Murder Mystery

This past Saturday we were invited to a Murder Mystery dinner party, hosted by Geoff's little sis Brie and her boyfriend Tony. She asked us about 4 week ago if we would be able to come, and from then, you don't even know how much excitement and anticipation I was experiencing!! I have always wanted to attend one of these events, maybe because I am a big fan of CLUE the game, plus I love getting out and doing things. No one can ever accuse me of being a home body. We were given our "assignment" which was our character for the night. I was going to be Jean Thoughtful- the family psychologist, and Geoff was Neal Worthers- the chauffeur. We started planning our costumes and getting good ideas for making the most of an adult dress up party. After two trips to St George, DI twice, Catholic Thrift store, the other thrift store, Spirit Halloween, Partyland, several trips to Wal-Mart, many phone calls and Internet sites, we finally decided we were costumed out! Since Geoff is a big guy, it's hard enough finding regular clothes that fit him, much less a chauffeur costume? It ended up so awesome, he won the best dressed award and looked so dang good! Everyone there looked perfect for their part so I was pretty happy he won. Geoff ended up being the murderer which he was really pumped about. We had to lie, blackmail, bribe and sweet talk each other out of money (we were each given $500 to start) I only gave money to "Neal"-Geoff and ended up with 250, He ended with 3800 or something crazy, he dominated the night-he won it all! We had SO much fun. I am going to do one of these parties in a few months because it was such a blast. Although, I am a little concerned at what a great liar my husband was!

All About Ashton

So I have been putting off doing the spotlight on Ashton, only because he is so totally hilarious, that I wanted to remember some of his classic lines, and was racking my brain trying to get them. As I have mentioned before, my "memory" with those type of things stinks, so that is why the delay on the new post. He has given me a few new ones just this week that I will mention though. First, he is my adorable 7 year old with sparkling blue eyes and huge lovable grin. He has caused me to have a lot of "freak-out" screaming episodes that I swore I would never have with my children. But, no matter how mad you are at your little stinkers, you love them just the same as your other not so naughty children. I often think of that and thank my Heavenly Father that he is the same kind of parent, He loves me even after my "naughty" choices and I can only be grateful for that. Ashton is an awesome soccer player, he was on a pretty crappy team this year and he and one other boy pretty much won every game those little guys played. His favorite thing in life is video games and I use that for leverage a lot. He would play non stop if I let him, but he also would spend hours catching lizards, fishing, shooting any and everything with his guns. He is great on his dirt bike and he can pretty much master anything you give him in just a few minutes. He is excellent at math, doesn't love reading so much. He is definitely a mans man. Since he has been able to talk, he has had a true attraction to "hot chicks". I am not exaggerating this either, his Dad never calls a girl a hot chick, he came up with that one out of the blue, he really and truly started saying he loved girls, years ago. Yes, I have worried ever since. Just a few days ago, he was doing home work and having a hard time staying on task, he said to me "Mom, I'm not a smart kid... I'm real good at gettin' chicks". He is such a character! Since he was three he has told us about being an army soldier and killing the "Germans", yes, he is stuck a few wars back, but he absolutely knows he wants to be a soldier as his job when he grows up. Ashton is a rough and tumble kind of kid, but he has a very tender heart. He cried for literally days (off and on of course) because of some movie he saw at a friends house (mind you he never went to this friends house again) I guess there was a baby that drowned in a pool and he was so sad for that baby, that he could not shake it for a very long time. He says some very heartfelt things when he sees little kids or animals hurt. Another funny thing he said just yesterday was about the little boy across the street. He went over to his house to see if he could play and came back a minute later and said "Chad (Dad) said he couldn't play" ME: Why not? "He said he has a pink eye. Who cares, why would I care if his eye was pink!" I started laughing-duh why does it matter what color your eye is anyway? He is always cracking me up. I do love my Ashton so very much, he is a little hugger and kisser and is always complimenting me, I do need that! I am so glad I am his Mom and I know how boring it would get around here without him.

