I love...My In-Laws!

Day #6....I LOVE my in-laws. These two people are fabulous. I don't know what my life would be like without them in it.

Robb and Kathi are Chad's aunt and uncle and they are two of the most genuine, selfless, easy-going and fun-loving people. They live in Idaho, so we aren't able to see them as much as we would like; but they never forget about us. Every holiday they send my kids' a box full of surprises. (And their gifts are always so personalized!) Yesterday the kids' Valentine presents arrived on the doorstep and my kiddos spent the evening covering my house [and their little bodies] in glitter:) Robb & Kathi are always thinking of their family and have done so their entire lives.

When Robb was 32 and Kathi 28 they took Chad and his four other brothers and sisters into their home because Chad's parents were both killed in a car accident. Robb and Kathi already had 4 kids of their own; and later another one! At one time, Robb and Kathi had 6 teenagers under one roof! This family of 10 kids were loved and brought up together as one family. I LOVE this story and it exemplifies their true devotion to family and their ability to put others first. (I honestly don't know how I would react if I were ever placed in their situation. That is a huge undertaking and the entire situation changed their lives forever!)

I LOVE Robb and Kathi for their welcoming nature. I remember the first time I went home with Chad (at the young age of 18!!!) I was greeted at the front door with a huge hug by both of them. I'm sure they were a little hesitant about Chad bringing home some 'high-maintenance' Utah girl; but they were (and always have been) warm and loving towards me. They are great conversationalists and are always genuinely interested in other peoples lives.

I LOVE going to Robb and Kathi's home. Good times are always had with Chad's side of the family. They are all so easy-going and game-playing is a favorite past-time! They have raised some wonderful kids and I feel lucky (and blessed) to be a part of this family.

I LOVE....Hats!

Day #5..I LOVE my hats! Weird love, but definitely a LOVE to me. Hats are my back-up plan for a bad hair day; or to simply add a little something to a dull outfit. I am a bit of a hat collector and have way too many hats; but I can't part with them because I just might wear it again someday:) If I'm going away on vacation the first thing I pack is a couple of hats...you just never know when you may not want to do your hair or if it's windy or sunny. Anytime I'm in a store I check out their selection of hats and see if there's a hat that I don't need! I LOVE to wear hats!

Having said that; I will not roam around my house wearing a hat. I don't really find them to be super comfortable, and upon returning home from an outing where a hat was worn; it is the first thing to shed.

I especially like hats in the summertime, because I have become a bit of a fuddy duddy and don't like the sun to be on my face. (Lou Lou, you can attest to my grandma hat that I wear to the pool! It's not exactly hip and youthful; but hopefully it will keep my skin looking youthful!)

I LOVE hats! (Today was obviously a hat day; which is why it is on my mind. The bonus to it being a hat day; I didn't have to do my hair!) I LOVE hat days!

I Love...Temples

Day #4. I LOVE Temples!

I thought this would be an appropriate post for today; since we visited the Draper Temple Open House this morning as a family. What a beautiful temple! Not only was I impressed with how magnificent the temple was decorated; but the entire process of viewing the temple right now is something else! So many wonderful people are there to show you where to park, say 'hello', and just point you in the right direction....each one of them is there simply because they want to. I LOVE people who are selfless with their time--(they make me feel guilty) and they make me want to be better!

(I asked Carsen his favorite part about the temple and he said, "The bus ride!" He was so excited that we got to ride on a bus. I had been told to possibly by-pass the bus part; but Carsen would hear nothing of it!)

How lucky I am to live so close to so many beautiful temples. I don't take advantage of this (like I should). This post is not to tell you how perfect (or imperfectly) I am about attending the temple...It is more to express my LOVE for temples and the work which takes place within the sacred walls.

I LOVE temples for my family; I LOVE temples as a retreat from the 'world' and to be reminded of what is truly is important; I LOVE temples for their beauty. I LOVE temples in that no matter where you go in the world you can always count on consistency and peace.

I love...the GYM!

Day 3, I am LOVE'N my gym.

