Auntie Kath

(Not So Wee) Witch's Night Out

2009-10-30T16:37:00.003-06:00

Here is the last of the posts I found in drafts from last year. I know the date on here says October 2009 but it's actually July 2010 as I write this. Once this is posted maybe I'll post something a little more current.....but that's a big MAYBE! Not in much of a blogging mood lately.....anyway.....

Fall has always been my favorite time of year and the past few years going to Witches Night Out at Gardner Village has been one of the fun things about the Fall season. We always have so much fun and this year was no different.

Audrey, Shanowa, Kathleen, April

We had gone to the witches pageant a couple of weeks before this where Hyperspeed Helga (wearing green) had been crowned the Witch Queen. She had been our pick to win and we had been hoping to see her so we could get our picture with her. Yay, we did!

Bethany and fellow witches dancing the night away

Very creative (and disgusting!)

April and Kath

Shawn's 40th Birthday

2009-10-30T16:34:00.004-06:00

Kristin planned a fun party for Shawn's 40th birthday. Since he's a huge Phillie's fan that of course was the theme of the party. There were many friends and family who came to celebrate with him.

Kristin is reading the answer's to the "Shawn's Life" trivia quiz

Kristin made the cute birthday cake

Dad, Jake, with Darrel and April at the end of the table
Kristin and Shawn with his old roommates Lynn and JaredWhitney, Tony and Jack
Shawn's family: Ken, Kim,dad Ralph, Casey and her fiance
Go Phillie's!!!

Family Halloween Party

2009-10-30T16:27:00.006-06:00

Here's another post I found in my drafts that never got posted!

It has become a tradition the past few years (with the arrival of all the grandchildren) to have a family Halloween party. We usually do it at Grandma and Grandpa's clubhouse and the kids and even some of the adults come in their costumes. This year, in addition to the usual crafts and games, Mom presented a lesson to the grandkids on how to wash their hands effectively. She had a video presentation as well as a black light so they could see all the "germs" on their hands. Mom told them they should wash their hands as long as it takes to sing Happy Birthday or the ABC's. I understand some of my nieces and nephews have really taken that to heart!

The kids are looking at the germs on their hands under the table with the black light.

The adult doughnut eating contest. I can't remember for sure but I think Stephanie won and I came in a close second.

Nathan and Grandma

Kylan

Libby, Ellie and Kylan doing Halloween crafts.

My cute nieces and nephews in the costumes.

Nathan and Ellie
Mallory and Libby

Kierra, Keaton and Kylan

The 2 Snow Whites, Ellie and Libby

Nemo aka Nathan

Calli, Kathleen, Stephanie, Kristin
Shawn with his "beloved Phillies" pumpkin.

My weekend with the 3 K's

2009-10-14T15:10:00.009-06:00

This is one of several posts I found in my drafts from last October. I guess it's about time I go ahead and post them!

Dan and Calli went out of town for the weekend a few weeks ago to celebrate Calli's birthday so I got to hang out with my cute niece and nephews for a few days. We had fun together watching the Brady Bunch marathon, the only show we could all agree on, (should I be embarrassed that I, a 43 year old woman, enjoy the same TV show as a 2, 3, and 5 year old?). We also had fun playing in the backyard, playing Batman, going to McDonald's (where Keaton and Kierra both said they have a lot of friends), shopping at Wal-Mart, and finally walking around the grounds of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

I am lucky to have such great nieces and nephews!

Kiki at McDonald's playland

Keaton and Kylan with one of their McDonald's "friends"

At the Oquirrh Mountain Temple grounds

When Dan & Calli got home from their weekend we had birthday cake. Dan had ordered this fancy cake from a bakery that does wedding cakes, he even helped design this beautiful cake.

I wanna be a witch too...

2009-10-14T15:00:00.011-06:00

When I dropped Elisabeth off at home after "Wee Witches Night" Nathan wanted to try on his sister's witches hat. Isn't he adorable?!!! Well, they both are!

Trying on Stephanie's hat too.

Wee Witches Weekend

2009-10-08T15:23:00.022-06:00

For the past few years my friends and I have attended "Witches Night Out" at Gardner Village and it's something I now look forward to each October because we always have so much fun. This year Gardner Village has added "Wee Witches Weekend" for the younger crowd and I thought it would be fun to take my nieces. Kristin, Libby, Mallory, Calli, Kierra, Elisabeth and I went last Saturday evening and had a great time. We missed having Stephanie (who was sick with the stomache flu) and Mom (who was tending to Stephanie and also to Jakob who was recovering from surgery)with us. We wish Sheena and Maryn could have been there too but they live toooo far away!

Enjoy some pictures of our fun time!

Kierra, Mallory, Elisabeth & Libby...what cute little witches!

Kristin and her girls

I just couldn't resist taking pictures of my adorable nieces!

Kiki tossing beanbags with Libby and Ellie looking on.

Ellie taking her turn at the beanbag toss.

Such goofy faces...at least a couple of them!
Making lollipop spiders

Mallory, intently working on her spider

Showing off their finished lollipop spiders

The girls were a little hesitant at first to go up on stage but once they did it was hard to get them to come down. They had so much fun dancing to the fun music and as you can see, climbing the railing

The girls with Lucinda, the Gardner Village witch
We wanted our picture with Lucinda too!

Manti Pageant

2009-08-08T19:51:00.013-06:00

Jake and Steph invited me to go to the Manti Pageant with them back in June. Mom came too and we all had a good time. We stayed overnight at the Manti House Bed and Breakfast (staying overnight is definitely the way to go rather than fighting the traffic!).

Mom, Jake, Ellie, Steph and Nathan waiting for the pageant to begin.

Ellie with some cast members before the show.

The beautiful Manti Temple

The Manti House Bed and Breakfast. We actually stayed across the street in the owners home. We had the 3 upstairs bedrooms and bathroom. The rooms were decorated really cute, each with their own theme.

Ellie in the Hawaiian room that she and I stayed in. Jake, Steph and Nathan stayed in the sports themed room and Mom stayed in the Princess room that even had a bed that looked like Cinderella's carriage.
Waiting for breakfast over at the Manti House.

The next morning we walked around the temple grounds before driving home. Jake and Steph were married here 7 years ago and now here they are with their 2 beautiful children!

Grandma, Nathan and Elisabeth
Nathan just laughed and laughed while repeatedly hitting Aunt Kath...what a brute!!!

The beginning of summer fun

2009-08-07T16:02:00.027-06:00

The day after school got out in May, I joined Kristin, Shawn, Libby and Mallory for a trip to one of my favorite places...Lake Tahoe. It was not as sunny and warm as we would have liked but it was still a beautiful and relaxing place to spend a vacation. We also drove to Oakland one day to visit Jack and to Sacramento a couple of days to visit Grandma Ellinger.

