click here to read Cheri's obituary....

I wish I knew how to cut and paste it to my site but I don't.

stop

With all the crazy events happening in my life I've stopped to notice the small things.

Like Emily showing her dog Molly the shirt I made with a picture of Molly on it. I don't think she'll ever take that shirt off.

Garrett's joy at me arranging for him to be babysat by Trenton and Austin for a few hours this afternoon. I've never seen him so excited.

And Abby's excitement at wearing a new outfit today.

All of these things would have happened regardless of my circumstances but because someone near and dear to me has died those reactions of my children are what keep me going.

Now I know that when I feel numb inside my hearts starts to melt with my kids smallest joy.

The end of an era.....

so we all know the story of Brownie/survivor the cow:

If you don't remember he is the only survivor of the eight cows that died when Dip and Dot decided to be farmers. THE ONLY ONE OF EIGHT. Sadly, they were just the beginning of the story, "Death on a Farm". Well, Dip and Dot, aka: John and Jeff, sold the entire farm, Brownie included. The farm is no more. In fact, Brownie is probably sitting in someones stomach right now (unbeknownst to Emily who thinks he is alive and well on another farm. We had to tell her that when we got a call from her teacher because she had been crying all morning. When I asked her about it she said that she was looking at the encyclopedia under "C" and came across cattle and it made her so sad. So I told her that he was still alive so that I wouldn't have to pay a psychologist in 10 years. Yes, I'm a bad mom for lying to my kids.)

On the flip side of the coin we now have her pup living with us who I tried to bathe to get the cow patty smell out of.

It was not a pretty sight and I'm terribly sore today (plus she still smells).

She's never seen the inside of a house before let alone a bathtub.

So farewell farm.

It made for some good stories.

But I don't think I'll miss it much.

Emily Claire turns 9

Em woke up this morning to a new scooter...

She was so excited about it she didn't even want to open anything else.

More pictures to come as the day goes on..

Happy Birthday Em!

Well except this from Aunt Jill. It was pretty cold outside....Thanks Jill for saving the day!

for anyone that doesn't know what that is its a fish water bottle....

Dear Garrett,

I know you love your dad, you try to be like him in every aspect which I adore.

But

Little boys should not be shaving their legs.

Maybe one day when you become a cyclist you can shave your legs like dad does.

Right now though, the razor is off limits.

Love,

your mom.

p.s. I know that the story you told me about the soap making the hair come off is a big fat lie. Mothers can see a lie coming a mile away.

Why I don't need TV Part 2....

I walked in my room one day to find Emily and Garrett like this...

they were playing sumo wrestler. Believe it or not, biggest loser was on.

And here is Gil.

He is playing hide and go seek.

Two problems with this:

1. he is obviously on top of the shed

2. we didn't know he was playing hide and go seek so even though we can clearly see him (along with the rest of the neighborhood) I am not very comfortable with him wearing cowboy boots (that have no grip) while scaling the roof.

And here is dad to the rescue.
***special note***
Jeff did not put that ladder there, Gil got it out of the shed himself.
funny now
not funny then



And lastly, John and Monica are building a new home.
This is what happened when my children saw the mounds of dirt:

Look at how mud caked those feet are.

So this is a summery of the last month...not a complete summery, just a documentation of what made me laugh.

Yeah, I'm lucky

why I don't need to watch television

who takes a bite out of a pepper like an apple? Emily Claire does.

***please notice the bag of Taco Time bean burritos on the bottom shelf, my kids eat them EVERY morning for breakfast. Its a good thing they are so active*** We made grass heads out of nylons, dirt, and grass seeds. This is what happens with the extra nylons:
He was pretending to be an anteater

if you sees a face looking like this in 20 years it means you are being robbed. Probably by my son.

This was today...not October 31. Em thought it would be funny to dress up to see if Maggie barked at them. Look at Abby's face. You can totally tell she was not a happy participant for the picture. She changed shortly after I took this....Luigi however is still trotting around being a horse. Named Luigi of course.

