Diva Dresses!

If you know me at all, you know that my dogs are my babies! (Neither of my girls allow me to call them my babies anymore, so somebody has to be!) I take them every Wednesdsay to get groomed at Linda and Jerry Earl's. These two people are the best when it comes to dog care! So when I go to pick them up today, Jerry tells me that he thinks they need to stay living there! My dogs love to go there! He laughed and said they know the routine so well. Chris drops them off in the morning and it is an all out race to get to the door! They both charge inside and right into their favorite kennel! Lucy knows when it is her turn to get bathed and jumps right in! Chloe knows that as soon as her bath is over to go into the next room and Linda will clip her! Jerry says it is a sight to see! Anyway, today, Linda says they just had to give my girls "Christmas Diva Dresses!" And how cute are they??!!! So, I came right home and put them on! Sure enough, as soon as Chloe got hers on, she sat down and wouldn't move until I took it off! (Make's taking the picture easier!) And Lucy, she LOVES to wear sweaters, she takes off running around! I finally got her to settle down by Chloe for some "DIVA SHOTS!" I think they look awfully cute! Thanks Jerry and Linda!

Dare Graduation

Way to go Kenlyn! Dare Graduation was held last night at the school. Kenlyn graduated and had a great time doing the course! She enjoyed working with Officer Blanchard and everything he taught her. Good job, Kenlyn, and remember to always say NO!

Temple Square

We have had one of the BEST weekends in a long time! To start, Wednesday night, Chris's sister and her husband were able to go to the Logan temple and recieve their endowments. What a great blessing for them. This is something she has wanted for a long time and we are so HAPPY to see this happen for them! Then on Friday, Chris and I traveled to Salt Lake to watch them along with their three kids be sealed as a family! It was great! The kids just glowed as they come into the sealing room!
Meanwhile, my kids have an AWESOME Grandma and Grandpa! Before Chris and I left for Salt Lake, we dropped Shar and Ken off with them. They took the girls to Layton shopping and then made their way to Salt Lake to be with us. We all stayed in the Plaza Hotel. That was nice, cuz we were right across from the temple so we could walk and not have to drive and fight traffic! ( I say this, cuz Chris REFUSES to drive in Salt Lake, so I do all the driving!)
At dinner time, Chris and I again left and went to dinner with the "wedding party" at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The dinner was really good, and the company was even better! Grandma and Grandpa, again, took the kids and they all went to dinner. After this, we met up and headed up to the "This is the Place Heritage Park." There is a festival going on up there to celebrate "Christmas in a simpler time." We were able to go into most of the homes and see what they were like. There was old time crafts for the kids to do, puppet shows, stories being told, hoe downs in the school house (in which Sharlee was asked to dance by a gentleman and he even kissed her hand at the end of the dance! She was soo embarrassed!), and best of all, there was a Live Nativity. As we walked down the path to the stable, there was a shepherd by a fire that told us if we followed the star, we would find the baby. It was so humbling to walk into the stable with the live goats and sheep and have Joseph and Mary and the Baby Jesus sitting amongst them. I didn't even feel right taking a picture! Meanwhile, there were carolers just outside the stable singing Away In A Manger. It was awesome! There was also a train that we hopped on and rode around the park. It dropped us off at the Brigham Young home where Saint Christmas was waiting! We all had our picture taken with him and Kenlyn sat on his lap. We had a great time.
On Saturday morning, Mom, Chris and I, Chris's Mom and sister and brother-in-law, all got up early and we went to the temple to do a session. (And of course, Dad took my girls and the two nieces and one nephew to breakfast! ) Chris has never done a session in the Salt Lake Temple, so he was excited! We had a really nice time. Chris said it meant a lot more to see everything being portrayed "Live". He can't wait to be able to go back and do another session!
The crazy part of the whole trip was driving home in the snow storm! Why don't they put heaters in the roads????

Christmas Traditions....

What fun we had doing our family tradition of Gingerbread houses....

