Summer vacation comes to an end...

I'm a little sad to see it end, all the while being thrilled too, yes I'm nutty. Even with all the financial stress, it has still been a good summer. I didnt' get everything done on my to do list, but we did a lot and manged to have fun too. My new background is just one of our pictures from Yellowstone Park. I have always loved looking at/taking pictures of clouds and my hubby thought I might like this one, he was right.

As for the last month or so, things have been busy around here. We have been cleaning out drawers and rooms and packing for our trip, then on the trip, then unpacking and recouperating.

Packing our camper trailer and ourselves for our trip took a week. We headed to Idaho Falls for a 50th Wedding anniversary party, then my hubby's family reunion in Swan Valley for a couple of days and then from there we were off to Yellowstone Park with my sis-in-law and one of our neices for another couple of days. We camped at Madison Campground, near the west entrance to Yellowstone. It was nicer than I expected and only lacked showers. We got in kind of late, so we set up camp, had sandwhiches for dinner and headed to bed. The next morning we hurried through breakfast, secured out campsite and then started exploring the park. Our first picture spot was just along the road on the Firehole River, between Madison and the Fountain Paint Pots. I LOVE this funky tree!

Our next stop was the Fountain Paint Pots. These are my favorite picts I took there.

After that little hike we climbed back in our truck and headed to Old Faithful. The only other two times I have seen Old Faithful were in August 1992 (when my oldest son was only 2 weeks old) and August 1995 (while on an insane motorcycle day trip). It was nice to bring all of my kids to see it. Here are some of our picts. We ate in the Yellowstone Lodge Cafeteria, pricey but not too pricey, 7 to 10 bucks per person. Then we let each of the kids spend $20 in the gift shop.

Our next stop was Yellowstone Lake along the West Thumb portion. We just had to stop, it was so beautiful there. I stayed in the truck while my hubby took these. He did a pretty good job.

Next we drove to Hayden Valley along the Yellowstone River. My hubby took control of the camera there too and got some nice shots. (I was in the truck with a sleeping baby.)

We saw a few Buffalo just before Hayden Valley, in Hayden Valley and on the way to Canyon Village. We thought for sure we would see more, but not many were out and about.

At Artist Point, one of the lookouts spots for Lower Falls, took some great shots. I LOVE waterfalls and I plan to blow some of these up for framing on my walls. The canyon it is in is pretty cool too, though I got a little woozy looking down into it.

Then we headed to Upper Falls View and got to see a couple more animals, up close and personal...they walked not 5 feet in front of us. The falls pictures are great too.

By this time, it had been sprinkling off and on for a while and right after we left the falls it started to pour off and on. It took us another hour or two to get back to camp and everything was too soaked (including our firewood) to deal with making dinner so we headed into West Yellowstone and found a little diner, it was good, but not cheap. I'm sure anywhere we went would have been the same, and at that point we were too tired and hungry to care. After we headed back to camp and went to bed...it poured most of the night, I should know...it leaked through the camper's roof onto me! The next morning we secured all the wettest stuff into the back of the truck and loaded all the drier stuff into my sis-in-law's car and the camper trailer.

Dead tired and dying to take a shower we headed back to my other sis-in-law's house. Luckily she has a good hot water heater, we used a lot of hot water that afternoon. Then we cooked dinner for everyone, we made what we were going to make while camping, chicken cordon bleu. It was yummy! We all got a good night's rest and headed home last Saturday. I didn't get any pictures, but we did stop in Twin Falls to go on the tour of the LDS Temple there. It is beautiful and I highly recommend it to anyone.

I was very grateful to get home and it has taken all this last week to get things unpacked and sort of back to normal. I still have a bit of laundry, but that never ends anyway. The kids are ready for school, atleast as far as I know of, and I'm just hoping to enjoy my kids this last week before school starts.

Now if I can just find a job... ;)

Cutest giggles...

I don't know how well you will be able to hear this...but I had to try.

Happy Independence Day everyone!

I'm so thankful I live in this great country. I hope all of you are having as great of a day as I am. I got up about 8am and rushed to my friend's house to color her hair and it turned out fabulous if I do say so myself. Then after a much needed chat with her, I got back home to leftover ribs for lunch. They were the yummy ones my hubby makes.

We had 3 other couples over for dinner last night and were lucky to have any ribs left...they were just too yummy. Luckily everyone else's food was just as delicious and we filled up on everything.

During lunch I got to chat with another friend. I have felt very loved today by friends and family. Nothing big just little things they said or did.