Enjoy some pictures from our trip...

A couple pictures of the condo we stayed in. It smelled like Christmas with all the pine trees.

Mallory and Libby having fun at the beach. You can tell from the pictures it's a bit overcast but the girls didn't seem to mind that it was cold and windy because they were having so much fun. The part you can't see is the adults wrapped up in their beach towels because they were freezing!

Kristin and Kathleen visiting with Grandma Ellinger. I think she looks great for 95!

Grandma and Mallory

Grandma and Libby
Grandma couldn't handle really long visits so we would visit a couple hours in the morning then leave so she could rest for a while then we'd return in the afternoon to visit with her some more. Grandma lives in Fair Oaks and the Sacramento Temple was very close by so while she was resting we visited the temple grounds.

Mallory loves posing for the camera.

Jack lives in this charming building in Oakland with his son Isaac. I wanted a picture of the building but should have also thought of getting a closer picture of Jack, Kris and me.

Jack took us up to the Oakland Temple. I love this temple especially since it is where my parents were married.

I bought this old sled at an antique shop in Lake Tahoe. The girls had a fun time pretending to ride down the mountain.

Mallory took this picture of Libby and me.

Shawn had some business appointments in Carson City one day so Kris, the girls and I went to the Children's Museum while we waited for him. Mallory and Libby had tons of fun and Kristin and I had fun watching them. Here they are playing air hockey.

Paging Dr. Mallory...
The grocery store was their favorite.
Libby is watching the balloon that was being blown up in the air by a fan.

Let me out!

Texas Trip....only 2 months later

2009-06-23T15:43:00.022-06:00

Well, I am now enjoying my summer break from teaching school and thought I should take advantage of all this free time I have to play "blogging catch-up"! So here goes...

In April, Mom, Kristin, Mallory, Libby and I took a road trip (a very long 2 day road trip) to Texas to visit Sheena and her family. We and a ton of our stuff crammed into Kristin's mini-van for the trek. Everyone I told about our upcoming trip expressed their concern about travelling so far with two 5 year olds, but the girls were perfect travelling companions. They kept themselves busy watching movies, playing with paper dolls Grandma had brought for them, coloring and the later in the evening it got just giggling and cracking each other up!

We were very happy to get to Sheena and Eric's home and see everyone, especially baby Blake whom we (except for Mom who was there when Blake was born) were meeting for the first time. And what a cutie he is!

Maryn, Libby and Mallory had a lot of fun playing together and we all had a great time spending time with each other. We visited the Dallas Arboretum, took the train into downtown Dallas, did some shopping and we painted Maryn's room. Check out Sheena's blog to see how cute the room turned out. I'll just let the pictures tell the rest of the story of our trip.

This carousel was in the mall and the girls had so much fun riding on it.

Maryn

Mallory

Libby

Blake had fun watching the carousel.

Reading bedtime stories was a favorite time for Grandma and the girls.

Libby, Mallory and Maryn at the Dallas Arboretum

Sheena, Kristin and the kids

Me and my sisters!

Mallory wanted me to take a picture of her smelling the flowers. I've never met anyone who likes to smell the flowers as much as Mallory and Libby do.

We wanted to go to the top of the Reunion Tower in downtown Dallas but it has recently been closed to the public...grrr. So we rode the glass elevator in a nearby hotel up and down several times so we could see the view of the city.

Visiting the "grassy knoll" where JFK was shot.

Waiting for the train to take us home after a fun day downtown.

Libby and Maryn just hanging out...I think they're watching cartoons.

Celtic Woman Concert

2009-05-19T15:44:00.007-06:00

I absolutely love the music of Celtic Woman and last Tuesday, Bethany, Shanowa, Leandro, Dorian and I went to the E Center to see them in concert. It was a lot of fun and the music was wonderful. I don't usually enjoy listening to soprano voices but their voices are so clear, without a lot of vibrato and their harmonies are so beautiful that I could listen to them forever! I have a few of their songs included on my playlist below if you want to listen.

We didn't actually take this picture (we were a bit further away from the stage than the person who took this picture) but these are the same dresses they wore at our concert.
This is how far WE were from the stage. It really wasn't too bad though.
After the concert: Kathleen, Dorian, Leandro, Shanowa, Bethany. The stage is in the background if you look very, very closely.

Finally.....pictures of my new place

2009-05-15T15:49:00.015-06:00

I know I've been promising to post some pictures of my new home and here they are! I am absolutely loving living by myself...that sounds pretty anti-social doesn't it? I still love having people over and I'm not against living with my future husband (wherever he is!) but for now my living situation is very enjoyable. :-)

I love the balcony off the master bedroom.

Mallory and Libby

This is my new couch and coffee table. No more garage sale sofas! The other pictures were taken before I had purchased these.

Living room

Dining/piano room

My bedroom - it's so big I never stub my toes on my bed anymore!
The 2nd bedroom which serves many purposes....guest room, office, scrapbook, craft and sewing room. It's great to have space to spread out!
Kitchen

Old Friends

2009-04-30T17:15:00.004-06:00

Last month I was able to get together with my best friends from high school for lunch at Brick Oven. Except for Cindy who lives in Washington, we all still live here in Utah Valley, yet most of us had lost touch and we hadn't seen each other for about 20 years! We reconnected through Facebook (I have a love/hate relationship with FB) and we finally were able to get together. It was so much fun to see my good friends again and catch up on each others lives. We've all had our ups and downs over the years but everyone seemed happy and well. This is hopefully just the beginning of our rekindled friendships!

Julie (Nelson) Deveraux, Juli (Root) Wyckoff, Holly (Adams)

Berube, Kathleen Ellinger, Cindy (Jensen) Seuferling

Valentine Treats

2009-02-24T22:19:00.010-07:00

Libby, Mallory and Elisabeth are all taking a dance class together every Thursday evening so Kristin comes and spends the day at Mom and Dad's with the girls and Elisabeth comes over too. (I'll post pictures of their dance class later, maybe even a video so you can see how cute they are.) Grandma usually has fun activities planned for the girls while they're here. The Thursday before Valentine's Day the girls and I made special Valentine rice krispie treats. We added red hot candies and the girls had a lot of fun molding the treats into fun shapes. They were so proud of themselves. Here is a picture of the girls with their creations.

