tribute

anger

frustration

denial

loneliness

these are all natural feelings, but that doesnt make this any easier. we will all experiance grief to a certain extent, but we CAN make it through this sorrowful time.

from my earliest years, i have learned so much from this iconic megastar. i learned my abc's and 123's. i learned that I am NOT alone. i learned that billie jean was just a girl who claimed he was the one. and most importantly i learned it dont matter if youre black or white.

seriously though, i loved michael jackson's music in the 80's. he had so many great hits that i cant help but dance when i hear them.

MJ, you will be missed.

who else is pumped?

ONLY 20 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!

it has begun

Potty Training

wish us luck

wedding bells

wedding preparations are under way! she's got the dress. thats what we are doing in the picture below.
we were going to order a small plain white fondant cake and then add white ribbon and orchids to it, and then serve sheet cake. i couldnt stand the thought of spending $$$ for a cake that wasnt even going to be served so i practiced making my first fondant cake. delayna approved and now i will be making a wedding cake! two layers of which will be styrofoam. this picture isnt the greatest...and the brown ribbon will be white...and it will be on a nice cake stand. the cake stand from my wedding actually :)

ellie approves of the cake

fiesta in siesta!

we had a delightful time at Siesta Key this week. we decided to pimp our ride to try and fit in with the "cool" crowd...did it work? ok, actually we parked next to this car at burger king and couldnt pass up such a beautiful picture. chris gave me the camera and said, "i dont know if anyone is in there so take it discretely".

well as you can imagine the beach was BEAUTIFUL! the water was heavenly at 85 degrees. we took way too many pictures...and they all look the same as every other beach picture we have, so i'll spare you all.
we found a pretty good frozen custard place called "sweet berries". we hit it up twice the first day we were there. what??? we were on vacation.... and it was hot...and jack wanted it! it certainly didnt compare to my favorite place called nielsens in bountiful, but it was very very yummy!

while geocaching we found a SAWEEEEET park! it was amazing. everything at the park could spin...i LOVED it! oh yeah, and so did the kids. please dont mind the horrific tummy shot chris accidentally zooms in on...you may have nightmares...thanks chris

all in all it was a wonderful trip. we will certainly be making it again in the future. although we cant decide if it would be more fun with or without the kids :)

the boys are back in town

my favorite boys made it home, safe and sound! here is a quick recap of what their trip entailed:

most important- they went to jdawgs! dont be fooled by the background of these pictures. they went to jdawgs and then took their hot dogs to "the hot dog king" and ate them there. why? because uncle desi wanted the foot long arizona dog. a hot dog wrapped in bacon, pastrami, chili and cheese...it should be called the heart attack if you ask me! these pictures of jack made me cry because i was laughing so hard. what a ham!

chris and jack met our dear friends nate and lucy at jdawgs. lucy is AdOrAble!



at the idaho falls zoo

they surprised aunt alli at work in rexburg...yes that is a wal-mart badge you spotted ;)

jack and cousin jeffjacuzzi tub = fun

grandpa's 6? birthday celebration! happy birthday grandpa brower!!

waking up is hard to do...or is that breaking up?? oh well!

playing with cousins in utah

cute cousin taytum

jack and daddy at temple square

just being jack

grandpa's little bud

i am so proud that my little boy has taken after me with his ability to ROCK OUT! all he needs in this video is a strobe light, fog machine, maybe a few crowd surfers....oh yeah, and a song actually worth rocking out to!

jack didnt want to get out of his usual morning workouts...

yes, jdawgs truly has the best hot dogs in the universe and here's the proof

when they got home, one of the first things chris said was, "i think i gained about 10 pounds" so you know they had a wonderful trip!

tomorrow we are all headed to siesta key for a couple days...stayed tuned for some pictures!!

YAY!...wait, wha?!

load dishwasher- check

vaccuum- check

wash sheets- check

clean bathrooms- check

hide shopping receipts- check

todays the day! i have been counting down the hours until chris and jack come home from idaho. they have been gone a little over a week and i miss my men! ellie and i were just finishing mopping the floor when we heard the phone ring. it was chris! calling to say that they were waiting to board the plane and would see us soon! WRONG! it was chris calling to tell us their flight was CANCELLED!!! they cant catch another flight until tomorrow morning! i am still fuming about it because i was so looking forward to kissing jacks big chubby cheeks. i miss that little guy when we are apart!

while the boys were gone, ellie and i had a lot of fun. as much fun as you can have with a 16 month old with a cold i guess. we went to the park, shopped, sewed, made homemade lemonade, shopped, did some more little craft things, went for drives (chris isnt crazy about that, so i decided to go on a few of them while he was gone), shopped, did wedding prep, and ate a ton of junk! i wish i could say that with all that shopping we bought a ton of fun things, but we didnt. it was mostly just window shopping to get out of the house. i did however find the most comfy skirt in the entire world at jcrew for only 10 bucks! i snagged that real quick!

ellie decided that while jack was gone, she was going to perfect the tantrum! she's very good at it!

bo and layna came over for stir-fry on monday night and we made real, homemade lemonade. im not talkin' squeeze it, add some sugar and youre done. no way. im talkin' about making a simple syrup then adding fresh lemon and lime juice, letting it refrigerate for a few hours, then adding the water and ice...yeah, i know, the real deal people! that took planning and preparation, which i am not really known for!

we did enjoy our time together but it will be nice to have the boys home, even if it is a day later then planned :)

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redneck jokes

i am a big fan of those "you know youre a redneck when..." jokes. my favorite is one everyone knows, but it goes like this: you know youre a redneck when you dont wear a shirt to work and neither does your husband! OUCH!!!! LOVE IT! well i have often times thought about changing it to "you know your a MOM when..." so here are a couple i thought of and i know all of you are way more creative then me so please feel free to leave one in the comment section!!!! (that includes all of you that arent moms yet...(aka rikki, carrie and alli)

You know you're a mom when...

-you reach into the diaper bag to grab your wallet only to find it cemented in place by melted fruit snacks.

-you find out you've had a saltine cracker stuck to your shoulder for an entire trip to office max.

-while driving in the car, you describe everything you see out loud even when you're by yourself.

-you think its ok to venture out in public because its only been 2 days since your last shower instead of 3.

ok, let the creativity flow!

belate-late-late-lated birthday

this is the apron i made for kersey's birthday that was a few months ago. lucky for me, kersey has become very forgiving towards me over the years...we're goin on 17 plus years! holy crikey!

kerz has always loved movies and with that came quite a few favorite actors. so i put a couple of them on the front side of the apron. there is harrison ford, david duchovny, denzel washington, jerry lewis, and steve martin.

happy belated birthday kerz!!!