this......

Quayd did well from Santa, as you can see. He got a huge dump truck that was clear full of goodies. He got a bunch more of his favorite mini airplanes, a globe, tons of space ships, a firetruck set, a gumball machine, a wii game, a Nintendo DS with 4 games and a bunch of other stuff. It is so hard not to spoil him. So instead of fighting it, we just go for it and spoil the crap out of him. He is such a good boy though, he deserves every bit of it. I am so excited, because Quayd and Brett surprised me (sorta) with and iPod touch!!!! I wanted one so bad and I was sure there was no way we could pull it off, but good old Brett came through for me. It is such a cute story. Last week, I had a NASTY stomach flu. I felt horrible and I had been throwing up and pooping for 2 days straight. I had asked Brett to stop and get me some Sprite on his way home from work. He came home and asked Quayd to go with him to the store. I really didn't think much of it. I just assumed that Brett was trying to get Quayd out of my hair so I could rest. Later that night when Brett was in the shower, I was putting stuff away that he had bought at Wal-Mart. in a bag of goodies, there were some brand new ear buds, pink. I thought it was weird but I didn't want to say anything in case it was a surprise. I seriously LOVE surprises and I love to be surprised. (However, I HATE to be startled, so don't ever try to surprise me by hiding and shouting, "SURPRISE!" That would just take all of the good stuff out of the surprise.) So Brett gets out of the shower and comes into the kitchen and says, "Oh. I got these for you. I know your iPod ear buds hurt your ears." That was it. I was like, "Bummer." Anyway, fast forward a bit.... The next morning, while I was putting on my makeup, I was charging this no-name brand mP4 player that Brett won at work. I had come to terms that I was not getting my iPod touch. Quayd walked into the bathroom and asked, "Mom, what is that?" I said, "It's sorta like an iPod." Then, so innocently, he says, "Oh. Like the one me and Dad got for you?" I just sat there. I asked, "Did you and Dad get me an iPod?" He got really upset, shouted, "MAYBE!" and ran out of the room. I felt so bad for finding out and even worse that he was upset that he thought he ruined the surprise. I never said another word and just pretended like I had no idea. I told Brett the story, and although he was disappointed, he agreed that we wouldn't tell Quayd about the mess up. So they wrapped it all up for me and put it under the tree. When Quayd gave it to me today, he was SO excited. (seriously, so was I!!!) He still has no idea that I knew and he was so proud to give it to me. I have played with it all day. I got all of the songs that I could ever desire on it. It is SO COOL!!!!! I love it. Thank you so much Brett and Quayd. I love it so much. It means so much to me that you would go to all that trouble to stash money and secretly buy it for me. Brett, I love you. You are the best!!

We were able to relax for a few hours before heading to Gleneita's. Brett had a nap and Quayd and I went next door to see what Brayden and Brennen got. They too, did well.

We went to Gleneita's at 10:00 am. This year we decided to draw names so it cut WAY back on the cost of gifts. We all still left with nice stuff and it was great. Talia took pictures for me since my new camera wasn't charged yet.
We were just relaxing on the floor while all the kids ran around us.




Isn't Branson about the cutest thing you have ever seen???





Cory, Quayd and Branson wrestled forever!! I don't know who had more fun.



Beau'D had this flat ball that he kept wearing as a hat. What a nut!




We had such a great Christmas. Tons of wonderful memories, laughs, gifts and everything else. I am so grateful for my awesome family, wonderful husband and beautiful son. I am also grateful that Christmas is over for a whole year.