If you think this is amusing wait till I post the video in part 2.

Coming soon.

If my procrastination doesn't hit first.

SLC to HNL

Do you know whats really exhausting?

I got a text about low price tickets to Hawaii.

The stress of wondering if you can leave your family and impose on another for 7 whole days.

The tension of thinking we will not go out to eat for two entire months to save money.

The snappy decision I had to make because the airline site said only two tickets left.

and we all know that I don't do snappy anything

The guilt of not including my children and husband.

Wondering what books to bring.

Is it worth it?

heck yeah!

I hope my kids won't hate me for taking a break.

P.S. I have the best husband in the world!

who wants to put two sticks on their feet and slide down a mountain side trying to go as fast as they can? Stupid Sport.

I have just enough energy to type this...after I hit "publish" I'm going to bed. With a heating pad.

Last night we decided to take the kids skiing. Abby politely declined and Em is in St. George so it was a Gilly day.

I'm not the greatest athlete.

My sport is being nice...

That being said, I was a little nervous on the way up the ski lift...its been a while since I've had to get off one with skis.

As Garretts anticipation to get off the lift went up, mine went down.

Who want to be the person who falls when they get off the lift?

Not I.

As we approach the crest I get my skis ready.

I can do this.

There are several 3 year olds zipping by, I can do this!!!

Jeff and Garrett hold hands and stand.

I get ready to stand.

I'm doing this!!!

2 feet later I have one ski under the fence and the other ski facing the mountain.

I see so many things in my line of vision: my toddler years up to this moment zooms in and out.

I hear the lift shut down.

OH NO!

I AM that person who shuts it down.

I look for the love of my life..my "better skier and athlete all around half"

He is trying like mad to not laugh as he is racing over to help me up.

the lift guy untangles my ski

Jeff pulls me up

I am bruised and beaten

but just my ego.

I can't look this guy in the face

I mumble something that sounds like "thankyouverymuch, my ski hit a crevice"

In all honesty, it was really slushy

After snowplowing with all the 3 year olds down the hill I decide that I'm done with this sport.

I'm putting my skis on ebay and I'm done.

And I will strive to get the MVP in one sport and one sport only...

Being Nice.

Posts I'm working on:

Emily shot a bird with her BB gun.

She loves to store it in the grill.

She wraps it up in a Wal-Mart bag.

And brings it out for all to see.

We finally threw it out after four days of me worrying about what kind of disease is festering under her fingernails.

Video to come after I bribe my husband to show me how to unload it to the blog.

Garrett asked me the other day if Jeff was going to be a grandpa when he turns 8. He is 6.

Abbys maturation class is tomorrow.

I am already sweating in my armpits.

I hate that kind of stuff.

I am totally comfortable talking about poop and pee and vomit.

When it comes to secret parts I run and hide.

Why is that?

why I might need mental health assistance

Okay, lets start with this:

One day we decided to throw out all the old toys. We found an Ariel head, you know the ones you can do their hair? Well, Em decides to cut her hair to look like hers. Only it doesn't look so great so she decides to just give her a hack job. Then she decides to take her out and shoot BB's at her.

next is this...

Em decides to take a walk to the stables. I make her take my phone.

About 15 minutes later I get a call:

"MOM! Bring me a bag, quick! I found a nest and I think it might have a bird in it"

The mental heath issue I have is that I jumped in the car and brought her a bag so she could bring this home:

As cute as this may be he wanted to climb higher. I made him come down.

This is a picture of Em. She claims that it was really cold out and her nose turned red.

There really isn't anything wrong with this picture, I just wanted to post it because I just got a pedicure and I like how my foot looks.

The reason for this post comes from these next few pictures.

Have you ever been to Bath and Body and seen the soap they have in a can? This year it was Gingerbread spice and Gilly got a can for Christmas.

I walk in the bathroom to find this.