12 Wonderful Years!!

Today marks 12 years of marriage to my sweetheart Geoff. I feel like I'm not old enough to married that long, but who am I kidding! I had big plans for a much needed getaway, but parent duties got to my conscience, and we stayed in town to catch Ashton's last soccer game-he is so good! We were okay with sticking around because Geoffs little sis Brie had a murder mystery dinner party that we were so totally excited to dress up for and attend we could hardly contain ourselves (okay myself) I will post about that tomorrow and I can't wait to do so- yeah!!! Anyway, back to 12 years ago, we had a civil marriage and were sealed in the Manti temple almost 2 years later. That was a truly amazing experience because we had our then 5 month old Shae in her "celestial" white dress and it was such a spiritual experience. I can honestly say we have had an amazingly wonderful time together and admittedly some not so perfect moments, but the good definitely outweighs the bad. He is my "soul mate" and as cheesy as that sounds, I am often scared by how eerily alike we are. It makes for few arguments and a lot of fun times. I love spending time with him and I can truly say he is my best friend. I still get that little flutter in my stomach when he pulls into the driveway. He is always respectful to me and never belittles me or hurts my feelings (purposely-ha ha, after all, I am still a woman ).

FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE: *I am perfect and have done nothing wrong-ever!
*We all know how husbands mature SO much slower than us!

IN SICKNESS AND HEALTH: *3 very unhealthy pregnancies, including months of bed rest, Life flight emergencies, premature babies, and weeks in NICU's, he was a way better housewife than me!!
*Big guys are tough on their joints! Knee surgeries, bad back, elbows, and shoulders makes for a lot of "down time". And, men are always WAY sicker than women when we catch the same bug -right? (ha ha sorry guys you are bad whiners)

FOR RICHER OF POORER: *We started out in a single-wide trailer with a hole in the floor (straight through the carpet to the outside!) a leaking roof (it rained inside and out-literally) a very bad gas leak that we kept trying to get "diagnosed" to no avail (it stunk like natural gas constantly) One working burner on a stinky stove. Neither of us were employed (not because we were losers!) We had one working car (my tiny CRX) And we were as happy as could be!!!
*We are now living comfortably in an awesome neighborhood. Geoff does work in the construction field, so we still have our times, it is either feast or famine, but he has made a fantastic life for me and my children and has given us more than we could ask for.

I love him so so much and I am so lucky he found me. I dream of our next 12-20-40 years together and I can't wait!! Happy Anniversary Babe!!!!!!
(I had scanning issues- I don't know what I am doing, so you will have to click the pic to see how awesome we were in 1996-funny!)

Who Wouldn't Love That FACE!?

My Big Manly Betty Crocker

Geoff has always been great in the kitchen. He likes to cook- even though he doesn't do it often, he is really good at it. Growing up he was always helping his Mom in the kitchen, and from what I hear, his Mom was always in the kitchen! There were 9 kids in a combined family and she pretty much made a lot of great food- from scratch! Some of our family favorites are her recipes I now make. He makes awesome candy at Christmas time, and he gets really excited to get in the kitchen, crank the Christmas carol's and cook long into the night. His candy is fantastic and he makes so much, we have to get a loan to pay for the ingredients every year! Well, he is on a canning/bottling kick right now and it is going to be great. He first made strawberry jelly a few nights ago. (Isn't it pretty -that is it in the picture) It is delish and he was pretty glad he had success at his first (as a grown-up) canning experience. The next day, he made strawberry freezer jam, which I haven't tried yet, but it looks yummy. Today we bought 2 bushels (boxes, whatever the correct term is)of pears, 2 boxes peaches, a box of tomato's, 27 pounds ohicken, 12 packages of hot dogs (we are trying one of our fave dinners to see if it will bottle good), 16 pounds of butter, and a partridge in a pear tree! Sounds like I have a great week ahead of me. Geoff is going to help me and he is actually kind of happy to get it all going. He has rambled off a huge list of everything he wants to try and it sounds like we will have quite an awesome supply of "whatever we need" in our food storage. Isn't he great, love him!! Wish us luck and happy canning!

