Auntie Karen

I was so excited this week because my Aunt Karen came from Pennsylvania. This was her first trip to AZ and I had the pleasure of having her stay with us for a couple of days. I was laughing so hard because I asked her what she thought of the scenery and she replied, "It's so FLAT!" My first impression of Pennsylvania was, "this looks like a giant golf course." It's beautiful there. Anyways, her stay started with Wed. morning I took her to kindergarten with me where she learned about apples. That afternoon, Monica, Julia, Karen and I went to Oregano's for a deliciouso lunch. Yep we devoured a pazookie. YUM. Then later that evening, Amy and Twylla joined us for a late movie. We saw Juno and I laughed through the entire movie. It's very dry humor and there were some parts that were questionable, but I really enjoyed it. Now there's this really good flavor stuff you can put on your popcorn and I wanted some. Anyways my sister comes back with the entire bottle. SHE actually swiped the bottle...I couldn't believe it. LOL



{ Rub a dub dub..5 girls and a water horse in the tub}



Of course we out it back. LOL After wards we had to pose for silly movie theater photo's and then we went to Applebee's for a late night snack. So we laughed our heads off and had a truly awesome time. ("Blinded by the Light.... oh and go dancin diva...move those tables!!!")



On to Saturday, my sister got us tickets to a dinner theater in Mesa called the Broadway Palms Theater. *Sigh* it was so darn fun!!! They had this yummy dinner and we then watched "Anything Goes!" YAY! Ok I never heard of it either before Saturday night so if you never heard of it ....its a really old musical. HA It had some seriously funny parts with wonderful singing and dancing. Afterward we stayed in the lobby and the performer's did a cabaret performance for 45 more min. I miss choir like no body's business...performing on a stage...I love it!!! So we arrived home after midnight and I was dreading the fact that I had to get up for our fabulous trip to JEROME!! Yep we were taking Karen up to experience a true Arizonan mining town and the rich history of that amazing place. Monica brought along Daisy her springer spaniel. So adorable!!!



On the way we spotted this fountain that had frozen. I had never seen anything like it so I had to get some photo's of it. So cool!





We arrived in Jerome around 9:45 and headed off to the Liberty Theater and toured that. My aunt was in heaven with all the stores that Jerome has to offer.





Then we headed up to the Jerome Grand Hotel which by the way was an old hospital back in the day! So we ate in the restaurant called the Asylum. Why was it called that? You guessed it, because it was where the old asylum was located. They serve the soda in bottles there and so here's silly picture of me enjoying the best creme soda ever!!!



The food was super yummy and you have to check out this delectable cheesecake that they serve there



So after lunch we poked around and on the way out of town we stopped at the completely abandoned cemetery! I was sooooooooooo excited to explore the place and took a ton of pictures and posted them on the Udderly Happy blog here.



Whew...so besides all the fun happenings I have now come down with a cruddy cold that all the kids have had except for Kimberly. In closing I am so thankful that I was able to spend some time with my Aunt. Most of my extended family is small and we hardly ever see them because they all live out of state or country. So I learned that me and her have so many similarities. We have the same shoe size. That we both prefer to stay up way later then we should and sleep in. She's a nurse! She's silly like me, though I think I'm louder about it. She's so caring and played with my kids. Maddie became addicted to "tickle scratch" on her back and would lift her shirt and back up to her and say, "tickle scratch." I'm going to miss her when she leaves in a couple days. She's the best.



Well, my head is pounding and I need to head off to bed so nighty night friends.

Ever have one of those days? My attempt to count the little things...

I was in the process of thinking of something Inspirational to write on my chalk board and this is the first thing that popped into my brain. LOL. A lot of you know that it's been a difficult two months and an even harder past two weeks. Sickness come and goes. Robert starting another semester at ASU. Art projects to plan. Church callings to fulfill. Housework to be conquered. (Die toilets and dirty laundry DIE) All the while swooping in and preventing a full fledged attack started by something with the name of Polly Pocket. So I have to say that I've been struggling at times with my Faith. It's not that I believe that my prayer's aren't heard or that we haven't been blessed tremendously. It's just that my faith in getting through this, is wavered. Do you ever feel that way? Worry, stress, fear, self pity and sadness can over take you and I'm trying to change the way I think. I'm going to list a few things in effort to Cheer me up a bit. I think it's amazing the little things that are happening around me that have put a smile on my face like for instance this.





She feel asleep in the car and I laid her onto the couch. Looking at her sleeping so Peaceful is one of the many GIFTS that we have as parents. When its been a poopie day and your about to break. You get all the kid's into bed an hour, two drinks of water, where's my blankie, she won't stop singing in her microphone and a bathroom break later. When they finally go to sleep ... go and watch them. It gets me every time. It makes everything seem to be Worth while. Seeing Maddie's growth has also been a true Blessing and Miracle in our family. Maddie graduated from all her in home therapy and she never did have another seizure. I made her a video of her amazing Growth and progress when she turned 3 and I just watched it again and got all teary eyed. You can watch it here. I know most of you have seen it, but I changed up the pictures towards the end. (Partly because my photography improved A LOT since then..hee hee.)

Second appreciate Good friends. I could go on and on oh and one more..ON about how important friends are to me. They listen to me Cry and complain. Tell me when I have a huge hole in my jammie bottoms (Even though I knew LOL) and take a picture of that hole. They all come and smear mud on their faces or bouffant their do's. They come to convention and hide in the curtains while we talk with the maintenance worker about his 3 legged cat AND they plan amazing Surprises.



The occasional Pickling.



My favorite...sneak over to the neighbors HIDEOUS Christmas display and pose for pictures....PRICELESS!

