Thankful Tuesday! Friends!

Well I have been thinking about who I should highlight for this blog and after looking through tons of pictures and thinking of lots of people that would be perfect I couldn't pick just one. I decided instead to focus on a group of women whom I have been friends with for many years! I met most of them in Junior High and High School and have been fortunate enough to still be in contact with many of them! I believe it was a true blessing to have had the group of friends that I did during those years as a teenager and heaven sent to still know these amazing people! We are spread out in many states now and we don't always get to see each other very often but when we do get together it is as if no time has passed at all! I love these women and I hope they know that they all hold a place in my heart!

Here are some of the names of people in the pictures below
Glenna, Melissa, Tanya, Mesa, Marissa, Ali, Sara, Nicky, Linda, Tiffany, Brittini, Kristin, Lisa, Nickel, Brook, Shelley, Cynthia, Rachel, Janell and I am sure I am forgetting some but they aren't any less important!

FAMILY TIME!!

 

So this past Friday my hubby surprised me by coming home early from work (ok so I knew he was coming because he called to talk with me and I could hear the noise from driving on the freeway, but I didn't want him to know that I knew :) ) Anyway the Clark County Fair was this weekend and I had not been in a couple years and Jimmy had never been so once he got home we loaded everyone up and headed to Logandale! We found a parking spot and then headed onto the fair grounds! The girls got really excited when they saw the rides and could smell all the good food! Our first stop were the barns filled with live stock. Grace (who refers to animals by the noises they make) wanted to see Moos and Oinks, although when we found the Moos and she saw how large they were up close she decided that baby oinks are more her style! After that we went on some rides, Grace is an adrenaline junkie!!! She was making everyone within 2 miles aware of her love for adventure when each and every ride was filled with very loud laughter and screams!! I wish we would of had a video of it because it was too funny! Now I must confess that she does not get the need for speed from me, that would be coming either from a relative on my side (i.e Alyssa, Emily,) or her Dad! I am happy with a bumpy car ride or a two story house (the stairs) :). Alexis is more cautious like me but she still had fun, I think her favorite part were the horses that the police were riding! Anyway, so after some fun on the rides we were all hungry so while the girls wanted hot dogs, Jimmy and I held out for the good stuff, pulled pork sandwiches and chicken mmmmm oh gosh it was sooo good, I want some now actually just thinking about it! Then my parents and my nephew Ethan got there and they wanted to eat so we of course wanted to support them in that decision and helped in anyway we could! After we had all sutffed our selves we made another venture to the rides and the live stock barns. It was a wonderful evening and we had decided that it will be a new tradition to go every year! I love being with my family, this is what I pictured as a little kid, to grow up and have a husband and children and make memories like going to the county fair! Thanks to my sweet husband and children for making my dreams come true!!

 

 

 

 

Flashback Friday! DISNEYWORLD!

Two years ago I decided to be brave and I flew to Florida alone with my then 7 year old and almost 2 year old. We went for my niece Amy's 7th birthday, my sister Alyssa and her family were living in Panama City Beach, FL at the time so they drove to Orlando to meet us! We stayed at one of the Disney Hotels and visited several parks! It was my first time to Florida and it was Grace's first time in a Disney Park so it was quite an event. Now we were not the only ones that made the trip out there, Alyssa's in-laws also made the trip. We consider Alyssa's in-laws to be our family too because we have known them for soo long. Anyway I can't believe it has been two years, my how time flies! It was a wonderful trip and a great memory!! Thanks Amy for giving us all such a great reason to get together!

 

Very Blessed!