Then I did something I would never usually try. I made something kind of gourmet for dinner. A few weeks ago we had a great coupon for Murphy's Seafood & Steakhouse on Broadway (in Boise, Idaho), so we ate out for a date. It was pretty yummy but very pricey. I had a Steak Oscar dish and my hubby had Prime Rib. While I was eating I kept thinking..."I wonder if I could make this?"...well I came home and did some online research and I made it for dinner tonight.

YES...I really did make this! 6 of them cost me less than just one at the restaurant and it was so easy! Now convincing the kids to try it was another story.

I first only made up two of them and then my hubby cut each child a piece to try and if they liked it, they got one of their own and if not, they got a sandwich. They all liked it! If you don't know what Steak Oscar is then I best explain it.

On the top you have barely boiled asparagus (about 5 minutes), crab meat sprinkled sparingly (ours was the cheap kind, lol), Bearnaise sauce (easy mix packet at the store), grilled steak (your favorite cut, just not too big of a piece), all on a bed of garlic mashed potatoes (mine were instant, easy)... so yummy!

I CHALLENGE ALL OF YOU TO TRY MAKING SOMETHING NEW (OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE, COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM ANYTHING YOU WOULD NORMALLY MAKE) THIS MONTH FOR DINNER and then share how it went. Good Luck!

6 Months Old Today...Captivating!

Love this smile!
Just chillin' out.

Such a serious look...it always makes me wonder what she is thinking about.
We can't help it, we get lost in her eyes everytime we look into them. She has stolen our hearts with her smiles and cooing. We love her so much. I can't imagine life without her in it.

5 Months Old

I'm way behind in things around here, so I'm going to play catch up a bit for a few days. Here is Little Princess looking way too cute as always. I found this outfit on clearance at Target and just couldn't resist, though i never thought she woud be wearing it so soon. It is a 12 month size and I hope it fits for a while, 'cause I love it.

ICE ICE Baby!

The "ICE (Inspiration Celebration Experience) a Scrapbooker’s Escape" was a great time! My main goal was just to get tons done, but I got even better than that out of it.

Friday
7am-Up and getting everyone out the door
8:30-Dealing with baby and making my list of what needs to get packed
10:30-sent dog off with hubby to vet to see what is wrong
12:00pm-ate lunch with hubby and scrambled to get packed while baby sleeps for a few
2:40-picked up dd at Jr. High
3:40-boys are home and my ride to escape is here
4:00-got to hotel and unpacked in room and crop space
started scrapbooking!!!
5:20-went to Olive Garden for dinner


Saturday
4 to 6am-got super silly with my cohort Bob, did crazy LO and left fun notes all over the room
8:15am-haven't gone to bed yet, ate yummy provided breakfast
9:00-headed to other room to hear Melody Ross (Chatterbox) speak, got totally inspired, won some of the newest, not released yet product from her
10:00-headed back to scrappin', and shopping the vendors (great stuff, made my list of what I wanted and bought it later in the day after I narrowed my list to the "can't live with outs")
11:00 ish-showered off my no sleep stink
noon ish-Lunch from Taco Bell, then back to scrapping and shopping
6:00pm-Dinner at Joe's Crab Shack
7:30-the rowdy scrappers got the party going...still scrapping (totally in the journaling zone and everyone kept thinking I was getting sleepy...NOT!), still haven't slept...in fact wide awake!

Sunday
12:39am-got to a good stopping point in my scrapping and decided I should try to sleep, even though I was totally wide awake
1:00am or so- I have been awake 42 straight hours, time to try and sleep, boy did I zonk!
8:50am-We all get up, didn't plan to sleep that late, oh well. Packed up stuff in hotel room.
9:10am-bought hot chocolate to have with the banana and dry Fruit Loops I brought...back to scrappin'
3:00pm-Bob brought me to my house to get my car so I could stay later, then back to scrappin'
3:40-started packing up all my crap so I could go have delicious pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, watermelon, and chocolate chip cookies at the park with friends (a couple of the hubby's made it all and it was so good)
5:40 or so-back to my house and thankfully it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been, they at least managed to get the dishes done and half the laundry washed, dried and folded...not bad for amateurs.
10pm-headed to bed

Monday
I did my best to get the final things ready for my hubby's pending suprise birthday party monday night...it was hard, I finally had to clue in the kids so that they would help me. They nearly spilled the beans 3 times. Finally with the house as clean as I could get it (without being too obvious that people were coming) and dinner started, I just had to wait until 6pm (ok, I was so busy all day that we only had to wait about 20 minutes, LOL). Our friends showed up and we had a good time, I think I managed to suprise him, though he said he knew something was up, he just didn't know what.