This place is more than a gym! It's fantastic. The facility itself is gorgeous and the classes and fitness instructors are booty-kick'n amazing!

Not only do I love the Gym, but I also LOVE going with my great friends. Every morning we carpool to the gym at 5 a.m. for 1.5 hours of sweat (and laughs). I'm amazed at how well we've done since the gym opened its doors on August 4, 2006...(We were there on the opening day!) and we have been consistent and have quite the routine down together. It's great to know there's somebody waiting for you to pick them up; or knowing somebody is going to be there to pick me up. Plus, even at that wee hour of the morning we are always chatty and are able to catch-up with what everyone has been up too. The unfortunate thing about this gym is it is 9 miles away...so it's a good thing we carpool!

This morning I did one of the new classes I am in LOVE with. It's called Fitness Yoga. This challenging yoga class focuses on strength, conditioning and flexibility. In the five months that I have incorporated this class into my fitness routine; I am impressed with the results! (Great class for those of you who go to this gym and are looking for something new to try!)


I LOVE my gym and the escape it allows me everyday. I am able to come home refreshed (and stinky) and face the day knowing my work-out is complete and my body (and mind) are in good health.

I Love....My Mom!

My second day of things (and people) I LOVE is my MOM.

I have the greatest MOM--ever! She is beautiful, talented, smart, adventurous, the best grandmother (and mom) and most importantly....she puts up with my Dad! She is adored by all who know her; especially her grandchildren. She is Myka's absolute favorite! My Mom is musically gifted and can play fantastically on both the piano and the organ (I should never have stopped taking lessons). Her job is the coolest; she is the Executive Assistant to the CEO of a French Gaming Company. Her company manufactures the poker chips and dice for casinos around the world! (We have more dice and cards than I know what to do with)! Her job entails traveling to France and Mexico--what a tough job.

My mom has always been a huge supporter of all that I do. I've never heard her voice any disapproval for any of my crazy ideas or goals; she just goes along with them.

I LOVE my mom! She is so generous and giving--so much so that she is taking my sister-in-law and myself to London for a week in April. (Sorry for those of you who were under the impression I was going to London to run a marathon or something...not even. I'm going there to eat chocolates and 'mind the gap.')

I Love....

My very talented friend Nat inspired me to do something fun for the month of February. (She also made me a little more motivated to update my blog template. I need to fix some things, but I think I am finally learning a little more about Photoshop). Throughout the month of February, I am going to post something I LOVE each day.

To start off the month of LOVE here's something dear to my heart:

I LOVE....

My hot-air popcorn popper! What 8-year-old girl receives a popcorn popper for Christmas? Me. I have been a popcorn lover since my diaper days and have always owned my very own popper. I like to do it my own way (now that I am little more health conscious) I have swapped out the 'real' butter for some spray butter. Chad thinks it tastes like styrofoam, but I think it's the most delicious snack. I try to limit myself, but you can usually count on the popper being used at least three times a week in our house. (I suppose I could have worse food addictions!) Even Carsen requests "Mommy's popcorn."

Meet Buddy

Carsen has a new name; given to him by Myka. Meet 'Buddy'.

We have been trying for the longest time to get Myka to say 'Carsen.' She always gives us her little smile, runs away and says, "No."

The other day I said to Myka, "Tell Carsen goodnight." She waved to him and said, "Nigh Nigh Buddy." I was a little confused and then I realized what she had called him.

This morning when we asked her who should say the prayer, she pointed to Carsen, "Buddy."

They are the best little buddies. It's so cute to watch them play together (and fight) together.
Myka is quite the tease and loves to taunt her Buddy--But in the end they always make-up and give each other hugs. (Until she takes something away, breaks something or is just being her usual little stinker-self)!

A Run for Fun

This past weekend I joined my running buddies for the St. George Painter's 1/2 Marathon. It was a taste of spring (and quite a tease)! The weather was beautiful for a 13.1 mile run through the pristine terrain of sunny St. George. Both Leslie and Natalie are recovering from injuries; yet they still did amazing (talk about dedicated athletes)! I was just happy to be off the icy roads of Riverton and the monotonous treadmill.

