Cause you're Amazing

just the way you are.

Did you know that?

Well you are.

I hope you know that.

Things that make me SCREAM!!

In honor of Halloween and all of the screaming that is

supposed to happen around this time of year,

I present to you a list of things that make me scream....

clean laundry in the dirty clothes basket

(serio...just ask my kids about this one, it sends me over the edge)

having to plug in my garbage disposal every single time I want to use it

people who drive with their blinkers on

being able to smell someone before you see them

weeds

lies

not being able to find the right tweezers so I can pluck my chin hairs

hormones

the batteries dying in my camera

the price of cheese

worrywarts

Addictions and addicts

phlegm

that it costs more to fix a broken printer

than it does to go out and buy a new one

same dealio goes for computer monitors

feeling pissy for no good reason

(see hormones)

being out of my depth

when my brain decides to take a nap and not inform me

that I never win any of the Pioneer Woman's giveaways

know-it-alls

stressful situations

inadequacies

zits

So there's my list.

Got any that you'd like to share?

Imitation

It's the sincerest form of flattery, no?

Why yes, yes it is.

You know that you've made it to the big time when

you become someone else's Halloween costume.

So I guess that Ty and I have made it big....in our ward.

Sweet.

Our friends Scott and Jen Fugal dressed up as Ty and I for

our church's Halloween party.

They had the best costumes of the night.

Hands down.

And, no, Tyran is not dressed up in a costume. This is what he

wears when he teaches his Yoga classes.

Thus the inspiration for Scott.

That yellow thing on the floor is Scott's Yoga mat.

And here is Jen dressed up as me.

With a blonde wig wearing a U of U shirt.

She was also carrying around a bag of marshmallows.

Only a few lucky people are aware that

marshmallows are basically my "crack".

I get a little crazy when I eat them.

Especially those HUGE Campfire Marshmallows.

Scott and Jen have both seen and been

witnesses to my crazy marshmallow induced behaviors.

And, surprisingly, they still want to be friends with me.

I was dressed up as a "Rare" black Unicorn.

Because we all know that white ones aren't really that rare.

A couple of my other favorites from the night.

Homeless people need candy too...

George as some type of Ninja dealio and his buddies

the Banana and Werewolf without a mask.

And how could you not fall in love with this adorable

little calf?? Oh my sweet cheeks!

Rock the green, do I not?

Yoda enjoys suckers too.

McKenna as a "Rocker chick"

Isn't her hair awesome?

I was her hair dresser.

What about the "Dread Pirate Roberts"?

How awesome is this costume?

I LOVE it!

And how could you not love a Fashionable Witch

who is totally into Wheaties?

I hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween this year.

Thanks again to Scott and Jen for making

Ty and I feel so loved!

Now, where did I put those California marshmallows???

Remembering

Two years ago today I had to said goodbye to my dad.

It was bittersweet and I miss him.

So for today...

Things I want to remember about my dad.

His work ethic.

My dad knew what hard work was and he wasn't afraid of it.

You could even say he embraced it.

When I was younger he would come home from a full day of working a difficult job laying cable or grading roads and, even though I'm sure he was very tired,

you could still find him out tilling in the garden or chopping wood

until the sun went down.

As he got older his body limited the things that he could do

but often he pushed that frail body because he

couldn't stand to not be working.

This is a picture of him about a year before he died.

He couldn't stand up straight and his back hurt him

more than I will ever know.

And yet here he is on his hands and knees in the beans

weeding them and picking them.

How much he loved his Kubota tractor.

I think he loved it because it helped him work.

He would drive that little orange tractor a block and a half over to our house

and till up our garden plot for us.

And it wasn't just one run over it was back and forth and back and forth

until the dirt was a beautiful shade of dark brown.

The kids would take turns sitting with him and "driving".

That is one of the fondest memories I have is watching each of my children

in my father's arms as he sat there atop the orange Kubota.

I want to remember how much he loved his grandkids.

He loved holding them and having them come to visit.

He and Jilli were two peas in a pod. She loved to go and hang out

in the shed with Grandpa Lyman.

