POP!! goes the mama!

Soooooo...this is, fittingly enough, called a booby trap. My son purchased quite a few of these things during fireworks season. Here in little Stevensville we just have 3 fireworks stands and we have our favorite and go there every year. Since we spend so much time and money there we consider them friends. When we got home, Milan proceeds to tell me that these are booby traps and that the lady at the stand said it was really fun to put them on peoples doors and toilet seats etc but if he told me she would deny ever saying it. Great. So for at least a week Milan was having a fabulous time going around and taping these on doors etc and scaring his sister. I just assumed that he was scared enough of me that he wouldn't try anything with me. Imagine my surprise one night when I opened the door to my room and BANG!! I about collapsed right there on the floor! My kids were already collapsed on the floor with laughter. Apparently watching your mother scream and do the frightened dance is very amusing. Then they ran--they aren't stupid! So anyways--now I am thinking that I should get me one of those bomb sniffing dogs for when I have to pee in the middle of the night. I just don't think my bladder could stand the shock. And obviously I can't trust my kids. Do they rent those dogs? Where is the manual that helps you with these thing??!!

Annie--The Nanny--my hero

Once upon a time there was a really CUTE girl named Annie.

When we first met her she was 11 and we were living in Fairbanks, AK.

I had her in my Merrie Miss (boy that dates me) class and I instantly

fell in love with her. She was ALWAYS so happy and upbeat & funny

Then one sad day we had to move down to Utah and we loved Annie

so much we took her with us for awhile.

This is Annie with my daughter Natalie at Cove Fort--1990

Then she had to go back to Alaska and we kept in touch. Fast forward

to 1995. I was pregnant with my 4th child and about ready to go

crazy. So Annie agreed to come down and help me out for the summer.

She was so easy to have around--I was a mess--but she hung in

there. My kids loved her--especially my Kelly

The girls loved calling her Annie the Nanny

Annie with Taelor, Kelly and Natalie

Annie with Kelly

Sadly, the day came when Annie had to leave. She went back to Fairbanks, Ak

found her Eternal Companion---
had 4 kids of her own--fast forward to 2008....

Kelly with Annie's kids

My Kelly is now 15 and she gets to go to Fairbanks and stay with

Annie and her family!

And she totally bonds with the youngest--Brenna (isn't Brenna yummy??!!)

I just really love how life is always circling--wouldn't be cool if when
Brenna grows up--she comes to stay with Kelly and her family?!





Anyways=I just wanted Annie to know how much joy she has brought to my life.
She is always so optimistic and upbeat and generous. She is definately one of my
heroes! I stalk her blog constantly and her joy for life inspires me. Her
photography too. THanx Annie for letting me journey along side you a little
and for loving my children--especially Kelly--and for taking such good care of her.
I hope its alright that I posted these photos--I know its really sappy--but we love
you! (And really--I want a priority box filled with Bret!)



One of the pics Annie took--isn't she beautiful--and isn't it a great photo??!!


WE LOVE YOU ANNIE!!!!!

Tag you're it--second verse

I got tagged again! The last one was so stressful I can't believe you guys are doing this to me again!! BUT--at least I now have 4 people to tag. BUT--the questions are harder. Can you hear the whine in my voice?! It's annoying to have voices in my head--its even worse when they whine. So here goes---

1. 4 places I visit frequently:
*the grocery store
*the bank
*the pharmacy (for the voices in my head)
*mt parents house

2.4 People who call/Text/Email me regularly:
*Natty (my daughter)
*my husband
*Kelly (my daughter
*my mother (at least 4 times a day which is another reason I spend so much time at the pharmacy!)

3.4 favorite Foods
*Chocolate
*Watermelon
*Corn on the Cob
*Crab Ragoon at Hong Kong Chef

4.4 Places I'd rather be
*Barnes & Noble
*Deseret Book
*Ireland
*Alaska

5.4 Movies I'd watch over and over
*Mulan (my favorite part is at the end when she tells her father all that she has done and gives him the sword and he says that the finest gift she could ever give him was herself--tears every time--guaranteed)
*White Christmas (I so want one of those red dresses they wear at the end--first I should probably want a figure that would fit in one of those dresses)
*The Muppet Christmas Story (Michael Caine is brilliant as always and my whole family can quote from the movie cuz I make them watch it over and over)
*Any of the "Road To" movies with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope (my kids like to watch them with me just to see me laugh so hard I cry)
*Monty Python and the Holy Grail --please don't judge me--(I know this is 5 but MY list is not complete without it--I am not real fond of the end but LOVE everything else--I even got to see Spamalot on Broadway--anyone have any shrubbery?)

