Another St. George get-a-way

Lately it seems that when we talk about going on vacation, we actually mean just going to St. George. So we decided that we should go down again. We headed down with The Budges on wednesday & The Ruttenburs came down on thursday. Hawkens joined us friday. Poor Josh...7 little girls running around screaming. Maggie discovered on the way down she has a hidden talent, she can successfully suck on two binki's at one time...as is demonstrated here. We alll had a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful. mid 70's the whole time we were there. Nick and Justin got to golf a couple of days and the girls got to shop. The kids even got to go to the park 4 times in 3 days, not too bad. Monte decided on their little trip to Vegas that they'd grab a cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory. It was SOOO good. But it was so big that between 7 adults we couldn't finish it. It was so nice to get away and be able to enjoy our own "spring break" and get some spring fever going. Now that we're back in the cold I'm dying! I watch the weather for St George and want to go back. But oh well...such is life right?

Open for Business

Emma recently decided she was going to open her own grocery store. So she cleaned out my pantry (note the empty shelves behind her) and now I do all my grocery shopping from her. The only problem is she's a little pricey. Like her sign says, "All Items Are Only $55" That is from the horses mouth. I tried to buy a can of cream of mushroom soup and that was her response. So anyone who needs to borrow a little something, we're open for business, but it's going to cost you.
This is Maggie's response to Emma's store.....

I've been tagged....

Shelly just tagged me and although I'm still not sure about half my answers, here it goes. I do have to tag 3 people at the end of this, and then I'll post a comment on your blog. I think there's one other rule, but I can't remember what it was...oh well. Here it goes.

Ten Years Ago:
So specifically, I don't remember & I didn't write down what I was doing on this very day 10 years ago. I pulled out my journal and found nothing...sorry. But in February of 1998, I was a Sr at Hillcrest High school and ready to be done. I really could list all of my classes for you, but you don't care. I'm pretty sure that there was a dance right around then and my geek boyfriend went with another girl. Not because I didn't want to go, but because his loser best friend wouldn't cover his shift at work so I could go. But he did work for him so he could go with another girl....jerk. Never really did like him.

5 Things On My To Do List:
Only five huh?
1. Get my laundry done already!
2. Get my lesson planned for Sunday
3. Get my house cleaned
4. Clean my car
5. Kick Nick off of his XBox 360...yes he finally got one...uggghhhh!!

I Enjoy:
I enjoy lots of things, but here's a couple. I lately have started working out in the morning with my friend Megan, we go to the aerobic/spinning classes together and I've really enjoyed getting my butt kicked into shape. I enjoy bowling once a week, again, with Megan. I enjoy bedtime for my girls, it's finally quiet. I enjoy reading a good book. And most of all, I enjoy my family.

What would I do if we were suddenly billionaires:
Truly, I would stop stressing about money. Really though, I'd make sure that I save for my kids college educations/missions/weddings. I would either move or knock down my house & build a new one....ahh... Decorate my house, something I have yet to do. Make sure that Nick can golf whenever he wants (as long as I approve :) And don't think I wouldn't do lots and lots of shopping.

3 Bad Habits:
1. I talk way too much...ask Nick.
2. Lose my temper too fast
3. I love watching TV.

5 Places I've lived:
1. Idaho, for 2 weeks after I was born.
2. West Jordan, UT
3. Sandy, UT
4. Murray, UT
5. Riverton, UT

5 Jobs I've Had:
1. Classic Skating....loved it.
2. Crossland Mortgage
3. RMIC
4. Associated Mortgage
5. Chevron Credit Bank

5 Things You May Not Know About Me:
Hmm....
1. I'm a total sap. I cry whenever someone else is crying....no matter what they're crying about. Testimony meetings on fast sundays KILL ME!
2. I was a competitive speed skater. Some people think it's a totally lame thing, but I got to travel a lot and met so many wonderful people. I'll never regret it. I started skating when I was 11 and stopped when I was 16. I learned how competitive I truly am and that I am good at something. I also learned a lot about who I am, the things in my life worth working for and how good it feels to work hard and see it pay off. I got to compete against my sister, and that truly was a blast. We had so much fun together and we were always relay partners. I learned how to work well with other people and how to function in a team setting and on my own.
3. I absolutely love to read. I will put almost anything aside to finish a good book. I stay up late just to finish a chapter or hopefully the whole book. I love reading to my girls and hope that I get to teach them something valuable.
4. I'm terrified of water. I don't mind swimming pools so much, but they still scare me. I hate the ocean and bridges. I tense up whenever we drive over a bridge (fortunately not that often). And no matter how hard I try I can not learn how to tread water or swim. I totally panic when I get into the deep end of a pool. I try not to let it cripple me, I have been snorkeling in the middle of the ocean, which was awesome. But it took a lot to get me out of that boat. I'm also not a big fan of boats....a houseboat...no way! You can't pay me to sleep on a houseboat. And because I'm such a bad swimmer it terrifies me even more to think of taking my kids on one.
5. I'm becoming a compulsive blogger. I can't believe how badly I want to check my own and others blogs every day. I love the stories and the pictures, especially those of you I don't see very often. I love reading the comments and all that fun stuff. I truly blame this on Jamie....you got me started.....


