Blessings and Transitions

In March my husbands' seizures increased so much that he had no more time off at work - even with his doctors FMLA paperwork for time off. She was unhelpful this year in changing medication to something that worked better as the two he was on had stopped working. Unhelpful with filing the new needed paperwork for him to retain his job and unwilling to do anything that might have helped us. Needless to say, she isn't our doctor anymore.
Not that it makes a huge difference as we are uninsured until I've been at my new job for 3 1/2 months. At that time we most likely would have been searching for a new doctor who took our new insurance anyhow.

Leap ahead I was offered 3 jobs - huge blessings as I've been a stay at home mama for 13 years - on my 39th birthday I was offered the job I truly wanted. Its 7 minutes from my home, I stay busy all day long and time vanishes quickly. Even better I have work I enjoy and feel like I do a good job in my position.

Hubby's having a go at being the stay at home dad. He's doing a great job and he's still mostly sane even being around our dastardly duo 24-7.
Our life has been full of ups and downs, after 12 years at his job building up a decent 401K we cashed out enough to pay off tiny bills and buy ourselves a small unretirement gift.

After searching for a while we found a wonderful gem. A 40 yr old class C motorhome in near perfect condition! (insert squeal here - louder)

I made a joke as we drove it home that he had just bought his own dog house (joking, just joking).
He came back with that as long as we have it we will never be homeless - touche, he wins the point.

Our amazing friends S & S thought we should run it up for a quick trip over Labor Day Weekend (since I had it off paid) to test it out - they, of course, came with us in their RV to make sure we were safe. Also, they adore camping. S's parents also bought a class C RV (2018) this year and wanted to test it out so they joined us. We had an incredible time.

This year has been full for us, so many blessings, so many changes and lots of new experiences.
Prissy was asked to Homecoming next week and our small circle seemed to flip. Dress from a friend, shoes from our neighbor, nails being done by my bestie S & hair cut by me - most likely styled by me as well.

Winter will be spent fixing up the motorhome, we want to paint inside and outside, fix the brake light, the hot water line & change the valve on the propane. We also are going to give it a tune up and change out the fuel filter. Lots of little things that will give it the TLC love it needs to shine. It truly surprised us camping - everything works! Furnace, AC, propane, stove, sinks, toilet, onboard generator etc. Even more amazing it made it up Parleys Canyon! (For those of you who don't live in Utah it is a main road up a mountainside with a 6% grade for MILES to reach the top. It's not the grade of steepness that makes the road so hard to get up but the length in which you need to drive your car up that steep of a climb. Its burnt out more than one engine.)

So while our garden has been amazing and I've already canned several fun things this year I really have been to busy to blog - on any of my blogs. Not even the most amazing surprise birthday love from all my neighbors this year - so hi, still alive, still here, still making it one day at a time.

A Day with Friends

Today we celebrate a friends birthday!

We headed up the canyon, found an idyllic spot and celebrated another year of friendship.

The cool breeze was a refreshing break from the rising temps in the lower valley!

Good times, good food with great friends!

Happy Birthday!

A 10th Birthday Party!

Yesterday G'man turned 10! 

Today we celebrated with a fun filled day at the Nickel Cade - a local video arcade place where every game is only five cents to play!

Two amazing hours of games, friends, presents, cake and prizes! Everyone had a blast! I'm just thrilled that it turned out perfect!

All eight kids (6 not including mine) that were invited showed up! Everyone enjoyed the goodie bags, cake and soda. Most of all everyone loved the games!

We did have one down side, today when we got home G'mans friend and next door neighbor stole one of his toys - IN FRONT OF US!

I kid you not, he refuses to give back the small toy and his family's response has been, yeah he's been caught stealing from some of his friends.... That's it.

So while the party was great, we did end up having to ban one child from coming back to our home.

I am very disappointed with how people are raising kids, allowing them to consider this not only okay but normal behavior.

Also one of the funniest bits is his Lego Mine-craft toy came with a treasure chest full of --- a french baguette...?
Not what I picture as treasure but hey G'mans happy with it!

So another year has disappeared, vanishing quickly and we have a fantastic year ahead! Both my kids are in double digits now! Not sure if I should be thrilled or terrified. 

Also I've decided that from now on every year they age, I'm getting younger. I'm done with aging. No more sore muscles, strange aches and grey hairs. So let the good times roll! 

Early Morning Mountain Walk

Sunday morning  I took our dog (tiny one Patch) and Rocko (HUGE one) for an early morning walk, while the men made breakfast.