6.4 Bands/Groups I like to listen to...
*Voice Male
*Chicago
*Rascal Flatts
*Josh Groban (I know he is technically not a group but his voice is so clear and smooth---perfect--he is the most played artist on my Ipod)

7. 4 people I am tagging
*Annie
*Dawn
*Kitchen Ditcher
*Carla

I totally get it if you are too busy or not into games---find me some more friends and I won't have to bug you guys so much!

I've been tagged!

When I read this on my comments my first response was AAAHHHHH! Just the other day I had read someones blog and they had been tagged and they had to go around to each room in their house and without cleaning--take a picture--and one of themselves--right that minute.Can I just say AAAHHHHHH again??!! But after a deep breath I continued reading and realized it wasn't such a bad thing. Just write down 6 things that describe my life and then tag 5 other people. Kitchen Ditcher was worried that she didn't have a life--I am more worried about finding someone--anyone--to tag. How sad is it that I can only send it 2 people? Does something bad happen if you don't send it to 5 people?!!! Just stamp a REALLY LARGE "L" on my forehead and my blog. People will see me and say,"There goes the lady that only had 2 friends to play tag with......"And there was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth in the land....

ANYWAYS---
here are my 6

1. Unexpected
2. Entertaining
3. Believing
4. Crowded
5. Diversified
6. Hopeful

Dawn and Annie--will you come out and play with me??!! Tag you're it!

If you give a boy a fish (or metal siding)...

I haven't posted in awhile--life seems to get a different kind of busy when my husband gets home. (For those who might not know--my hubby works in the oilfields of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska as an Electrical Inspector. He works 2 weeks up there and then is home for 2 weeks--most of the time) Its the kind of busy that results from him having a plan and forgetting to verbalize it to me. My man is a great man, he is funny, loving, world's best father, a hard worker and my best friend. He is NOT a communicator. As a matter of fact, when we got engaged my girlfriend said, "You can't marry him, he doesn't speak!" It took me a long time to realize that when I asked him what he was thinking and he said--nothing-it was true!! Talk about a conversation stopper. But I know that every word out of his mouth is honest and that he would never let anything bad happen to me or our children, and that-- my friends--makes him a Keeper.

So--we are in charge of his family's family reunion on August 8th and 9th. It has been more than a little stressful for me. Probably due to the fact that before I got married I had been to only 2 family reunions in my whole life. His family is great though--so all wil be well I am sure. I went with a tribal theme. Each family has a color assignment to do what they want with. Friday evening will be hanging out and visiting and maybe some kind of pow wow thing around the campfire. Saturday we are going to have a tribal olympics. Anyone have any great ideas that they have done for a family olympics? I am thinking games involving water since it will be so hot and we can't go in the lake. We are staying at the Heber Valley Camp. Then a service project and home! Shouldn't be too bad, right?! So this past week has been full of prep work for that. AND the week before that we are staying in a condo for our timeshare thing in Midway, UT. I never even knew there was such a place. It looks all swissy in the brochure. Hopefully it will be fun. We needed to go somewhere local like this year. AND the week before that we will head down to Utah so I can hook up with one of my all time best friends--Deb--because she will be visiting in UT for a week. She lives in Fairbanks, AK. So--WOW! Prep, pack, laundry etc!! And of course theres that thing that my Mother always told me (besides always wear clean underwear when you travel, you might get in an accident and die. I'm not sure why--if I was in an accident I think I might just soil those new panties anyways-but I digress) to leave your house clean because you might die and then what would everyone think? First of all I think they would think my Mother had an unhealthy obsession about vacationing and death! Enough on the vacation thing.

Since I have no pictures of my husband and I not communicating or me running around all frazzled I thought I would include some pics of what my children do when I turn off the T.V. Just remember that we do live in the middle of nowhere and that we are not dirt poor--we just act and look like it.

Construction:

Milan setting up

The finished product

I know--there are no words. Isn't it great??!! I will never look at metal siding the same way again.

