Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope everyone has had a great Thanksgiving! My parents are here and my brother Todd and his family and my brother Scott and his cute pregnant wife! She's finally showing a little. I love Thanksgiving because I really try hard to think about what I am truly thankful for. We had great talks in church last Sunday that helped me mentally prepare for this day. Thank you Hodsons! I have so many things to be thankful for. We went around the dinner table and we each said what we were thankful for. It was a neat experience. I love my family! I wish all my brothers and sister could have been here!

The one bad thing of the day is that I am sick! No fun. I woke up with the stomach flu. I didn't throw up... it was the other one. I had terrible sharp pains in my stomach all day, I actually still do. I would try to help get things ready for dinner and would end up on the floor or the couch for an hour. Its been a real bummer. I hardly ate a thing at dinner... hopefully I will feel better and be able to enjoy left-overs tomorrow!

Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for all my friends!

Costco vs. Sam's Club

I don't want to sound snobbish... but, there is a huge difference between these two stores. When I moved here, I thought I didn't like Sam's Club because of 2 reasons. 1. I had never been to one. 2. I am from Washington, the home of Costco corporate. I like to stay loyal to my home town. But today, I have realized those are not the reasons I prefer to go to Costco. I just got home from Sam's and I was so frustrated by the time I left... I waited in line to order a pizza for no joke, 10 minutes. Did they not just finish remodeling the snack bar?? shouldn't things be faster now? Not with only one person working at dinner time?? what are they thinking??? (they took out their soda machine in their remodeling?? All they have is bottled pop now and I heard the lady in front of me say it was warm. I hate bottled pop. Way too carbonated for me.) Then I walk over to the photo center... the photo center is really the only reason I like to go to Sam's. I prefer their photo finishing to Costco. I think their color is so much better. So, I go over to pick up my enlargements that I uploaded and there is no one there?? what?? I go find a worker who is totally dressed like a total slob and ask him if anyone is working in the photo center and he tells me she is on a break?? How can you close a department for a break at a big store like that? I don't think that would happen at Costco. So, I had to wait another 10 minutes to get pictures. Then I grab the 2 things I needed and I wasn't about to shop around because I was a little mad, so I grabbed my pizza and left. Very frustrating. I don't think Sam's gets the whole customer service thing... I will admit, some of their prices are a bit better, but not enough to get me there all the time. It's kind of like Target vs. Walmart. Love the class of Target, but love the prices of Walmart. I guess you have to pay for class. Enough of my venting... I hope I am not offending anyone. sorry.

Advertising advantages...

Once in a while John gets free tickets to things from the TV stations that Sunburst advertises with. This happened to be one of those weeks. Thursday afternoon he was given tickets to the "Trans Siberian Orchestra." It was at the MGM Arena and it was packed. I wasn't really sure who they were... I guess I need to get with the times... You can check them out on this YouTube link: It was a great concert! I need to go get their Christmas CD.

Yesterday he got tickets for the filming of the Ellen show here in Vegas! It was so fun! We got to go to a luncheon first with the channel 8 people. This guy at our table works for the Ellen show and he gave me his business card and told me I could call him to get tickets anytime! I think I will take advantage! The show was lots of fun. She had Bette Midler, Hans Klok (sp?) he's a magician here in Vegas and then the singer Pink. She was great. It was a fun show. It will be on TV on Monday... you will have to watch. I am so lucky! Ellen and Oprah in one year!


I have more to say about it, but I have a ton of stuff to do today to get ready for family coming for Thanksgiving!!

Happy Birthday Cindy!

It's my sister Cindy's birthday today. I hope you have had a great day! Cindy is the oldest girl in my family, so she was always like a mom to me when I was little. My other sister Julie and I would try to make Cindy cry when she baby-sat us... sorry! We were pretty rotten. I didn't really get to know her very well until I had kids. Then we hung out and let the kids play and we tole painted. Cindy is the artist of the family. She paints kids rooms, she's painted sea creatures at Seven Peaks in Utah... she's amazing. She's the one who taught me how to make those cute little covered Books of Mormon. She's selling them in an Etsy shop. You can buy them here: www.CindyRoutson.etsy.com

Happy Birthday Cindy! Love you! Here she is at the cabin a few weeks ago after we finished a puzzle...

On the Road Again!

It was tough to get in the car again, but very worth it. John, Tanner and I decided to hop down to Hesperia, CA yesterday to meet our new niece Cienna. I really wanted to see Cienna while she was in the newborn stage. Newborn babies are my favorite... sorry kids, but my favorite stage of life is when you were under 2 months! You know I love all the stages, but there is something so special about a fresh new baby. They don't try to leave you, don't talk back to you, they just want you to hold them and snuggle them. And I did. I practically held her the whole time we were there. I got my baby fix!

It's only about a 2 1/2 - 3 hour drive depending on whose driving. John has slowed down in his old age... actually I think it's a fear of another ticket... remember our 3 ticket day last May? If you've forgotten, you can read about it by clicking here. We finally had to pay the fees last week. OUCH! Our sweet attorney neighbor tried to take them to court for us and the judge was in a bad mood and wouldn't lower any of the fees. He did take my speeding ticket down to a parking ticket, but it still is cost me $190. He wouldn't budge on the "full attention to driving ticket", that one cost $280. (I have to do traffic school for that one! I'm doing it online, so for I've passed 2 of the sections!) then the ticket John got for running the stop sign on his bike cost $190. Can you say Merry Christmas John and Allison! Anyway, it wasn't too bad of a drive to go down there. We forget that they are so close. We need to go see them more! The kids are so cute! Edie sure has her hands full! 3 kids under 3! 3 kids in diapers. fun fun. Carter is a typical almost 3 year old... into everything. Caden is a little angel boy. He will be 1 in January and little Cienna was precious. Grandma Barnes was there, so that was an added bonus to see her.