I LOVE My Country

America is the greatest! I have always been a lover of my country, I remember as a child taking the flag raising duty so seriously and vowing to never let that flag touch the ground. To me, today is the most patriotic day of the year. Sad that we even have this "day", but at the same time, what an amazing uproar of love of the USA came about because of such a tragic loss. I rarely cry- but I rarely have dry eyes when I think of my awesome country. Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" has never been sung and left me dry eyed. My spirit soars when I say the Pledge of Allegiance. My voice cracks and I sound terrible when I sing "The Star Spangled Banner", because I am on the verge of alligator tears rolling down my cheeks. Any member of the Armed Forces, dressed in uniform will make my heart swell with pride and I have to contain myself from kissing and hugging them and telling them I Love them- (how weird to have a crazy random lady kiss you in Wal-Mart!) Nothing gets my pride swelling and my adrenaline pumping more than a fighter jet roaring over my head and hurting my ears. I may be alone on this one, but who else crys over an F-16? I love the United States of America, I pledge my allegiance to my country, I love my fighting men and women--God Bless the USA!!!

Why Up The Nose?!!

Why do all little kids stick things up their nose? Not just their fingers, I'm talking actual objects. I did it as a kid, my husband did it, we both remember how traumatizing it was too! Well it was Jourden's turn yesterday. I don't know when he did it, I didn't notice it until yesterday morning when he was laying down, I saw a white thing up there and felt the side of his nostril and sure enough, there was a hard white something lodged up there. Who knows, it might have been there for days, Geoff says he had been picking his nose for the past few days and that was a new thing for him (he has stopped that lovely habit since the dislodging, thank Heaven!) After trying to tweeze it out, suck it out (thanks for the use of the central vac Jamie!) blow it out (2 year olds don't really get the gist of blow harder!) I had no luck. Poor kid thought I was trying to kill him or something, but the doctor would have done the same thing- only with better tools, and charged me out the wazoo! It finally took Dad and Mom pinning him down with real force to get it out, and that only dislodged it, Jourden actually got it out with an accidental blow after we set him free. Turns out it was an eraser from a retractable pencil. Hopefully his turn is over and we won't be doing that ever again! (The penny in the pic is just to show the size of the eraser!)

Being close is the best!!!

I love my family! From reading this blog you probably already got that, but I mean I love my WHOLE family. Geoff will often say how great it would be to live far away from our families, so when we went to visit it would be a grand event and we would miss them and all that fun stuff. It does sound fun to go home for the holidays and be so excited to spend a good solid week with family and catch up on things, but actually I'd prefer it just that way it is. My entire family (Mom, Dad, 3 sisters(their hubby's and 9 kids), a brother, my Grandma and lots of others)all live within 20 miles of each other, and Geoff has 2 sisters that live in Cedar City and his parents are in Beaver, so we are so blessed to be close. I love having sisters to call for taxi and tending services, in-laws to get together with and BBQ, and parents to invade on a hungry-don't-feel-like-cooking-Sunday's. My sister blessed her baby today in Parowan so again we were able to spend the afternoon with all the cousins and still come home and sleep in our own beds. I love to see my sweet Grandma who will cook the entire time she has company just to be sure everyone has something they like and is totally stuffed and sick by the time they leave. (She always has an awesome garden to raid all summer long and I never have to buy a store bought tomato or cucumber!) Family birthday parties always have to be separate from the "friend" party because 40 people gets a little overwhelming when your trying to bust a pinata! It is ALWAYS crazy and loud- 7 screamers under 4 years old in one room is a big anxiety attack waiting to happen!! Then add 5 more with only a few more years under their belt and you have total and complete chaos. We tolerate it pretty well, with the exception of Geoff who threatens to leave at least 5 times before he can't take it anymore!! I love my parents who support my kids in all they do and watch how excited my Ashton is when Grandpa gets to watch him play ball. I have an amazing close-knit family that is just right here, how lucky am I?!!