Mallory, Libby, Ellie

Dorian's Birthday

2009-02-24T20:59:00.012-07:00

In celebration of Dorian's birthday we of course had a party. Do we ever pass up an opportunity for a party? I say NO we don't! We first went to Bangkok Grill in Orem, our favorite Thai food restaurant. They have the best Massaman Curry and Tom Ka Gai Soup ever...really, you should go try it if you haven't. Anyway...after dinner we went to Lisa's for games, cake and ice cream. I was in charge of games and I brought a game we used to play when I was a kid. It's the one where you pack a cup of flour, turn it upside down on the counter, put a coin on top then take turns cutting away the flour. Whoever makes the coin fall has to pick it up with their teeth. Leandro and I were the unlucky ones who made the coin fall and then had to search for and pick it up. It's harder than it sounds. When the coin falls it gets buried in the flour so it's hard to find and I was laughing and kept inhaling the flour and generally making a mess. We played a couple other games too and had a really fun time.

Make a wish!

Cheese!
Thanks for holding my hair back Bethany.

I should have worn a bib.

Find that coin Leandro!

I Love to See the Temple

2009-02-22T16:20:00.010-07:00

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend the Draper Temple Open House. The whole temple is exquisite but I think my favorite room is the one with the mural of the mountain scene. It looks just like the Utah mountains with the Aspen trees and a stream flowing down into a lake. We are so blessed to have so many temples nearby.

Kathleen, Dorian, Bethany and Leandro

Ridiculous!

2009-01-28T20:49:00.003-07:00

On the Today show this morning they had a story about a woman in Louisiana who spent $150,000 to have her dog cloned! They didn't mention which mental hospital she was admitted to because clearly she's insane!

Rockin' Out

2009-01-26T20:28:00.011-07:00

So apparently Guitar Hero is all the rage lately and I've wanted to play for a while. I finally got the chance to play the other night when Leandro, Dorian and I went to Michael and Staci's house for a Guitar Hero party. I kinda suck at video games but I thought since I'm pretty musical that this might be different but the original theory that I suck at video games pretty much held true. Even though my skills were lacking it was still tons of fun! We all took turns rocking it out on the guitar, bass, drums and vocals. If the following pictures were videos you could check out our sweet moves but since they're not you'll just have to imagine how sweet they were. :-)

Leandro (playing with a broken wrist!), Dorian, Michael

Dorian, Michael, Kathleen

Kathleen, Staci, Michael

Hughes Family Christmas Party

2009-01-25T21:03:00.010-07:00

I love getting together with the Hughes side of my family. We always have so much fun talking and laughing a LOT! Jack and his boys live in California and the rest of us live here in Utah. Jack usually makes it up here at Christmastime and we all get together for our annual Christmas party. This year we all gathered at Jill and Mike's home in Spanish Fork for the festivities. After eating a yummy meal of homemade soups, breads, cheese and fresh fruit we then opened our gifts. We draw names for the gift exchange. I gave Jade and Chris a gift certificate to the SCERA for a night out to see a movie or a play. Jack had drawn my name and gave me a fun game called "Gift Trap". Kristin had spent a lot of time typing up Grandma's personal history from the manuscript Grandma had written herself and she gave that to Jack for his gift. Of course everyone said they wanted a copy. Once we were finished opening gifts the kids went off to play while the adults sat around the dining table and played my new game from Jack. We, of course, told stories and reminisced too. Jan, Jill and Jack always have such great stories to tell of when we were growing up and the way they tell the stories always cracks me up.

All the gang!

All the gang again - this time with Mike instead of Kathleen

The cutest 4 year olds I know - Mallory, Libby and Katie
Jack and Izzie

Libby, Mallory, Hannah, Allie and Jade

Noah - the only little boy in the family

I bought my first house!!!

2009-01-25T19:07:00.003-07:00

Well, it's really a townhouse but still it's going to be all mine as of February 27th. It's in Provo very near where I've been living the past 5 years and it's just what I've been looking for. Now I just hope and pray (please feel free to join me in hoping and praying) that I pass my portfolio review and Praxis test so I can continue being a teacher and therefore continue receiving a paycheck so I can pay the mortgage. Stay tuned for pictures of MY new house!!!

"Put a picture of me in my sparkley dress on your blog." -Elisabeth

2008-12-30T17:20:00.004-07:00

OK!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2008-12-30T12:16:00.043-07:00

A couple of weeks ago a friend and I were talking about the magic of Christmas. We both agreed that as a child the magic just happens but as an adult I've found that I need to MAKE the magic happen. It's easy to get caught up in the busyness and stress of the holidays so my goal this year was to really enjoy the season. I was able to spend time and have fun with family and friends and to remember my Savior and what Christmas is really all about. Here are some snippets of how I enjoyed my Christmas season this year.

Jake and Stephanie had bought tickets for their family to go on the Polar Express and Mom and Dad were going to join them. Unfortunately, Mom wasn't feeling up to going but fortunately for me I got to use her ticket. Thanks Mom! It was a wonderful time and so much fun to see how excited Elisabeth was and Nathan really liked it too.

Ellie wouldn't stand alone with the conductor for the picture so Jakob got to be in the picture too.

Ellie, Aunt Kath and Nathan

The Heber Valley Railroad did such a great job at re-creating the Polar Express. There were elves and waiters that handed out hot chocolate and Mrs. Claus' famous chocolate chip cookies. They read the Polar Express story and we sang Christmas songs. The highlight of course, was when we stopped at the north pole and picked up Santa Claus!
Books were handed out so everyone could follow along and Nathan was very interested in the story.

The big guy the kids had been waiting for.

Bethany, Shanowa and I went to the Interfaith Creche Exhibit in Midway. There are hundreds of nativities from all over the world beautifully displayed throughout the church building and there is live Christmas music being performed in the chapel. It certainly put me in the Chrismas spirit.

Here are lots of pictures from our family Christmas party. We had it quite early in the month because Mom was leaving for Texas to help Sheena when the baby came. We're wearing crowns that came in the party favors.

It's our tradition to have a talent show each Christmas. Here Mallory and Keaton are singing Jingle Bells. How cute are they?
Elisabeth is singing Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam with some moral support from Grandma.

Libby and Mallory had colored some beautiful nativity pictures and were telling us about them.

Kierra did the most precious dance she had learned in her dance class. She danced to the song, When Christmas Comes to Town from The Polar Express

For Jake's talent he extracted DNA from peas. Can you tell he's a science teacher? The kids were enthralled with it.

Dad loves to make and build things so for his talent he had made each family their own set of musical pipe chimes. Thanks Dad! We played several songs on them and the kids did quite well.
Mom loves to sew and made each of the grandchildren a set of new pajamas. Nathan and Kylan got train pj's, Keaton got BYU, Kiki and Ellie got princess, Libby and Mallory got Curious George and Maryn (who lives in Texas so wasn't here for the picture) got her favorite, Elmo.

Nathan wanted nothing to do with Santa. Maybe if he'd known it was Grandpa he would have been okay.

Ellie and Santa

Libby, Mallory and Santa

Keaton, Kylan and Kierra with Santa. Kylan felt the same way as Nathan about Santa.

