SUNSHINE DAYDREAMS

A TOUGH YEAR

2011-03-04T19:59:00.000-08:00

MOTHER~
YOUR KIND WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT THROUGH MY LIFE MADE ME THE PERSON I AM TODAY.
YOUR LAUGHTER TOLD ME IT WAS OK TO BE ME.
YOU TAUGHT MY TO SWIM WITH IN THE OCEAN WITH JOY & APPRECIATION FOR THE EARTH.
YOUR HAPPY FACE WAS THERE EVERYDAY WHEN I CAME HOME FROM SCHOOL & EVERY NIGHT WHEN I WENT TO BED.
YOU WERE MY CLOSEST CONFIDANT & BIGGEST CHEERLEADER.
YOU GAVE ME LIFE LESSONS THAT HELPED ME COPE WITH EVERYDAY OBSTACLES.
I MISS YOU SO MUCH BUT AM GLAD FOR THE TIME WE HAD TOGETHER!
THOSE FUN MOMENTS AT THE BEACH, AT CHURCH, AT CONCERTS AND JUST GOING OUT FOR A MEAL.
I'M GLAD YOU'RE FREE OF THE PAIN OF LIFES' CRUEL DISEASES.
I'M PROUD TO BE YOUR DAUGHTER & CAN'T BELIEVE YOUR GONE.
I'LL BE STRONG FOR MY KIDS & FAMILY & SELF BUT IT'S SO DAMN HARD WITHOUT YOU HERE!
I FEEL LONELY EVERYDAY WITHOUT YOU BUT AM GLAD WE ALWAYS TOLD EACH OTHER HOW WE FELT.
YOU TAUGHT ME ENDLESS THINGS--COOKING, DANCING, SINGING, MUSIC, EVERYTHING!
YOU NEVER HESITATED TO SAY "I LOVE YOU" AND KISS & HUG US KIDS.
YOU WERE THE BEST GRANDMA EVER! YOUR MANY TALENTS NEVER CEASED TO MAZE ME!
LOVE YOU FOREVER!!

I DREAM ABOUT YOU ALL THE TIME & I'M GLAD I CAN SEE YOU THERE.

I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART!!

DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!!!

2010-12-11T07:42:00.000-08:00

Well, we made it!!!!!!!!! Yipeeee!!!!! To the Happiest Place on Earth!!!!!!!!!

We're so happy we finally got to Disneyland as a family for the first time!!! It was awesome!! We went Thanksgiving week as a surprise for the kids. They had no clue. They didn't even know we were going to Cali. I had their bags packed & hidden away. They were wondering whose car was parked out front (the rental).....then, bam! Surpise, wake up!! We got them up at 3am & they were in shock & disbelief. When we told Jorma "We're going to California right now so wake up!" he said "Ya, right" then rolled over & tried to sleep. So we drove 13 hours straight to Ventura & stayed with our friends, Eric & Audrey & Stella & Laurel for 3 days. We played at the beach & had a great time seeing friends & Ruby. Then we headed for grandma Helen & grandpa Jerry's in Yucaipa. Then the next morning we woke them up at 6am "Let's go! We're going to our friends' house!" So when we ended up at Disneyland, they were shocked & thrilled. I think they still can't believe we did all that.

Allison got to dance with Mary Poppins & Bert & the band in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle. She had a ball!!

The Castle at night was gorgeous & magical. We had such a great time!! DISNEYLAND ROCKS!!!

SuMmEr FuN

2010-10-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

Like our garden tomatoes?? This is what Jay does when he's bored or feeling creative...cracks me up!! That's why we love him!
Here's the fam up on Timp at Sundance. Summer is winding down so we wanted to get up to the mountains before the snow comes. It was lovely & fun was had by all.
Jorma boy has been enjoying football this season. So far they are undefeated!! Go Lehi #41!!
My little lady Allison loves to ham it up & have her picture taken. This is at Thanksgiving Point here in Lehi. They have beautiful grounds with perfect photo ops.
Here's my little hummingbird friend on our front porch drinking from the feeder I got for mother's day. They are so amazing & graceful, love it!

Summer Cut

2010-09-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

Well here's my latest cut, a bob. Whatdaya think? Just fast & easy for summer. But summer's over...boohoo. So back to growing it out..I know, such importantly major decesions!!

NEED THESE SOOOO BAD!!!

2010-09-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

Just think these car eyelashes are soooo cute!! Need me a pair!! And I'd like the bug in this pic to go with..lol!

FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-09-04T07:35:00.001-07:00

Well, it's that time again, Football season!!! Yae!! We love it!! Jorma is excited to be playing tackle this year for the first time. He's so cute & says "I like it lots, all but the running the coach makes us do". He's definitely seeing the benefits though. He says he can run & play better at school which is a big plus. Can you tell we're so proud of him??
We got Allison the whole cheerleader outfit so she can show her support & she just loves in general. Such a girly girl!
The Team--Lehi Pioneers in their wild purple uniforms--Jojo is #41. Love the mean face?
Go Team!!~~~

Oh, Brad!

2010-08-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

~Perfection....you know what I mean!

MoKiNgJaY

2010-08-26T13:31:00.000-07:00

So excited!! Just got it!! Couldn't wait for the library copy or friends...now I can see how it all ends!! These have been great books so check em out if you like fast & exciting reads!!

Fond Memories

2010-08-25T18:43:00.001-07:00

I am reminiscing lately. Thinking about all the great memories our family has thanks to my mom's creation. This picture cracks me up! Mainly the Micky head in back of me..sister Sara did it to block out my ex. She's so funny. That Disneyland trip was a blast. We were so young & my mom was so fun! Seems like yesterday, can you tell I totally miss her?! Everyday!! It's been rough, I cannot lie. I carry her in my heart so she's always with me. When I hear this poem I think of her. Here's to you mother~~~ Love you!!

