Jalynn at her Christmas Concert.

Jalynn played her violin in her Christmas concert. I think she did great. She went straight from her game against Uintah to the concert. It was a long night to say the least. Kolby slept through the game, Kruz slept through the concert. Kelly was in class and had to miss it all. That is why I took lots of video. The focus isn't that great, sorry.

Kortney and the snow.

The pictures above are of our first snow this year. Kortney had been out in the yard and made trails and 2 snowmen.

The pictures of Kortney are when she got home from school. I think she looks so cute. She was so excited and couldn't wait to get outside. Today we got our 2nd snow of the season. I like it, but don't want as much as we got last year.

Jalynn scores against Uintah!

I got video of Jalynn scoring against Uintah. She is #11. It takes a little while to get to the part where she shots her shot. There are 2 free throws, Uintah gets the ball, we get it back and then Jalynn gets her shot. Enjoy! This is in the new RJHS gym, much better then the old one!

Jalynn made the basketball team.

Jalynn is so excited. She made the 8th grade basketball team. She played last year and needed a bribe to make the team. She made it and walked away with a phone and a really great experience. This year she didn't need a bribe, she wanted it bad enough. So in the next few months, there will be a few blogs about basketball.

Carolyn's getting "old"!

Happy Birthday to Carolyn. I am sorry this is a day late. I even talked to you online and I still spaced it until late last night. My bad! I hope your birthday was a great one. Can't wait to see all for Thanksgiving. Thank goodness for holidays!

I haven't been blogging lately, but I am trying to find the time. We have a lot of stuff going on lately. I did manage to update my cooking blog. Hopefully I can get some more done here. One thing I did manage to get done was taking a load of garbage to K&K. It weighed 770 lbs! It feels good to get rid of so much stuff. I still feel like we need to get rid of more though. Then maybe when I feel more like we are ready, we can get around to adding onto our house.

But anyway, check out my cooking blog and see if there is anything you like.

Pole Dancing Kolby

This is Kolby pole dancing on the leg of my folding table. So cute!

Take the Time!

Kelly had to give a talk in Sacrament last week about the Gift of Time. I have been thinking a lot about that lately. It is something that I haven't thought about much until lately. I often think about how I need more time. Always need more time. But what am I doing with the time I do have? Am I spending it doing the things I am supposed to be doing? I have had a lot of guilt the last month of so about how much scrap booking I do. Then one evening my kids and I got out my old scrapbooks. The one Grandma Richens gave me, One I put together when I was young, and two that I put together the first part of our marriage. They are so simple, but I love them. The kids got such a kick out of them. They laughed uncontrollably at a 'bare bum' picture of Daniel. They loved Grandpa's side burns and Grandma's bell-bottoms. I heard all sorts of comments like: "Why did you do your bangs half up and half down?" "Look what Mom is wearing!" "He's wearing high-waters!" Not all of the comments were making fun though. Many of them were about how skinny or young someone looked. There were also about how one person looks so much like another person. It was so fun to sit and not think about a lot of the other things we usually worry about. We got to go back in time and remember things that I wouldn't normally remember and see things the kids wouldn't normally get to see. Then I remembered why I scrapbook...So I can sit with my kids, grand kids, and who knows, maybe even my great-grand kids and look, laugh and enjoy the captured moments.

Happy 32nd Birthday to my Kelly!

Happy Birthday Kelly! We love you and hope that you are having a great birthday. We didn't celebrate his birthday today because I had to work. Tommorrow he is off to his Uncle Harold's funeral in SLC. I won't get to go to that either, that's right, ...I have to work. So I will make him a roast on Sunday. I can't tease Kelly about being an old man, because we are usually the same age. BUT...for the next month and a half, he is 32 and I am ONLY 31! So, have a blast OLD MAN! ;-)

It's Kolby's day also.

Kolby turns 18 months old today. Happy birthday and a half! This means he will be going to nursery next Sunday. Yay! This means that for the rest of the year, I will have two in Nursery. That's right, I will most likely have a nursery calling soon. That's the way it usually works.

Happy Birthday Ted!

Happy Birthday Ted. Hope it has been a great one for you. I looked for a song with your name in it, but couldn't find one. Have fun!

I started a new blog.

My new blog is a recipe blog. I just got it started this morning, so there isn't anything on it yet, but will be soon. It is http://www.jensnotsogourmetkitchen.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday, Dan!

'Daniel my brother, you are younger than me'. Although today you take one step closer to old. Hope your day has been a special one.

Exploring Fall with Kolby.

Kolby and I were waiting for Kruz to get home and we decided to explore the yard. Kolby was so funny. He was running around looking at all the plants and of course the lawn mower. It had rained for a couple of days before this and the lawn and plants are happy. With cooler weather coming, I knew we had to get out and enjoy it while we can. I got a couple of cute videos of Kolby looking for his Dad and playing Peek-a-Boo. I will try to post those later.

Kruz and his School Bus.

Kruz gets to ride a bus to school Monday to Thursday. He really likes it. He even gets a little nap while he is traveling home. He gets off the bus in a great mood, most days. He wanted me to take a picture of him wearing his Lightening McQueen back pack. They had a Mock Evacuation from his school yesterday so he had 1/2 day off. He spent about an hour with Kelly at his office until I could get off work and pick him up. He really likes Dad's office. Today I am not working so the boys and I get to spend the day together.