Each year several of my friends get together for a great Christmas party at Kathy's house which is always decked out for the holidays. Everyone brings hors d'oeuvres or dessert so we have lots of yummy food to eat. We have a gift exchange which is supposed to be kept secret but for some reason I feel I must find out who everyone has beforehand. Some friends cooperate with me, others do not! We always gather around the piano and sing Christmas carols while Karen accompanies us. This year I brought my new musical pipe chimes and they were a hit!

I have seen the musical "Forever Plaid" too many times too count and this year I wanted to see the Christmas version called "Plaid Tidings". It was playing at the SCERA so Dorian and I went and saw it. It was just as entertaining as the original! Do you love the program cover? My good friend April designed it...she works at the SCERA.

Music is an important part of my life and one of my favorite things about the Christmas season. For the past few years I have sung in the Provo Parkway Stake Christmas Choir and I continued with it this year even though I have moved out of the stake. Now this isn't just any stake choir.......we are really good. We practice twice a week, at 7:00 am on Saturday mornings and on Thursday evenings beginning in October. I wouldn't get up that early to sing with just anyone, but our director, Mike Austin, makes it fun and totally worth it. And singing all the beautiful Christmas carols really puts me in the Christmas spirit. We present a Christmas musical fireside and they record a CD of it each year. This year it was even streamed live on the internet.

My friend, Gina's, birthday is just before Christmas so for her birthday party we went caroling and had a white elephant gift exchange. I'd tell you what gift I ended up with but I don't think it's really appropriate to write here. :-) I hadn't been caroling in a long time and this was a fun group to go with. It was also fun because Gina is in my old ward in Springville so we caroled to many people I knew.

It was a real treat to have Gina's friend, Shane Jackman, come and do a cozy little mini-concert for us. He is working on his Christmas album to be released next year and he played some of the songs for us as well as played his guitar and harmonica. It's not the best picture but that is Shane in front of the Christmas tree.

No Christmas is complete without visiting Temple Square to see the lights. Bethany, her friend Susan and I went one freezing cold Sunday evening. My favorite part is the reflecting pool with the nativity scene in the middle.

Random Cuteness

2008-12-29T14:52:00.023-07:00

As many of you are well aware I have been blessed with the MOST adorable nieces and nephews. Not only do they LOOK adorable but they also have the cutest personalities to match! I am so lucky to have them in my life. (I started tearing up as I typed that...I'm such a crybaby!) Anyway, I have so many cute pictures of them but have not posted them until now. I actually had more but lost some of them when my computer got sick with its virus a while back, so I copied a few from other family members blogs. So here are lots of pictures of the random cuteness in my life.

My newest nephew, Blake McMurdie. I can't wait to meet him!

Maryn holding her new brother, Blake (with her daddy's help of course)

I love how Maryn poses for the camera

Such a sweet face

Nathan and Elisabeth

Nathan is so cuddly and I love it!
Ellie was so cute at her dance recital

I don't know how Nathan slept with that helmet on!

Ellie surrounded by her beloved stuffed animals

Keaton riding his bike
Kierra riding her bike like her big brother

Cute little Kylan wishing he could ride a bike too

All 3 having a swingin' good time!

Kiki avoiding bedtime

Mallory and Libby put on all their snow gear at the first sign of snow

Mallory wearing Aunt Kath's glasses and shoes

Libby searching for the perfect rock to throw in the river

Taking a walk on the Provo River trail...it's very difficult to get them to look at the camera

Road Trip x3 (or catch up post #2)

2008-12-27T18:48:00.028-07:00

I love road trips and fortunately, so do my friends. In September, Bethany, Shanowa, Jeannie and I went to Las Vegas. In October, Bethany and I went to Cedar Breaks Nat'l Monument among other places and in November, Bethany, Shanowa and I went to Arches Nat'l Park. Here's some pictures of the fun times.

Road Trip #1

Shanowa, Kath, Jeannie on the Vegas Strip

Bethany, Shanowa, Jeannie

The Fountains of Bellagio - my favorite thing to see when I'm in Vegas

We stayed at the Tahiti Village condos...fancy schmancy!

We even went to church on Sunday, then drove by the temple. I love this temple because I was living in Las Vegas when I first went through the temple so I became very familiar with it.

Road Trip #2

Bethany and I did a session at the Manti Temple
Bethany - on the road to Cedar Breaks
Beautiful Cedar Breaks National Monument

We trudged through the snow to find Alpine Lake and it was worth it...Bethany said it reminded her of Narnia
After hiking, we met Bethany's friend Kali in St. George and we all got massages. What a great way to relax after hiking!

Why is this picture so small?

Road Trip #3

Shanowa, Bethany and Kathleen at Delicate Arch

I spilled my goldfish crackers and soon after a couple of ravens came and ate them all. It freaked us out a little because they got quite close to us.

Petroglyphs

I had a lot more pictures from Arches but I don't know what happened to them so thanks Bethany...I copied these from Facebook!

A Fun Weekend in St. George (aka: catch up post #1)

2008-12-27T17:32:00.018-07:00

Since the year is almost over and I have some time off from work I am going to attempt to get caught up on this blog. Isn't that what all good procrastinators do? And I should know...I am an expert at procrastination! My intention is to turn this whole blog thing into a book...a kind of scrapbook. My mom has done that and it is so cool. I still love to scrapbook with all the papers, embellishments and glue but I never seem to have the time.

These "catching up" posts aren't going to necessarily be in chronological order but first of all, I'll take you back to the beginning of the year. In March six of my friends and I took a weekend trip to St. George. We stayed in Cyndi's brothers condo and just relaxed and had fun together. We went hiking, shopping, got pedicures, went to the movies, ate at one of my favorite Thai restaurants, went to the temple, talked, played games and laughed. I never laugh so much as when I'm with this group of friends.

Even though I'm a pretty slow hiker I absolutely LOVE being outdoors and hiking!

All of us - Kathleen, Val, Gina, Karen, Cyndi, April, Keri

Enjoying our pedicures baby!!!

Val didn't get a pedicure so she wouldn't take off her sock, but hers may just look the best!

Waiting for a table at Benja's Thai and Sushi
Karen and Cyndi couldn't get enough of the yummy Thai food!

This was my first time going through the St. George Temple

My Birthday Celebration - Part 3

2008-11-23T19:01:00.005-07:00

So I was lucky enough to have yet another birthday celebration. I truly am blessed with great friends and family! Cyndi planned this particular celebration. She knows I love tea parties and she had been to a cute place in Farmington called Teas 'n You and thought I would like it...and I did! Cyndi invited several of my friends and so the Saturday after my birthday we made our way to Farmington for my birthday tea party.