As soon as everyone left, I sat in the recliner around 9pm and don't remember much of anything until I woke up about 11:30pm and then headed to bed. I have never been so tired in all my life.

I slept until 7am Tuesday morning, dealt with getting everyone off their separate ways and as soon as Aila was settled down, I sat to watch a movie and crashed again. I didn't wake up until I heard her screaming. Now I'm wide awake from all that sleep and it is almost 1:30am on Wednesday morning...man my system is way screwed up! Well I best head to bed before I mess things up even more.

I had a great weekend and I will take some picts of what I got done and post them here sometime this week or so. We have lots of baseball and end of year things at schools to deal with, so it may not happen until the weekend, but I will try my best.

I'm never going to be ready!

Someone wonderful bought me my way into ICE this weekend and I'm excited to go, but I have no time to pack! Aack! This week and the next couple are very busy with the end of school baseball (including tournament playoffs for my middle son, who's team is ranked #1 right now) and just life in general. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I'm also feeling a bit guilty.

You see it is my hubby's 40th birthday on Saturday and there won't be anyone here to help him celebrate it, except a house full of kids. I was going to take him to his favorite restaurant and generally treat him like a king...never mind, he gets that almost everyday anyway! LOL, kidding...but even though he has told me it is no big deal to him, it is to me, I'm going to miss his birthday, his 40th birthday, that only comes once and I feel bad about missing it.

Dang, baby is up, must go...well at least I had 4 minutes to myself.

Please Welcome Our New Addition!

I can't help it, I love my husband and he has been buggin me for another. I find it hard to say no to him sometimes...he just has the pleading puppy dog look down pat. So just what do you do? You give in, or atleast I finally did. The object of all this pleading was "free", but so far is costing us plenty. He has an appointment this next week for everything from shots to microchipping and even neutering. Of course once we met him, we couldn't resist him.


Please welcome Steve, our friendly, new (to us) Boxer.

4 Months Old and even more beautiful!

It took me a little bit to figure out how to get her to smile...
...but I finally did...
...I just had to sing "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider"!
Her smiles just melt me...
and her eyes hold a glint of mischief, she's irresistible!

He is DEAD :(

About a month ago, we aquired a second beta fish (Silky) and an african frog (Seaweed) to our one lonely beta (Sushi). It has been kind of fun to have three pretty living things, in three pretty bowls, on my dining room table. Well I cleaned out their bowls yesterday and now today we found the frog dead, sprawled out on top of his little plant, stiffer than a board. I was suprised my son didn't cry, he is so soft-hearted. They gave him a farewell flush and we cleaned out the bowl once more. I guess it is off to the pet store Monday after school. I'm just sad that I never got a picture and I refused to let them take one of him dead. I also wonder if it may be my fault, though I just cleaned the bowl as usual. I guess we will never know, I just hope it wasn't me.

I'm way behind in my blogging, as if you can't tell...lol. LP is growing and growing. We see the Dr on Monday and she gets another round of shots. I really hate that part, the screaming is horrific...and that is just what you hear from other rooms. When your own child is the one being painfully poked it is much worse in my opinion. Can you tell I'm really looking forward to it?

We have had the flu bug making its way around our house since Friday. Today was my day, I'm still beat and out of it a bit, you would think I hadn't eaten in weeks with how weak I feel. I'm just glad it was over the weekend when I had people here to help with LP. Well I have to get hubby ready to go to the store. Have a great night friends.

Nature Trail

This is where I went today with my friend Bob and her girls...it was a lot of fun. It is somewhere way out by Melba, Idaho or so.
This is the crazy swan who just wanted to attack everyone.
These are our beautiful dd's that were with us.
They had tons of great statues, I will upload more later, but this one was one of my very favorites.
The whole place is along the river and on a hillside...very pretty setting and I'm sure even prettier when everything is in bloom.

Change......as if you can't tell.

I was in the mood for a change, I didn't know what kind, but thought I would kill a few minutes on my 'puter and came across a site through someone else's blog. I should have been eating lunch before LP (little princess) woke up, but nothing in this house sounds even sort of good.

Anyway, I went to Pyzam and started looking around. Can I just say ...WOW... they have tons to choose from. I did discover that I couldn't just cut and paste the whole code like they said (kept getting an error code), but I did figure out how to make it all work. I'm probably going to mix things up on my blog way more often now.

When I had money and wanted a change I would go get my hair or nails done, this is so much cheaper! Now I just have to fix a few more things to my liking and I will be happy with my blog once more. Now if only I could find a cheap way to be happy with my hair again........