WHEW! I'm done. That was a lot harder than I thought and took a lot longer. I hope you all aren't bored out of your minds. But here's who I'm going to tag....Jerrica (because you need to get some more posts on your blog :), Jamie and Lindsey. And really, if you want, tag yourself if I didn't. Good luck and happy blogging!!!

Oh Happy Day!

Yeah team, I just learned how to put music on my blog. How cool is this! I hope you enjoy the songs, because they aren't likely to change due to my computer stupidity. I had to have my younger sister Aly figure this out for me. Thanks Aly! But my favorite song by far is "Remeber When" by Alan Jackson. It's a good reminder to me at how quickly life goes by and to really cherish right now. I was listening to this song in my car and it kind of made me stop and think. I love being a mom and it's a ton of fun. But this particular day was one of those hard ones when I kept asking myself why I want more kids when I can barely handle the two I already have. But they really are such wonderful kids. It's those bad days that help me to really appreciate the good days. Like they say, Opposition in all things. It is a good thing. I wouldn't trade the life I have for anything in this world. Again, I hope you enjoy my short little list of songs.

Will this never end???

Okay so sunday, it snowed like CRAZY at our house. We have 9:00 church and since Emma & Maggie had a cough, I decided to keep them home. So Nick went solo. He comes home at 10:30 and says they've cancelled church because of the snow. I thought he was lying. But no really, they cancelled church, it's just around the corner. But people couldn't get out of their driveways and so there really weren't a lot of people there. Insane! So I got on my shoveling gear, and went out to shovel. Nick stayed inside and made a cake...no joke. But there is a reason for that, his back goes out pretty easy and the last thing we need is for it to go out on him. So I shoveled the driveway with the help of a couple neighbors. But as I'd already shoveled what felt like every day that week, I was pretty sick of it. So I gave nick an ultimatum..... (1) we buy a snowblower or (2) we put our house up for sale and move to St George asap. I really wish he took me seriously. Well, we ended up with 14 inches, it felt like 24. But I don't want to hear anything about a drout this summer, ezpecially since it's snowing as I type.

St George/New Years

So we had already decided that we'd go to St. George, like we do every year. But we switched from going on Christmas night, to going on January 3rd. Randy & Kim went down first & Nick stayed home to keep the lot open. We sunday, December 30th, Nick's mom calls us and says, "Where are you!?!" "Um...at home." So she asks when we're coming down and I told her on the 3rd. So she put Randy on the phone and I put Nick on the phone & they made an executive decision to not work on new years eve. So we went down on Monday, the 31st and got to enjoy the warmer weather until tuesday Jan 7th. It was a much needed break and we so much enjoyed our time there with Grandma & Grandpa Powell. We did a little too much shopping (as always), a little too much snacking (again, as always), and we even sneaked in a couple of date nights. It was great. Emma got to paint with grandma and she loved it. We really did enjoy our time down there and are grateful that KP & Sherry were so kind and generous.

Christmas catch-up

So I've been slow on posting our Christmas pictures, sorry. But it was an awesome day. Here's the review. Maggie woke nick and I up at 8:00...whew we got to sleep in!! We tried to wake Emma up, but she was pretty dead to the world. Hence our awesome picture, she'll hate me for that later. Once she woke up and we reminded her it was Christmas day, she had no problem getting into the spirit of the day. She opened lots of her own presents and probably all of Maggie's. What are sisters for right? After we all had a good morning, we decided to clean up a little bit and we headed to Grandma & Grandpa Cook's to visit with Mari, Aly, James & Jerrica. We'd already spent Christmas eve with all of the Powell family and they were all headed to St. George. We enjoyed lunch at the Cook's and then all headed to Chris & Patricia's for games and visiting. We played a game of dice, and Keaton so kindly demonstrated how to steal every single one of Nick's hard-earned points. All while Emma, Maysen, & Jacey played dress up. It was a very fun day and we enjoyed being able to spend the holidays with our family members. I hope you'll understand that I didn't post a picture of myself because I look like, well, like I just woke up....fancy that.