New Moon At Midnight 11-20-09

Well I did it!! I went to see "New Moon" at midnight. Well, actually it was 12:15 but that was the latest or earliest movie I have ever seen. It was fun. Emili and Talise wanted to see it so bad at midnight but we didn't know that they had gone on sale until the next day and they were SOLD OUT so they were soooooo bummed but a couple days later they added some shows and so we went. We left our house around 8:45 p.m and drove to Centerville for a dinner at Chilli's. It was very good. All the girls sat on one table while us mothers got to enjoy a nice conversation on our table. There was nine of us that went. Me, Emili and Abbi, Kami, Talise and Kennedy Hinton and Jill and Rylee Bowden and Megan. We ate and laughed and then we drove to Salt Lake to watch the movie. We had some time so we walked around and the only store opened was Aeropostal and of course they had a sale thirty percent off everything. The kids loved that. Finally we pushed our way through the crowd we got to our seats. Emili and Talise found some other friends so it was a big party for them. The movie started and everyone was screaming and howling it was crazy. The movie ended about 2:15 am and it took a good half hour to get out of the parking lot. I learned a good lesson that morning. That is you should never eat pop corn that late at night. We got home and went to bed. I did have the girls go to school the next morning. Emili wanted too, so she could tell everyone that she did it. I went back to bed after they left. (the perks of being a stay at home mom with all my kids in school)

The movie was good, I do prefer the books to the movies but the experience was great. The girls are now counting down to "Eclipse" in June and they want to do it again and it will probably happen!!

These pictures I stole from Talise's facebook. Thanks Talise for bringing your camera.

Happy Thanksgiving

Its Thanksgiving day and I thought I should list a few things that I am grateful for.. First of all I am grateful for a wonderful husband who truly loves our family and works so hard to make our family wonderful. This last week he decided in our family prayers that we were not to ask for anything but we were to thank our Heavenly Father for all the blessings we have. It made family prayers very special. Timo is a very hard working man who has been blessed with many talents. He runs a business that he started from nothing and grew it to be a very successfull company. He started his company as a way to pay for college. He taught himself all about computers and then started helping different companies with their computers. One of his clients was on a board of directors of a timeshare resort in Hawaii and they were looking for a software that could run the resort. She asked Timo if he could make one up and of course he said he could. After searching and educating himself on the what it would take to build a software for a resort he realized that there was a big market for it and not much competition. He was able to enlist his older brothers, brother in law, his dad and a friend to start this company. I am grateful that my husband knows how to successfully keep a family and friends working on a project and they still all love each other after all these years (16 years). Not easily done but he has been able to keep business stuff and family very separate. Its been a lot of hard work and a lot has changed from the days when he was the only programmer, salesman, trainer you name it he did it. Including filling up the candy and pop machines. I think that is why he is so successful, he can do any job in his company. He can be the president and anything else going all the way to the janitor. Luckily he doesn't need to to do it all anymore but he could if he had too. Its amazing to know someone who is so incredibly talented at everything he does. Timo is a great father. He is so reasonable especially when I am so emotional and want to just re-act to situations. He is usually right on everything. I remember a time when Emili had just started six grade and we moved into a new school. She had left a lot of her friends a heritage and was kind of having a hard time. She was invited to a party at a girls house and she didn't know her to well but she was happy to go. The next day after she got the invite, she got another invitation to a party for the same day as the first invitation,of a really good friend from Heritage that she hadn't seen for a while and really missed. It was one of those big decision moments and I thought she could go to the first one for a while and then she could leave and go to the other one for a while. Well, Timo said no she will go to the one who asked first and that is it. Well she went to the one party and had lots of fun. A couple of days later I was talking to the girls mom that she went to the party and I told her Emili had a lot of fun and she said " that is so good because my husband and I are separated and probably getting a divorce and my daughter is having such a hard time and it was a answer to my prayers that she could have a fun party and that everyone could come." Wow!! what a powerful lesson that was. I am glad he is so smart. He not only taught my daughter how to have integrity but he was also in tuned with the Spirit to know what to do.