There are few ways I'd rather wake up in the morning than a solitary hike through gorgeous terrain.

Very few. 

Maybe only one.

The dogs were well behaved during both our walk and the whole trip. For two dogs that don't spend a lot of time together then being put into a camper for a few nights they were amazing!

Most of the time the sky was a bright blue, the first night we had a light fog roll in over the mountain range, making some of my photos hazy, but it cleared up and stayed clear the rest of the trip.

Glasses not mine, overalls mine

Breakfast Saturday: Pancakes, eggs (fresh from our girls) and sausage.

Then of course I headed back out with my camera to do more exploring, photos and hiking.

More on the wildlife and adventures tomorrow! 

Camping Night One

Did I mention that I'm biased to Utah's stunning beauty? That I find our mountains to be gorgeous?
If I haven't I've been lax.
Camping this weekend, the end of summer, Autumn already starting to show signs of starting in the mountains was glorious!
I loved our whole trip. Friends, food and an amazing view.

The sunset over the ridge the first night lit up the entire sky, soft rosy reds, pinks and a light orange hue rounded it out.

Our entire group consisted of 13 people. 9 adults 4 kids. Most of us have been friends for years but there were a few new faces. M is recently engaged to R. Welcome R to the group! Also L & N came along getting to know the rest of the group. L and I've been friends for years, but her life recently changed where she can go on adventures and play again.

If you click on any of the photos you can view them larger. 

No good camping trip would be complete without S'mores!

This was a fairly short trip, we went up Saturday and came home Monday. I still managed over 300 photos, some of which turned out amazing!
More posts to follow!

Magna Arts Festival

Five years ago we moved into Magna. Its small, charming and unique. This however was our first year going to the Magna Arts Festival!
This was also our first summer going to the music and movie in the park on Fridays as well. Before my husbands strange schedule made it hard to do things as a family.

This is going to be a yearly thing for us from now on! The music was fun, the vendors amazing, the prices FABULOUS!!!

The earrings in the corner hubby bought me for only five dollars and they aren't cheaply made!
Paparazzi had an amazing stock of jewelry with fabulous prices!
G'man was able to create HUGE bubbles and the kids came home with several free arts crafts!

There I made a connection with a book publisher who takes new writers. They are looking for YA lit and encouraged me to send my work in! So here's crossing your fingers! One last read through and hopefully I'll send it off within the month!

I was also able to acquire 6,800 steps walking around Magna main as well as walking to and from our home.
I'm still working out, still losing weight slowly but I'm getting healthier. I have more energy, which is key at this point.

We are a tiny town, but our community is fun. I can't imagine living anywhere else. ;)

Bonfire in the Mountains

Now I know not everyone is as lucky as we are. We live right next to one of the most incredible mountain ranges in the world, the Rocky Mountain's. (I'm 100% biased)

Friendships are built. Memories created. Energy restored. I can't even begin to explain how much fun we have doing absolutely nothing!
My three (hubby and kids) all climbed and fell down the mountain. I wrote, having just started a new book idea.
We planned a future girls night and a future camping trip a few of us are going on in a few weeks.

G'man fell in the stream - a few times. The first time was on accident, pretty sure the other times weren't!
Some days are better than others - this day last week - Extraordinary! 

Music and Movie Friday Nights in Magna

With only one more movie night looming I'm sharing a little bit of what makes going to the park, getting eaten by mosquitoes, listening to kids cry and dogs bark - so much fun.

First off - if your a fan of Gilmore Girls, you will really enjoy these nights.
Next - there is a true charm about the small town life.
Lastly (kind of) - Each night is an adventure.

Tonight's slotted musician cancelled at the last minute. So instead of a country/rock singer we got three older guys (60's +). Now I don't have anything against older performers. Really IF they can play or sing... these guys sadly couldn't do either.
Hubby and I seriously couldn't stop laughing. Texts between my hubby and his BFF were flying thick and fast.  Starting with, "These guys are worse than watching Napoleon Dynamite sober."
Its an accurate description.
Last week the music and movie in the park were cancelled due to rain, SO our wonderful host decided that next week - the last week. (movie is Guardians of the Galaxy) We will have the band from last week AND next week's band back to back.
So instead of starting at 8 pm next week starts at 7 pm! I can't wait!