He had the Cheetos*.

Here he is holding Jona on the day he was blessed.

His sense of humor.

He had such a shockingly funny sense of humor that most people were

not aware of because he was a gruff and quiet man.

He let it show more as he got older. Or maybe I was just more aware of it.

See that grin?

(See that salt shaker? I get my love of salt from my dad)

October was his favorite time of the year.

It meant that the hunt was on.

And, oh, how he loved the hunt.

He was out on the mountain just before he got sick.

It was the first time in a couple of years that he had felt

well enough to go.

Mom said that he sang the whole night while he was

getting ready to head out with Roger.

The hunt was one of the few things he would take time off from work for.

I never want to forget that of all the places he loved to work,

this was his favorite.

I also need to remember that,

He was not perfect.

He got angry.

He was impatient.

Sometimes he didn't show my mom the respect she deserved.

He was a rough and gruff man,

who scared many of my friends

and most people who didn't get the chance seek past

the exterior and get to know him.

Most of all I want to remember my dad was courageous.

He lived most of his life in physical pain.

And sometimes that made him not very fun to be around.

But he kept on.

He wasn't afraid to live.

I hope he knows how much I love him.

Until I see you again dad.

*I'm thinking that I'll be making a special trip to the store

tomorrow to grab a bag of Cheetos.

A small request if you will....

Buckle up

Today I went to a viewing for a man who died too early.

He was driving and lost control of his vehicle.

He was thrown from the truck.

He was not wearing his seatbelt.

He leaves behind a wife and six beautiful children.

The oldest of those children is only 16.

I saw a picture of the truck.

It didn't look like it had been in too bad of an accident.

He probably would have survived,

had he taken 5 extra seconds and clicked his seatbelt into place.

Please....Please...Please....

Ever have one of those nights?

Where just before 8 p.m. you feel a nasty headache coming on and you know that they only way to get rid of it is to take some Excedrin? But you also know that you are chancing being kept awake all night if you take it. Then you go ahead and take that chance because you know if you don't you'll have a raging headache and won't be able to sleep anyway?

Then at 8:30 after the kids are all in bead you are reading The Maze Runner and you only have a few chapters left, when you look down on the living room floor and your husband is fast asleep? You then decide to wake him up so he can actually get some decent sleep in bed and you can finish reading your book there as well.

You finish reading your book around 10:30

(and grind your teeth and be very thankful

that your name is on a waiting list

at the library for the

Scorch Trials.

Even if you are number 16 on that list),

turn out the light and proceed to try to sleep.

But your brain won't shut off because of the afore mentioned Excedrin? It then proceeds to go over everything that needs to be done for the Halloween party that you are in charge of next Saturday and every, other minute detail that needs to be done between now and next Sunday?

Then all of the sudden it turns on you.

Viciously.

Bringing you a memory that causes you to shrivel up and die a little bit, all over again?

You know the one. The one where you have been roped into being a contestant for FFA Sweetheart, and you aren't even a member of the FFA?

Go ahead, laugh. I'll wait.

Finished? Let's move on shall we?

As part of this "Sweetheart" deal you have to rope a little metal rocking steer

(which you suck at),

stack bales of hay

(which you kick donkey at),

eat a pie in a pie eating contest

(where the pie is still mostly frozen and

pretty much all of the whipped cream

on the top of the pie just

gets shoved up your nose so you

all you can smell for the next week

is sour milk)

and be in a "evening gown" type competition where you wear an awesome iridescent light blue bubble skirt type of a dress, which was your prom dress the year before with a few alterations thrown in.

(What? It was the 80's. Bubble skirts were supposedly "fashionable".

Didn't you read Seventeen magazine??)

But that's not all....no, that's not all by half.

You all so have to stand up in front of the whole student body, in an amazingly horrid sweater

(that you borrowed from your older sister )

that has a bear hugging a heart... embroidered ... on the front

(which at the time you adored and chose to wear.

I know.

I KNOW!),

with a lunch for two. And then you and your homemade fried chicken basket get auctioned off to the highest bidder who, supposedly, wants to eat lunch with you?