I am also very grateful for my wonderful children. They are all so smart. They are very kind and have a loving spirit about them. They are very friendly and truly care about others. They are the best children anyone could every be blessed with. (I am not just saying that because I am their mom) They are truly great kids.

I am very blessed and lastly I am so grateful for my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I would have nothing if wasn't for my loving Heavenly Father. He has blessed me way beyond what I deserve and because of Jesus Christ I will always and forever have what is most important to me.....An eternal companion, and eternal family and Heavenly Fathers love.

My New Calling

Well, I don't know if asking for a calling or actually campaigning for a calling is a good thing or not but I did it and it worked. I was called today to be in the NURSERY. I know not the most popular calling but honestly I am very excited. I have been in the Relief Society for about nine years now. I have had many callings in the Relief Society and enjoyed them all but its also great to have a change. I was in Relief Society during the years I felt that I really needed it and that was when my children were very little. I needed the woman around me because when you are home all day with your children, sometimes you need a break and talk to adults. when your children are young sometimes its hard to have a spiritual moment and I got that there. Also for many of those years Timo was traveling a lot and I needed that support and it was great! My life is now different. Timo has people to travel for him so he doesn't leave that much. He also works two miles away from our house so I have so much support at home that I don't feel the need to lean on the sisters as much. (I guess it never completely goes away) Also, and probably the biggest reason is that I no longer have little children around me.. I guess you can call it the grandma syndrome. I think it sounds fun to be around children, for a couple of hours, then I can hand them back to mom and dad. It always bugged me when I was in the Presidency to see these young mothers, with young children being called to the nursery. They would tell me how they needed to be around adults and I could completely relate to them. I was able to be there so now I want to be somewhere were I am needed but it also will help others. I have the energy now. I have all my kids in school and they are fun and I love them growing up but I now have the patience to be around other peoples children. I can hold them when they cry and I can chase them around. I have a feeling its going to be a great work out. I am so excited for this calling. Remember its not what you, its who you know. Ha ha That's my joke for the day.

A New Day!

Well, today was a very interesting day because I was released from my calling. I have been the first councilor in the Relief Society for two and half years. It has been a very good experience and I did learn a lot but boy am I happy to be released!! I have been over the teachers and the music in our ward and I never worried about it. The teachers always did a great job and there was always good music every Sunday. I rarely ever had a problem. I feel bad because I am not more sad but I guess its just time to move on and time for new people to take it over. I am surprised about all the crap that goes on in a ward. I guess that's not nice to say but not knowing it all will be great for me!! Sometimes it was hard to have a positive attitude but for the most part I feel like I tried to be a good example. I hope I did a good job but for this week while I am callingless I will enjoy!!

UEA/Conference

I was so happy when I found out UEA and Conference was the same weekend so we could go down to St. George. One of the things I wanted to do with our Casita was to be able to bring friends with us because with the children getting older the more boring family is. (So rude!!) This way we have the best of both world, family and friends. Since, Emili is the oldest she is the only one who has brought friends so far. She brought her friend Cassidy in the spring, then she brought her friend Laura in August and this time she brought her friend Talise. It is a lot of fun to get to know her friends better. They are all such good girls and they just want to have fun! Talise was fun and everyone had a good time.

The kids had tons of fun swimming and so did I. On Thursday,the girls talked me into taking them shopping at the mall. Its kind of fun shopping with the girls now that they are older because we get there and they say good bye until they want money then they call me up and I say "NO". Its funny and very predictable. Another fun thing we did was watch some old scary movies. Emili is planning a Halloween party and she wants to watch a scary movie but it can't be to scary or bloody and gross so we went for older movies. Thursday night we watched "House Of Wax" a 1953 movie staring Vincent Price. Well, not to scary but fun. Not exactly what the girls wanted for the party. Adam fell asleep during it and missed all the fun.

Friday was another swimming day. Timo was taking Tyler golfing at the most beautiful golf course in Hurricane. The views are amazing!!! I thought I would take the other kids to the movies. I took Abbi and Adam to see "Partly Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" and Emili and Talise went to see "Fame". Abbi and Adam loved the movie and it was so fun to see their reactions. Emili and Talise loved their movie but that's all they would tell me. That night we went home and went swimming. After Swimming we watched another movie. We watched "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". It is a 1941 movie staring Spencer Tracy. It was kind of creepy but not very scary so it got the boot.