3 Months Old

I managed to remember, barely, to take little princess' 3 month pictures.

I love the detail on the jeans she is wearing.

We forced her to wear her 0 to 3 month size clothes so long that she couldn't stretch her legs out all the way. We have had to resign to the fact that she is now wearing up to 6 month old sizes (she can still wear a couple 3 month things, not many). I had forgotten how different (bigger/smaller) the same size can be in a different brand...stupid.

Teenagers, Spring Break, and 17 years

I just don't know what to do with my teenagers sometimes. My oldest son lives with my in-laws and is starting to give them the same exact crap that he was giving us. He didn't want to do his chores so he ran away ..... he really has it in his head that this is the answer to everything. After a few hours, with myself and others trying to get him to think about what he was doing, my sis-in-law got him to say where he was so she could pick him up. Two days later we brought him home for Spring Break and a big part of me wishes we hadn't. His attitude made our house a horrible place to be. Just once I want to have him here and actually enjoy the time with him. We had a couple of hours that were nice, but it was overshadowed by the hell he raised. I can't handle having to fight him to do anything/everything ..... it is so overwhelming, I did a lot of emotional eating last week. I love my son, truly I do, I just can't stand to be around his attitude.

Spring Break was rough and I have never been so glad to have the kids back in school. I managed to take my kids to lunch and a movie and my hubby took them miniature golfing one night while I was at a crop. Other than that (and even some during it) it was all fighting and yelling, no matter how hard I tried ..... so much stress.

I wish I could just totally chill today but alas I have a dentist appointment this afternoon that promises to leave me miserable. I have been putting off these cavities for over 7 months because I was pregnant and miserable enough. Thankfully I have a friend who is going to come help me with little princess and make sure I get there and back OK.

As for 17 years ..... my hubby and I celebrated our 17th Anniversary yesterday. I would have loved to have my hubby alone in a hotel with some nice food and fun for many, many hours but once again it was not to be. One of these years I will make it happen but for now I'm happy to report it was still a decent day. I have still been sick (nasty sinus crap) but with meds I'm hanging in there. We had dinner last night with friends (yummy black fin tuna, orange salad, Caesar salad, deviled eggs, potatoes) and we brought dessert (congo bars, chocolate chip bars, and heavenly oreo truffles). Our friends are very good to us and it made our day a bit more special. Hubby got me a knife sharpener for my new knives (yes, I'm happy with this), now I just need to learn how to use it correctly.

Well little princess is calling so I best go. I will try to get caught up on all your blogs asap.

*@##!**!@#!!

As if my toes weren't hideous enough! At 4:20am this morning, my vacuum thought it would be a good idea to suprise me, and now I'm pretty darn sure I have broken my dang toe! Calgon....take me away!

Big Princess has gone PUNK!

BEFORE

AFTER




I still can't believe she wanted to chop it all off...it took her so long to grow it out! She insisted, so I cut it tonight and showed her one way to style it. She has never been so daring, it is kind of fun to witness, but best of all ..... I think she actually likes it! We are going to color it sometime this week too, I'll have to post another picture after that.

Perfection

My dd was blessed yesterday and my SIL captured this perfect picture of her...so sweet, so innocent...it makes me fall in love with her all over again.

Here is one of all of us. I was really thankful that my in-laws were able to come over and bring my son with them. I like this photo of us, except for the backdrop, but it was the best we could do. At this time of the year, there just isn't much outside that is pretty.


Here is a couple more that were just so cute, I couldn't help myself.

For any Crock pot fans

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Check out this site...she has tons of recipes for your crock pot. I always want to use my crock pot, but never know what to do in it. She has some great ideas for everyday type stuff and even out of the ordinary things. Most are main dishes, but there are even breakfast things and desserts. I'm determined to try some of these.

Frazzled Catch Up

Valentine's Day was pretty good. I surprised my hubby by leaving him a card and treat on his desk at work, while he was in a meeting. He was so inspired that he left work early that day and went to Costco to buy me a dozen roses and a GARBAGE DISPOSAL. Yes you read that right. Isn't my hubby just the most romantic hubby ever? I admit, I have wanted one and we had discussed it coming out of our tax return, but as a gift for Valentine's day? LOL I do prefer practical gifts, but this was a little too much for me. I was hoping for the computer program I wanted, or a new CD writer for my 'puter. Frankly I was thrilled to get to buy a new vacuum, so even no gift would have been good. OK, I will stop raving, at least he thought of me and I know he truly loves me and will always be there for me. My husband truly is the best one for me.
(PS It wouldn't be so bad, but it still isn't installed! If it is going to take up space in my small house then I at least want to be able to use it! LOL)

He will probably kill me for posting this picture, but for me this shows who he really is...he is my big strong hero...he has a great sense of humor and is able to help me keep things in perspective. I love him more than I could ever express...and on the rare occasion you can get him to have a real smile in a picture, it is like glimpsing a piece of heaven. Cheesy I know, but for me it really is that way.