~~I carry your heart with me

I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart)

I am never without it(anywhere I go you go, my dear;

and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)

I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)

I want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it's you are

whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;

which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars a part

I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)

~Edward Estlin Cummings

LiFe

2010-08-21T11:07:00.000-07:00

LAGOON!!

2010-08-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

The whole family went to Lagoon on Sunday - the only amusement park in Utah. I remember when I lived in Wyoming & we couldn't wait to go the Lagoon!!! So we went with our friends the Colledges & had a great time but it was soo hot! Thank goodness for the water park, Laguna Beach. Nice & cool. I loved that part best!! It's just too hot to go anywhere in Utah in August & be outside for 10 hours straight. The kids loved the rides, especially Allison who got off every roller coaster saying "Man, that was the best ride of my life!!" Cute little 6 year old girl!! This was the first time daddy had ever been there & he loved the roller coasters too. SUCCESS!! FUN TIMES!!!

Summertime Recipe with your Garden Veggies

2010-08-11T17:44:00.000-07:00

We love this homemade treat, well I should say the grown ups do! It's rich & time consuming but worth it!! Try it out!!

Zucchini Casserole
1 lb. country sausage
1 box chicken stuffing mix like Stove Top
1 can cream of mushroom or chicken soup
1 can cream of celery or asparagus soup
3 cups sliced zucchini
2 cups grated carrots
½ cup sliced mushroom
½ cup chopped onion
3 tbls butter
1 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded swiss or cheddar cheese
Parmesan cheese for topping

Brown sausage & drain grease. Make stuffing by box directions. Mix sausage & stuffing together & set aside. Sautee onion in butter until clear, then add other veggies & a little water. Cover & cook veggies until tender, usually about 10 minutes. Remove from heat & carefully fold in soups, sour cream & cheese. In a sprayed casserole (9x13 works best), pat ¾ of stuffing/sausage mixture into the bottom of pan then spoon the soup/veggie mixture on top. Sprinkle the remaining stuffing/sausage mixture over top. Bake at 350 for 45 mins or until golden & bubbly. Sprinkle parmesan cheese the last 10 mins of baking.

Easter 2010

2010-04-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

Spring time here in the hills!! Well, near spring I should say....still getting snow, WHATEVER!! But the moisture will do us good here in this desert. Getting ready to plant our garden once more & enjoy fresh salsa all summer. Easter was a fun filled day for our little chickadees as you can see. Woke up to lots of snow that morning so the wacky wabbit had to get creative!

Allison got her first real haircut! Brushing her hair has been such a battle in past couple years because she just had sooooo much thick, long hair. We knew the day would come when we would chop it so I asked her if she wanted short hair for the summer & she's been tempted for a while so we just took the plunge. She had so much hair so we're gonna donate it to Locks of Love! Good job Allison!!

MOM

2010-04-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

So, this is the hardest thing to write about. My sweet mother has passed on. She's gone home, onto a new adventure or whatever you want to call it. I like to think of her as a new life energy that's not really gone, just changed. Looking back, I'm glad I told her I loved her all the time and she did too. Never held back my love & appreciation. I wonder if that's why this is so hard, among other reasons...

I recently heard that this sadness is just "my crap" & to let go of it but it is still the hardest thing I've ever done. I've always had her to lean on or to raise up but either way she was there with me. I know she's everywhere still so I hold that close to my heart when I'm totally down. The simplest things throw me off like hearing someone who sounds just like her or have her name, Leslie....

I know it will take a while to get back to "normal" whatever that is & I'm looking forward to it. I also know I will never be the same, changed forever....My emotions run the gamut from sadness to anger to joy...just all over the place. Her service was lovely & very healing for us all. Glad.

Mother, I love you. Thank you. God bless.

Valentines Day & other fun stuff!

2010-03-05T18:55:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a while since I've written. I mostly use this as a journal or record of events but the facebook bug bit so I've been slacking but no more! My cute kiddies always love getting lots of loot for any holiday so why not Valentines day since they are my sweeties! Here they have some stuffed animals & candy of course. They were so excited "Oh mommy, thank you, Allison says"
Allison has been losing teeth left & right (no not from all the candy) and now she has no front teeth at all. A very cute stage! They went to the dentist & have great teeth. Jorma is playing basketball at the local rec center & his team is jamin with his help. He loves it & I'm glad! He just got his report card & did so well, straight A's!! You go Jojo or Chaka as we call him lately....watch Land of the Lost with Will Ferrell to understand this!
Flowers from the hubby. Isn't he the greatest? I think so. I'm so lucky!!!!
Us oldies! but goodies!! Just kickin around in the mountains. We love to get out & about even in the freezing cold. We've been busy with work & kids & family. My mom is not doing well with her cancer bout but we just spend time together & give lots of love! She's the greatest & we just wish her the best.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-18T19:15:00.001-08:00

Well it's been forever since I've blogged but all is well. Life is very busy and we try to pack in as much fun as possible. October was a great month and our favorite one of the year! As you can see we love this holiday & make the most of it. We had lots of fun activities going on at school, home & everywhere in between!
Like my new witch hat?! Purple of course, my fav color. Went out with some girlfriends for a fun night out with thousands of other witches at Gardner Village - lot of dancing, food & fun!
Allison had a ball at school as Sleeping Beauty. Grandma did such a great job on this dress!
Jay & I celebrated our 12th Anniversary by going to see Bob Dylan at the Great Saltair. It was awesome! Love my hunny!! Well life is good & we know it will continues to get better!