Now, we are preparing for our annual trip to SLC to the Jazz game with the Galley family. We are leaving around noon Friday and coming home on Sunday. Wish us luck!!!

the one about updates

I am so bugged. I didn't get to see Twilight. :( I got super sick on Wednesday night. I ended up going to the Doctor Thursday morning and I had a sinus infection and bronchitis. I got an antibiotic and finally last night (Friday) I started feeling a little better. Today, I am still dragging a little bit, but I can tell I am on the mend. I hate to use my "heart stuff" as an excuse and I am not at all seeking pitty... but ever since that all happened to me, when I get sick, I REALLY GET SICK! My body and immune system aren't as strong to fight off infection, and I go down... hard and fast. Then it screws up all of my other medicines and I seriously feel like I have been hit by a train. Thank goodness though, I think I have seen the worst of it.

My poor grandma is still in the hospital, but she too is on the mend. She will probably be there for another week or so. I feel so bad for her because she was chosen to be the Grand Marshal of the Christmas Parade here in town. It takes place the day after Thanksgiving. She was supposed to ride in a horse drawn carriage and now she is not going to be able to do it. She is pretty bummed about it. I haven't seen her since Sunday because I have been so sick and haven't been able to get out of bed, plus I have hated to risk her catching something. I have talked to her on the phone about everyday though and I am planning on going over this afternoon.

Itty Bitty is doing so much better on her potty-training!!! I tried new cat litter, more boxes and I have been better about scooping them every day. No accidents for awhile and I see LOTS of pee in the box. Phewwww..... She figured it out at the perfect time. Well, perfect for her. Perfect for me would have been a little earlier! ;)

So one of my most favorite things in the world is Bingo!
I really love it. The Catholic church puts on a HUGE Bingo event every fall. You pay admission and buy as many extra cards as you wish. They serve food and drinks. All of the money goes to local families for Christmas. They have awesome prizes. We never win a thing. EVER! But we still go every year. Brett, Gleneita and I have gone together forever. This year, Gary and Tara invited us to go as couples with another couple, Jeff and Sherry.
Of course, Gleneita wanted to come, so she brought a date!!! She is pretty cute, huh! ;)

Oh! So this is exciting.... I won a turkey from the local radio station the other day. That was pretty cool. They give a clue about a local business and the first person to enter that business wins! Yah, it was me. I was so excited. I actually got a gift certificate to buy one, but that is good enough for me!!!

I am super excited that Thanksgiving is less than a week away. I love Thanksgiving. I love being with our families and pigging out on awesome food. My mom makes the BEST stuffing EVER!!!!! And I can't wait to sink my teeth into it. I always make her cook a HUGE batch so I can have it for leftovers for awhile. Yummmm-O. We are pretty sure Ga will be home by then, so my mom and I are planning on fixing dinner at our houses and taking it to her house. I think it will just be Ga, Pop, my mom, Brett Quayd and I. Then later, we will go to Aunt Debbie's with the Lane's. She makes a great dinner too. I love it. And I love that it kicks of my FAVORITE time of year!!!!! I am planning on putting up my Christmas tree this week. I like to have it up before Thanksgiving. We will see if I can keep feeling good so I can get it done.

In case I don't blog before then, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I love you all. I am thankful for you. My blog stalkers! :) Hugs and Kisses!!!

the one about our crazy halloween weekend

Geez... I am FINALLY getting to our crazy Halloween weekend. We have had such a wild weekend, and even though its Wednesday already, I am still trying to recover!! Let me start with Halloween. As you all probably already know, Tara and I were Wayne and Garth from Wayne's World for Halloween. We had SO much fun at work that day. I don't think we ever really stopped laughing. Our costume was a hit and I am so glad I have a crazy friend like Tara that would encourage me to dress up. I was hesitant at first, but now I am glad we did it. Our front desk is on camera 24/7. At anytime, out corporate office can tune in and see what we are doing. Our GM had already sent pictures of our costumes to the office, but just after lunch time, some of our owners turned on our camera and called us, laughing hysterically. So we turned and faced the camera and put on a show!! We did the "We're Not Worthy" thing. It was super funny.