We had a good time with most of the Bywater family present! (I hope nobody minds that I am posting their pictures!) I would love to put all the pictures on here in full size, but as you can see, we took tons! (So, click on the collage for better look!) Thanks Grandma for the great tradition and all the work you put into it!

4 X 4 Tagged....

I was tagged by Mandi......

RULES:
1. Go to your pictures
2. Go to the 4th file & upload the 4th picture
3. Post & tell about the picture
4. Tag 4 friends











This picture is of Sharlee with GDog! These 2 have a great relationship! In September 2007, Grandma and Grandpa took Sharlee and Austin to San Diego for a week vacation. They had a great time! Sea World, Mexico, Lego Land......

I don't want to post just a picture of Sharlee, so here is one of Kenlyn and her Dad at her Daddy-Daughter date for Achievement Days....


















I tag Sandy, Tiffany, Becky R., and Susan.......your turn!

Life

It seems like forever since I have been on the blog. But life sometimes gets away from me! I hurt my back (again!) a couple of weeks ago and it really hurts to sit at the computer for too long. Hence, the reason for not blogging!

Twilight came and gone! The movie was okay. Of course it wasn't as good as the book. But what movie ever is? Sharlee thought it was wonderful and that Edward was so HOT! I disagree! I thought that both James and Emmett were better looking then Edward! I enjoyed the movie for the most part. I was tired and in pain with my back, so I am looking forward to watching it again when it comes out on video. Maybe, I will like it better! The best part of the whole thing was being at the theater for 4 hours with my mom, daughters, sisters, nieces and friends. Thanks to everybody for being good sports and going. The rumors are that there will be 2 more movies to follow.......

For Thanksgiving this year, we had our big dinner at mom and dad's house. Since they knocked out the wall, it was more comfortable to have the whole family there. Dinner was delicious as always, and family was great as ever! (Too bad, Jimi's family wasn't able to join us...maybe next year!) Then later we went to Roberta's. We ate more good food and the kids had a good time decorating the "grandkids Christmas tree."

We didn't do any of the crazy "Black Friday" shopping this year. I didn't see any great sales in the paper that we just had to go for! And this year, so far, I have done all of my shopping on the internet. I have really enjoyed that. The prices are great and a lot of the stores are offering free shipping. So I haven't had to stand in long lines or fight crazy traffic. I think this will become my new way of Christmas shopping each year!

Hopefully, as the Holiday moves along, I will remember to take my camera with me when we go places, so I can add some pictures to my posts!

Tickets

Ya, we got our tickets for Twilight today. Sharlee, Mom and I went to Brigham at 1:00 and stood in line in the cold for our movie tickets. We were the 6th people in line of about 40. Tickets went on sale at 3:45, so we were quite cold! Lucky it wasn't snowing! The tickets we got are for the midnight show on November 21st. We are so excited! When we got our tickets, they also gave us numbered wristbands, so when we go back for the show, we don't have to stand in line in the freezing cold again. We can just go at 10:00pm and line up in numerical order. That will be nice! So, Kirsten, Cami, Sharie, Sarah, Joey, Jimi, Morgan, Mom, Nancy and Jamie....get a good nap on Thursday, the 20th, cuz we will have a long night ahead of us! Hope you are as excited as we are..................

Just as we showed up to stand in line, one of Sharlee's good friends, Shanade, showed up to buy tickets also! So they studied and messed around together! This picture is of them trying to be like High School Musical! Ha!

Halloween

Yeah, it is over! Call me the Halloween Scrouge, because halloween is my least favorite holiday! I do enjoy seeing all the kids dressed up but other then that I think it is pointless! I know, I am no fun! Both of my girls love halloween. Dressing up, trick or treating and running around with friends. This year, our school decided not to do the trunk or treating thing. I am thankful for that! I think it got a little scary the way parents just let their kids run uncontrollably and sometimes, you had no idea whose vehicle was whose! Talk about keeping kids safe, I don't think trunk or treating at the school is the way to do it! (Maybe as a ward would be better?) This year Sharlee and "our other daughter", Kirsten just put on some crazy masks and all black clothing. Kenlyn wa a zombie bride and her friend Hiedi was the devil. They had a good time with their dad taking them all around town and they got tons (I think too much) of candy!