Back to School

2009-08-19T21:23:00.000-07:00

Jorma & Allison have been so excited to go back to school actually! That makes all of us happy! They love their teachers & are glad to see their friends again. Though we're sad summer is almost at an end, we had lots of fun swimming, camping and being with friends

Jorma & his 4th grade teacher Mrs. Erickson

Allison & her Kindergarten teacher Mrs. McCann. We can't believe she's already going off to real school. The time has passed so quickly. It's an awsome time for her & us!

My sweet Alli Pearl!

2009-07-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

Allison lost her first tooth! Not from hanging like a monkey like in this picture. She's just showing me her new talent which totally freaked my out to watch but I had to just bite my tongue & not say anything. She loves the monkey bars & has been able to cross them for a while now. She was determined to learn when she was only 4. She's my monkey! We were at the pool the other day & she went on the highest water slide over & over again when her 9 year old brother would have nothing to do with it. Anyway, she did loose one of her bottom teeth & got $1.50 & some candy. She was thrilled! They sure grow fast!

Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple

2009-07-16T11:48:00.000-07:00

We went to an open house in Riverton Utah to the tour new temple last week. The entire family was there minus Andy my little bro as he had to work. It's a very beautiful place and it's on a hill that has a gorgeous view! So good to be together for this. Lots of love was present. Front row left to right - Bryce, Rory, Mary, Isabel, Allison, Jorman, Alex, Ethan, Becca & Haylee. Back row - Sara, Jim, Kyle, Tim, Leslie, Marcie, Jay, Todd, Katie, Jennifer, Avery, and Summer.
It's been a busy summer with lots of fun stuff and not so fun. Mom's cancer is back so that's been rough for her. Her pain is getting better but we just continue to pray for a miracle!

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!!! YIPEE!!!

2009-05-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a busy month! The kids had their last day of school today. Jorma finished 3rd grade and got an award for testing in the top 10% in the nation on the standardized tests. He was thrilled to receive such an honor as were we. I can't believe he'll be in 4th grade already. Time sure flies!! Allison had her graduation from pre-school. She's so excited to start kindergarten in the fall.

Allison at the end of the preschool road. She had such a fun and great class. Her teacher was awesome and she matured so much.

Here's Jorma after dancing in the festival, a little tired.

Jorma's school has a dance festival every year that his class works really hard on. This year they danced to "Surfin' USA" by the Beach Boys. He's there in the background kinda goofin around. It's so sweet to see them dance their hearts out. They are very proud! So was I.. :) Now onto fun summer activities!

Memorial Day & Derby 2009

2009-05-27T21:24:00.001-07:00

This Memorial Day weekend was all about the kids. Jorma had his Pinewood Derby adventure and did great. Jay and him fixed up his old car and made it a flaming fast one!

The Flaming 42

#42 in action in the 3rd lane...

So Jorma is quite silly and creative. I love that he enjoys make-believe still. He came up with this get-up on his own. It's a combo of an old Halloween costume, bike helmet and galoshes. Look out GI Joe, it's GI Jojo now!!

Jojo and his buddy Gus Gus take Allison prisoner. Poor girl didn't even see it coming.. All in all we had a very fun holiday!

The Mets

2009-05-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

Baseball season is upon us! Jojo loves it and is pretty good if I do say so myself. Here he is getting ready to steal. It's his first year of "real" ball so it's kinda nerve racking for all of us but we're adjusting (and screaming in the crowd a lot)

Take me out to the ball game...

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks...

But I will be back...GO METS!!!

Recital Time

2009-05-27T21:09:00.001-07:00

Allison had her recital. She loves it & did so well.

Cute girls

Spring Time Fun

2009-05-08T16:46:00.000-07:00

Allison loves to hop-scotch, can you tell? We're just so glad to have some good weather. Love these sunny days especially after being snowed in for 6 months!

Jorma with his best buddies, Gus & Chelise at their school's Walk-a-Thon. They are very silly but did so well running in circles for a good cause! You go Jojo!!

My sweet pea Alli loves the sunshine and dressing up so we went to our backyard for some nature shots. She's so funny and full of love. I'm loving it with my 5 year old. Time is flying so I just want to really savor every moment cuz I'm pretty sure she's gonna be a handful as a teenager (aren't they all?). She's a corker, this one..

Pretty spring cactus Allison picked out for Grandma for Mother's Day..

Here's my Lorax girl just springing up from the Giving Tree's stump. There's a story there...The piece of wood she's standing on is from our very first house we moved to when Jorma was a baby. It's part of a big beautiful Blue Spruce tree that was in our front yard and we used to play in it's shade and were amazed at the wildlife that lived in it. I was driving by the other day and saw it had just been cut down :( so I asked if I could have a piece for "sentimental" reasons. Brought it home and we're gonna shine it up and make good use of it! Ok, I'm a little nutty but it's all good clean/dirty fun! :)

A Very Hoppy Easter!!

2009-04-22T20:45:00.001-07:00

Welcome sunshine! I'm talking to you and mother nature! We are so happy it's nice and warm now, finally. We are such nature freaks, tree huggers, or simply outdoorsy. Whatever you call it - yippee for the sun! Easter was very nice this year and the weather cooperated for the most part. It may be exhausting getting up so early to hide the eggs but it's all good (can you say 4am so the little darlings don't suspect?)...

Here we are at the crack of dawn! So excited for the hunt...

Tulip girl Allison Pearl

We had a great time hunting for flowers at the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point this year. We didn't have to look far as there were tons of great bulbs of all kinds! It's a tradition the kids love and so do we.

Hi there - I'm having so much fun finding eggs and other treats!

