My Dad's Day

Did y'all know that I was born on Father's Day? Yep. My mom says that they had to have someone go to the Doctor's Sacrement meeting to pull him out of church on Father's day to deliver me. (before beepers and cell phones ya know)
Here is picture of us together on the first Father's Day.. aren't we both cute? He's the one with the awesome sideburns...

Some years I get to share the day with my dad. This year I got Saturday and he got Sunday. I like that arrangement best cuz we get to hang out together for two days in a row. *smiles*

On Saturday he came to see me and he was driving his new toy, a 2009 Mustang. Super cool and flashy silver! He let me drive it! Awesome! What a great present! I only kinda felt like I was 16 again with my dad watching how I was driving. *grin*

On Sunday we got to have dinner together! He fixed yummy dutch oven with extra mushrooms *happy sigh* I had three helpings!


My dad is awesome. I think that he can fix anything. He has a creative talent to think up solutions. He always seems prepared and is a perfectionist about doing a good job on his projects. He is always helpful, dependable, and trustworthy - chock full (why do we say that?) of Integrity. He loves to enjoy the outdoors and to have a good time. He is a man with some great hobbies and he loves to spend time with friends and family.

I just love all of these things about him and more! Happy Father's Day dad!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

I love this day so much!! *HUGE GRIN* It's my birthday!!

Remember that everyday is worth celebrating...Make the most of it!
and every birthday just means that you are one year better....

Here is a taste of my history in hair. I've been scanning these to include in my book about femininity & true beauty...(Beware snarky comments - I know where you all live! *cheese*!) I love the high school pics even better than the handle bar pig tails... *laughs* ahhhh teenager years...

Niki All Growed Up

My baby cousin is all growed up!! She is a doll of a girl and I just think the world of her. In my mind she has always been this cutest little 6 year old.... Thinking this way comes from being one of the oldest cousins, I guess.

This all changed on June 5th, 2009... I was watching the video that was made of her and cute fella for her wedding and I teared up.. I was seeing her grow up before my eyes and I was so proud of her and everything she had become that tears streamed down my cheeks (as they are now, actually, just thinking about it *smiles*) She is amazing! (Check the footwear! sparkly white tennies! *loves it* )

It was so so so neat to be there as the entire family (minus the cutie little grandson) sat in the sealing room of the temple for this wedding. I cannot describe the beauty in that. What a wonderful family these are. I just love them. They are terrific examples to me and a TON of fun to be around! Thanks to them for all of that and more! I absolutely LOVED being there at the temple with you for this neat event!

What a wonderful day the wedding was for everyone, but especially this awesome young lady and her terrific guy! Congratulations doesn't cover it... but it is the right sentiment. I love you Niki and wish for you every blessing and happiness!

SUMMER!!!

Finally the sun has come out to play!!

*does a happy dance*

That is all....

Sew, Sew, Sew your bonnet.....

S and I are going on TREK! *cheers* We are packing the bare neccesities into a 5 gal bucket, putting on pioneer dresses and old fashion headgear and starting off next week to live like the pioneers.

We'll be pulling (or pushing) handcarts on average 5 miles a day in the wilderness. I've been working out, taking long walks, and doing push ups to get ready. I even mowed my lawn the other day without the self propel thingy engaged. *wiggles eyebrows up and down*

We are so excited!

Well.. we are actually exited more about the company then the attire and accommodations. Also the experience itself. Our family has been researching our ancestors and the other pioneer that left everything to come and make a new place here in Utah.

I am so thankful to them and what they went through to make this a terrific place for my family. I'm grateful for their examples and hope that I can be a little more like them because of this trek.

I'm appreciating them a lot more today because I am struggling to sew a few skirts and pantaloons for myself. Domestic arts are not my forte. I'm glad this project won't be graded or scrutinized too closely. I am SOOOOOOO glad that I, at least, have a sewing machine. I can't imagine making all of my clothes.

See? already I am turning my hearts to my ancestors....

SV Graduates are Awesome!

Some of my favorite Young Women just graduated from SV. I am so excited for them, but sad that they are moving on. I am so so proud of them. They are terrific girls. I have loved being around them. Just thinking about them makes me smile. Some I don't get to see as much because of a ward split, but I still claim them and cheer for their every accomplishment. Even the girls in my ward are hard to keep up with because they are so busy and involved with lots of things. I just think the world of them. *grin* Young Women are just awesome!