Third sometime you gotta do Crazy things. Like for instance when me, Robert and Monica camped out overnight to audition for Deal or No Deal. It was the craziest thing that I've ever done.... ok since I've been a mom. We were SOOOOOO Tired but it was a blast. We even got to pose with the girl with the big 'ole Afro named Hayley. It's was crazy AWESOME!! I'm so grateful for my loving hubby who came along...oh and ESPECIALLY for those who watched the Atkinson kids. If you wanna know more details..ask me. :)

{Who's number One ? Oh ya this guy is!!!!}

Last is to Laugh. I swear it is what make the world go round. As most of you know..I'm pretty immature..yep I'm ok with that. LOL. I laugh at almost everything. Not that I'm making fun of people (ok sometimes a little) but I try to find Humor in everything. Like for instance when we were at the Grand Canyon. I saw one of these educational signs that they have posted around the park. Different ones with advice concerning safety etc. This one caught my eye and for some crazy reason..I couldn't stop Laughing. I couldn't believe that they would actually illustrate this. I mean what did they tell the artist. "Ok sir we need you to draw a realistic man yakking with his shirt off." HA. On to the next weirdest thing that we saw. Someones thong!! First off it was at the base of the path up to the main overlook of the canyon. What the heck?! How was that possible...BUT it made us laugh. Hopefully this will make you laugh too. :)

Smile my friends and remember:

" A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it. Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give."

~Author Unknown

Pictures.....

We had such a wonderful time at the Grand Canyon! We also visited this iddy biddy church off the side of the highway that Amy knew about. It was so neat!! Seriously tiny!! Here's some more pictures. As well as some of my love affair with dead trees!!! LOL Thx Amy for the AWESOME pictures of me and Robbie.

Blog Set to Private!

Ok after talking with Deneigh last night and realizing that it would be safer to set our blog to private I sent out requests to add y'all. It really made me think about all the pictures of my kiddos and how some random person could find our blog and steal pictures of my kids and alter them however they see fit. So if you'd like to do the same and set your to private and would like to add me to your blog..our email is doeboy6527@hotmail. Thanks!! :)

What gives a girl ..power and punch..is it charm is it pose.. No (It's) Hairspray!!

We had a super girls night on Saturday! I had my first ever Hairspray party. It was a blast!!! We had some newbies to come join the fun this time as well as some that we MISSED. :( I won't mention any names.... LOL) The requirement was that you had to bouffant your hair and then we were going to then watch the movie. All were great sports considering that I invited folks at the last minute. We had a great time trying to get our hair as high as it would possibly get and I think some got there's higher then others LOL!! Twylla..yours was my favorite!!! Here's some pictures of our glamorous do's. Whoo hoo girls!! Thanks for coming and if any of you guys are interested in the cookiness that is girls nights.... let me know and I'll be sure to invite ya'll the next time!!!!

{of course this was the guest of honor. Mind you I haven't purchased this stuff since Jr. High!!}



{This was how mine turned out...pay close attention to the super HOT shade of lipstick!}



{Twylla stylin Kristin's hair}



{ready to watch the movie}



{Who are these foxy ladies?}



{Tiana getting her hair teased}




{Pretty sure Erica is fearful at this point!}





{ The Gang for the evening}

Thankful....

WOW! The year is over and a new one has begun. It's been a year of happiness, growth, financial worries, as well as a year of some super awesome girl's nights!!! (White trash tent?) Now its 2008 and it's a new year of many choices that need to made (ugh) as well as me turning 30!! I'm so grateful for our many blessings and I think I sometimes get into a negative mind set when things aren't going perfect. Since when did I think that this life was actually supposed to be perfect? LOL. These things are what shapes us right? Again I think if I didn't have the support of my peep's and their everlasting ability to here me talk about the SAME thing 100 times, I don't know where I'd be. I'm also so grateful for a Heavenly Father that is always there for me and knows me and all of my faults, yet still loves me and answer's my prayers. What a wonderful gift that we have as member's of the church. A gift that I sometimes take for granted.
Another thing that I'm so grateful for is my hubby Robbie. Me and Robert just celebrated our 11 yr anniversary on the 4th of January. I can't believe how fast it has gone by. I'm so lucky to have a husband that loves me for me and always supports me even when I may have some crazy ideas. I love that when I wanted to start up a photography business that he was more excited then I was and was researching camera's and talking to other photographers. I still get butterflies when I'm around him and am so grateful for him in my life!! I love you Robbie!
In closing thanks to all of you guys for being there for me. I've been so lucky to get to know a lot of you guys better over the last past months and you all rock!! Thanks for everything. :)

Udderly Happy

I opened up a new blog more aimed toward just me. If you'd like to check it out here's the link... I put all the pictures from Flagstaff, Grand Canyon and Jerome on that blog. It's more about my photography and even some crafty stuff. So check out Udderly Happy :)

Happy New Year!!!

We celebrated the New Year at Amy's time share in Flagstaff for FREE. Me and Robert were able to stay Sat- Mon by OURSELVES!!! Thanks to Amy and especially Eric for watching the gang. Thank you to Lisa for taking them on Monday! You guys all ROCK. On Monday we went to the Grand Canyon. Its been years since I've been and it is truly breathtaking. It was 22 degree and we were soooooo cold and on top of that windy..so I wouldn't doubt if it felt even colder due to wind chill. The kids had a blast overall and on the way home our speedometer DIED!!! So now we have to figure out a way to get that fixed now. So we followed cars the whole way home going 70 miles an hour with our speedometer reading PAST zero. LOL. We came home though to one of the best surprises EVER!! My awesome friends and a whole bunch of children made me and Robert cute signs all over the down stairs wishing me and Robert a Happy Anniversary. I'm so very blessed to have THE BEST of friends and I love you girlies!!!