It's been a fun spring so far. The kids had spring break from school last week and we did lots of fun stuff with friends and cousins. Swimming and picnics and movies were the highlights. Now they're back at school and mom can rest a little -NOT...

Finally Spring

2009-04-10T19:55:00.000-07:00

We are so glad the weather has gotten nicer so we can go outside more on our bikes. Here are
the kids below at the Bridalveil Falls where we got married 10 years ago. It's still a little dead looking but still beautiful. Can't wait for the gorgeous meadows to bloom soon!

Our cute little lovies all dressed up in their Easter clothes. Getting along and being mellow for a change!

Isabel's birthday celebration. All 13 grand kids together - yae. That's quite the trick since my sister lives far away, boohoo.

Granny goose reading to the kiddies from our favorite Easter book. Love you granny!!

Our lovely eggs! Happy Easter everyone!!

Gift Game

2009-03-09T11:24:00.000-07:00

So this is how it works....I saw this on my friend's blog so I thought I'd try it! Sounds fun..I love giveaways..

The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. BUT, in order for you to leave a comment on my blog, you have to post this on your blog first. (That means that sometime during this year you will send a gift to 3 people as well.) Get it? So, the first 3 people to comment on this post will be the lucky ones.

Have fun & enjoy...

Aquarium Fun

2009-02-25T19:51:00.000-08:00

We all went to a cool aquarium the other day and here's cute Allison peeking out at us. She had a ball and is easy to please.

Cute seahorse garden.

Trippy jellyfish picture. Looks like Allison is trapped in with them which wouldn't be good.

We found Nemo!!

Here we are posing away underwater haha. Can't believe February is almost over. It just flew by. We're all well and good. I got to see Celine Dion in concert with my mom. It was fantastic. She has such an awesome voice and puts on a great show! I really had a good time and I like her so much more now. That was my excitement for the month. Yae

2009-02-11T19:44:00.000-08:00

We had a busy past couple weeks with school activities and other fun stuff. Here's Jorma at school practicing his RAD kids obstacles. This is a program our elementary school does started by Ed Smart, the father of kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart. She was lucky enough to get away and he wants all children to be prepared if they are attacked so the school gives them some basic skills including screaming, kicking, fighting etc. Below I posted the video of Jorma practicing his escape from our local police seargent. I'm very grateful to our teacher Kim for doing this because it just reinforces what I teach them - be aware of your surroundings.

The family goes out to a nice mountain trail to relieve our cabin fever. It wasn't snowing when we got there so we were stoked! But prematurely so as it started coming down hard. It was beautiful in that setting but a little hard to bike ride so we had to pack it in and head for the Mexican restaurant which the kids didn't mind at all.

Jorma is getting his scouting awards and moving up a level to "Bears". It was a fun event that I as a scout leader even enjoyed. The theme was All American and we had hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, popcorn, salads, chili, and ice cream. Then we played baseball inside the gym - that was a big hit!

My little scout - Jorma Ray flashing the scout sign (and peace sign coincidentally)..

Jorma Kicks Butt!!

CAN YOU SAY BURRRIED..

2009-01-21T19:10:00.000-08:00

Here's our freezing house buried under all the snow, burrr. We just got pounded this year! And yes that is a swimming pool wrapped around our swamp cooler. Tacky, I know but it served its purpose in a bind and then we never found the cover and by then it was too icy to climb up and change it. Someday we'll laugh.

Poor Jorma has to earn his keep. Builds character I say.. He actually love diggin in the snow so this seemed like a good idea - dig but move it out of the way. He loves the snow and has been loving going snowboarding and sledding. I get a kick out of it until he keeps smackin his head on the ice. Can you say concussion??

Our beautiful Christmas tree keeps on giving joy in the form of a tree-sickle. We stuck it out back & it's still pretty in a way. As you can see it's snowed a bit since then.

Allison got this Strawberry Shortcake tea set for Christmas. She loves it!

Here she is enjoying a cuppa with mom. She's so funny and very girly. She's loving preschool still and we just adore her teacher. She is so lucky as is Jorma with a great teacher too. Jorma was so excited about the inauguration of a new president and was so impressed with the huge amount of people there. He was really in awe. He learned so much but was really thrilled to find out that there was lots of security with guns and snipers around for protection. My little buddy is very into guns at the moment. We just laugh cuz he's been choosing friends based on the amount of toy guns they have. Joy. It's interesting for us because we are so anti-gun, violence, etc. But I say teach them to use it safely and respectfully for less accidents. Oh the lessons we learn...

Christmas 2009

2009-01-02T19:09:00.000-08:00

What a fun Christmas we had with my sister and her fam in Colorado this year. The kids were wild and so excited as expected. It was a busy house with the 6 little sillies! They had such a good time together as did the adults. My parents were there too so it was a nice gathering. It's so cool to see the kids joy and realize they get to have some of the same family traditions I grew up with and create some new ones as well. None of us got a lot of sleep but that's ok, it was worth it! I think the kids only slept about 4 hours on Christmas eve due to the excitement of Santa coming. They are all so cute!
There were many games played by the time we left and we love it. We are a family of gamers that's for sure! The drive was neat especially through Vail as we saw lots of wild life like buffalo and big horn sheep. Jorma loved seeing the snow borders doing the half pipe, it was truly breathtaking. All that snow!! Oh my!!
What a good time!

Allison Dances

2008-12-12T21:26:00.000-08:00

Here's Allison at dance class doing a little performance to some Christmas music. She just loves her class and teacher and really does great. We love to watch her being so cute!!

Our first real live Christmas Tree

2008-12-12T20:55:00.000-08:00

Well the vote this year was for a real tree so here we are so excited to have found the perfect and cute one for us. It's a very unique one, the only one at the farm like it. I can't remember what kind they said it was but it smells great!

