Feathered Friends

You have to look kind of hard, but these are the 30 or so geese currently in residence behind my house. Hunting season for geese closed Friday at sundown and that is when they showed up. I think they realized that they were no longer in danger from the avid hunters who regularly visit my home. My brother* saw them, his lips fixed into a grim line,and he said, "They're mocking me." And I swear to you, one of the geese looked at my house and fluffed its feathers.

*I think it was my brother, it could have been my dad.

Ella The Missionary

After discovering Dr. Jeckle's true evilness, Ella decided to save his soul! She followed him around for THREE hours and read the scriptures to him. He finally gave up and let her give her message. Hopefully he listened and is ready to change his naughty feline ways!

What's New

We decided to put Ella in a big bed. She has been having some...issues... with wanting to go to sleep lately, and I am not willing to stay up until 11pm again, so we put our old full sized mattress in her room. I have a very cute twin sized, white poster bed pick out. But we are waiting for our tax return before we get it. Hopefully, this way, we can start our new sleeping regime! The one I have made a plan for anyway!!

I got this is the mail last week. I have a list of things I have picked out for my new front flower beds and the new back yard. I am so excited. Pictures later this spring!

We had these two little devils for the weekend. Ella tortures them and chases them around the house. We have to "put them to sleep" in the laundry room so they can have peace for awhile.

During one particularly intense torture sessions, Brent made the effort to save Dr. Jeckle from Ella's wicked clutches. Kitty did not appreciate the act of mercy. Poor Brent's face!! I told him to tell everyone he got it in a knife fight! I thoroughly disinfected it and covered in salve. Hopefully he doesn't get kitty claw infection!!

I'm so excited for new flowers! I can't wait for pictures of all my new blooms!! Spring is just around the corner!

New Year's Resolutions

1. Stop physically abusing Brent and Ella
This actually sounds way worse than it is! I don't actually abuse either of them. I swat Ella's butt when she is naughty and realized I was just resorting to this instead of actually trying to make her understand what she was doing wrong. Brent on the other hand does know, so maybe I should step it up!! :)

2. Limit Ella's TV time.
This is going to be hard because she can pull 16 hour days.

3. Give Ella more attention.

4. Read the scriptures or the Ensign every day.

5. Save more money.

6. Cook more often and sit at the table to eat meals.

7. Curb swearing to a minimum.

8. Attend to the yard when Brent doesn't have the time.

9. Loose my annual holiday weight. :)
I have this resolution every year. Because every year Thanksgiving and Christmas get the best of my intentions!

10. Potty train Ella.
This goal is not from lack of trying! She just doesn't seem to be interested or get it. I believe children have a window of opportunity around 2 years old, and if you miss it, you are going to have to wait. Her window was the week we traveled to SLC. She was interested and wanting to sit on the potty and I didn't want her in panties while we drove 5 hours. Sigh. Now I'm going to have to TEACH her, instead of her wanting to do it.

11. Take my vitamins every day.


I am excited to start a new year! I'll have to admit, 2010 was actually a pretty hard, crappy year!! Full of doctors appointment, crazy 2 year olds, schedule changes and disease!! I know it could have been worse, and I am grateful for all the blessings we did enjoy. What are YOUR resolutions?


PS I know it may be difficult, but please refrain form giving potty training advice. I know that is flat out rude, but I have a stack of books and have had every person in the world give me advice. Thank you.

My Brother Got Married!!

Ella thought she was a princess. Little did she know this day was not about her!!

Daddy/ daughter bubbles.

The absolutely gorgeous bride!! And her two attendants. :)
Chelsey has never looked so beautiful.

Bride, Mom, new nieces for Chelsey!!

A very handsome groom and his daddy.

Grama and Jara

Joshlyn and Jackie.

The ceremony was perfect. The officiator did a wonderful job. My favorite part was when he said the family unit was more important than anything in the whole world, including the church. I think the church is pretty important so that meant a lot. He did great.

The reception was beautiful. Perfect. Everyone said wonderful, nice things about the couple when we took some time to share our favorite memories about them. All our families came to celebrate and that made me personally happy. I love my family and I am always so happy to see them. Especially my favorite ones!! (Although one of our favorite aunts was unable to make it. we missed her.)

We love you Jordan and Chelsey!! We are so happy and excited for you!!

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas was crazy this year!! Ella really got opening present this time!! She wanted to help everyone! She played so hard, this is how she ended up. Notice she is still clutching her Big Polly Pocket-like dolly from Auntie Joshlyn. She loved her. I'm pretty sure this was her favorite.

This was one of MY favorite presents. My other favorite was my new Canon camera. It is extremely nice. Probably too nice for someone who isn't a professional!! But I'm glad Santa thought I'd have fun with it. :)

Unfortunately I had a kidney infection for the last few days. It was the worst on Christmas Eve. I spent a lot of quality time lying on my mom's bathroom floor. Ella joined me for a few minutes while I was resting. We were watching A Christmas Story.

She loved her castle until Polly came along!!

And crazy Santa brought Ella a mini tramp!! I think he thought it was a good idea at the time but we're not sure where we are going to put it!! She catches air on this thing!! And those pink boots on her feet are also new.

Obviously we went way over board this year! I don't know what Santa and Mrs. Clause were thinking this year but they just kept buying stuff!! I told Brent... I mean Santa.... that we were not buying any toys or clothes or anything else until next year!!

It was a wonderful year! Brent got to actually be home for the first time in 3 years. I love his job but sometimes it would be nice if he got holidays off like everyone else. BUT if it weren't for his awesome holiday pay, we wouldn't have had such a big Christmas!! So thank you HPD!!

I hope everyone had a great day too!!

Bridal Shower

My little brother is getting married!! He chose a beautiful, wonderful girl named Chelsey and we are very excited to have her in our family! My sister, mom and I threw her a bridal shower. We took a test on how well we knew Chelsey. I got 15 out of 20!!

We also gave her sound and lasting advice. I told her

"Be humble, be patient, be loving, be forgiving, be MEAN AS HELL". Hey it works in my house hold!

We also opened presents.... I didn't include those pictures for modesty's sake.... :)

By the way, Chelsey is the blond one on the right. Aren't her shoes cute?

I love parties and I'm very happy I got to have one to welcome such a nice girl to my family. She makes my brother very happy and we are all excited for them to be married!

PS I'm not just saying this either, I really do like her!! Anyone who knows me should know I am only sincere!!