Each week we get a different band and a new experience. One band that performed were great are Zodiac Empire! So far I'm loving their song Name Dropper! I now follow them on Twitter and Facebook, they have a good sound.
Another group had talent. Her voice was spot on, the band was talented, HOWEVER, and maybe this is just me, I don't enjoy listening to a group perform that can't find their sound.
She was ALL over the place, Rock, Pop, Country...Reggae, it didn't stop. To make matters worse, she stopped after EACH song to tell us the story of the next song.... really I can't make this up!
I don't mind a fun blip or blurb every now and then, but every single flipping song for an hour in a half? Don't torture me.

When the movie (Captain America, Winter Soldier) started playing the title was in Russian. Then the first 4 minutes were in split screen, bottom mirroring the top. Watching Capt. run like that made him look like he was running on water, but when it came to his running buddy - hahahahahaha!!!!!
It cut off at his head and flipped it so he's talking to the Captain with two heads!
It was AWESOME!!!

During the movie they paused once to inform us that some person with the plate, "Groovy 1" had left their car lights on in the parking lot. Tears people!!!
I'm still laughing! The best part? This is free!!! Who wouldn't want to go see this?!

To make things even more perfect, a storm came rolling in along the Oquirrh Mountain range, behind the movie screen, so we got to watch a lightning storm rolling toward us in the distance while watching the movie! It was gorgeous, also hearing my son proclaim, "There's another piece of lightning!"
Kept us and a few fellow patrons around us in stitches!

The cherry on top? My husband (sweet, nice guy) was eaten alive! Came home with tons of bites all over his hands, legs, even his toes! Me not one bite!

Piece by Piece 8/8/15 or Saturdays Saga 3

First off in case you missed it 8/8/15 Saturday's Saga Part 1 & Part 2 can be found by clicking on the links.

I can't even begin to explain how great the concert was! How much fun we, as a crowd, had. Our poor security guard will never be the same. He is now a HUGE Pentatonix fan and most likely is still asking himself, "What the hell did I get into when I talked to those crazy women?"
Hahahaha!!!
At least he wasn't bored! In fact we were having so much fun with him that other security guards kept coming over talking to us as well - they were bored and wanted to play too.

I haven't screamed that loud or that long (while happy anyway, my kids hear my pipes quite often) in such a very long time. In fact the last time I screamed that loudly might have been the last Newsboys concert I went too.
Of course, you might scream too if Scott pointed at you during Cheerleader!
(Fine! He pointed in my general direction. Stop crushing my delusion! LOL)

The video link is from the SLC show, but sadly cuts out the part when he came down cat walk sang a few bars - pointed at me and then ran back. My video is better, but not public.

Now I didn't take these photos my friend M did. I instead took 41:18 minutes worth of video - which turned out so amazing I've watched it again 3 times so far!
Sorry, I will be keeping my copy private - or at least until after Vol.4 finally comes out.
Pentatonix keeps teasing me, even performing one of their new songs, "Can't Sleep Love" (which was great) but I don't have a release date for Vol. 4 just hints and teasers!
Which is just cruel to do to fans like me. (Don't worry I still love them all)
The first photo is Scott Hoying, the second top is Avi K, Scott H, Kirstie M, Mitch G & Kevin O.
Bottom is a close up on Avi, Kirstie and Scott. Then there is Scott - Scotting. Yes, he's become a verb.
I don't have any good single photos of Mitch or Kevin - they both moved far too much. I'm amazed I scored a few semi decent shots of Avi. However, I'm still happy M took photos for me, so I could have both stills and the video. Just call me spoiled, I really really am.

Also as you can tell from the Saga part 2 photo of me and M, I didn't go ahead and make a shirt that said, Property of Avi return if lost. With my sense of humor, I most likely would have gotten myself kicked out of the show, so its for the best. Especially since I think it would have broken our guards heart to throw me out. However in spite of the previous post on our seats being in section G - we upgraded them A LOT.

Now after months and months of first being on their, On My Way Home tour and now the Piece by Piece tour. All five members of Pentatonix were spot on amazing tonight! No vocal tiredness, fatigue or signs of exhaustion - whatever these guys are drinking I want some!

Then the ever beautiful Kelly Clarkson took the stage and sang her heart out. She managed 3 costume changes which were amazing and quick. You may have heard in the news that during one of her concerts she stopped to hold a baby - that was mine!
Here is a link for a tiny video of that adorable encounter.
Now I've heard so many different people's thoughts and opinions on Kelly for doing this - many thought it was great but a few haters out there only wanted what they paid for - songs and nothing else. Nothing human.