The place was an old pioneer home that had been turned into a cute little tea house. We were in the party room so there were hats, tiara's, and feather boas to dress up in, which of course we did! The food was delicious. We ate tomato basil soup, cheese (cut in cute fall shapes) & crackers, fresh fruit and veggies, tea sandwiches (my favorite was the artichoke heart), scones with clotted cream and lemon curd, cookies, cupcakes, sorbet and of course, herbal tea and hot chocolate. We were all so full afterwards! We always have so much fun and laugh so much when we get together and this time was no different. Thanks everyone for coming to celebrate with me and thanks Cyndi for putting it all together!

Wearing our tiara's in the party room!

All of us in front of Teas 'n You

front row: Kathleen Cyndi, Gina

back row: Kristin, Gwen, April, Karen, Kelly

My Birthday Celebration - Part 2

2008-11-21T12:38:00.014-07:00

The reason it's been so long since my last post is because my computer got a very bad virus because I am a big computer dork. I clicked yes on something I shouldn't have (give me a break...it looked official!) and now my computer is very sick, but thanks to my very smart dad and a couple of his very smart computer friends my computer will recover soon and I will be back to blogging regularly...at least as regularly as I usually do. :-) For now I am using Mom's computer for this post. Man, my parents are great!

Now for my birthday celebration - part 2. The day of my birthday pretty much sucked. I kind of dread my birthday's now that I am "so old" because...to make a long story short...it just reminds me of where my life is and where I wish it was, so I was feeling sorry for myself and had a pretty negative attitude all day. On top of my bad attitude I had a really difficult day at work because of a new student who had a 2 hour long tantrum then on my way to my ESL class that afternoon I realized I had left my assignment on the printer so I turned around and went back to school to get it. When I got there I saw that the printer was out of ink so it had never printed so I just went to class without my assignment. By the time I got home I was so frustrated and depressed that when I walked in the door and Mom asked me how my birthday had been I just burst into tears. I really just wanted to go to bed but Mom told me that Jake, Steph and the kids were coming over and bringing the party. I decided to put on a cheerful face and I really did have a good time and my birthday ended up not being such a downer. They had brought over a German chocolate birthday cake (my favorite!), pumpkins for everyone to carve and they gave me a really cute wrought iron picture frame from Rod Works to put in my new home. Mom and Dad gave me money to buy a denim jacket I'd had my eye on. Thanks for thinking of me and making my birthday a happy one.

One more try for that wish!

Ellie helping me open my present.

Trying to get Nathan to eat applesauce. Stephanie and Elisabeth with one of their pumpkin creations.

Dad and Jake Ellie was very proud of her cute pumpkin. That's me venting some of my frustration on that poor pumpkin. My bulimic pumpkin...I know I have a twisted sense of humor! What creativity!
Mom reading "The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin" to Ellie and Nathan.

Mamma Mia - I'm Getting Old!

2008-10-27T17:31:00.016-06:00

My birthday isn't until tomorrow but my awesome friends threw me a great party this past Friday night. The theme was Mamma Mia, as in the musical. I've seen the live musical in Las Vegas as well as the movie. The live musical was much better than the movie but that's beside the point. After seeing the shows it is my dream to one day perform in a production of Mamma Mia...which will probably never happen since I really have no acting skills, although my friends and family tell me I'm quite dramatic at times. Well, I kind of got to live that dream at my party. Bethany and Kathy had written a script (which was quite hilarious) and Dorian recorded the soundtrack to sing along with. I didn't really know the plans beforehand (except for one accidental e-mail Bethany sent me!) except that I was supposed to dress up in 70's style. I did the long, straight blond wig, fake eyelashes, huge hoop earrings, pink sparkle glasses and feather boa's attached to the bottom of my bell-bottomed pants. I felt a little silly when I got to the party and was a bit over dressed compared to the others. I whined enough though that Dorian went home and changed into his 70's garb. We had a lot of fun and it took my mind off the fact that I really am getting old! Thanks guys!

All the girls - Karla, Kathy, Bethany, Shanowa, April, Kathleen, Karen

Spencer, Dorian, Kathy, Craig

Kathleen (notice the wig is gone...I couldn't stand it any longer!) & Dorian

The girls singing Gimme, Gimme, Gimme a Man After Midnight!

Kathleen & Dorian

I blew out all the candles with one try...my wish better come true this time!!!

Witches' Night Out

2008-10-26T20:17:00.011-06:00

Attending Witches' Night Out at Gardner Village has become an annual tradition for me and some of my "witchy" friends. Last night was the fun event and Bethany, Shanowa, Jeannie and I dressed up in our finest witches attire and as usual had an absolute blast! Bethany's friend, Courtney, also met up with us. Gardner Village has the cutest shops, so we visited several but there were so many people there it was difficult to get in and out of the shops. We had dinner at the yummy bakery/deli and then burned those calories dancing to the awesome music (lots of 70's disco which I love!) the DJ was playing. I "cackled for coupons" but the highlight of the night was going to the fortune teller. We had to wait in line for quite a long time (next to a very loud and drunk old witch) to get our turn with the fortune teller but it was worth the wait. She didn't tell me anything life-changing or earth-shattering but I wouldn't have believed her if she had. She told me I'm a perfectionist...yeah, yeah I already know that...give me some information I can USE...like when and who am I going to marry! She also told me that I have some skills that I should put to use by opening my own business...whatever, it was still a lot of fun! I can't wait for next year!!!

Shanowa, Bethany, Kathleen

Kathleen, Shanowa, Jeannie, Bethany

Kathleen - cackling for coupons!

A picture with Jean the fortune teller

This very entertaining witch is a GUY!

4-Wheelin' with Friends

2008-10-04T16:04:00.014-06:00

Last Saturday Kathy invited us to go 4-wheeling with her. We went up Hobble Creek Canyon and spent most of the day there 4-wheeling, playing games and enjoying the beautiful fall colors. Being in the mountains is one of my favorite places to be and 4-wheeling is one of my new favorite things to do, especially in the fall which is my favorite season.

Here are a few pictures from our fun day.

Jon, Mary and McKay

Kathy, George (the dog), Bethany

Dorian

Kathleen

Dorian and Kathleen

Beautiful view of the valley

This is what I looked like at the end of the day after eating Dorian's dust! Gorgeous :-)

Smile!

2008-09-26T18:48:00.000-06:00

Some people are like Slinky's...they're really good for nothing.

But they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs. :-)

Grrrr!

2008-09-26T18:07:00.000-06:00

I mentioned in an earlier post that I hate the words rubric and pedagogy. I have a hard time articulating exactly why I have such negative feelings about these words but if you have ever taken an education class at BYU you will have to agree that these words are entirely overused. Perhaps these words are used equally as much at other institutions of higher learning but my experience has been with BYU.