So, now on the the REAL reason for Halloween.... My little Pirate. Doesn't he look so cute?!?! He is getting SO BIG!!! I am pretty proud of his costume. I made it. He had a fun time! We started Trick-Or-Treating around 4:00, our first stop at Ga and Pop's. Ga had been really sick (long story... I'll get to that in a minute) so we went to her house early so she could get to bed. We decided to skip out on our ward's trunk or treat this year, so we didn't feel so rushed. It was so nice!!! We got all of our trick or treating done, ate dinner and were in bed by 8:30. Quayd got tons of candy! He was thrilled, and so were we.

On Friday afternoon while I was pretending to work, Brett called me at the hotel and said he thought we should go to Salt Lake for the weekend. He has been dying to go to this. I called around and was able to get us a cheap room at a Holiday Inn Express, thanks to my employee discount. I talked to Gleneita to see if she would like to go, and she was all in. We decided to leave around 9 or 10 am Saturday. We seriously had no plan. We were just excited to get out of town.

Around 11:00 that night, Pop called me. Remember I told you that Ga had been really sick? We had all been trying to get her to go to the Doctor for a few days, but she wouldn't. She is so stubborn sometimes. She had been throwing up for days. She is diabetic, so her sugar was all out of whack. Anyway, Pop was all upset because he knew she needed to go to the hospital, but he knew he needed help getting her there. Of course, I went right over. It was pretty tough, but we finally convinced her that she needed to go. We got her loaded in the car and went straight for the ER. We were there for quite awhile and they finally decided that she had a bowel obstruction. They ran a million tests. They had finally decided around 3:00 am that they would wait and see if it would un-kink itself or if they would need to do surgery. Pop and I came home and he was just a wreck. I have only seen him that emotional a couple of times in my life. It broke my heart. The next morning, things were looking good, and we decided to go ahead and go to SLC. We stopped by the hospital said good bye and headed out of town.

We went to our hotel first then straight to the Body Worlds exhibit. It was SO COOL, by the way. Quayd even liked it. He got a little bored by the end of it, but he did really well. While you are waiting in line to see the exhibit, they have this skeleton projected on the wall. You can send a text message to a local number and it puts your message up on the wall by the skeleton.It makes it look like the skeleton is saying it. Quayd was fascinated with it and had been reading every word, so Brett sent it a text message. It said, "Everyone loves Quayd" Quayd couldn't believe that his name was up on the wall. Of course he didn't know that we probably just spent his college fund to get it there, but we didn't care. He kept watching and watching. Since our first picture didn't turn out and since he was so excited about it, Brett sent another message. Quayd finally figured out that it was a text message, but he still thought it was pretty cool.

After Body Worlds, we decided to go to the mall to eat and wander around, then the Clark Planetarium to watch a show of some kind. We decided to watch a 3-D movie. It was SO COOL!
When we got out of the movie, Brett's cell phone started to ring. It was my mom telling us that they had decided to fly Ga to Salt Lake for surgery. It was so weird. My Uncle Kim, Cousin Brooke and her hubby live in Salt Lake, so they were at the hospital waiting and my brother, Danette, Brayden and Pop were on the way. Brett and I dropped Quayd and Gleneita off at the hotel and headed to the hospital. We got to go right back and see her. They began to prep her for surgery and we got to say good bye real quick, then they wheeled her back for surgery. They had prepared us for lots of things, but I won't bore you with that. It all turned out great. The Doctor told us that it was best case scenario. A portion of her bowel had died but they were able to remove it and stitch the ends together. It went perfectly. They had to keep her on the ventilator for a couple of days, but now she is off that and breathing on her own. She has even been able to eat and poop. Great news! She will probably be able to come home in a day or two. She is really weak, which is totally understandable, but she will get better and better. She is tough.

We came home to EXTREME fall. It was stormy and yucky while we were gone and it hasn't gotten much better. It even snowed last night. I will finish with some cute pictures of Quayd and Brennen enjoying one of their last jumps on the trampoline of the season. The worked so hard to get all of the leaves on it then they jumped until it was dark. Which happens pretty quickly now, since daylight savings.