What I think is an entire can is squirted out on the floor.

I laughed a little and told him to clean it up. Then I told him that its a terrible waste and the reason we are in a global warming crisis is because little boys like you are using up entire cans of squirt soap in one bathing. Then I walked out.

When I walked back in a few seconds later this is what I found.

AGAIN

Turns out it wasn't the entire can in the first picture. Just half.

Can you see him hiding behind the curtain?

need a closer look?

oh, yeah. He knows he's in trouble

Thank goodness I have this guy to keep me sane.

Abbys Birthday and a whole lotta other stuff...

We celebrated Abigails 11th Birthday on Wednesday. Every day for the last three weeks its been this: Abby, what do you want for your Birthday? Only to be met with a shrug and a smile. I searched online, shopped every store to find the perfect gift that wasn't crap or a stuff animal. Guess what? Couldn't find it till the Monday before when I awoke with a start at 2 AM.

So we got her lots of clothes, jewelry, and....

a docking station for her Ipod.

She loved it all and her favorite part was being checked out of school (before math) to get a manicure (and not have math homework that night) (the entire math thing came to me in a dream).

Emily has been in heaven for the last two nights...one night we ate at Applebees for Abby, the next night at Texas Roadhouse for Grandpa.

Both places serve ribs.

She is saving the bones to make a necklace.

Jeff is out racing his #1 love of his life: his road bike.

okay, I'll give him some credit, I don't REALLY feel this way but he is pretty much in love with his bike. I mean, he makes me scoot way over so he can bring it to bed.

And I am preparing to spend 4 days at the Ritz Carlton. No kids. Jeff in meetings half the day and a spa that I plan on visiting.

I'll admit....I kinda wanted to bring the kids.

What is wrong with me?

My Rabbit

Today my kids were asking for a rabbit. A bit of a surprise because animal requests usually fall in the form of a wiener dog or a horse or a chameleon (Garrett). This request made me smile as I thought of my rabbit that I had at the age of 5. His name was Junior. Abby asked why I picked that name...well, here we go:

He was named after my favorite actor Denver Pyle.

Don't recognize the name?

Here is his picture

Is it coming to you yet?

There, does that ring a bell?
You see, even at the age of 6 I was in love with old people.
I only liked Uncle Jessie cause he was nice and I felt bad for him and he wore overalls like my favorite grandpa Ru (who liked me best. He gave me nickels from his plastic coin wallet but he only gave them to me, Sorry siblings to break the news to you this way).
Now, don't get me wrong...I loved Luke Duke (not Bo, bleh, he was too femmie) in a carnal way but Uncle Jessie had my heart.
And Daisy?
Harlot galore.
There wasn't a Friday that went by that I wasn't glued to the television watching that show.
For some reason I got the names Junior and Uncle Jessie mixed up but hey, I was six.
Those poor rabbits though.
You see we had a big Doberman Pincher named Thor.
Don't even ask me why because those are the most ferocious animal alive and he scared the poop right out of me several times.
He scared Junior too.
After Daisy (Micheles rabbit, see we loved D of H!) had her babies and ate them (talk about traumatizing. Why did she eat them? We never found out, I guess thats a question I'll carry to the grave) we accidentally left the rabbit pen door open.
They went for a midnight hop.
Thor had a midnight snack.
The carnage is forever imprinted on my mind.


Heres to you Junior.
And Uncle Jessie.
I hope your both in Heaven frolicking with Boss Hog.

What?

Funniest thing ever...I'm still laughing.

I volunteer in Garretts class daily. I'm there at the start of class.

Today they talked about the President.

The first question was, "do you know who the President is?"

They answered, "OBAMA!"

Then one of my favorite kindergartners (besides Gilly) said, "Yeah, he's the guy that keeps taking money from my mom and dad!"

Even for an Obama lover that was funny.

FOUND:

My camera was in my purse.

Now I just need to locate that battery charger.....