I snuck into graduation just to watch them get their diplomas. It was held at the University Basketball stadium in order to accommodate all the family. The super cool side benefit of this is that each graduate got to appear on the jumbo tron when their name was called. Awesome! I loved seeing them grin and wave. *heart about bursts*




I really wish that I had my camera to take a picture of them all facing the podium with their mortar board caps on. It was really cool to see the blue and white of SV with all the tassels dangling! I just grin whenever I hear "Pomp and Circumstance"? I also loved watching all the proud parents taking pictures and grinning. Such a great day.

I wish I could get a picture of all of them... I've posted a few (nipped them off of their facebook profiles *hehe*) Aren't they gorgeous? The others are too! Love you ladies! GO SV Class of 2009!

Monster Truck Fun

The last few days of school was a whirlwind for us. But filled with good things.. one of my favorites was the 1st grade Drive In Movie. The 1st graders get to make cars out of cardboard boxes and then drive them into the gym to watch a movie as an end of year celebration. J and I had a great time making his. I was relishing it because I knew it would be my last one. *sniffles*

He had some really fantastic ideas (he does come from a long line of car guys!). We settled on a monster truck with big ol' knobby wheels. We were working on our grill design when we stumbled on an online pic of a grill that looked like sharp teeth and then the "Monster" truck ideas started flying. We researched scary eyes and J thought up the slit pupil thing. After we choose a sage green color out of my box o' paints, he came up with incorporating scales (he learned about texture lines in art class - scales being the fav.) and a Rock On Dragon Truck was born.



It turned out great! We had a fun time painting it and J found the foam blocks to turn into bumpers (his brilliant idea) and I made twin tail pipes chromed out with foil to finish it off. J and his best buddy (also in 1st grade with a flying car complete with real steering wheel) did the scales.



In the end tho, J's sweet ride was overshadowed (literally) with a refridgerator box turned int Optimus Prime. 4 or 5 kids (J being one) could fit inside to watch the movie which they did. Hey even the coolest human made vehicle can't compete with an Autobot.

My Little Brother

My little brother is not so little. In fact, we decided yesterday that being tall is his super hero... well... super thing. He decided to wear a mask and call himself Tall Man. Able to reach things way up high without a single bound.

He loves to have fun and is super adventurous. He has a "bucket list" of stuff he wants to do. All of them involve peril to his body. He just went sky diving (the word die is right in it!)

He is super creative. See the little claymation slug thing he made. It looks just like the ones on Flushed Away. (funny movie... *does an impersonation of the slugs screaming*) You should see his paper snowflakes. Pure Awesomeness.

He has recently developed a new trait. It is called "letting little kids win" This is great. Especially when we are talking about his 8 year-old nephews. All the kids love Uncle Trav.

This doesn't apply to me. Caution: never play one-on-one with this guy. Have you seen his wing span? sheesh. I can totally take him in Racqetball tho. Dude, that ankle injury was so fake!

We share lots of interests.... I taught him everything he knows about video games, how to choose the corner piece of cake to get maximum frosting, to quote all the best movie lines, and those sweet skillz on his bike.

It is his B-day today and I am thinking great things of him and wanted him to know it!Happy Birthday Travis! You are Awesome! and Rad and Totally Tubular too.

Crash and Burn

I saw something on my computer that I hoped I would never see.... The Blue Screen of Death. Yep. I actually read the the words 'WARNING: Complete disk failure is eminent.'

The word 'WARNING' was even flashing. Scary.

Then my computer crashed. It happened so fast. There wasn't time to even say goodbye. One minute the kids were playing "The Cat in the Hat Living Books" and the next minute the computer was gone. Jerry and I stood there with it at the end - a silent vigil as the screen went from blue to memory check to flashy words... and then to a black and silent screen. *makes a flatline beeeeeeeeeeeeeep."

This was my home computer. Not the one I use to access the internet. Completely unrecoverable data. My documents. My letters. My book. All of my Pictures since J was a baby. The 2 years worth of painstaking scans of my grandpa's WWII pictures and letters. 12 years of genealogy research. My banking records. My taxes. All of it. Gone. In a flash. Kaput.

It is a good thing I am married to an IT manager and that I was a computer operator at USU. I know about the need for backups. I do them. Often. If fact, I stayed up until 3 in the morning just 2 months ago doing a complete and full backup of my whole computer. (everything except the game files... forgot them cuz they were in the program files. We'll have to start over on ALL those levels and Nancy Drew Mysteries.)

ummmm... this is a not so gentle reminder for all y'all to do the same. Today.
Beware the Blue Screen of Death. Don't be in denial. It is real. It could happen to you soon.