Saturday was the first session of Conference. I really enjoyed it. I really enjoy President Uchtdorf talk because he answered a question I was pondering. I am the education councilor over our Relief Society and when I saw the new manuals for the next two years I had one our teacher express to me some concerns and honestly I thought they were ligit concerns. The new manual is about the basic principles of the Gospel. Its not even a prophet this year.Well, with studying the Joseph Smith we have been studying the basic principles of the Gospel. She said to me "how do we keep this interesting?" She said "out side of Utah a lot of people are new to the church and they need it but here in Kaysville everyone including the in active and non members have heard it over and over." (We do live in a bubble) I have been wondering what do I tell the teachers to keep them motivated and President Uchtdorf answered it. He talked about getting back to basics. He said that we all do things that work for us and then we expect it to be the thing that works for everyone and it doesn't. It made me think about here in Kaysville (the bubble) Do we get so caught up into thinking that we need to get up at 5:00 am to read the scriptures for exactly thirty minutes because someone said that was what they did and for some people that is so hard that they just don't read! or learning about God the Father (the first lesson) is there someone who doesn't think they can get to know Him because they were not born into the perfect Mormon family and they did things that were against His teachings and so they give up. So, I am going to motivate the teachers and the sisters in our ward that no matter how they get there they must get there. If that means they start reading for five minutes a day at 2:00 pm while their babies are napping then that is what they do but at least they are doing it. I also believe the more people read the scriptures then they will keep reading and eventually do more and want more. They need to realize they've got to do it their way but they need to do it. Then I want them to know that if they are past that point how can they step it up and what they are doing about it. If you already have a testimony of God the Father, then what are you doing about it? Well, I was very excited about this. I think I will give part it for my November lesson. I just love conference. Its so nice to hear the Prophet and Apostles speak and I love their message. I just love the peaceful feeling I get when I am listing.

After conference we swam and we played some basketball and after Timo got back from the Priesthood session we started watching another scary movie. We watched "The Haunting" a 1963 movie. Well, this one was very creepy and at the end there was a very scary part and all the kids screamed so loud and grabbed each other. It was pretty funny. We all had a great laugh and decided that is the movie for the party. Luckily Adam fell asleep again or no one would have slept that night. All three girls slept in one twin sized bed and Tyler snuggled up to Adam all night.

Sunday we had a quiet day watching conference and after it was over we went home.

Summer is Officially Over. School Started!!!

Well, today is a sad and yet very happy day for me. It was the first day of school. This summer has blown by so fast that it seems like the kids just got out of school. I have many different feelings about school starting. First of all I am kind of glad to see the kids go. They like school and really don't have any emotional problems about leaving. They also do very well in school so it makes my life a little easier. They also like to be with their friends and they do like the structure. So, there isn't any sad things about it except they are growing up way to fast. Emili, started 8th grade this year. Just the sound of it makes me cringe. Probably because in my mind its not only eighth grade but one more year she's in ninth and then its high school and then she's in college and that is what I am not ready for. But I guess I will take it one year at a time. Emili has some fun classes. She does very well in math so she will be in geometry this year and she is a student tutor in a pre algebra class which is funny since she skipped pre algebra. Then she has all the basics, history, science, English and choir. Anyways, Tyler is in the sixth grade and he has Mrs. Miner. I think she will be a great teacher for him. He is my wild and crazy kid but luckily he has matured over the years and he knows when to be silly and when to be serious plus he is a hard worker. He is extremely smart especially in math and science. I like to hear Tyler stories when he gets home because he makes up some good stories about what happened during the day. I hope he takes some creative writing classes when he goes to Jr. High. Abbi is now in third grade and has a new teacher at our school. Her name is Mrs. Kowa. and she seems really nice and sweet and that is what Abbi needs. She does very well also because she is very friendly and happy and very smart so she is very easy. Adam got Mrs. Mckinnon this year. She is who Abbi had last year. She's not very warm and fuzzy but I liked her as a teacher and she loved Abbi and so I think he will have a great experience this year. I always worry about Adam because he is a very young second grader. His birthday is August 26 and I have worried about him even before he was born but I know we made the right decision about sending him but I still worry and every year it is proven that we were correct but still I always worry. I guess that's what moms do best. I think we are going to have a great year. With school starting so does my very busy life. It is also the start of piano lessons (6:00a.m.), ballet and jazz, So much fun no wonder life goes by so fast its just so busy.