I have had a few years reprieve from hearing these horrid words on a regular basis but that blessed reprieve has come to an end. I am currently taking an ESL class through BYU and am now forced to hear the blasted words over and over again!!! Why must I be tortured so?

Hughes Family Fun

2008-09-12T19:53:00.000-06:00

Over Labor Day weekend the Hughes family got together at Jill and Mike's house for some food and fun. Mike barbequed some amazing ribs and we had lots of yummy vegetables (yes...I said yummy vegetables!) from their garden. We don't get together nearly enough but when we do we always have a great time. Here are a few pictures from that night.

Healing Hearts Fun Run

2008-09-07T20:30:00.000-06:00

My adorable nephew Nathan was born with a heart condition called Tetrology of Fallot and he had open heart surgery in June when he was only 5 months old. Jakob and Stephanie belong to a group called Intermountain Healing Hearts and yesterday they held their annual fun run/walk. So in support of our little Nathan, several members of the family were able to attend the event. Jake, Steph, Elisabeth, Kristin, Shawn, Libby, Mallory, Dad, me and of course, Nathan had a great time.

The Ellinger supporters.

Kathleen with the star of the hour!

Nathan with some of the other "heart" kids.

Hangin' With the Fam

2008-09-06T17:19:00.000-06:00

Our family had our annual reunion on August 7-9. On Thursday night we had a western themed dinner at Mom and Dad's clubhouse. Mom and Dad had gone all out with the western and cowboy themed decorations and also gave all the grandkids cowboy hats, stick horses and bandanas. We played some fun games like "Guess Your Ancestor" and somewhat politically incorrect games like "Lasso Your Wife". Maybe there is an upside to still being single! :-)

On Friday and Saturday we were at the Heber Valley Girls Camp. Our first activity was the challenge course which began with climbing a 30 foot tree, walking across a high wire to another tree which we then repelled down. I have repelled a couple of times before but I was much younger and thinner then, so this time I was pretty nervous but I did it anyway and I'm so glad I did. It was so much fun and I really felt like I had accomplished something. Between pregnancy, sprained ankles (sustained in aforementioned "Lasso Your Wife" game) and other maladies, I was the only girl in the family to do the repelling. There were several other fun activities we did on the challenge course.

The cousins all had so much fun playing together. Whether it was playing on the bunkbeds in the cabins and then jumping off onto my air mattress or following Keaton on the trails they all had a great time.

On Saturday we went to Legacy Lake and rode paddle boats and canoes. I didn't get any pictures of us on the boats but I know there are pictures on my family members blogs.

Oh, What Do I Do in the Summertime?

2008-07-17T17:54:00.000-06:00

One of the reasons I decided to become a teacher was to have my summers off. However, in my 7 years of teaching I have taught summer school most of those years. I have not taught the last 2 summers though which has been wonderful. I could definitely benefit from the extra money but I opted for keeping my sanity instead. Because of that decision many people, mainly fellow teachers, have asked me, "What on earth are you going to do with all your time if you're not working?" I respond with, "Anything I want!" which for me, really is the whole beauty part of being a teacher and having summers off. For many teachers, teaching is their life but for me it is my job and I have other interests and activities I enjoy and that fill my time. I want to make it clear that I LOVE the children I work with but I'll be honest, if I won a million bucks I would quit teaching in a heartbeat!

Anyway having summers off allows me more time to travel (finances permitting), spend time with family and friends, scrapbook, enjoy nature, finally get to my "books I want to read" list, exercise (yes, I know I should do this year round and no, I haven't done so well this summer), take classes and just in general have fun and do things I don't get much of a chance to do during the school year.

This summer in my ongoing quest for a lane change*, I have taken several classes to earn credit towards that goal. I took a beginning and intermediate guitar class which I absolutely loved. It was taught by Michael Christianson from Utah State University (Go Aggies!). I took a guitar class from him about 20 years ago when I was at USU. He's an incredible guitarist and it didn't even bother me when he'd name drop and say things like, "When I played with the Eagles..." or "Eric Clapton once told me..." (wait a minute, am I name dropping???) Anyway, I can play a mean version of "She'll be Coming Around the Mountain" and I will hopefully continue practicing and be able to add to my repertoire.

I also took a photo editing class and a math & technology class. Since I am not very computer savvy I learned a lot of new stuff. Towards the end of each class my brain started to shutdown from information overload but at least I now know some basics and will be more willing to play around with the different programs and learn even more.

In the photo editing class we were given a "blemish" assignment. We went to an acne medication website, found before and after pictures and we edited the before pictures (with zits) to look as good as the after pictures (w/o zits). After completing this assignment I really don't believe any of those before/after pictures or for that matter, any of the supermodel pictures in all their airbrushed glory. I never trusted them before but now I really don't! If computer unsavvy ME can make a before picture blemish free then I can't trust anything the professionals do.

The math/tech class was great not only for the vast knowledge I gained but because they gave us all free digital cameras. I only paid a $15 registration fee for the class so I'd say that's a pretty sweet deal.

Oh, sweet summer! You're coming to an end far too quickly.

*lane change - after earning a certain number of credits a teacher can move up lanes and each lane represents a pay raise. Yeah!

Fun with the Young Women

2008-07-11T16:59:00.000-06:00

Since I spend quite a bit of time in my church calling with the young women in my ward I thought I would post a few pics of some of our recent activities. I love working with this great group of girls and the other incredible leaders.

This first group of pictures is from YW camp at MIA Shalom at the beginning of June. It was so cold (notice the snow in some of the photos) but we still managed to have a great time.

Ice skatinig with the Mia Maids and Laurels.

Hiking to Stewart Falls. It was my first time there and I loved it!

Deep in the Heart of Texas

2008-07-10T20:14:00.000-06:00

So I had a great time visiting Sheena, Eric and Maryn in Texas last week. Since they just moved into their new home (which is beautiful) I was able to help Sheena with the daunting task of unpacking and organizing. We also did a lot of shopping--actually Sheena shopped and I was just along to offer my support and opinions. At any rate we had fun. I was there for the 4th of July and we had fun going to their ward breakfast and then to the lake for some jet-skiing and swimming. The highlight of the lake trip was me stepping on a fish hook and proceeding to bleed all over the jet ski. It took several days before I could walk without limping but don't worry--I'm fine! After the trip to the lake we went to Eric's parents home for a BBQ, more swimming, and to watch the fireworks. It was really fun to watch Maryn play and jump in the pool, she absolutely LOVES the water and has no fear of it. She had fun playing with her cousins and I had fun trying to capture it all on film so Grandma and Grandpa Ellinger could see all the pictures. I'm posting just a few of the pics I took while in Texas, some of our activities and just a couple of Sheena's new house. I'll let her post most of the pictures of her new house.

