OK, OK

So this is easy enough....(Kendra probably knew that and had me in mind:)  

99 Things Tag

(Just copy and paste this to your blog and bold the ones that you HAVE done.)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band -if you count junior high
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain-it depends on what qualifies as a mountain - no 14ers:) 
9. Held a praying mantis - if so, purley by accident!  Gross!
10. Sang a solo 
11. Bungee jumped 
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping. 
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse 
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run 
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted 
48. Gone deep sea fishing- never left the bay
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelingG

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie - a very small thing for high school students
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies 
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job 
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London - I hear the changing is boring, never stuck around
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book 
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car 
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating 
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous 
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake -been to it, and on a boat, but never do i want to be in it!)
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee (I'm going to count a hornet)

Life as I know it...

I have much to blog about, and think about, and clean up, and prepare, and pray for, but most of all be grateful for....and that is all I want to say.

I am grateful for my life, and everyone in it.  I am blessed and I am happy.  

I put foam curlers in my daughters hair tonight for the first time and we both loved it.  She is precious.  I adore her. 

My little guy has more personality than his little body can handle, energy and exuberance that is more than I can handle much of the time, and a heart that is as big as the moon.  I adore him too.

My husband is as handsome as they come, smart as they get, and we all adore him...and we know he feels the same about us.

What more could I ask for?  Like I said...blessed.

Fun

I could survive for 44 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

Created by Bunk Beds Pedia

Catalyst

OK, OK, so I've been tagged, (and reprimanded) and it is actually just the kind of post I needed to get me going again. You know that point when you have so many pictures that need to be uploaded, and blogged about, that you just don't even know where to start...and you feel completely overwhelmed so you don't want to do anything with it at all? Well, that is where I have been for months now, so thank you Kendra for helping me to start with a post that doesn't involve any pictures at all. I can do this. Hopefully it is a catalyst for change.

So here I go...

7 things I can do:

1. Floral arrangements
2. Hand Draft (yes, like with lead, a T-square, and a triangle...not that I will probably ever do this again in my life)
3. Drive on the left side of the road and not wreck!
4. Work all day long and feel as if I have gotten nothing done.
5. Make a perfect MINNIE mouse pancake
6. Find good travel and hotel deals on the Internet
7. Give my husband a decent haircut


7 things I can't do:

1. Give my son a decent haircut (at least until I have resorted to just buzzing it all off with the shortest length we have on the buzzers, because I have hacked to to pieces by this point)
2. Make a decent lasagna 8 out of 10 times (maybe one day)
3. Get everything I want to do done
4. Drink Alka-seltzer
5. Sneeze quietly
6. Eat a popcorn flavored JellyBelly without gagging
7. Get organized

7 things that attracted my to my husband:

1. His confidence
2. His charisma
3. His intelligence
4. His good family
5. His sensitive and spiritual side
6. His good looks
7. He could sing:)


7 things I say most often:

1. Hey, be nice!
2. You're silly.
3. Yea, you did it!
4. What's up?
5. yes
6. no
7. What did you do?


7 celebrity admirations:

1. I don't really care much about them, so I don't really have any, but my shallow observations include:
2. James Mardsen?? - he is always a good guy and never really gets the girl-too bad
3. Harrison Ford looks good for being as old as he is
4. Johnny Depp is talented
5. I wonder if Orlando Bloom is really as cool as Legolas or William Turner in real life, and note that he has a thing for very successful trilogies.
6. The Barefoot Contessa is really thoughtful and has a sweet relationship with her hubby.
7. All the characters on THE OFFICE are terrifically wonderful at their job, love it.

7 favorite foods:

1. My grandmother's caramels
2. Italian chicken
3. Taco salad
4. Tri Tip
5. Mashed potatoes
6. Cream of Wheat
7. There are really to many to name


7 people I tag:

1. Cayly
2. Joellen
3. Kim
4. Christina
5. Marcee
6. Let's face it, most everyone has probably given up reading my blog, so if your one who IS reading this, you can be number six and seven:)

No, I'm not dead

Shocking, I know! I am alive and posting something new. I just wanted to make sure there weren't any wierdos watching my blog you know...I figured they would eventually loose interest...um, right...

No really, I actually did start several posts over this summer, and then could just never get around to adding the pictures, etc.... and then the list of things to blog about became too overwhelming and I just gave up completely.

I have never been that great at record keeping, and obviously I still have a lot to work on. But heres to a fresh start...again!

I love the fall and it seems like the perfect time to reorganize my life and get back some routine.

Happy Birthday!

I just wanted to give a quick shout out and wish all our Birthday Buddies a great day (Or hope you just had a great day)! Happy Birthday Charlotte, Dad C., Ryan, Kendra, (of course myself:), Grant, Cory, Susan, and Mom M.! We love you all! (if there is anyone else who is having a Birthday and I am unaware of the date, Happy Birthday to you too! And, let me know so I can add you to our monthly list!

Reader Beware - It's an Epistle

Well, about my trip to England.... there are probably only a few of you that want to read all about it, but since I was horrible about doing any sort of journal while away, I want to record about it here for myself. So here goes, please bear with me....

For starters, we had a GREAT time!! It had been almost exactly seven years to the day that I last went to the UK, and it was so neat to go back. It was something I had always wanted to do and I am so grateful for the opportunity to do it.