Casita is Finished

Its been a long summer but finally the casita is finished. It was going to be done in June but finally now that its August its done. The work is done and we LOVE it. They finished the pool and all the back yard. When they were looking over our property we found out that we have a lot of property on the side of our house and so I suggested they pour cement and make it a basketball court.

So now we truly have a fun vacation home for our family. We even topped it off with a Wii and rock band. So we now have it all. Tons of things to do outside and things to do inside. I love being down there so much that I want to be there all the time. It is going to be a great place for our family to enjoy for many years and so many happy memories will be made there.

'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' Sneak Peek

'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' Sneak Peek

Fun with Barbara

This is my friend Barbara Perkins. She is very special to me. I met her when we were in the same ward. The sixth ward here in West Kaysville was assigned a street in the mobile park homes in East Kaysville. That trailer park had a lot of problems and so they would assign one street to each ward so the burdens wouldn't be to much on one ward. Well, luckily for us we got Barbara. I guess when she first came to the ward her husband was still living and the people of the ward enjoyed and tolerated them. They were both very needy. After awhile she needed to put her husband in a rest home because he was to sick. She would take the bus and visit him every day until he died.

Barbara was born with many challenges. She has a crippled leg and I think her IQ is close to a fifth grader maybe in some places less and in other places higher. I got to know her after her husband died. I was asked by the Relief Society President if I could take Barbara to work once a week. She works at Davis High and so I thought it would be kind of easy. I started to take her and I found out I was driving to work a very special person who was sent to earth for people to learn to serve and for people to realize that wonderful people come in all packages. I found out that she is very funny. We would always have a good laugh on the way to work and even on the way home. She missed her husband a lot and she would cry when she thought of him. She had a rotton land lord that we would make fun of and always laugh about what the girls were wearing to school and how much soda they drank each day. We always arrived the same time the Pepsi guy showed up. She said he came every day. I was amazed that she could live all by herself. It also amazed me that a person with a part time job, dishing out pizza at the local high school, could be so good at money that she didn't need any state or church welfare. She took care of every penny she got. I always enjoyed talking to her. A couple of years ago our ward split and they decided to take the mobile homes away from us and they would make a branch for them. I left the sixth ward and it was a sad day.

Well, I got a phone call a couple of weeks ago from my friend Vicky Barber and she was trying to raise enough money so they could buy Barbara a new bike for her birthday. Of course I was excited to help Barbara. All the wonderful people that served Barbara got together for a fun Birthday lunch. I got to be with some very special people to me that I haven't seen in a long time. Its funny when a ward splits you just don't see people who live really close to you. I had so much fun. I got to catch up with everyone and Barbara hasn't changed. She was so fun. After we went to her house and gave her the bike. She was very happy. She uses her bike to get groceries at Bowmans which is about a mile from her house. This bike is a lot more stable and it has a bigger basket. She was very happy. I was glad I brought my phone because that was the only camera. I am happy that I got some good shots of my friend.

15 years.

To day is a very special day. It is our fifteenth Anniversary of our first date. I had won tickets to James Taylor on FM100. I tried forever to win tickets on there during work but I never won until James Taylor. I had no idea who James Taylor was but I was still very excited. Little did I know that it was Timo's favorite singer. Thursday night after I picked up the tickets I went to our singles ward softball game. After the game My friend Mary and I was talking to this kid that liked her, then Timo came over and I thought he liked her too. I feeling pretty stupid. As we were talking I mentioned that I won tickets to James Taylor and that the concert was the next night. Timo offered to go with me. I didn't know if he was serious or not so I said "if you want to." ( I was so shy) Well, the rest of the night he kept asking and so I said yes. Little did I know what a fun night it would be. He picked me up and we drove to park city. I couldn't believe how easy it was to talk to him. He was very nice and I remember thinking he was the nicest person I had ever gone out with. At the concert we found a place on the hill and we sat and enjoyed the concert. We had a lot of fun. After we sat in his truck and talked until the traffic was gone. Of course we didn't have time for dinner but he did promise me dinner so he told me he would take me out next week for dinner. And its all history from there. I remember after that date that all I could think about was that I had just made a new friend and it was a very natural friendship. I am very grateful for Timo. He is the most wonderful husband any could ever have. I love him so much. July 9th is a great day in history!!