Countdown......

Twilight

I am so ExcIted to see Twilight! I am not usually a movie watcher, but you can bet, I will be going to see this one! Sharlee has plans for me to take her and a bunch of her friends to the first showing! It will be great Fun! When I was messing around on the computer, I came across a website that had templates for twilight, and they were so cute, so in honor of the release of the show, I changed my background!

Ernie...

Well, I guess I don't get to sell Ernie! I am always complaining (Ya, nag, nag!) about how much money we spend in hay. And my thing is, if your not going to use your horses, why feed them?!!! Anyway, the only horse (or mule) that isn't used regularly is Ernie, the mule. He gets used once a year during the elk hunt. And yes, he is very convienent for the guys at that time cuz he is a wonderful pack mule. But, 2 years ago, Chris decided that he wanted to break Ernie to ride. So we bought a high dollar mule saddle, (yes, they are different then a normal saddle! I learn something new everyday!) and there it has set in the tack room. Rod has come over once or twice and him and Chris have tinkered around with Ernie a little bit. But, no serious riding or breaking has occured! Well, so, this year, on the elk hunt, Jesse took a wild hombre that he is breaking and that he has been bucked off of a couple of times! And lo, and behold, he jumped on and rode him up the mountain with no problems. Chris, not wanting to be left out, saddles Ernie and up the mountain he goes also! Ernie did awesome. Chris was so excited! He came home from the elk hunt and has rode him every night since then. Chris says he still needs some work on his stopping, so he hasn't taken him out of the yard yet, but Ernie is getting the hang of it! Ernie has always reminded my of a lost puppy dog. He loves attention and he will get right in your face to get it! Everytime Chris rides one of the other horses, Ernie goes crazy! He brays, bucks, farts, snorts....runs around going bonkers cuz he is being left out! And if Chris leaves the yard with another horse in the horse trailer, Ernie WILL find a way to get out! So, I think Ernie was more then thrilled to have all of the attention put on him and to be rode! Of course he is going to do good! (Dang, our hay bill will remain high!) Now, hopefully Chris will teach Ernie to be a roping mule, cuz Chris thinks he needs a new roping horse!

Cleaning marathon....

Ok, so, Sharlee and Kenlyn's rooms are DISGUSTING! Sharlee claims that she has been too busy with Tennis to keep it clean. I say if she is too busy to keep it clean then she should be too busy to make it dirty! She says it is her "Drop off spot!" Kenlyn on the other hand doesn't have an excuse! So, I threatened them both. I took before pictures and told them I would put them on my blog if they didn't get their rooms clean. Well, they got their rooms cleaned, but I am still posting the pictures so maybe they will be embarassed enough not to let them get dirty again!

SHARLEE'S BEFORE and SHARLEE'S AFTER (much better!)

KENLYN'S BEFORE and KENLYN'S AFTER (also, much better!)

Family

I have an Aunt who lives in Florida and we rarely see her. We were in for a treat this week....She came to visit, along with a cousin whom I haven't seen for about 15 years. Aunt Kathy is my dad's little sister, and also who I get my middle name, Jean, from. Her daughter is Stephanie, and Steph lives in Colorado. So since Aunt Kathy was half way here to see Stephanie, they drove up and visited for a week. It was great to see them. Stephanie has three kids of her own, Seth, Shelby and Gracie. Darling kids! It was fun to meet them and my girls even enjoyed getting to know them.

Chris and Jesse returned from their "MIGHTY ELK HUNT" on Saturday morning around 4:oo a.m. Hurray, Chris didn't shoot anything! He missed his elk from a 200 yard shot! Jesse got his though, so Cami and Jesse have a lot of work ahead of them! As fun as it is for the guys to go hunting, we always look forward to their return, cuz after 9 days, we start to miss them!