A Room With A View

Life has been pretty same-o, same-o around here. I have spent the last few days cooking like a maniac--making meals to put in the freezer. I have found that although I am still very light in my domestic slippers---I really like this plan. For some reason marathon cooking isn't as overwhelming for me as figuring out and making dinner everyday. My hubby comes home Monday and has the next 6 weeks off--mentally it will be much nicer to just pull dinner out of the freezer than slaving over a stove while everyone else enjoys his vacation! And for those of you who know me--its all about the mental. So far I have; lasagna, chicken tetrazzini, chicken noodle soup, chicken & rice casserole, Parmesan crusted chicken and broccoli, marinated-skewered teriyaki chicken, chicken cordon blue, white rice, teriyaki rice, beef tips and gravy, meatloaf and potato casserole, hamburgers, cheesy spirals, ham and chicken potato casserole, BBQ boneless pork ribs, marinated bone in beef ribs, taco meat, chicken stroganoff and beef stroganoff. Some of them are family favorites, others are new experiments. This is my 2nd mass cooking--pretty fun!

So--I thought instead of pics of the whole freezer meals thing ( think aluminum foil as far as the eye can see) I would share the view from my window. I LOVE where I live.............

This is my long range view--those are the Bitterroot mountains. Please don't get hung up on that poor dead tree in the foreground--I asked Phil to cut that down 7 years ago--any day now...............................

This is right outside my window----one of my gentler friends..........she has a baby now....

A little kitty deer bonding moment...........

So--enjoy--I'm off to finish playing with my freezer!

HAPPY 5th of JULY!!

When you live on 20 forested acres--- the 5th of July is almost as important as the 4th of July. If you wake up and it's the 5th of July AND the house and trees are still standing--it is definitely cause for celebration. Today was just such a day! One would think that one would celebrate this feat with something other than fireworks. One would be wrong. One would have also been a little crispy because one of the rockets we set off aborted its mission and flew sideways and caught the grass by the goat shed on fire. (we have no goats--which is a complete other story) Being the Boy Scout that he is, Milan had prepared for this very moment by hooking together every hose that we had and we put the fire out in no time. We have not always been so lucky--case in point---


This is my forest


(yes--that is ice on the road--this was taken in January-
was the only one I could find--sigh)

This is my forest after fireworks--

On the bright side--we didn't have to mow weeds there last year. And it all grew back.


We did have a great 4th though. Sadly, my husband was at work--up in Alaska--at Prudhoe Bay-they don't do fireworks there. Something about sparks and all that oil I think. And my daughter Kelly is in Fairbanks, Alaska vacationing with friends. They don't do fireworks there either--its light almost 24 hours a day in the summer. The reason I tell you this is we bought another whole box of fireworks to set off when they get home--stay tuned--the nightmare just goes on and on. For the record--I could go the rest of my life without fireworks. I am always overruled by the pyromaniacs I call my family.


So here are a few more photos chronicling our 4th--

Before----


Milan with the stash


During--







And after--



Reminds me of Christmas morning after the gift opening



Sarcasm and humor aside--
I am very grateful for my country and love to celebrate my freedoms--I am blessed--
hope everyone had a great 4th!

Laugh Out Loud

I admit it--I'm a lurker and a skimmer. I roam around the Internet enjoying my anonymity. Anyways--very few things make me laugh out loud, you know--the kind of laugh that bursts from your throat before you can make sure you won't have milk spurting out your nose. My taste in humor runs along the Spamalot, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Frasier and Tim Allen. Try and figure that one out!! ANYWAYS--I found a blog called Overheard In the Ward and the very first posting is my new favorite funny. I am going to share it here--hope that is not illegal. You probably need to be familiar with the bible....and LDS terminology.....

Sunday June 29, 2008
YOU DON"T WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE IRON ROD DOES
Primary Teacher: (showing a picture of the Good Shepherd)Who can tell me who this is?
Kid: That's Jesus the Whacker!
Primary Teacher: (puzzled) You mean he takes the sheep out for a walk?
Kid: (pointing to the shepherd's crook) No, when one of the sheep tries to get away from Jesus, he whacks them with it so they won't go!

Overheard by: NOT leaving the fold. Ever.


I have been laughing over this for a day and a half.

This is harder than it looks

Well, here I am! I feel like there should be Star Wars music and entering a brave new world speech. The reality is--dogs barking at skunks or some other nocturnal critter outside my window and the voices in my my head---which are at the moment way too loud because I need to turn off the computer and go to bed. So.........heres to hoping this is as much fun as I think it will be.