Here's a cute shot of the kiddies after decorating. They were so excited, especially Allison. She was just dancing around putting the stuff everywhere. What a nut!

Well they seem to be winding down a bit, ya right!!

Here's a good shot.

And now back to dancing and craziness...

Festival of Trees

2008-12-05T19:36:00.000-08:00

I went to the Festival of Tree's at the expo center with my mom and daughter today. What an amazing sight! Filled with hundreds of Christmas trees and decorations, this display is an awesome Utah tradition that totally benefits our community. One hundred percent of the proceeds raised goes to Children's Primary Hospital. If you've never been, you should. This tree above is called the Marshmallow Tree and was one of our favorites. It's hard to tell how adorable it is. It's covered with thousands of colorful small marshmallow and matching decorations. So cute! It's a great cause and most trees are dedicated to special people done by family and friends or companies. And the goodies alone were worth going for!!

A HAPPY THANKSGIVING WITH THE FAM

2008-11-30T21:52:00.000-08:00

Well another Thanksgiving is over and with it came some fun times and yummy food of course. Mom made her great turkeys, yes 2 of them, and all the fixins. Sister Sara made really delicious pies and I contributed 10lbs of mashed potatoes. We like it all. There's lots of left overs for those casseroles and sandwiches too. Me and my sisters all went to see "Twilight" . I really liked it and actually saw it 2ce with Sara. That was fun. That's what Thanksgiving is about to me, going to the show and shopping and eating large amounts so to that end it was a very successful holiday.

The moms took all the kids to Thanksgiving Point's Dinosaur Museum which was lots of fun for everyone. It's a very cool and kid friendly place with lots of hands on activities.

Here's Allison with her new birthday bike. It's her first big girl bike and she can really ride! She was so excited when she saw it. We just think she's the cutest girl ever!

Here's the birthday girl. Can't believe she's 5. I made the pink cake and we put the no blow out candles on it. She got a kick out of that. We had a party with the family and cousins. She really wanted everyone to go swimming at the rec center but that wasn't gonna happen so we compromised and took one of her little friends. She's a water baby just like me.

MOMMY, CAN WE GO SLEDDING!!??

2008-11-12T20:37:00.000-08:00

Well, we went up to take the kids sledding on Timp after repeated begging bouts and there was hardly any snow down low enough for a good spin. We did manage to find a couple hills to satisfy their craving. They are so funny! It was actually a nice time though our fire didn't quite take off as we had hoped so no roasted marshmallows but that didn't stop them from gobbling them up. We just put them in the hot chocolate instead.

If we could have taken a road up higher we could have found some better snow to sled down but we made due.

Here's the kids playing on the bridge over the river.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-03T19:11:00.000-08:00

Well we had a great Halloween this year. We were very busy but we made it through, yae!! Jorma decided he wanted to to as Darth Vader this year which was easy enough but not as creative as I wanted to be but it was his turn to choose. Allison is Ariel the little mermaid. They had so much fun with all of the activities - school and church parties where they marched around in their costumes in various parades. We also had a get together at our house with family for some of Grandma's yummy homemade pizza before we sent them off to get candy.

Here I am at the church party playing Halloween bingo with all the kids. I'm a scary witch if you can't tell with warts and all. One of my many costumes this year. Did I say I love Halloween..

Jorma at a Utah Lake adventure with a silly expression on a nice October eve.

Darth and Obi-wan face off! Cousin Ethan and Jojo had a fun night together going trick or treating in my brother's neighborhood. They got so much loot that I about died. They were all hopped up on sugar for the night.Jorma's school party where we played good ol' bingo again. Allison got to play too. Very good kids in his 3rd grade class.

Our 2 pumpkins in the middle - skeletor and kitty.

Here are the gypsies dancing around the fire (behind them). Grandma, Alli and Mary having fun at our house.

Cool jack-o-lantern! Daddy did this one.

Here we are getting ready to go out trick-or-treating. I'm Ursula the sea witch from The Little Mermaid to go with Allison's costume and the other mermaids in the family. I was also a butterfly fairy for another party the next night. Everything was fun this year. Jay and I love it when the kids are so thrilled and full of excitement. We took them around to some fun places and got to go to some spooky houses for some fun and scary skits by our creative friends. Sad it's be over but glad all went well.

Tales of the Heeby Creepy!!

2008-10-24T20:09:00.000-07:00

Once upon a hallow eve,we gathered for a creepy train ride....

on the Heber Creeper....

poor little Allison was scared while some of us were excited...

Then the ghosts came....

And other scary ones....

There were also cute gnomes with gramps...

But the scariest of all was Grampa Conehead (aka Tom Bosley in the cartoon David the Gnome). Silly and scary fun was had by all!!

Witchy Times at Gardner Village

2008-10-17T20:17:00.000-07:00

Well, it's fall break for our kids - yae! It's always great to have extra time together and do fun things. The kids and I picked up Grandma and went to a cute shopping area with great decor for the season called Gardner Village. The kids love the excitement of Halloween and they go all out here. The theme - witches!! Lots of different witches, human or stuffed, either way it's good fun!

Cheesy!

Spooky owl!

Here's a good one of my sweetie. She was lookin like a yummy candy corn! Did I mention this is my fav holiday? Well it is if you can't tell. The weather is so totally awesome right with that great October crispness in the air.

A beautiful view of the moon rising over Timp at twilight from our living room. Can't you just picture the bats flying in front of this scene?? Mwaaaaahhh!!!!

Grandma and Jojo goofin' around and trying on hats. Aren't we a silly bunch? I loved Jorma's with the big orange spider emerging from it. Cool man...