But only, like, two people bid on your lunch and you can't even see who it is because of the stupid lights that are beating down on you on that stage in the auditorium. And then when you show up at the appointed meeting place for lunch no one is there to eat that lunch with you? And there is a teacher there to witness your humiliation?

So in your mind you make yourself believe that it's because the person who bid on your lunch is afraid of your boyfriend who graduated last year.

(Whom you have now broken up with)

You imagine that said ex-boyfriend has got "the message" out that anyone who had lunch with you would "pay" more than just the money that they bid. Even though said ex-boyfriend would do nothing of the sort and prolly couldn't even back up those words if he did.

With those thoughts entrenched in your head you give the teacher in the room a half smile and a shrug of the shoulders, pick up your homemade fried chicken lunch and go off and eat it all by your lonesome self?

You then have a knock down, drag out, fight with your mind to let go of that lovely, little gem of a memory telling it

"That was over 20 years ago!!!

Let.

It.

Go!"

Blessedly it does.

Then it decides to hop on the bullet train and zoom ahead to thinking of the two Christmas parties that you are in charge of in December. Amazingly

(and thankfully)

some pretty fabulous ideas

(for at least one of the parties)

decide to board that train, so at 1:17 a.m. you quietly get out of bed, so as not to wake your husband, and find a pad of paper so you can jot these ideas down because if you don't they will be lost in that maze of gray matter by morning.

Then you decide that if you go and try to lay back down it's not going to much good

(and you are worried that the brain

will suck you back into that

ever so horrid memory of 20 odd years ago)

so you pull up Facebook and read through the over 300 "most recent" news items that are there because you haven't been on since early Sunday morning. But you don't comment you just read.

Then you open up the pictures of the zoo that you took when you and your family went there on Friday, fiddle with a few of the pictures and then decide at around 2:10 a.m. or so that you really need to try and get some sleep. You go and lay down and thankfully your brain has slowed up enough for you to finally be able to drop off about 30 minutes or so later.

Your husband then gets up at about 3:30 a.m to do his early morning yoga practice and you hear him in the other room doing his breathing and know that you are going to have to get up in a little while for family prayers and a new day will begin?

Ever have one of those nights?

Yeah?

Me too.

What you are is Magical

If I could visit one television set it would where they tape my favorite TV show of all time...

Seriously.

Sesame Street is a wonderfully, magical place that came into my home via the Television and promptly nestled it's way into my heart.

Jim Henson is one of the people I want to meet and thank after I die.

I watched Sesame Street long (and I mean LOOOOOOOONG) after other friends

"out grew"

it and called it a

"baby show".

In fact my husband proposed to me while we were watching an episode of Sesame Street.

No Joke.

Visiting Sesame Street is on my bucket list.

And this? This is one of the many, many, reasons why....

I wonder if I can download this song somewhere?

Embrace the Camera: Oct 7, 2010

I've recently been introduced to a fun and entertaining blog called Three Boys and a Little Lady. I love it. I'm sure you will as well.

Head on over there and check out Emily and her sweet family out.

Emily has a photo challenge that I have decided to take up called

Those of you who are my facebook friends are thinking

"Don't you already embrace the camera???"

And I answer you yes but...

This challenge is one where you take pictures of yourself with your kids and/or your spouse.

I'm all over that.

I don't have enough of me with my family and with this challenge hopefully that will change.

Today I'm a starting off with my oldest child, Jona, who is about to turn 16. He came home from school today asking if I would take him out driving again today.

I said sure, as long as he allowed me to take a couple of pictures of us together. Nothing like driving to give a kid some incentive.

Can you see how tall he is?? I swear he's over 6' now.

And guess what? He even allowed me to give him a kiss.

And then he promptly wiped it off.

*Giggity*

Only one more sleep until this!!!!

Validation

If you haven't seen this floating around please take the time to view it. It's pretty much twenty....no thirty, different kinds of awesome.

Have a great weekend. And just so you know....

I'll validate you if you ever need it.