The only other thing I have been up to is dealing with day to day life. Sleep is a rare thing for me still, every time I think it is getting better, my dd decides to sleep less. On top of that, I have 30+ people coming this weekend for her blessing and we have to figure out how to feed all of them at my house after church. Thankfully they are all staying in hotels, my house is too small for that many guests, though I have offered to bunk us up more if someone wanted to stay here. I do have a sleeper sofa, queen air mattress and some floor space that can be used in a pinch.

The issue is that we replaced a bunch of our carpet and I still haven't gotten things back how they need to be/want them to be. I have boxes everywhere and even though I'm working on it, the unpacking, cleaning and organizing are going very slow. There just aren't enough hours in a day for me to do it all. Somehow, I know I will get it done good enough by Saturday...'cause I have to...I just can't guarantee I will still be sane. LOL

Back to the grind, have a great week everyone!

I'm Famous! Sort of...lol

I just got an email from a good friend of mine (she is also my sushi buddy) that had this link in it...she wrote about a stamping technique I taught her years ago. I admit, it made me cry a little.

Kim has become such a famous person in her own right. Her stamping has been published for a few years now in many different magazines. I have been so proud of her.

My life has truly been richer since she has been in it. Thank you Kim!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My baby has given me the best gift of all. She went 7 hours between feedings last night (10pm to 5am) and is still asleep right now. I actually feel rested, I'm dressed (with my hair curled) and eating breakfast with no interuptions so far.

I know this won't last long so I just wanted to get on and wish everyone a day filled with love and happiness. I'm thrilled mine is off to a great start and hope it only gets better.

My Valentine Fleet

I'm a sucker for punishment.

I saw these online and fondly remembered making them when I was a child and decided to do them for my youngest son's class (all my other kids are too old or too young) for valentines day. Yes, I know they aren't the traditional colors of the holiday, but that doesn't bother me...unlike not being able to find the right kind of rubber bands.

You see, they are suppossed to use only one piece of gum for the wings, not an entire pack. However due to the fact that these were the only rubber bands I could find, I didn't have much choice. One and even 2 pieces of gum bent wierd 'cause the band is too strong.

So, now I have to go back to the store and buy a whole bunch of gum...sigh...the things we do for our kids (ok sort of for me, dang happy memory! LOL).

My baby is ONE MONTH OLD!

Isn't she cute? She is a booger (showing a stubborn streak already) but I still like her most of the time. LOL I forgot to take her 1 month pict on the fourth, but I wasn't too too late...this one was taken on the fifth. Unfortunately my camera or SD card went nuts and a good 10 picts were lost, so this is about all I have from our photo shoot. Sometimes I really hate technology.

No more secrets...

I have a dear friend who recently blew the lid off her food secret. And this is what I wrote in response:

...and we love you. I'm bawling because your secret hits close to home. I know too many "fat chicks" with eating issues/disorders and most of it ties in with other things (alcoholism, abuse, food issues our parents helped to create)...for me, I have an addictive personality that swings to extremes (complicated by some of those other issues). I can't seem to find the middle ground on anything. We can do this together...all of us, if we just keep talking about it and helping each other through it.

Love you W and thank you for putting it out there; you may help someone else realize something about them selves before it is too late.

You see I have a bit of a food secret too. I love food, but yet hate it too. I am a sugar and fatty food addict and when I get stressed out/depressed, I do one of these things…eat way too much of it (in public or in secret), eat too much then puke from the guilt(I don't force it, it always just happens) or not eat at all. I don't fit neatly into one classification of eating disorders…I’m a nasty combination of them all, depending on my mental state and stress load.

I’m embarrassed, but I think these are some of the issues we as woman need to talk about to each other and help each other through. We have to find ways to help ourselves, our children and their children to NOT be this way, especially our daughters. I know many of us struggle with food and body image stuff and I’m standing up to say…

Hi, I am jenalih. I am an addict. I have an eating disorder and I want to deal with it responsibly. I want to have a better, healthier life and I can find ways to overcome my eating issues, I know I can. I just have to.