Before the run


After the run


We left the hubby's at home and headed South for a 'girls-only' weekend. We stayed at Natalie's grandparents house; and they were the ideal hostess'. Natalie's wonderful mom also joined us for the trek down South--she's a riot! My parents came up to cheer us on and even treated us to lunch after the run at Texas Roadhouse (a personal favorite)!


After our run was out of the way we were able to focus on more important things; like eating, watching a flick, having some good laughs, and of course some more vegging.

Thanks to my wonderful friends and their nonstop laughter-invoking conversation--it made for a memorable weekend! And an even bigger shout-out to the best husband in the world for letting me go while he stayed home with the kiddos...(It was just a practice run for my New York excursion in March and a week long getaway to London in April.)

Who's 4!

(My amazingly talented friend Natalie made this invite for me. I told her I didn't have time to learn to be like her and would she just do it for me. Twenty minutes later this was in my inbox. Amazing! One of my resolutions is to learn to be a Photoshop wiz like Nat!)


Star Wars + 12 Kids + 12 Light Sabers + 25 Balloons = PARTY!

Carsen requested a Star Wars birthday party--and that is what he got. I have never seen any of the Star Wars films. (I'm not really into Sci-Fi, Fantasy...unless there's a hot vampire named Edward in it;) Carsen has never seen Star Wars either, but he somehow knows a lot of the character's names and that they fight with 'light savers.'

We invited 11 cute little friends over to celebrate his big day with him. I was new at this kid party thing, so I called on several of my friends for game suggestions and ideas on how to entertain 3-4 year-olds for an hour. They all said the same thing, keep it simple. They were right. The kids lost interest in the games after a few minutes, but they loved hitting with their light sabers, trying to crack the pinata and of course all the candy.

Carsen loved his Birthday and all his many many presents! He is so proud that he is four, and had a countdown going on until the big day, "Only 5 more sleeps until my birthday!"

Everywhere we went on his birthday he would whisper to me, "Tell him/her it's my birthday." He was so excited to have it be his big day. (It's funny, because last March Carsen went through a phase where he was convinced he was 4-years-old. He told everyone this when they asked him how old he was. So imaginative.)

We had planned to take him to the Jazz game and out to dinner after his birthday party, but he didn't want to go. He wanted to stay and play with his toys; so we did. It was like Christmas all over again.

Oh, and did I mention he is a four-year-old with a gray tooth. Ugh. He hit his mouth when we were in Vegas for the BYU Football game...I didn't realize at the time he had done damage to the nerve on his gum. Sure enough, the dentist confirmed my fear...gray tooth right in the front that is not going away until it falls out. The dentist said he could pull the tooth, but that the gray tooth would be less noticeable. Is he too young to use that whitening gel stuff on the one tooth? (ha!)

He is one smart, clever, sweet, handsome, fun-loving little man who is adored by all!

A New Day

A new year, a new me. Not when it comes to blogging though; in fact, quite the opposite. I am cutting back. (You laugh, because I haven't really been keeping up with my blog at all lately. That is just me sticking with my resolution!)

I am going to utilize my time by playing with my kids, developing my talents (more like finding some talents to develop) and not being a 'slave' to the computer.

That being said, the holidays were such a delight and my kiddos are too darling to not post about them. Plus...some pretty awesome parents got me a fabulous SLR Digital Camera whose fine images need to be displayed. (I know there are a lot of you out there who have the Canon Rebel. Please e-mail me tips and tricks. I am new at the whole SLR thing...and am in need of any info!)

I always feel a sense of sadness when the holidays come to an end. Another year until I can play Christmas music (that is all I listened to the entire month of December. Carsen knew every Christmas song! No lie. Even Myka knew when to chime in on the 'heys' when singing'Jingle Bells'.) I'm always sad wrapping up all my Nativities and Christmas Ornaments and putting them away in boxes for another year. On the positive side; it's always nice to have my house back in order.

Here's a little Christmas collage of all our Christmas Joys.