This ones for you Beth!

Bethanne tagged me a while back and I have not yet responded. Since there aren't any pictures or things to blog about I figured now was a good time.

10 years ago
That seems so long ago. I was just getting ready for me first wedding anniversary. So we would have been getting ready to go to Ocean city, Maryland. We had a great time there visiting Philadelphia where Patrick served his mission and also New York City. Patrick had just recently bought his business and so he was busy blasting away. But this is about me not him. Although after ten years aren't you officially one? I was busy finishing up my last semester at ASU in communications. I was probably still working at my Dad's dental lab doing the opaquing. Wow is that all? Look what ten years will do. Although ten years from now I am sure that I will be saying that I would have been at home with my children and cleaning. By then I may have realized how sweet my kids are and tell you that they never did anything wrong (if I could just think that now).


Things on my to do list tomorrow
I have to wake up bright and early and be down at the church for our Primary activity. Hopefully I have already finished those 70 sugar cookies (gingerbread men) and the frosting is already all made so that I don't have to do it before the sun rises. Knowing me I will since I am not doing it now but am wasting time here. After that I have got to tackle the garage (the valentines stuff is still not put away). So then while I am putting that away maybe I will get out the Easter stuff. I also really have to tackle the basket of shoes with dried up mud all over them from last week. Yes there is a laundry basket full! That is when you know your kids have too many shoes - when each one brings out at least five shoes in the course of a day to play in the mud and there is still a basket full a week later. Then after all that I will need to get ready to go to the adult session of Stake Conference.


Snacks I enjoy
Right now I am still enjoying left over book club goodies. Lemon cake and Baklava bars, we finished the sugar cookies yesterday. Thank goodness there will be more coming today! Really I love to bake things so that is where my downfall is. I absolutely love cookie dough and then love eating the cookies later. Now if I could just hate to bake then maybe I would be OK. I am not there yet.


If I were a billionaire
I would let Patrick quit his job! He does such labor intensive stuff and works so hard that I would let him retire. Knowing him though he would just use it to start up a new business and so that he could stay busy - he isn't one to sit around. I guess I would buy a large home that I could stay in forever and not run out of room. I think that I would also love to buy a cabin so that my family and I could have a place to go on the weekends and during the hot summer.


3 of my bad habits
1) Cleaning too much. I am a little obsessive and it drives Patrick crazy! I've told him that he needs to be grateful because if he ever had to marry anyone else he would be completely surprised how much he enjoyed the obsession. Some might think that you wouldn't consider this a bad habit, but it does control my life. I wish sometimes that I could just let go.
2) I procrastinate way too much. I always wait till the last minute with everything. This drives Patrick crazy!
3) I will let my kids not be in their car seats if we are not going on any busy streets. This of course causes problems when they do have to get in there seats. I should just learn my lesson.


5 places I have lived
Can these be house in Mesa, because I think that would make five? I was born in Kanab, Utah. Raised in Mesa, Arizona. Went to EAC (Eastern Arizona College) for a year and lived in Howard's Trailer Park. Then moved back and haven't left, don't want to either!


Jobs that I have had
This can also be quite boring. I started working for my Dad before I was 16 and still do work from home(although now my brothers own it). I worked at Pirates Fish and Chips for a little while. Then after I graduated from college I quit working for my Dad and worked at a Home Health Care business doing some data entry at first and then was a Human Resource Director. After I had Lexy I started doing work from home for my Dad and that still has not stopped. I am lucky to get a little extra and sit in my office at home.


Things people don't know about me
When I was 15, my parents were out of town, I took their car and when cruising around with my friends. I didn't yet have my permit because I was just barely 15 and I didn't really know how to drive. It was amazing that I didn't get caught because I did drive to Golfland and I am not for sure but I thought left turns were like right turns and you could turn whenever. So I don't think that I was obeying the traffic rules. And yes this was the worst thing that I have ever done in my life.
I was a little wild girl when I was younger. I think that I had kissed all the boys in the neighborhood before I was 10, and I am sure that I was the one encouraging it. I must have got that I got it all out because I would have considered myself prude when I was a teenager.
I guess the rest is an open book because I can't think of anything else.

We started our backyard!

We finally moved dirt in our backyard! We thought we would start be getting the side yard ready to cage in the chickens, so that we would want to be in our backyard. It was a fun Saturday because the kids played in the dirt all day (and my house showed it by the time we were done).





Kalley has no qualms about getting dirty, as you can tell. She was making a dirt angel, that is what us Arizonians have to use instead of snow. Here is where the real worked happened. Patrick rented a little tractor, (I am sure that it has a real name but they are all tractors to us - right girls?) otherwise known as a big boy toy. He had fun moving the dirt. Then we had to start building the retaining wall. Here he is getting it all laid out so that the wall would be straight. This is where I start to get impatient. I am grateful that he knows how to think these things through. I would of had a very sad looking wall by the time I was done - Thank goodness for men! This is going to be a long process, since the majority of our backyard will need a retaining wall, but it is exciting to see it taking shape.

Just Life!

I have just been sitting here trying to see what to post. I just got done looking at Nichole's blog and feel like there is no hope for me on this blogging stuff. So I decided to show you what life is really like around here. This morning I had a presidency meeting for Primary at my house. But did Cassidy had any real reason to get out of her pajamas. No - so it is 1:00 pm and she is lying around watching TV in them. It doesn't matter much because even when I do get her dressed by the afternoon she is back in them. I should be doing computer work for my brothers but that doesn't seem fun so here I am with nothing of importance to share. I guess that is just life!

Bake Sale!

Lexy and Kalley had been anxious to sell something. They debated on rocks but I couldn't let them fail the first time they had a sale. So they decided to sell cookies and cinnamon rolls. Thanks to all my friends for making a stop to buy something. They were pleased with the $10.75 they made.

What's a girl to do?

For those of you who don't know that we have 11 hens and 1 rooster roaming around our backyard, this may be a huge eye opener. We had to get Cassidy something to do while her big sisters are at school all day! She loves to chase them around and when she catches them she cuddles and sings to them. It is hilarious to watch. Yes they are a huge mess - but once I don't have to go to the store anymore to buy eggs I hope it will be worth it. Thank goodness my backyard still hasn't been landscaped!!!

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures done so that we could send out Christmas cards. Here are a few my favorites.

Cassidy lost her skirt the first time which made us all laugh! I just love their sweet little faces. What a blessing to have three beautiful girls and a wonderful husband in my life.

Disneyland

We finally made it to Disneyland!!! We have been wanting to go forever and we couldn't have picked a better time. As you can see everything was decked out for Christmas, including the characters. What made it the most fun was that it was a total surprise to our girls. We didn't tell them until we were on the freeway (supposedly just going for a drive). They were so excited but they wanted to know what we were going to do for clothes. They didn't realize they were all packed in the back. We loved running around and trying to make Lexy go on all of the scary rides. She wasn't too excited on some, but learned to not be such a chicken. We love her - she keeps us all a little safer! We got home just in time to do some last minute shopping on Christmas eve. It was such a fun memory for us all!

Here the girls are posing in front of Minnie Mouses house and with Ariel (Kalley's favorite). Santa brought up the rear of the parade which made it that much more fun.

Who has ever seen Clarabell at Disneyland - you know Goofy's girlfriend? Pretty exciting!

You can't tell but those are Santa's reindeer (in training) there in the back! Here are the girls showing off their hats and cold attire. Yes it was pretty cold at night!