So after looking through lots of old pictures I realized that I have been so blessed with amazing friends and family and I thought a good way to thank them would be to spotlight them. Although it could be a form or torture with the pictures that I have :)

I decided to highlight my favorite 17 year old! She is an amazing person whom I have been blessed to call my sister! I love her more than she may even know, I remember when my parents sat us down one evening for a family meeting. They told us they had a surprise for us, we (me and my other siblings) began guessing things like "A new boat, a new car, a new house," when nothing we guessed was correct my parents finally told us that my mom was pregnant! I remember my first thought being "Ewwww, gross my parents are still doing that!" Then as my mom's belly grew and we found out it would be a girl I was very excited! I will never forget spending the night at a friends house waiting for the phone call that my new sister was born. I also recall talking to my mom about what her name would be, and as we looked through my 6th grade band concert program we came across the name Emily and it just seemed perfect! I loved her from the moment I saw her and I would take tons of pictures of her as a little kid. I am 12 years older than her and at one point in our lives we didn't see eye to eye but over the last few years we have grown closer and I am grateful for that! We often laugh about the fact that many times I will be out at places like Target, Coldstone and church and I will have teen girls stop and ask me if I have a younger sister named Emily, I enjoy it but I think it drives Em crazy cause I am "OLD". She is beautiful inside and out and she has so many talents. Thanks Em for being you and for being my little sister!

 

 

 

These are just some of the many pics I have taken of Emily over the years!

Not Sooo Brave!

So for those of you that have known me for a few minutes you know that my hair has been every kind of short there is over the years, well a few years ago right after I had Grace I decided that I was gonna grow my hair out. It was very short at the time and so I had to be patient while it went through all the crazy lengths. Well I have had it pretty long for some time and after having James I am short on time to do my hair. It takes soo long to blow it out and then if I want to curl it or anything add some more time to that. Well I had been thinking about cutting it and last week I got the nerve when I found a really cute cut, I called and made an appointment but it was a week away and so by this past Friday some of that nerve went away. That and I had one person tell me that if I cut it I would look fatter and then a few others said that I had pretty hair. I have never been the type to cry over hair cause I never had much hair to cry over but as I sat in the chair she asked me what I wanted to do and I balked. I told her the reasons for keeping it long and since she has been doing my hair for some time and we use to work together she decided what to do for me. She did a great job and she took several inches off but I can still get it in a pony tail and as a crazy mom that is very important for me. Well anyway here are the before and after shots. The one before is kinda of a strange one but it was hard to find one that showed the back. The bottom picture is not so great but it shows how short it was before I started growing it!



BEFORE


AFTER

 

Flashback Friday! Hawaii!

 

Well I can't believe it has been nearly a year since Jimmy and I were able to go to Hawaii for a good friends wedding. We stayed at the Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore of Oahu it was AMAZING! We ate breakfast every morning in a place looking at the ocean and walked along private beaches. Being in the Temple was also exciting, I had been there 10 years before but I had not seen the sealing room. It was Jimmy's first trip to Hawaii and I loved watching how excited he was. We went snorkeling and spent a short time at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We made so many memories, I will never forget the feeling of going to sleep with the sound of the ocean in the background nor will I forget how sad we were to come home. It went so fast and we were not ready to leave but I guess it left us with enough taste that we can't wait to go back. The best part about it was the time that Jimmy and I got to spend together, we don't get much alone time and really never have in our marriage since we have always had children so this opportunity was a blessing! We really reconnected and now when we look back at pictures from that trip we have a tug on our heart strings and a longing to return. Anyway here are some pics from this amazing memory!

Our friends are now living in Hawaii running an ultra sound business so we will be heading back as soon and as often as possible!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little behind!

So I have had some pics to blog about but this week has just been busy and I haven't sat down long enough to do it so now that the kids are still sleeping I may have some quiet time to do this! So the last couple weeks Lexi has been out of school on track break and last week we went to the Lied Children's Discovery Museum, it had been a very long time since I had been, probably about 12 years ago. I decided that it was better to get the kids out of the house for a little while, one so that my house might not get as messy and so that we don't get tired of staring at the same walls for three weeks! The girls had a blast, we actually only stayed about an hour the first time and then we went back on Thursday with our friends Lindsay and Brooklyn and spent several hours. I had forgotten how fun that place is and they had put in lots of new things since the last time I had been there.