Lagoon....

The guys aren't the only ones that get to play at this time of the year! Chris and Jesse went on their annual elk hunt, so, "while the boys are away, the girls will play!" The guys left on Friday to go play mighty hunters! So Cami and I decided to take the girls to Lagoon. Nancy (our foster sister) works at Lagoon and was able to get us some really good discount tickets, the only catch, they were only good for Sunday. So we packed up and headed to Lagoon. Luckily, we will be able to read the conference talks in the Ensign! We had an absolute BLAST! We worried a little bit about the rain, but the Saturday night news said that the showers should dry up by noon on Sunday. We were lucky! Not a rain drop in sight, and not too many people either! We only had to stand in a line twice! Once for a kiddie ride and once for the Wicked. It was great. I love spending time with anybody in my family. And Cami's girls and mine get along so good, that it made it that much more fun...

It is rare when we get a picture of Chris and he is not flipping the camera off! This is him and Sharlee messing around when I was playing with my new camera!

My Babies!

My kids think we need to have a "little brother." Sorry, NO! These are my babies....Lucy (the black and white one) and Chloe (the red and white one). They just got home for being groomed. Aren't the cute?!

Damn Mule!!

Ouch! Chris and Kenlyn were out riding their horses when I heard a frantic call from Kenlyn to "COME QUICK!" When I got outside, Chris was at the fence, bent over, with blood pouring out of his face! Of course, face wounds bleed really bad! Chris had got off his horse and Ernie, the mule, came running over and spooked Mare. She reared back and the reign flew up, smacking Chris right between the eyes with the buckle! His glasses cut into his nose and eyebrow, but didn't break! One trip to the emergency room and four stitches later, all is well!!!

Camp Hobe....

For the past three years, Mom and I have volunteered for one week in the summer, cooking at Camp Hobe'. Camp Hobe' is a summer camp for kids with cancer and their siblings. It is a great experience. The kids at camp teach us adults that think we know it all, that we really don't! They have experienced more in their short lives then I can even fathom. It is so rewarding to see them come up to camp and just get to be kids. When they are home, they stand out as the sick one. But at camp, everybody is the same. It doesnt' matter if they are bald, have tubes coming out of the their little bodies, or have to take 25 different kinds of medicines every day, they come to camp and are just like all average kids. This year, I was lucky to be able to take Sharlee with me. She got to go as a counselor in training. To be a full counselor, you have to be 18. So at 15 she gets to go and train. She assists the counselors with a cabin of kids. This year, she was with the 5 & 6 year old girls. She became real close to them and loved each one. She also made tons of friend with other counselors and counselors in training. I've posted a picture of her and I, right after she got thrown in the pool. We took tons of pictures at camp, but we have to respect the privacy of all campers, and not post them on the internet. We are both looking forward to going back next year.........

LOVE means you SUCK!

Sharlee made the tennis team again this year.
She plays doubles with Caitlin Schow at JV second position.

They are learning a lot and having fun being a part of the team.

Nice Serve

The Whole Team

Fair Time

Okay, so the fair this year was just like any other year! Sharlee and Kenlyn did great with their lambs. They both got blue ribbons, and more money for their savings account! Sharlee also got a white ribbon for the placing 3rd in the judging contest. We are proud of our girls and what they accomplish with their lambs. Learning to work together and learning to take responsibility for an animal is what it is all about for them. They do a great job!

Labor Day Vacation

WOW!! What a great Labor Day Vacation we had. Mom and Dad took the whole family to Midway for our annual vacation this year. We had a great time! Between fighting crowds at the Swiss Days, spending lots of money shopping in Park City, and fishing at Current Creek, everybody stayed busy. We took the kids on the Alpine Slide. They had so much fun, that they didn't care if they went shopping any more! We always enjoy spending time with the family.

Across the street from the condo we
was staying at, lived a buck! Everyday, he would show up in the morning and lay under that deck until evening. We enjoyed watching him.