Best Daughter Ever!

I have decided to spotlight my children one at a time because I think they are so wonderful. I will start with my amazing Shae-first because she is first, and second because we have embarked on a new "adventure" that hopefully will turn out awesome, for now we will "cope" with the learning process. CELLO! She started orchestra today in school and with some coaxing from Dad and myself, she will be learning how to play the cello. We couldn't possibly handle hearing a 10 year old learn how to run a bow across violin strings, so we thought the cello would be far less torturous to ourselves and we talked her into it. We decided to purchase instead of rent, and cellos are not CHEAP!! So she has to play until she is 80, or we have threatened her with dire consequences. She will be taking lessons for $80 a month (whoa!)from a teacher who plays an $80,000 dollar cello -yes that is the correct amount of zero's! So you see why the death threat if she quits! Anyway pray for our ears and sanity, we hope she loves it! On with the spotlight of her, she is a truly amazing girl. She is always kind and loving, and only on occasion, after tremendous torture, will she defend herself and fight with her brother. She is always helpful to me and I have taken great advantage of that fact. She watches her brothers almost daily. She is an awesome athlete. Loves soccer and is a true star. She picked up on basketball immediately after starting and is great. She's an awesome softball player who made All-Stars this year, and she wishes she could play volleyball but doesn't really have much opportunity here in Cedar. She loves rock climbing, hiking, swimming, and making crafts. Shae is super smart and I have never ever had an issue with her at school. She has a true spirituality about her that shines, she is one of those souls that is just born righteous. (Some of us aren't!) She loves being a girl, in fact she has gel nails on right now.(thanx Jame) She always wants to be right in the middle of it all- she got that one from her Mom! She would eat tomato's and potatoes all day everyday and she loves rice. Her favorite shows are: Jon and Kate Plus 8, So You Think You Can Dance, and American Idol. Her fave music is country and pop-she loves Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift and Colbie Calliet. She loves being with the family, I hope that never changes. I never have to ask her twice, she is such a sweetheart. Shae is so very tender-hearted, she'll cry if you hurt her feelings, and she'll cry if she hurts yours. I love her SO much, she is a beautiful soul in a beautiful body- My amazing daughter.
Click on her picture to see her perfect little face close up- LOVE it!

First day of school-a few weeks later!

A few weeks after the fact, but still cuter than cute--Love my kids!

Another FANTASTIC night!