July 4th, 2009

Well, I love July 4th. It has always been my favorite holiday. When I was young we would always do something fun for the 4th even if it was staying home and have a BBQ but one of my favorite things to do was go to North Fork up in Ogden canyon. Well, I haven't done that for about twenty years and so this year we packed the kids in the van and we drove up there. We found a really nice place and we had a BBQ. Then we relaxed and just enjoying nature. There is a river that runs along the picnic area's that isn't to swift so the kids enjoyed playing in there and just exploring. Timo and I just relaxed. Its so beautiful up there. It is very green. and you can hear the river and air was so fresh. After a while a couple of squirrels came to join our family picnic. They were so cute and fat. I think they just live off chips and burnt marshmallows. They were funny. They would just scramble around and look for food. We set some chips out for them and even a couple of cookies. At one point one came right up to Emili. You should have seen her eyes. She couldn't believe they would come so close to her. It was funny. Then we hiked up to the water fall. The kids enjoyed the hike. Its fun now that they are a little older because they all could make it with ease and no one was complaining. We finally made it to the water fall and the kids had a blast. They were splashing around and climbing up the rocks. It was a lot of fun for everyone. Then we went back to our picnic spot and those two squirrels got into everything. They ripped open our bag of chips and our carrots (they didn't like the carrots so much). They had food everywhere!! We just laughed and laughed. After we were done with that we played a few games of master moose and then we went home. Later that night we went to the Kaysville city fireworks. They were amazing this year. They went for thirty minutes of non stop fireworks. It was great.

During the day all I could think about is how blessed we are to live in such an amazing country. We are blessed to be free to enjoy such wonderful blessings. We enjoy fireworks and not bombs going off like in Iran and all those middle eastern countries. I was also thinking how blessed we are to live in an amazing state like Utah. Here we were up in the mountains enjoying the beauty of the green trees, the river, the water fall and how beautiful the rocks form on the mountain. It was truly amazing but its cool because if I wanted to drive a few hours south I could enjoy an entirely different scenery with just as amazing sights and its all right here in Utah. We are truly blessed to live in such a wonderful place.

Juhannus

Finnish Flag

Midsummer bonfire in Seurasaari. Bonfires are very common in Finland, where many people spend their midsummer in the countryside outside towns.

Before 1316, the summer solstice was called Ukon juhla, after the Finnish god Ukko. In e.g. Karelian tradition, many bonfires were burned side by side, the biggest of which was called Ukko-kokko (the "bonfire of Ukko"). After the celebrations were Christianized, the holiday is known as juhannus after John the Baptist (Finnish: Johannes Kastaja).

Since 1955, the holiday is always on a Saturday (between June 20th and June 26th). Earlier it was always on June 24th.

In the Finnish midsummer celebration, bonfires (Finnish kokko)are very common and are burnt at lakesides and by the sea. Often two young birch trees (koivu) are placed on either side of the front door to welcome visitors. In Midsummer night the sauna is typically heated and family and friends are invited to bathe and to grill.

In folk magic, midsummer was a very potent night and the time for many small rituals, mostly for young maidens seeking suitors and fertility. Will o wisps were believed to be seen at midsummer night, particularly to finders of the mythical "fern in bloom" and possessors of the "fern seed", marking a treasure. An important feature of the midsummer in Finland is the white night and the midnight sun. Because of Finland's location spanning around the Arctic Circle the nights near the midsummer day are short or non-existent. This gives a great contrast to the darkness of the winter time.