As a person in this audience I LOVED and adored her stopping. Her rambling after she'd given him back to his mom - especially how worried she'd been about dropping him (she said she almost peed) was hysterical and endearing.
It was a moment where you realize she's a mom just like you are. I love that she is touring, singing and getting back into the swing of things after the birth of her adorable girl River. I also applaud how she's tried to balance work and family.

Music is her passion in life - you can tell she wants to be singing for her fans for a long time, so for the haters out there SHUT UP.
I like her because she's real. I've been her fan since her very first interview. I even remember dialing the number to vote for her! (Oh heck was that a long time ago!)
Her voice and talent are just a part of what makes her amazing - her stopping to hold a little boy named Boston is another.

The night ended with both Pentatonix and Kelly Clarkson singing the finale Uptown Funk Mashup, I missed the first 10-15 seconds on film since I had a lunatic (okay my bestie M) grabbing my arm jumping up and down but I got the rest of it in a full 5 min video!
(Link added again isn't mine. I haven't made any of mine public.)
So thank you Pentatonix and Kelly Clarkson for a magical night!

Opening Acts or Saturdays Saga part 2

Since I live wickedly close to the Usana Amphitheater we arrived by 5:45 pm only half an hour behind our original plans (see Tires or Saga part 1) - still in time for great parking and a decent spot in line. For those just tuning in this was Saturday 8/8/15 for Kelly Clarkson and Pentatonix. Also known as the Piece by Piece Tour.

When the gates opened at 6:00 pm we were in our seats by 6:20 pm. The security there is amazing! Walking in we were greeted sweetly, pointed the direction of our amazing front seats (more than once) one very sweet man was kind enough to think I knew where I was headed - jokes on him!

Our final ground security guard though was the best! He was a gruff, tough looking man in his early sixties, his voice had the sound of gravel. However, he's the sweetie who took my besties and I's photo in the bottom photo.
Also you can see how close we were to the stage! It was amazing!
By the time the first opening performer Abi Ann took the stage we were the best of friends with our security guard. M and I agree her song, Future Ex Boyfriend, is a hit.

Watching the different acts I found my dream band. I also found out I can't say the words, dream band, without my son freaking out and telling me LOUDLY that my darling hubby is my dream man... It was a moment.

So you take the pianist from Abi Ann, the drummer from Eric Hutchinson & the guitarist from Kelly Clarkson.... and its a pretty good looking group of men, but for the love of my sanity don't say so in front of my son!

Somewhere between Abi Ann and Eric the four seats in front of ours were filled with loud, short peppy women - who amazingly enough were M's neighbor and family!!!

First off - I like any woman who is shorter than I am. Standing at 5'2, its not easy to find, but Saturday was full of short, loud, hyper fun!
The clip is just a small blip of what type of fun we were having during the show breaks (tearing down and setting up each new act) music would blast, people would dance, we even had people dancing in the aisle!
Tomorrow's blog - the final saga will be about the two main acts! Pentatonix (my personal favorite) and Kelly Clarkson (who is beyond talented).

Tires or Saturday's Sage part 1

I know dramatic title. However I felt dramatic on Saturday - and very worried.

Bald tire, G'man watching them change our tires - new fabulous tire!

It all starts at the end of Fridays sleepover, by noon the neighbor kids were gone and we were getting ready for a full day.
Our plans were simple.
Get the car legal and registered for another year, come home fix the hot water tap (Prissy accidentally broke the handle last week so we ordered in a new one.) Then I would get ready to go out at 5pm with my bestie to the concert we've been dying to see Pentatonix and Kelly Clarkson!!!
(It was even better than we'd hoped for! However that will be tomorrows post.)

At 1:30 pm we'd failed the safety but passed emissions. What failed? As the title of today's post reads Tires, I'm pretty sure you can guess that the tire treads failed. Also the windshield wiper blades.

On to a near by tire store! By 2 pm we'd selected our tires and were in line for an open bay. Being told the wait was long and they would start work on the car around 3:30 pm we went across the parking lot to shop while we waited for all four new snow tires to be put on the van.
I scored the book Wicked, (Yay!) as well as two Mystery Murder dinner games! Still I was getting unhappy with the late hour.

It wasn't until 4:10 pm that they pulled our van into a bay and started our tires. 4:50 pm we were done, running to see if we could get the car legal (it was closed - so we'll try again Monday.

Thankfully this put my bestie and I only behind by 30 minutes - which was good since the lines to get into the concert were MASSIVE!!!
That however is tomorrows story ;)

Uber busy!