We went bowling and Grandma won! I think our excuse is that we were all stressed out taking care of 3 little kids, so they wouldn't disturb our serious bowlers in the next lane, that we got a little distracted and lost focus on the game! haha

Here are a few pictures:







Edie and Luke: You are doing an amazing job! You have a beautiful family! Remember, don't listen to those who, shall we say aren't mature, and know that it doesn't matter how you received these little angels into your beautiful family. You ARE their parents! Being parents is the hardest and the most rewarding job you will ever have! Love you both, so glad we got to spend the day with your family!

Home Sweet Home!

I feel like I've been gone for weeks! We went to the cabin over Nevada Day weekend and came home for 1 and 1/2 days and left again. I wrote that like the cabin was ours... I wish! Anyway, we had a wonderful time at Dix's cabin in Brian Head with my family. My parents came, my sister Cindy and her family, which included her married daughter and son in law and my brother Todd and his family. It was so fun! I wish all of my family could have made it! LOVE them all!

We spent the weekend doing puzzles, learning how to make digital scrapbook pages, eating, watching football, 4 wheeling, shooting bb guns, watching movies, the kids played the Wii and of course spending the late hours playing hearts. My family is pretty serious about hearts! We taught the teenagers how to play and they did pretty good. I believe I won the first night and Cindy lost big time! Fun memories.

We came home Tuesday and then I left for Spokane on Thursday morning. I had a great time up there visiting with friends. I spent the first 3 nights at Stacy's house. Stacy is such a wonderful hostess! She picked me up at the airport and took me straight to the mall for pedicures, well we actually had a short $200 dollar stop at Target. That's not hard for Stacy... she loves Target! I love shopping with people who love to spend money! I showed her 3 games my kids love and she bought them! Pedicures were wonderful. They brought back memories of my days working for her. Before every big scrapbook show that we would go to, we always made time to run and get a pedicure before we left. When we got to Stacy's she had a big basket of fun treats for me in my room. She bought me these cute DOTS slippers and the most cool box of candy. It's called "the best candies from the 70's". She knows me well. We spent each night talking for hours! Geof even joined in on the conversations one night!

Friday was the big card party and I pretty much got nothing done. I brought my laptop hoping to make a few digital scrapbook pages, but I spent the whole day and night talking and eating! It was wonderful to catch up with so many of my friends. I am so sad that my camera is still broken! I have no pictures from the whole weekend. I was just on Stacy's blog and she did have one picture of us making brownies. I know she took a lot more, I will have to get them from her.

Saturday night Stacy, Whitney and I went to Coeur d' Alene Idaho for dinner. We ate at the Dockside restaurant that is right on the lake. It was amazing! I think they were trying to remind me how beautiful the Pacific Northwest was! It's definitely got my heart. I haven't grown to love the desert beauty yet. But, I must say, it did rain every day I was there! No joke. Not a bit of sunshine. I got my rain fix for the year.

Sunday night I spent the night at Whitney's and we talked the night away! I flew to Salt Lake on Monday and drove home on Tuesday with Ashley and Mitchell. They had their first road trip to Utah without us! They went up and visited friends. Thanks Barb for taking Mitchell for the weekend! He had a great time with Jake! You can move back anytime! Ashley had fun with Alex and Kristine.

I came home very tired! It's always fun to get away for a quick trip, but I LOVE coming home. Nothing like your own bed, your husband next to you in that bed, and your kids! I spent the day today trying to get caught up on laundry, emails and all that fun stuff that you ignore when you are away!

I will post the pictures of the cabin tomorrow... I've got to get to bed!

Happy Birthday Mitchell!

How could my little boy be 15???!!! Mitchell has always been an easy going boy. I remember when he was born he was so mellow. The nurse was poking him and he didn't cry, he got shots and didn't cry! It was amazing. He's been easy going every since. He was a bit curious when he was little. We had a lock on the fridge, all cupboards and all doors. When Tanner was born, my neighbor called one day and asked if I knew where Mitchell was... I had fallen asleep and he went next door! silly boy. He is a great big brother to Tanner and a best friend to his sister. It's fun to see them get along so well.
Here are a few fun pictures of Mitchell...





We love you and happy birthday!!

Sad...

Well, I am sad to say that soccer season is over. I really enjoyed going to Mitchell's games. He had a great season. They ended up 15 wins, 0 losses and 2 ties!! They were pretty nervous for the last game... it would have been sad to loose the last game, but they pulled it out and beat Sierra Vista. Good job Mitch!!

So, I was a really bad mom last night and didn't take any pictures of Halloween... my flash is still broken on my camera! Tanner was the Phantom of the Opera. He looke dcute. We went to the ward trunk or treat and that was fun. There were a lot of kids there and he got tons of candy! He went trick or treating with his friends after that and got even more candy. Then the fun stuff happend! He was throwing up all night! Seriously it wasn't fun... The boy hasn't learned what his candy limit is!

We are road on a road trip, headed to Brian Head for the weekend... should be lots of fun. My sister Cindy, brother Todd and parents are meeting us there! Tiemn for some FFF. (Forced Family Fun)