This is a groovy looking witch. She reminds me of Cher. What a fun time we had!! The only thing we didn't do was eat a caramel apple, darn it! The lines were just tooo long! Oh well, I'm sure we'll find one soon.

THESE ARE A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS..

2008-10-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

These are some of our fav Halloween books. This one is very cute and has great illustrations! This artist does other great stories too.

We love this book, especially at Halloween. It's so cute and sweet!

This is an all time favorite of our families too. It's pretty neat. Grammie Mac always reads it to the kids.

MERMAIDS IN THE SUN

2008-10-08T19:43:00.000-07:00

Allison and the cousins Becca, Mary, Haylee (pictured) Avery, and Katie went to the waterfalls Thanksgiving Point gardens to pose in their wonderful Halloween costumes that Grammie Mac made. Each one is a little different and special in it's own way. Thanks so much Grammie. We love you so!

Then we went to the Hutchings Museum for Harry Potter night. The kids loved it as did the grownups. They were so creative and made it so fun and a little spooky. It's a very old place to begin with so just thinking about creepy things gave us a little thrill. They had very cool exhibits too. The kids got up close and personal with some neat owls, bugs and rats. Fun times.. Now if the other 5 cousins were there too dang it! We missed you Ethan, Isabel, Bryce, Rory and Kyle. But we can't wait to see you at Thanksgiving!

Here we are again but not so happy as the sun is making us crazy! The little ones had a rough time but are so cute anyway.

Here's my sweet little mermaid Ariel (Alli)..

Cutie pie!

We lit our fireplace for the first time this season. As you can see the kids love it! I dropped the ball tho, no marshmallows. What was I thinking? We are loving fall and the crispness in the air! We've tried to be outdoors as much as possible because winter is coming...

Fall Colors

2008-09-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

We ran into my brother Andy & his family on our trip to the mountains. We had a fun time wading in the river and the kids played lots. Then poor Andy got his flip flop stuck in this little marshy area and couldn't find it so he had to go barefoot for a bit. But it was too funny! We all had a good laugh especially when the other fell off and he just said "I'm leaving them here". It was a beautiful and fun day.

At Bridal Veil Falls where we got married....oo how sweet...

The four of us posing at one of the trail heads on Mt.Timponogos. It started raining a bit at this point. Not for too long though. Still they wanted to keep their swim suits on.

Time for lunch and a campfire. The kids loved the fire and just kept making us crazy by poking it with sticks that would light up. They were running around the forest with torches, ugh! Now, my brother Andy loved fire too much so this could be a hereditary thing, haha. I'm sure most kids are intrigued by it.

Nice Colors...

Cousin Haylee and Allison love to go on adventures. They are at such an adorable age and they really enjoyed each other which makes me so happy.

Jorma and Ethan found a fun little trail. And were plenty muddy in the end! But kids just love mud so it's all good.

The gang swimming in the river, or trying to at least.

This is of us at the park for a "Hog Wild" Harley festival. Cool bikes and good music. Jorma is so funny - he took a pen and notebook pad with him so he could keep track of how fast the fastest cycle could go. 180 MPH were his findings. What a nut!

Allison's Wonderland

2008-09-24T19:05:00.000-07:00

Allison got a new bed finally. She's been using Jorma's bottom bunk mattress on the floor since we moved so this is a nice change. It's gonna be fun making the room all cute now. We're thinking a hanging canopy sounds cool!

Brother likes it too! Now if Alli would sleep in it all night and not come in bed with mom we would all be thrilled. She's such a cuddle bug though. It's hard for her to make it through the night alone still, my sweet babe.

Beautiful fall flowers in Grandma's yard.

Allison and Grandma loving each other.

Some pretty pink bulbs that just sprung up in our yard. Lots more seem to be coming up too. We love flowers. Who doesn't?!

DAY AT THE ZOO WITH MY LITTLE MONKEYS

2008-09-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

We've been trying to get to the zoo all summer and we finally made it. Yae!! We love our local zoo and it was such an amazingly beautiful day. I love the wild cats so much. This guy is so neat and was just posing away for us.

Allison loves elephants as you can tell. She ran straight for this guy. What a nut!

We loved this guy, the albino alligator. Very freaky!

Well we had a really good time hanging out at the zoo for the day. The giraffes are so amazing too! They are my favorite. Jorma loved the train ride around the park. On one part of the ride a huge buffalo was just roaming free in one area that the little train goes through and he came so close to us that it kinda scared me for a minute. My heart jumped as I remembered the rangers' warnings at Yellowstone that buffalo are mean and fast. We were ok but it was one to remember. The kids loved it so that's all that matters.

JOJO CAN MOW!

2008-09-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

We always knew Jorma would be a great mower. He's loved all things loud & male since the day he was born! So we're teaching him to put that energy to good use. He doesn't love it but at least he has practice.

My cute fall/Halloween decorations on my mantle.

I just thought this was the cutest thing ever! Allison was just like a little Nightingale singing in her bird house. She loves the tree house and sings and dances around all the time up there. It makes me crazy to the point that I can't look in fear that she may fall. It's pretty sturdy up there but still, it's high up there!

Yes, we've already begun the Halloween season at home. We've decorated everywhere and have our costumes all lined up. We love this time of year and Halloween is the climax of it all!!

This looks weird but it' s my fav breakfast in the summer/fall with our garden veggies. It's fried zucchini (best dipped in Italian breadcrumbs & egg) and scrambled eggs with soy sauce mixed in them. A little ranch dressing on the side for the zuchs, of course,and it's so tasty. Allison and I gobble it up in the mornings when I'm feeling motivated and hungry! Yumo! Try it someday, you'll like it.