Maryn riding the "ee-haw" at IKEA. When Maryn got on this rocking horse I said "yee-haw!" because isn't that what all children raised in Texas should learn to say? Well Sheena bought it for Maryn and from that time on Maryn called it her "ee-haw".

100 Random Things About Me

2008-06-17T20:26:00.000-06:00

It grosses me out to watch people eat on TV.
My hands laugh.
I have bangs again.
I have picked up and moved to another city just to start over.
I want to walk on the Great Wall of China.
I don't have a middle name and I really wanted one when I was young so when I was in 4th grade I added "Diane" to my name and wrote it on all my papers.
I have read almost every Nancy Drew book.
I still have most of them.
I can't stand it when people chew with their mouths open.
Or chew ice.
3 words - bend and snap!
I love 5 o'clock shadows.
I can remember all my phone numbers...well most of them.
I am a master catsitter - call me! 867-5309
My sister and I were ball girls at BYU basketball games...oh, no we weren't! Ask April.
I hate the heat more than anyone I know and I moved to Las Vegas without a/c in my car.
I can't eat meat if I think about it too much.
I think the dumbest movie ever made is "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen".
I want a man who isn't actually wicked but who could be wicked.
My roommate in college was mad at me and got cow eyeballs from the biology lab and put them on my bed.
I pretended I never found them.
It made her crazy.
I am afraid of natural bodies of water.
I still jumped off a cliff into the ocean in Hawaii.
I have freakishly large big toes.
I have broken both of my baby toes.
Chocolate milk is always my beverage of choice.
I love hiking.
I hate when people treat their pets like humans.
Clowns creep me out.
Especially Ronald McDonald
Snakes also creep me out.
I have never seen all of the Princess Bride because I fall asleep every time.
My friend just told me that my sarcasm sometimes stuns her.
Dark chocolate is superior to milk chocolate.
People who feel the need to explain everything annoy me.
So do people who must always state the obvious.
I hate the words rubric and pedagogy.
I get road rage.
I'm realizing there are many, many things that annoy me.
I hope my mom's dream comes true.
I love to sing.
I love to travel.
I don't get to do it as much as I'd like.
I want to visit all 50 states.
I've been to 26 so far.
I love to organize stuff.
I hate clutter.
I love to throw stuff away.
I'm addicted to my snooze button.
I love karaoke.
I spend too much time and money at Wal-Mart.
I so want/need to buy my own home.
I so want/need to finally unpack all my boxes.
I love dining room chairs that don't match.
I play the viola.
I play the piano.
I don't practice either one much anymore.
I wish I did.
I got hit by a car in college.
I got thrown from a horse in college.
I love my family.
I have the cutest nieces and nephews - seriously, I'm sure they're cuter than yours!
I'm glad my name is not Melva.
I got an award for being "freakin' awesome!".
My red hair (actually it's strawberry blonde or something similar) is natural.
I'm a teacher in the public school system and I do not belong to UEA.
Every year someone tries to guilt me into joining.
I love peanut butter and creamy honey sandwiches.
I am the oldest child in my family.
I always hated being the oldest.
I do my best work under pressure.
I once a wrote an entire research paper in one night.
I got a B+.
The next one took 2 nights to write.
I got an A+.
I love watching home decorating shows.
Someday I'll have a home to decorate.
I hate soda.
I've never been skiing and I live in the state that is home to the "Greatest Snow On Earth".
Green is my favorite color - it makes me happy.
I love musicals.
I just answered (or asked) a question correctly on Jeopardy.
My head got sunburned and now my scalp is peeling...gross!
I recently returned from girls camp.
It was FREEZING...and this from a person who is rarely cold.
I'm glad to be home with my modern conveniences.
This list has taken entirely too long to write.
My roommate wants me to write stuff about her on this list.
I told her to make her own list - this one is all about ME!
My most commonly repeated phrase as of late is: "I can't see it, where are my glasses?"
I wonder if mosquitoes are beneficial in any way.
I don't think so.
I saw the most ridiculous thing EVER the other day - reusable maxi pads.
Don't get me wrong - I'm all for being green and saving the planet but seriously...REUSABLE maxi pads?!!!
I took my first trip where I needed a passport last summer to Guatemala. Awesome!
I've been on a jury twice - once was for a murder trial.
I've been to The Price is Right.
I'm almost done.
Now I am!

Viva Las Vegas

2008-06-16T20:02:00.000-06:00

Dorian and I took a trip to Las Vegas for a few days at the beginning of May and I finally have the pictures from the trip to post so now I can blog it. After church on May 4th we drove down to Vegas. Before checking in at the hotel (we stayed at the Stratosphere) we drove around and visited our old neighborhoods. Dorian lived in Las Vegas for 4 years in high school and I of course, lived there from September 1993-April 2001.

We had a lot of fun walking up and down the strip, touring all the casinos and people watching. We even gambled $4.00 in the penny slots. We are such high rollers!

My old apartment in Henderson.

This is the house Dorian lived in during high school.

Here I am at the drive-thru wedding chapel - how romantic!

Kathleen, the one-armed bandit!

Oh, naughty!!!

Dorian and Kathleen outside the Luxor. These are the kind of animals I like-inanimate!

Inside the beautiful conservatory at the Bellagio.

Dorian on top of the Stratosphere tower. Can you tell he's afraid of heights?

Kath and Dorian at the top of the Stratosphere.

Spring Break Baby!!!

2008-04-28T19:31:00.000-06:00

This year I had the whole week of April 14th off for spring break and I had no intentions of staying home - I wanted to get out of town and have a fun and relaxing time. Who better to do that with than Kristin, Libby and Mallory? Kristin had to work on Tuesday so I babysat the girls and then we headed to St. George for the rest of the week after picking Kristin up from work.

I believe I could have won $10,000 from America's Funniest Home Video's had I captured the following event on film. While tending the girls on Tuesday I went to pick them up from preschool. It wasn't far so we just walked but it was extremely windy. Libby and Mallory were walking behind me and I turned around to make sure they were still coming. What I saw was the cutest and funniest thing I've seen in a long time. They were huddled together crying, "Aunt Kath, Aunt Kath we need help!" They couldn't walk against the strong wind with their tiny little bodies! It was adorable!

On to St. George! We stayed at the Wyndham Resort where Kristin and Shawn have a timeshare. We got there rather late on Tuesday so pretty much just went to bed when we got there. We slept in the next morning (well I did, the girls didn't let Kristin sleep in much) then leisurely got ready and then drove to Zion Nat'l Park. I love Zion's and it was so wonderful to spend time outside in such a beautiful place. We took the river walk along the Virgin River that ends at the beginning of the Narrows. It's a 2 mile round trip, not too far really and it's a paved trail so we didn't think it would end up being a day long affair but alas, we had no idea how long it could take a couple of four year olds that had to stop and look at every bug and stick along the way and had to stop and draw in the sand every 2 feet. Even though it took us quite a while we sure had fun along the way!