My 1st Scrap Swap

Kara's Halloween page. ^

Back to School page. ^

April's witchy page. ^

This one is mine! ^

This one is Janel's Spooky page. ^

This is a back to school page. ^

A Halloween page. ^

Heidi's back to school page. ^

I went to a scrap swap last Tuesday. I took the day off. Yes, you read it right, I actually took a day off. Eight of the CTMH consultants in the Basin area got together and we swapped scrapbook pages. I came up with a Halloween 2-page spread. Then I made enough kits for the other 7 ladies to put my page together. When we got together, we all traded pages. I went with 8 of the same pages and came home with 8 different pages. It was really fun. I learned a lot and was able to get some great ideas. We are going to do this once a month. I am still getting to know everyone, so I don't have their names on all of them. My scrap group meets next on October 9th. I can't wait. We will be putting together my Halloween page. Each time we meet, I will try to teach a new technique. I will be teaching about making our own patterned paper. The cobweb paper on my page is stamped paper, not bought that way.

Live Your Life...

New goal for me:

To live my life in such a way

that when my feet hit the floor in the morning,

Satan says, 'Oh crap, she's awake.'

Bye, Bye Travel Trailer

So yes, we sold the trailer. It was a hard decision to make, but we know it is the right decision for us. We will miss it, but will eventually buy another one. Most likely a smaller one. I would like a smaller fifth wheel. We can't have a fifth wheel without a truck. That is a long way into the future.

A message from Kruz...

Happy Birthday Mica!

How to maintain a healthy level of insanity.

Here it is ... a list of ways to maintain a healthy (or not so healthy) insanity.

1. At lunch time, sit in your parked car with sunglasses on and point a hair dryer at passing cars. See if they slow down.

2. Page yourself over the intercom. Don't disguise your voice!

3. Every time someone asks you to do something, ask if they want fries with that.

4. Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks. Once everyone has gotten over their caffeine addictions, switch to espresso.

5. Finish all your sentences with 'in accordance with the prophecy'.

6. Skip down the hall rather than walk and see how many looks you get.

7. Order a diet water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

8. Specify that your drive-through order is 'to go'.

9. Sing along at the Opera.

10. Put mosquito netting around your work area and play tropical sounds all day.

11. 5 days in advance, tell your friends you can't attend their party because you have a headache.

12. When the money comes out of the ATM, scream 'I won! I won!'.

13. When leaving the zoo, start running towards the parking lot, yelling 'Run for your lives! They're loose!'.

14. Tell your children over dinner, 'Due to the economy, we are going to have to let one of you go'.

It's called Therapy. (Not that it would work.)

Kruz Wins!!

The kids were playing the Wii today. JJ & Kort were actually playing. Kruz & Kolby just thought that they were playing. We handed them the PS2 paddles, it was turned off. They were really into it. Every time someone won, Kruz thought it was him. Kids are so much fun!

4-Wheeler Fun

Jalynn, Kortney, Kaycee, Cody & Cody.
JJ & Kort
Kelly & JJ
Kruz & Kolby

We went out the other night and rode our 4-wheelers. It was a lot of fun. There were several neighbors out at the same time on theirs as well. We helped Cody Gibson find his lost dog. It was at another neighbors house. We also made trails through our weeds, most of which are taller than Kelly. Sad, I know. It will take a tornado to get rid of them. It kicked up my allergies a little. I did like riding the trails with the boys though. I got several good pictures and some video. In the video, I was teasing Kruz by moving the 4-wheeler.

Taking down the pool.

It finally got cold enough that we took down our pool. We took it down over Labor Day Weekend. It is just taking me this long to post it. The boys played in the water as it covered the ground. Then we cleaned the pool and Kelly sprayed the boys with the hose. This was our last fun day in the water until next summer.

Starting my CTMH Club.

I am getting my scrapping club going. We met for the first time on Sept 11th. I thought it went well. We have 5 of us that have signed up. There are 3 more that want to. It will be fun to meet with them and have our ladies night out. I will teach a different 2 page spread each time. I can't wait!

September is National Stamping Month!

To celebrate National Stamping Month, CTMH is giving away a prize. It is CTMH products worth $1,085.00! No purchase necessary, so everyone get to my CTMH site and enter to win. It is right there on my home page. Hope one of you gets it! (one entry per household (-; )

New camera on the blitz! :-(

I am kind of bummed. We bought our new camera and used it for about a week. When the battery ran down, we recharged it and now we can't get the camera to work. We don't mkow if it is the battery or the camera. I figured I would buy a new battery. I found one on the internet and bought it. I couldn't buy the battery at Wal-Mart, because it is a new battery. Hopfully that takes care of the problem.

Kruz starts school, too.

Kolby and Kruz on the way to school.
Kruz at his locker.
Kruz and Kolby
Kruz and Kolby are so happy to see each other after school. They roll around and play.

Kruz's 1st day of school was on September 2nd. I took the day off and Kolby and I went with him. His teachers are Miss Marlane and Miss Karen. He is in the Little Willow classroom. I don't think he can understand as well as the girls did, what is going on. Although he liked the trip to and from school on his bus today. Kolby was asleep when I put Kruz on the bus. So when we left to take Kolby to Joan's, Kolby was upset that we were leaving without Kruz. How do you explain that one? So next week when Kruz gets on the bus, I will be sure to have Kolby up and walk out with Kruz. Then he might understand Mom's not just leaving Kruz home. I realized that this was the first big time that they have been separated. I took tomorrow off because Joan will be out of town,but it works out great because I can spend more time with Kruz. Kolby and I will spend the day with him at school again. They encourage lots of parent involvement. I was only able to get a few pictures of Kruz at school because they have strict rules about taking pictures of the kids. So I was able to get some of him when he was alone by his locker.

Mowing the Lawn.

Kruz, Kolby & Mom mow the lawn. The boys really enjoyed it. As you can tell, they are really great helpers. At one point Kolby even fell asleep. It just proves that we can have fun doing chores.