As you might of guessed, there was a lot of this:

this:

and this:

but so totally worth it!

The trip started out a little rocky with flight delays, missing the connecting flight, the possibility of coming in 10 hours late, (mind you we were supposed to meet my mother-in-law there, thus her having to wait for us for an extra 10 hours!! And THIS was the best option compared to an entire DAY late!) not to mention the Denver to London direct flight, changed to a Denver to Chicago, to Washington Dulles, to London flight = NOT FUN!!!

However, while we were looking depressed and unsure of what to do at the payphone by the baggage claim, we received an answer to silent prayers and the nicest baggage claim girl in the whole world, (seriously) informed us that she thought we could still make our flight in Denver if we caught a Frontier flight that was about to board, (don't ask me why this wasn't an option at the ticket counter...I should have been more forceful) and she quickly re booked us and we RAN to the gate, made it, and then RAN to our next flight and to our relief and joy, we made it again!!! We were SOOOOOO happy, and when Jan saw us waiting for her in London, instead of her waiting for us, she was SOOOOO happy as well.

Our bags were not so fortunate though, and we were finally reunited a mere TWO days later!! Not to worry though, we could all fit into Jan's clothes:) That is not to say that United will not be receiving a strongly worded letter about the matter though.

Once we arrived in London, our first couple of days were to be spent in the countryside, which necessitated us renting a car, and I was the lucky one elected to drive:) As I was the only one even the least bit (and I do mean just a least bit) familiar with driving on the wrong side of the road, I didn't mind and I was confident we could do it, but not entirely stress free about the matter until we had successfully handed the keys back over to the rental car company . I am happy to report that we did so without incident, and it is one more thing I can add to my list of "things I didn't know I could do". It was actually a team effort and I must give credit to Jan and Cayly - never before have I actually wanted a "backseat driver"- but it was a big help to have all of us paying attention to the road. Jan also did most of the shifting (which was on my left hand side) so I could focus on the road and that was a big plus. The whole way of driving may be a bit nerve wracking with the tiny streets, tons of cars, and very few street lights, but I must agree that it promotes a much more defensive driving style and I actually felt a lot safer with the other drivers on the road than I do often times here in America.... But onto the fun stuff.

We successfully found our countryside B&B for the first night just outside of Bath. The home, hostess, and view were all fantastic and it was a great experience. We walked up the lane to an old English pub for dinner that night and ate by fireside. It was quite, quaint, and over 300 years old!

The next morning we awoke to an amazing breakfast of croissants, yogurt (which is much better than in America I must say), cereal, juice, tea, fruit, and THEN a full English breakfast!! It was fantastic and by far the best "English breakfast" I have ever had - and I have had several. (For those of you who are wondering, that usually consists of eggs, bacon (but its more like a slice of ham), mushrooms, cooked tomatoes, sausages, and toast, or sometimes they have beans too.) We didn't want to hurt her feelings when there was no way we could eat it all, so we ran up and got a plastic bag and hid 3 huge sausages in it to throw away later. If she really thought that we ate it all, she probably thought we were pigs...I don't know what the better thing to do was. She was probably having a good laugh while she let us go to town on the first course and then brought out the "English" portion. Oh well, we were smarter the next morning and just asked for a few of the options.

After breakfast we set off for Bath and strolled through town, popped into the Jane Austen museum, and then toured the Roman Baths. We were fortunate (we thought) to get to watch Becoming Jane on the plane ride over, so it was fun to go right to the countryside where she lived and based many of her novels. We enjoyed many of our own countryside walks while there:)

After Bath, we headed for Lacock Abbey which boasts the Fox Talbot museum (inventor of photography) and the window which he chose as his very first subject to be immortalized on film. It has had a fascinating history including playing host to hundreds of children during the war as a makeshift school and more recently as movie set of several films including Harry Potter. I guess that is about as close as any of us will ever get to Hogwarts, (with its magical protective charms and all:). We navigated our way through several more small villages and found our way to our next nights lodging which was also hundreds of years old. It was actually an old mill even mentioned in the Doomsday book. It had a delightful little pond and our host had a lot of character. It was a "jolly" time, as she might have said. We enjoyed another pub meal of fish and chips and reunited with our luggage late that night.

On Thursday morning, we were able to go to Stourhead gardens and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. After our 2 1/2 mile walk around the grounds, we then climbed 200 and something steps up King Alfred's tower! It was a beautiful view and totally worth the climb.

Our next and last stop on the countryside tour was Stonehenge where we were especially lucky to also get to see a wedding taking place, a very different wedding, but a wedding none the less. I don't know if they were druids or what, but it was strange. It may have been the guy in the black cloak with the antlers, or the hopping hand in hand over a very old looking broom, or the leaning on the stones in the main circle (like they were gaining some special power from them or something), but it felt a little funny. Anyway, we couldn't stay long as we needed to return the car, but it was good to see all the same.

We had an awful time trying to return the car, (note to self: signage around Heathrow Airport - not good, and I should listen to the navigator better) but after an hour of driving around (after having been just blocks away from our destination), we finally made it. We were then off to central London and Wicked that night.

We arrived to our hotel, and although we initially had some reservations, we were pleasantly surprised with it and had a great stay. We settled in and headed to Wicked. Awesome. That is all I can say. If you ever get the opportunity to see it, don't miss it.

Stay tuned for part II of the exciting three part trilogy....