Lovely Septemeber Weekend

2008-09-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

We went to The Heritage Festival in Pleasant Grove this weekend and the kids had a ball with various activities and yummy food. Good job Josh! Our friends cater these events so that was fun seeing them. Jorma is sawing logs with Jay in this pic. Then he got to burn in the brand of his choice, a bear paw. Very cute. I started doing it with him but Jay had to finish cuz I got tired and Allison was ready to go do other stuff.

Allison playing toss the beanbags.

My blurred vision at the end of the day. No, not really. Just more of Jay's funky art.

We celebrated my niece Mary's 10th birthday and Grandma Mac's too at the MacGillvray house in Lehi. Here are two cute mermaids having fun at the party, Becca and Allison. It was a nice night. I can't believe Mary is 10. It seems like yesterday I was holding her little newborn self with tons of black hair! Time sure flies. The men watched football of course and political comedy shows. We were all happy BYU stomped UCLA! All but Jay, his allegiance is to any Cali team. And Jorma had a good football game with Grandma and Granpa watching too! We obviously love football season. Go Raiders haha....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!

2008-09-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

We had a fun day with Grandma Mac celebrating her 63rd birthingday. We took her some pickled eggs we won at the auction. Nice and fresh and yummy and spicy. And you can see she loves her grand kids sooo much and loves making wonderful costumes. This is my little mermaid. Grandma did so good on all of these beautiful creations. She's made 5 so far for all the girls, each one a little different. It's SO fun. We wish it was Halloween every day! We are ready for our fav holiday!

Then we went to Mimi's Cafe for breakfast, our fav meal there. Yummy eggs Benedict and quiche. Just the girls.

Then we checked out this lovely exhibit in Sandy called the Healing Field in commemoration of 9/11 and the Ellis Island immigrants. It was very interesting. I remember watching the events of 9/11 on tv and just feeling absolute dread and sorrow. My first child was just an infant and I remember just holding him tight and crying. Then a couple months later we were heading to NYC to see my sis who just moved there. It was a sobering experience seeing the smoking grounds from the top to the empire state building. Very very sad. We were very lucky not to have lost any of our loved ones but it still was so awful!

It was a perfect and beautiful day with all of the flags waving in the cool breeze. We took a test they gave as a mock ceremony and then we were sworn in as citizens. Neat. It was a fun day with my loving mom. Love you Esther!

Hey Coach!

2008-09-10T20:52:00.000-07:00

Jay is coaching Jorma's football team this year, yae! (That's him in the middle) We're the ones in the sage green which I picked. They gave me only 4 choices and the green was a nice change from previous years of orange, red, blue etc... We must have 2 of each so far, even purple. So Jay's doing so well being coach and putting his football skills and knowledge to good use. He's having a good time!

And he's off!! Jorma in action. My little jubjub!

Then we went up on our fav mountain Timponogos. It's a beautiful time of year with the colors just starting that change torwards fall. The kids love just digging right in.

The sweetest kids ever!!

Jorma and Allison both love the water anywhere we go so we ended the day with a dip in the Provo river. Beautiful!

This is a pic of a really cool wall painting downtown SLC. We really like it!!

POOR BEEGIRL

2008-09-05T18:38:00.000-07:00

My sweet little Allison hurt her foot Wednesday night when she jumped off our couch and landed wrong. She was limping the whole night and the next morning so I just decided we needed an x-ray to rule out any type of fracture. And yae! no fractures of any kind just sore tissues. So they gave her this little boot to help heal faster and today she is running and playing with no pain. We are very happy needless to say. It's always harder on the parents I think when their babies are in pain. I usually just do the wait and see kinda thing but Allison is our X-ray girl, this being her 3rd visit to radiology. But better safe than sorry. So she feels much better! I'm keeping sane by reading the 4th Twilight book Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. So good! Thank Jenn for passing it on so quickly. I've been reviewing the previous ones just to brush up and get excited. And if you're a fan and haven't heard about the controversy with Midnight Sun, the new book from Edward's view, you should go to stepheniemeyer.com and check it out. I guess the partial novel was leaked to the Internet so she just put it out there and it's very good. I hope she finishes it someday. We love to read. Jorma has been so excited to read his I Spy books from school lately. So cute. We enjoy them as a family too.

Well I have a head cold, ick! But it's getting better fast thanks to lots of garlic! Time for some sleep!

Labor Day 2008

2008-09-03T19:11:00.000-07:00

WE HAD A VERY NICE AND RELAXING LABOR DAY WEEKEND TOGETHER. THE WEATHER WAS SUNNY AND STORMY AT THE SAME TIME. THE KIDS THOUGHT THEY NEEDED TO BE LITTLE NUTS AND DO SOMETHING WE REALLY SHOULDN’T LET THEM DO – FLOAT PLASTIC BAGS IN THE WIND STORM. WHEN JORMA WAS SMALL WE WOULD TAKE A FEW SUPERMARKET BAGS AND LET THE WIND CARRY THEM UP OR IN CIRCLES OR WHEREVER AND THEN TRY TO CATCH THEM. HE LOVED THIS. WELL MY LITTLE SILLIES WERE JUST LAUNCHING THEM UP AND AWAY INTO THE STORM. THEY WERE JUST HOOTIN AND HOLLERIN SO JAY AND I JUST GOT A KICK OUT OF BASICALLY LITTERING OUR NEIGHBORHOOD WITH BAGS. SO BAD! WHO KNOWS WHERE MOST ENDED UP BUT LOTS WERE IN OUR NEIGHBORS YARD SO WE GATHERED THEM LATER. IT WAS GOOD FUN! BUT WE PROBABLY NEED KITES INSTEAD.
ALLISON LOVES PLAYING SOCCER SO WE GOT A NEW RED BALL JUST FOR HER AND SHE’S GOOD AS YOU CAN SEE. SHE LOVES TO LOOK AT ALL THE PRETTY FLOWERS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD TOO SO WE HAD FUN AT THANKSGIVING POINT VIEWING THEIR BEAUTIFUL GARDENS. THEN WE DID SOME ART PROJECTS WITH THE KIDS IN OUR DINING ROOM AND SEE OUR NEW DECORATION - A TREE LIMB THAT BROKE OFF IN THE STORM. YES IT’S SILLY AND THE KIDS LOVE IT. JORMA MADE SOME COOL PAPER AIRPLANES AND HAD A BALL FLYING THEM OUTSIDE. ALL IN ALL IT WAS A BUSY YET ENJOYABLE WEEKEND.
JAY DID AN AMAZING NEW DRAWING THAT WOULD LOOK GREAT ON CERAMIC TILE. HE’S SO TALENTED & CREATIVE.