Hey! Let's watch this caterpillar for the next 10 minutes!

Libby was quite the adventurer when it came to climbing the rocks. She scared Kristin and me several times.

This picture was taken in a little market there at Zion's. The girls found these sunglasses and walking sticks and when I saw them I just cracked up. Don't they look like cute little blind girls!

Mallory dancing on the furniture at the condo.

Mallory and Libby being silly. :-)

Mallory and Libby on the steps of the St. George Temple.

Playing at the condo pool. This of course was the kiddie pool.

A Walk on the River Trail

2008-04-27T21:11:00.000-06:00

Let me just say for the record that I am so done with winter and so ready for spring! Today was such a beautiful day and we got out of church early because it was stake conference so we had a barbeque then went for a walk along the Provo River Trail because the weather is finally warm enough to spend time outside. Yeah!!!

By the way, for those of you wondering how my talk in stake conference went, I ended up not having to speak. I received a call from the stake executive secretary yesterday asking how my talk was coming for that evening. I told him I was supposed to be speaking in the Sunday session and he said he was afraid of that. I explained that I wasn't attending the Saturday session because I was babysitting my nephew (thanks Jake & Steph!) :-) that night and he had special needs so I couldn't just pass him off for someone else to care for. He said he would call President Heperi and see what to do. He then called me back and said that President Heperi appreciated my efforts and they would catch me another time. Whew!!! I know I shouldn't be so happy to get out of speaking but it really was a relief because I was so nervous. Who knows though, I may have to be nervous all over again in six months when stake conference rolls around. Oh, and just so you don't all think I'm a flake, they realized it was their mistake and they had actually asked me to speak on Sunday.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the river walk on this lovely spring day. Here are some pictures from our walk that Lisa took with her cell phone (thus the fuzzy, grainy quality).

Kathleen and Dorian resting at a park along the trail.

There is a huge tree along the trail with a swing and we had a lot of fun playing like kids again!

This last picture is of Dorian trying (and succeeding!) at looking like a big nerd! :-)

Rascal Flatts Concert

2008-04-06T11:48:00.000-06:00

On March 7 I got to go to the Rascal Flatts concert in Salt Lake and the tickets were free!!! My roommate, Karen, had won 2 tickets to the concert from a radio station and I was the lucky one that she asked to go with her. :-) She had also received gift certificates for dinner at Chili's so we went there for dinner first and then rode Trax up to Salt Lake.

So here's a funny little story that I hesitate to write but I'll go ahead anyway. A week or so before the concert Karen emailed me to say she'd picked up the tickets and they were on row 17. I emailed her back and said those were great seats because they were close enough to the stage for my bra to actually make it up there when I threw it. So the night of the concert I put a bra in my purse to show Karen in the hopes of freaking her out and getting a laugh. I did get the laugh but when we got to the Delta Center I realized that security was going to search my purse before letting us enter. I am the one who freaked out (just a little) because I didn't want them to find my smuggled bra! I managed to discreetly move the bra from my purse into my pocket and thankfully I was not found out.

Here are a few pictures from the concert. Unfortunately this is the only picture of me at the concert and it's not a good one! To document that I was really there I'll include it anyway and it is a good picture of Karen. There is also a picture of Kellie Pickler from American Idol. She was the opening act and was a lot better than I thought she would be. The whole concert was tons of fun!!!

My Second Attempt at Blogging! 2/18/08

2008-02-18T19:33:00.000-07:00

I went to Mom and Dad's last night for yet another blogging lesson and so today I am on my own and frankly I am ready to scream because this is my 5th try today to get this right. I tell you, it's quite a trial to be so technologically challenged! Anyway, I want to practice adding pictures to my blog so here are some photo's of my adorable nieces and nephews that maybe some of you haven't seen yet. Some may already be outdated but here they are anyway.

This was my first visit to see my new nephew, Nathan. He's in Primary Children's Hospital now but will hopefully be able to come home soon!

These pictures of Keaton, Elisabeth, Libby, Mallory and Kierra were taken last July in my backyard. We had so much fun that day. :-)

I took this picture of Maryn last summer while I was visiting in Texas.

I found these little hats in Libby and Mallory's closet and encouraged them to wear them because I thought they looked so cute in them.

Grandpa with most of his grandchildren on his birthday last month.

Well I have made it to the end of this post. Let's hope it all works out. If it does, then stay tuned for future posts that I promise you won't have to wait so long for! :-)

The Tagee is Responding

2007-11-28T17:07:00.000-07:00

4 Places I've Lived:
Utah, California, Idaho, Nevada

My 4 Favorite Desserts:
Unless it's chocolate I don't really think it counts as dessert!
Brownies, chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate mousse, applesauce chocolate chip cookies.

4 Interesting Facts About Me:
This is a hard one! I've been to several bars too Stephanie (maybe not more than you but more than I'm sure anyone would think I've been to). It was strictly for karaoke though!!! Marie Osmond once complimented me on my singing voice after hearing me sing at Grandma R. funeral. I had chicken pox when I was 6 months old and I've been told since I was so young I might get them again. I am 42 and I DO NOT color my hair. OK, so that isn't very interesting but if I'm vain about one thing it's my hair! :-)

4 Favorite Movies:
Some Kind Of Wonderful, Anne of Green Gables, While You Were Sleeping, White Christmas

4 People I'm Tagging:
Dad, April, Bethany, Kristin (here's your 2nd chance)

My First Blog

2007-11-28T16:16:00.000-07:00

So here I am leaping into the 21st century with my very own BLOG!!! Mom has been pressuring... oops! I mean encouraging me to do this for a while so here goes. :-) Actually, I am also doing this as a Young Women Personal Progress Value Project. As YW leaders we have been encouraged to earn the Young Womanhood Medallion again so I thought this would be a worthwhile project and that my family would appreciate it.

Right now I'll just tell you what I've been doing lately. I've been going to work. OK, I'll go into a little more depth. After work yesterday I drove up to Midway to listen to a sales pitch by Wyndham Resorts. I knew I wasn't going to buy a vacation home (obviously!!!) but just for going they gave me a $50 Kohl's gift card and 4 free nights at a hotel in Las Vegas. Not bad for an hour. Oh, by the way - Dan & Calli and Jake & Steph, you might be getting a call from them because I put your names on a referral list. Hey, I got an extra night at the hotel if I gave them 10 names!!!

I don't have any pictures of cute kids right now to post or anything terribly exciting to report but those things will be forthcoming!