Many music festivals of all sizes are organized on the Midsummer weekend. It's also common to start summer holidays on Midsummer day. For many families the Midsummer is the time when they move to the countryside to their summer cottage by the lake. Often Finns spend the whole of July at the summer cottages. Midsummerday is also the Day of the Finnish Flag. The flag is hoisted at 6 pm on Midsummer eve and flown all night till 9 pm the following evening.

"Juhannus"

Tomorrow we celebrate my favorite Finnish holiday,Juhannus. I like it even more than Christmas. When I married Timo I was introduced to the most fascinating country in the world and that is Finland. His mom was born and raised in Finland and then moved to the USA and eventually married Timo's dad. Timo served his LDS mission in Finland and was able to teach many of his family members including his grandma (mummo).

Well, in Finland the winters are very hard and long. The temperature goes way below zero and it is dark most of the winter. My mother in law often talks about when she was little if the sun came out at all during the day they would stop everything and run out side no matter how cold it was. It was a rare event. So, after spending a very long winter you can imagine what summer means to them. First of all the summer solstice in Finland means that at night it doesn't get dark at all. All night it is light outside. So, the celebration of summer begins and is enjoyed throughout the country all night long. It is a fun day and is almost like valentines here. Lots of people get married on Juhannus. Timo's parents did so they will be celebrating their anniversary this weekend. Its also a joke about how many babies in Finland are born in March.

Well, let me tell you how we celebrate Juhannus. Everyone in Timo's family comes over to our house. We cook Makkarra (sausage) and Nakki (hot dogs). We eat rye bread and cold cuts. We have lots of cheese, finn crisp and a lemon drink called sima. We have tomatoes and cucumber and hopefully next year fresh potatoes. Timo's mom makes a some desserts and his sister makes a bread called pulla. We have others bring some American food. We build a fire and we eat and enjoy each others company. Since it does get dark here the party doesn't last all night but we still have fun. After everyone has left we take a sauna. In Finland it is tradition to jump in a freezing cold lake after you sauna but here we have a tub filled with cold water. The kids love it but I can do without the cold water. You must be at least 1/4 Finnish to do that. Its always a fun and relaxing evening.

I was actually in Finland (1997) during Juhannus and it was really fun. I was expecting my son at the time so trying to stay up all night was impossible but now I would love to go back and try it again. I think I could do it.

Grandma's

In July I need to give my quarterly lesson and I want to do it on Grandma's. When we first moved to Kaysville, nine years ago, Sister Verla Harris gave a lesson on Grandma's and I have never forgotten it.

As daughters of God we have been given many titles, such as.. Wife,daughter, mother, friend but of all of them I think Grandma is the best. Grand kids love there grandma's so much and I think its because grandma's just love them. Grand kids are always safe with their grandma's. There is nothing to ever rebel against because they only want to love them. Grandma's never have too discipline the kids but they are such big influences to the kids. The most amazing part of it all is that the grandma doesn't have to be in the children's lives all the time. In fact a lot of grandma's live hundreds of miles away and don't see their grand kids to often and yet the grandma is the neatest most wonderful person ever.

The strangest part of preparing this lesson is that I cannot find any information on the subject of grandma. I would think that now days when grandparents are forced to take more active rolls in raising their grand kids that there wouldn't be more on it. You can find stories about grandma's but not on their rolls. Maybe there isn't a defined roll and maybe that's what makes grandma's so special. Maybe there roll is to fill in when needed and to just love these little children who come to this earth. Its a hard world out there and I can't imagine a more safe place to be than in the arms of a loving grandma who just loves me no matter what.

I did want to tell about my Grandma Jensen. My grandma if she was still alive she would be 118 on July 20th. She was born in 1891 and died October 31, 1986. For one thing I think she lived during an amazing time in the history of the world. There was so many changes that took place during that time and being the history fan that I am I wish I could pick her brain and hear all the amazing things that took place in her life. My grandma was thirty-four when she got married and my grandpa was twenty-one. Wow, what a woman. Not only did she marry a younger man but back then to not be married when you are thirty-four must have been very hard on her. My dad was her only child that lived. She had a daughter that was still born. I wonder how that must have effected her. She lived through the great depression and she sent her only child off to WWII. Her husband died around 1965 and so she lived many years as a widow. She came to live with us before I was born.