WARNING-This is long, but hey, so was my night!
So yesterdays post was pretty funny once I looked at it from an outsiders view, I must admit. Well if you laughed yesterday, you might cry for me today. So you understand that I am very tired from the previous night "sleep" so I decide to go to bed early, about 9 I am getting pretty excited about it. I get to bed at about 10:45 (way good for me, I'm a night owl) I always fall asleep fast because I am so drained from the day, and miraculously Jourden had fallen asleep before me which rarely happens, he usually follows me around the house until I pick him up and put him in my bed. Well my sisters little boy has had a pretty gnarly cough, turns out he has RSV- I know, already! Well he and my Jourden are good buddies so I knew it was coming. Since Jourden was premature, his lung/breathing "system" isn't that great. If he gets a tiny cold, it automatically turns to a bad cough. He has pretty bad activity induced asthma and has a hard time kicking anything that has gotten to his lungs. Well he starts coughing his poor little head off probably an hour after I go out (I was almost comatose-seriously) I always try to ignore his hacking because it is a true nightmare to get him to take medicine, we always end with a ginormous mess. Geoff on the other hand groans and cusses like I am making him cough on purpose to keep him awake or something! "Can't you give him something-(grunt)(moan) roll-over (cuss)" I am well-aware he is coughing, he sleeps on my arm mind you. I ignore some more, then to save myself another "comment" from my loving husband I get out of bed, of course Jourden gets up too, and I go for the medicine. We have some Triaminic strips that dissolve on your tongue, but he always spits them out before they can dissolve. I try one anyway and he screams and spits but I figure he got a little of the stuff in him and we go back to bed. Doesn't really work, but his poor little body is too beat down to cough any more and he falls a sleep. (We go through the same scenario several times- minus the medicine) A few hours later he starts back up, harder coughing, louder moaning from Geoff, the whole shebang. I am at crying stage now, so exhausted, wish the night were over, all you Mom's get it right? Well I get up after 30 mins or so to try the other medicine, the kind he really hates! I sleep in my garments only, if you didn't get that from yesterdays story, and I had taken the medicine dropper in a bag that happened to still be in the car, that happened to not be parked in the garage, so I go outside in my underwear, Jourden on my hip, and start scouring for the medicine dropper. Please no neighbors be awake, it is 6am by now, so they easily could be. I give him some of the disgusting cough syrup and fight the fight again. He has to be laying down or we really have a mess, so we are back in bed. Geoff can get up for work now so I don't care that we are disturbing him anymore (maybe I didn't anyway- but at least I took him out of the room a few times!) Jourden screams spits, flails you name it. He starts coughing again because it is gross and here it comes- puke all over me-yes I said puke, for the second night on a row only this time there wasn't even a toilet in sight! The bed is covered, he is covered, my pillow, me Arghhh! You know the routine from there so I won't explain. Next I try a breathing treatment, it usually helps, we lay back in bed (away from the wet spot) and I start the Albuterol treatment- doesn't help, instantly turns his cough to croup! What the heck!!! The poor boy is so tired- I feel his pain, so I just lay by him and try to get him to sleep. Eventually it happens and it's time to get the kids up for school. I get out of bed and 2 minutes later here comes Jourden crying with this horrible croup cry. I get the kids, clothes, hurry and get them some breakfast and tell them to get ready. I take Jourden back to bed, start a different breathing treatment-this one for croup and lay there trying not to bawl. Luckily my kids stay on task and come in dressed and fed and ready for hair-do's. Geoff stopped in for something, realized I still had issues and gave the kids lunch money (I have made them lunch everyday till today!) Hey, Thanks Geoff!

Oh Great!

One of my top three "joys" of being a Mom is the middle-of-the-night-puke sessions!! I love my sleep, I don't love it being interrupted, and I especially don't love it when it's a child telling me they are sick. This either means they need to sleep in my room and I need to get up and make them a bed on the floor, or they have already thrown-up and I need to go clean-up! So Shae comes down from her room in the night and is in a hurry to get to my bathroom (I know this because I pass her on the way to get Jourden a drink because he has already gotten me out of bed with his whining for a "bobbi.") She can't use her toilet she informs me later, because Ashton has used a roll of toilet paper to blow his nose again and she doesn't dare flush the toilet because it will overflow. So she makes it to my bathroom, but not quite to me toilet! To make it worse, and the reason I think she may be sick was the darn county fair. She may have a bug, or it could have been the 10 hours in the sun, the Dippin Dots, sno-cone, kettle corn, huli-huli chicken, soda, Panda Express, parade candy, riding the Tornado, Inverter (twice) Zipper, Yo-Yo and Gravitron. So I'm not sure but what do you think?!! Well remember that menu I just recited, she didn't have quite enough time to get the lid totally lifted! (one time I wish my Hubby didn't have bathroom etiquette, he always shuts the lid!) So picture me trying not to get mad at her, trying to clean up a gut-wrenching mess, in my G's in the middle of the night, then making the bed on my floor, knowing what a long night I have ahead of me---and of course, Jourden by my side every step of the way! I hope you slept well.