I have been crazy busy the past few weeks. I've made a footstool, roofed the chicken coop for winter, built a fence and a feeder with the husband. Gone to Friday nights music & movie in the park with friends. Enjoyed rain and sunshine.
I've taken a myriad of photos. So what I plan to do is break them all up into small mini blogs.
This is the teaser.
I'm scheduling them so hopefully one a day will post for the next full week.

If you click on today's picture you can see the girls (chickens)  having a ton of fun.
We are now averaging 5-7 eggs daily and they are growing in size as well.
Each hen is starting to show their unique personality.
I did have to change one name. Instead of having both an Anne and an Annabeth, I switched Anne to Lizzie.
One day when we get new hens I will use the name Anne, but for now we want to uncomplicate things.

Tomorrow we are watching Box Trolls in the park with our friends Shayne & Sara as well as Lori & Neil. I love spending time with everyone!
Saturday my bestie and I are going to see Pentatonix and Kelly Clarkson - hopefully the storm that is supposed to blow in this weekend will have moved on - especially since its an outdoor concert!!!

The kids are determined to enjoy the last few days before school starts on the 24th and I am working on getting the house set up for another round of online schooling.
Sorry I haven't been updating as much as I used to but for some odd reason it feels like life has just taken off lately and I'm rushing behind it trying to catch up.
With that said - stay tuned!

Tears, Friends and Projects.

Saturday morning I attended a funeral for Louis Damolaris.
You may not know this about me, but I suck at lying, bright cheery words and false hope. A very good friend of mine chose to let me spend this time with her, knowing full well that I'm not the best at cheering anyone up.
You see both her and I, have buried people before. Early deaths, shocking deaths, painful deaths. She and I both know that tender sympathy and kind words are hollow.
Instead I sat next to her and cried.

Afterwards we went up to one of her favorite places and had waffles.

In typical, lets be a brat moment, I had the staff call out for Hot Stuff when our food was up. Her daughter is now embarrassed to be seen with me. (Love you Megan!)

We spent the rest of the day together with my best friend Margie. We ate, chatted, laughed, made fun of people and each other, yelled at traffic and watched Insurgent.
We didn't try to forget or avoid sensitive topics, we didn't try to paint pretty pictures of the future, we just spent the day together.

Sunday started off with a... broken window that we are positive the Wa-Um must have broken. The Wa-Um is our son's imaginary friend/monster. The Wa-Um has been blamed for everything since my son was two years old. Since NO ONE told us that it broke or how, it MUST be the Wa-Um again.
Dang! I really hoped that when we moved, we'd left him behind.

Our chickens are growing quickly and are adorable. So far they are very quiet and well behaved.
My bestie though has taken to calling me the Chicken Epi Lady. While I adore her, I am thinking up future pay backs for this one.

The Kitchen garden is done! We've filled in the dirt, separated the sections, and I finished planting it today! Now all I have to do is weed, water and wait. 

I hate wait.

I have to go now, hubby is calling me to help fix the window and he really, REALLY wants me off the computer! 

A Long Weekend

Friday we took the kids to their school PTA Carnival. 

Saturday morning I woke to the news that a very good man and friend, Randy Chavez passed away.
Here is his obituary so that friends and family can attend the Memorial and Funeral. 

Later Saturday another friend of mine (a woman I baby sat for) died, no funeral information for her has been past on, but my humble respects to Gina Smedly's family.

Sunday we went to the zoo - Hubby has been house bound for two weeks and wanted to get out and be in clean air.
We made it through the Asian Highlands and the Arctic Exhibit before we had to turn around and come home. It was too much to soon. Hubby is still in lots of pain and his energy is very low. Right now at the Hogle Zoo they have several large animal statues done in lego's, due to our short trip we only saw three but we will be heading back soon, the blessings of a membership.

Today (Monday) is my husbands two week weigh in after the surgery - so far he is down a whopping 41 pounds!
I am down 6 pounds!
 

One Long Day

The day started early. My BFF picked me up bright foggy and early. Utah is having toxic fog, smog and inversion the last few days - its horrible!
We went downtown to the new salt lake Library where the Utah Autism Coalition was meeting. They are getting ready for the coming legislative session.
For those that don't know Utah has the highest amount of Autistic kids in the nation and yet we still don't make sure that they all qualify for health care!
The UAC is trying to get a bill passed that will allow people with Autism to receive the treatments or meds they need.
Now many people say that this is too expensive. NOT helping is too expensive. With the proper help 70-80% of the kids can grow up to hold jobs, take care of themselves and be all in all, "Normal".
Without help of any kind only 2-6% make progress enough that they will be able to care for themselves as adults.
Helping them now will save taxpayers a fortune in long term care. Not to mention that the numbers of Autism continue to grow!