I was very lucky to have my grandma around me when I was very little. I have memories of sitting on her lap and her telling me about her life and telling me about her china hutch that had so many wonderful things that she had collected over the years. I could spend hours there. She also was my only babysitter growing up and as soon as my parents left she would get out the toast and put butter and brown sugar on it. It was so good and I have never had it since. I am saving it for my grand kids. Also my grandma would go up to the store to buy some groceries and she always carried a bag with her. We would wait in front yard by our tree and just wait for her to come down the street. When she got home she would open up her bag and like magic there was the most amazing things in it like; ice cream,Twinkies, cookies, ice cream sandwiches and candies. It was amazing!!!! My grandma always wore a blue dress and a apron. When I was about eight my grandma started showing signs of dementia and she quickly became someone else. I was always so sad because I wanted my grandma and I didn't understand what was going on. By the time I was in junior high we needed to put her in a rest home. I would go see her and my dad went to see her every day until the day she died. The worse she got the harder it was on me and being very immature I went to see her less and less. The day before she died the nursing home called and said she wasn't going to make it so we all went down to see her. She didn't look like my grandma. Her face was swollen and she was breathing so hard. It was very tough to see the lady you loved so much be so sick. She died the next day while I was at school. She was ninety-five. At her viewing they dressed her in a blue dress and fixed her up and she looked like my grandma again and she looked so peaceful. I think that was a gift from Heavenly Father to us just to let us know that our grandma wasn't suffering any more. Lately I have missed her so much. I wish I could go and see her and just talk to her. I want to feel her safe arms around me again. It has been so long. I guess that will have to wait until another time.

Last Day of School

Today was the last day of school and I think its kind of sad. This school year kind of started out bad. Emili was having a lot of troubles with friends and I didn't really like Abbi teacher. I thought she was mean. I knew Tyler had a great teacher so I wasn't to worried about him and I was worried about Adam being a young 1st grader ( I really need to get over that.) The year went on and it ended up being a pretty good year. Emili's problems wasn't as bad and she made a lot of new good friends, Abbi's teacher ended up being very nice and I actually want Adam to have her. Tyler had a great year and Adam also had a great year. When I look back it actually was an amazing year. Emili had some extremely great experiences with being in "A Brand New Year" choir and she had many answered prayers. We went on a very fun vacation over Thanksgiving break. We went to St. George for Thanksgiving and had a fun family Thanksgiving. We went to Vegas and saw the Jonas brothers in concert at the MGM. Then we went to Disneyland and had tons of fun. It was an incredible ten days that we will never forget. During Christmas we decided to go to the cabin. We had to snow mobile in and when we got there we had no electricity. We did have propane gas so we did have a stove for cooking. We had a blast sledding and just being together for such a long time. We decided to do it again in 2020. I can't wait!! I went on field trips with all the kids but Emili (not cool to have mom around). I went to Wheeler farm with Adam, Modern dance with Tyler, the zoo with Abbi and the Tree house with Adam. I volunteered every week in Tyler's, Abbi's and Adam's classes. We started piano this year at 6:00 a.m. every Tuesday morning and somehow we survived it with a smile. Emili started ballet and Abbi quit ballet. Timo and I had pneumonia and we all got the flu. The kids mostly got 4's and A's but no one got higher than a 2 for there handwriting. So sad. Emili made High honor roll three times and honor roll once (ten day trip killed her). We had a great year and I think this will be a great summer. Hurricane here we come!!!!

Our Casita

Well, I just wanted everyone to know that we bought a new house in Hurricane Utah. We bought it in March and we have been enjoying it ever since.

Timo and I have been looking for houses in St. George for a long time now. We bought a condo in St. George about nine years ago with his parents. It was great when we bought it because we had two small kids. It still is great for Timo's parents and for just me or Timo or just me and Timo but when we bring all the kids it STINKS!!!! It is two bedroom and there is enough room for just us but barely especially now that the kids are older. We also have neighbors below and neighbors on the side and so we are constantly saying "be quiet we have neighbors" it seems like we had to walk on egg shells all the time. (how much fun is that)?? There is also no where for the kids to play outside. We would only go and sit and watch t.v. We would go to the pool and then back to the condo to sit. So, the search was on.