Preschool Days

2008-08-29T19:47:00.001-07:00

" Here's my sweety Allie! She picked this outfit to wear to school so I said "What the heck!" She loves to dress up and since I made this dress I want her to show it off - haha. Grandma make the crown and I wondered if her teacher would care if she wore it in class. She didn't mind. Yae. Girl just wanna have fun!!
The wierd looking food thing is called a florentine garden ring stuffed with spinach, swiss cheese, ham, olives, tomatoes, onion, carrots and garlic. Sooo yummy, I made it for dindin. The kids won't eat it so Jay and I gobbled it up. Once in a while I have to make our favorite stuff & the kids get sandwiches or mac and cheese. They'll live.

Day in Salt Lake

2008-08-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

We went to The Gateway outdoor shopping and activity area also this weekend. The kids love to be wet and swimming in the summer so this was perfect for all of us. We shopped and ate and ran in the fountains and went to the fun planetarium. We love Barnes and Noble too especially Allison because they have great stuffed unicorns. I even got to shop a little on my own for new sunglasses. Cheap thrills!! But not so cheap is my dream bed and bedding from Anthropologie, the coolest store ever! We had a very nice day and then went to our fav mexican restraunt Red Iguana. If you haven't been there you need to try it out and get the mole. It's fab!

Date in Park City

2008-08-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

We got to go on a date alone together over the weekend to beautiful Park City, our fav town. It was very nice and relaxing. We went to hear a kid by the name of Jason Isbell play some funky southern blues and rock at a wonderful venue outdoors at The Canyons Resort. Jay loves this type of music and he has some of Jason's stuff. He does have a great voice. Jay was drooling over the Les Paul Gibson guitar the guy above in the band had so we had to take a pic. Those things are seriously major bucks like $20,000.00 Crazy! It was a really pretty day & nice sunset. And it was free, yae! Then we went to old Main Street and browsed the art galleries and saw the neat painting above. And then we got silly cuz we found our family initials (JJAM) on a shop door. HAHA. It was fun and a much needed adult time. The kids had fun with our fav sitter Jessica (next to grandma) and stayed up much too late.

FUN TIMES WITH ALLISON

2008-08-22T17:50:00.000-07:00

Allison misses her brother now that he's back to school after a fun summer. So we've been having some fun playing together and just spending some quality mama and me time. She loves to play dress up as you can see. Her little tye-dye dress used to be our friend's in Cali - TinaTina. She's looking forward to starting school and asks everyday, "Is it time yet?". Oh to be so young and excited again! We love going to our friends' to play, playing at the park, and she really loves reading time at the library. My baby is growing so fast.

The thing in the tree is a bird feeder made out of a pinecone rolled in peanut butter & birdseed. We did this at scouts. Wendy Fowler is such a wonderful leader, we love her!! And the birds love the feeder, yae!

Scouts & Grandma's

2008-08-20T20:36:00.001-07:00

Allison & I went to visit Grandma Mac at her house. Allison loves to play dressup with the gowns my mom makes. She was Snow-White as you can tell. We love Grandma soooo much & she's the greatest!! Grandpa's nice too(not pictured cuz he's - guess where - sleeping) But really he's love his grandkids tons! Anyway, we had a nice visit & some of grandma's yummy homemade pizza, mmmm. Then it was back home & off to Cub Scout Pack Meeting - awards time!! Jorma got about 7 awards, BB Guns, Baseball, Conservation, Fishing, Birds, Maps & Compass etc. The boys loved it cuz we had a water balloon toss & fight & roasted marshmellows & made s'mores. Yum! Jorma thought it was the best one yet! Thanks Den Master Ray!

NICE WEEKEND

2008-08-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

We had a nice weekend spending time outdoors with the kids. Went to a few parks, saw some wierd Heron type birds by Timponogos Temple and tried to get creative by taking some pics of the kids with some old time cars. We saw some huge geese too so Allison chased them around. Jay & Jorma did some yard art while we all swam in the kiddie pool. It was nice & refreshing. We love swimming and the weather is so nice now for it, perfect.

School Time

2008-08-19T10:24:00.000-07:00

The kids are back to school. They were actually excited which I was surprised by. I thought Jorma wouldn't be ready for summer fun to end but he's so cute. He said "Mom I like my teacher & the desks are new & silver & shiney!" He had a great first day. Allison starts next week with our wonderful Miss Kerry. So we are grateful for great teachers & fun school experiences.

MY TALENTED HUSBAND'S ART

2008-08-16T12:28:00.000-07:00

Jay's wonderful art!

ALL DRESSED UP!

2008-08-16T12:24:00.000-07:00

Here's the happy family after my nephew's baptism. We rarely get dressed up so time to get a photo while we can!