Next up in the day my hubby went with my BFF to see if he could fix her grandmothers shower - long story short - Nope.

She returned, dropped him off and mentioned that she had the rest of the day off!
My husband and her husband agreed to both watch the kids and give us the day for a girls day!
We went and watched Les Miserables! It was amazing!
We cried for almost 3 hours straight!
Then we went out for dinner at our favorite place (at the moment) Iggy's!
Yummy!
We spent the time talking back and forth both about the movie and about Autism. Her two amazing children have autism, so this is a subject near and dear to us.

Before going home we ran by the store, grabbed a few groceries.
When I got home it was almost time for the kids to go to bed.
I started to help them with their bedtime routine.
Right before Prissy went to brush her teeth I sent her out of the bathroom to take her night asthma mends... That's when the crap hit the fan!
My daughter started screaming!
I mean bloody murder, terrified screaming!
Hubby ran from the living room and me from the bathroom.
My daughter had her EPI Pen, sticking out of her FINGER!

HINT: if you look up EPI Pen in finger on the internet they will tell you MANY times to NOT put an EPI Pen into your finger!!!!

This is a needle that is meant to go through blue jeans into your thigh! Its long and its sharp!
Not to mention the medicine is life saving, but dangerous! It is not meant to go any where near your fingers!

We ran to the ER.
Alright, I didn't run, but I did drive like a crazy woman!

Note: my hubby and I had both tried to pull it from her finger, to prevent the releasing of more medicine... it wouldn't budge.

The ER Dr. gave us the option of numbing the area before pulling it free - to which I reminded him that she is allergic to Lidocaine. He told Prissy tough luck and yanked the needle free - pulling it from the bone!
We had to x-ray the finger to make sure that it didn't cause a bone fracture.
Thankfully it didn't.
We have been very blessed!
The EPI medicine didn't not release into her finger because the needle pierced the bone.
It didn't fracture or hurt nerves or veins.
Again we are blessed!
She will be fine.

On the way home I bought her a finger brace to protect the weakened bone and we will need to watch it to make sure it does not get infected over the next few days.

So the day was a great girls day, the night a bad night with Prissy!

9 kids, 4 moms and the Zoo!

First off ~ We the mom's ~ Survived!!!

The rest of the zoo and people present may be scared for life, but we did it! 

The kids chased chickens.

Sang inappropriate songs to peacocks.

Made hearts out of rocks.

Ran

Ran

and

Ran some more!

 

We lunched (snacked) 

in a secluded corner

It was an amazing

crisp

clear

fall day!

Bright blue sky.

Orange, red & yellow leaves

with the crisp Autumn air!

Our zoo's newest "big" baby.

Born sept 23rd.

We walked the whole of the zoo at least twice.

Yelled ourselves hoarse (okay just me) 

and road the carousel.

And for those that say 

I never appear on my 

blog...

Here I am.

Sort of

;)

Prissy's Parade

Magna Home Coming Parade October 2012

To insure that the parade had more than 5 entrants they invited all the school clubs in the area to join the parade.

So my daughters after school, HATS, program joined in.

My daughters pleading for me to take her, wait and watch was poetic.

"Mama, your ruining my life!
This could be my only chance to be in a parade!

Please, Please, Please let me be in the parade!"

Yes, I'm a bad mama, I didn't want to go to the parade.

However, knowing how much she wanted it and how many friends she has made in the program, I went.

She had the time of her life and I got some amazing shots of Magna Main!

The men (hubby and son) stayed home and played Mario.

My daughters face is painted up to look like a cute bulldog since her school is the Bulldogs!

You can double click the photo to see it really large 

First Day of Fall

Yesterday - the first day of fall and A's b-day we went up into Cottonwood canyon for a small bonfire night with friends.
It was also the most perfect fall drive - ever! Until of course the nut that tried to run us off the road! Don't worry I have photo's of his license plate! I can see about reporting him, if nothing else though I can find a bad driver site and post them there.

My amazing kids!

Us girls with Birthday girl A in the front

One year down and 50 to go!

My man!

Linked up with Mosaic Monday

Due to my linking up with Mosaic Monday I decided to add another one for you all to enjoy!