This winter with the bad economy and house prices dropping like flys we decided it might be a good time to look and see if we can get a great deal somewhere. We have been investing in real estate for about 11 years with this man named Mr. Cheney. He is a great man and very nice but with economy our investment wasn't paying off and we knew he was doing a lot of building in the St. George area and so we told him what we were looking for and we asked him if he had any stressed builders ready to give us a deal. Sure enough he came back with a couple of homes. They were in Hurricane and we never thought about there but we decided to look. I was convinced that I wasn't going to like it because it wasn't in St. George but we looked anyways. He took us to the first home and it was nice but I could walk away. Then he took us to the next house and it was bigger but still I could walk away. After Timo and I went to see what Sandhollow resort was like since it was one mile away. It was beautiful!! Then Timo and I went to get some lunch and Timo told me he left a window open at the first house. So, we went back and broke into it. We sat there and thought about it. The lay out was perfect. It was finished off really nice and it was great. So, then we said if we could move this house were would we move it to? We thought about why we wanted a house and we realized it was so we could move around and now that the kids were older to be more outside. So we thought we are one mile from a great state park. We are super close to Zions national park. We are fifteen minutes away from St. George. There is a great golf coarse across the street from the sub division. There are rocks that are walking distance that the kids could explore. We had a back yard to play in. The possibilities was endless and like magic the house was perfect.

We bought it and then furnished it. We didn't tell the kids because we wanted to surprise them. We bought a wii and lots of bedding. For spring break we rented a uhaul packed it up with all the stuff we wanted to take down with us and told the kids we were going to St. George. They didn't even question all the stuff we were taking down.

When we got to the Hurricane exit we took the exit and nobody seem to notice. As we got closer Timo finally said I have found a short cut to the condo and then they realized we were going a different direction. As we pulled into the subdivision Timo told everyone that he was lost so he said lets pull up to this house and ask for directions. We all got out and Timo rang the door bell and no one answered. The kids were getting a little nervous. Timo then said maybe this key will open the door and it did. The kids didn't know what to think. Finally Tyler said "is this our new condo" and Timo said "no its our new house" still in dis belief the kids ran through the house very excitedly. We spent ten days there and it was a blast. We decided we would finish the back yard with a pool and we found out we have a larger side yard so we will put a basketball court out there. It will be amazing!!!! School is out on Friday and then we will be spending lots of time there this summer. I LOVE OUR CASITA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Swimming in Hurricane

Well, today they poured the cement into our pool in Hurricane. I am so excited!! I cannot believe we are going to have a very fun pool that is ours. No more public pools YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. It will be so much fun when we take the kids down there. We will be able to play and have fun. Our new house in hurricane is awsome and I love it!!!

I am sad.

Today was a very hard for me because I needed to fire my house keeper. Her name is Olga and She is a very kind and sweet lady that has been a great worker. She has never missed a day. She has been my house keeper for seven years or so and I really like her. She comes every Tuesday and she never misses. She has made my life a lot easier and there is nothing more wonderful than to leave a messy house and come home to a very clean house. I feel bad because she has a very nice family and they are hard working and I love helping people like that. She is wonderful and I am so sad. I feel like I hurt her and her family. I am not a boss and I shouldn't ever have employees.

Why did I get rid of her? Its because I now have lazy kids and I will admit I am becoming more and more lazy. We need to get that hard working attitude back.

How will I go on?

I am the worst blogger

I want to be a good blogger but I get to the computer and I go blank. I think I have a lot to say but then I don't. I need help!

My Family

I have the greatest family in the world. First of all I have the greatest husband who is a great father and husband. He works so hard to make our lives wonderful. He is just awsome. I also have the most wonderful children. They are so sweet. They are fun too.

I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!

I have a Great Husband

My husband is the GREATEST!!!! He is super wonderful and very caring. I love him so much!!!!

Happy St. Patricks