The Devil Made Me Do It

Since arriving at my new place of employment I have been lonely...mostly for Adiel. I am also missing noise and several other normal things. This is the quietest place I have EVER worked! Besides all the quiet, there is some serious plotting going on around here. Some evil is lurking just under the surface here.


I have discovered why that is.

These people are really something that cannot be seen at face value. Underneath their regular day to day clothes lives something very sinister. They seem so nice and normal but I discovered the truth. Just yesterday I arrived back from lunch to discover DONUTS. Filled with fat, filled with calories, screaming my name. This is the second box of donuts this week. What is going on? It's like I have stepped into a Stephen King book and I can't get out. You can see from their pictures that everything I have said is true.

See these smiling faces? Notice the horns?

Here's a sly one...encircled in horns!

Plus this guy just came from Vegas...reeking in sin!

Here is sweet and innocence in disguise. Don't be fooled!

And this little teddy bear of a man has HORNS...can you see them too?

These two are in charge of this coven of horn wearers. They look so innocent...but they are the donut devils!

And look what they have done to poor Baxter!

No more Guardian Angel for me.

You have to help me out of this den of overeating before I can't fit into my car....I need someone to rescue me!

You're all too late! Look what has happened to me. Can you see all those fat calories oozing out of my eyeballs? What Kitty Kat is going to like me if I smell like donuts?

Thank you Veggie Mom!

Much thanks to Veggie Mom for such a lovely award. (You know Veggie Mom is a great Packers fan. She even lives back there and sometimes she and her family get to go to the games. I am totally green with envy. Did you see that 99 yard pass interception that ended with a touchdown last Sunday?? No, OK.)


Well on with this award. I would also like to thank Melissa B. who created this award and then gave it to Veggie Mom who passed onto me. Melissa is at the scholastic scribe and is one of my favorite bloggy reads. This was the award she made for her 200th post.

Now I must pass this on to five other bloggers who deserve to be recognized for their writing efforts: Here are The Rules, as stipulated by the Award's Creator:

Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.
Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.
Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.
Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit This Post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!
Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

This is the hard part. So many Blogs that I love to read. Filled with laughter, tears, inspiration and they always making me happy.

1-Tara at Mucho Matagi. I know I mention Tara a bit but I just love to read her blog. The things she blogs about keep me entertained for hours.
2-Emily at The Krazy Keston’s. Emily moved into my neighborhood and I swear she was 12 years old and already married. (She wasn’t really, she just looked so young!) Somewhere over time she became the mother of four children and has adventures that never end.
3-Liz at Livin’ The Dream. I have given Liz a blog award before and she said she was surprised. I don’t know why. Her blog is so entertaining. Her last one about Belle (her daughter) running off with a crotchety old man (her son) had my hubby and I laughing all night!
4-Tracy at The Journey. This is one of those feel good blogs. Tracy is so sweet she shares so many inspirational thoughts on her blog I really look forward to being there all the time.
5-And finally, Lynn, the Piggy Bank Painter. Now I have spent HOURS nagging Lynn to take it easy and get a nap in with all her work. And she works HARD. She finally listened to me but she was sick. Does that count? She is creative and ever so funny. She also makes a mean piggy bank!

There you are. Thanks again to Veggie Mom and GO PACKERS!!!

Tagged!!

As some of you may know I actually won a prize during the SITS blogathon. Didn't even know it until someone left me a comment and said Congratulations!! As a result of this prize I was also tagged with a meme from Texas Mom who also won a prize during the blogathon. She tagged all the winners. I have been such a blog slacker that it has taken me SOOOO long to get this done. But, since today is Friday and I have two seconds of free time I will finish this up!

So here are the rules are:

1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.

3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.

4. Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


So here we go. Seven Random Facts all about me!

1 – I have six night lights in my house. If you remember from my birthday post, I am scared of the dark and my hubby understands. He put all the night lights up before I moved in. My older sister lived with me for a time before I got married and said that my hallway looked like an airport landing strip because of the lights. I assure you she exaggerates most of the time. :)

2 – Every weekday morning I enjoy a lovely glass of Bold & Spicy Bloody Mary Mix. (without any alcohol) I got addicted to this on a flight from Denver to Salt Lake when I asked for a V8 and they only had this wonderful Bloody Mary Mix. I was hooked. (And yes I know it has lots of sodium and is really not good for me but the only other vice I have is Diet Coke.)

3 – I think it is most hilarious when people scream. At movies when people scream I laugh and always at the most inappropriate times. Plus I love to hide and scare people, then I laugh hysterically. I know there is something sadistic about this. Good times!

4 – I love pickle juice. But not any old pickle juice. It has to be from Hamburger Dill Chips. My new favorite is Vlasic Oval Cut Hamburger Dill Chips. The bottle at home is almost empty with very little juice because I drink it right out of the jar. I have a hankering for some right now.

5 – In rush hour traffic I start to freak out if I have to stop on an overpass. I always try to time it so I don’t have to be at a stop right on top of it. I am sure it is from seeing bridges collapse after California earthquakes and the bridge collapse in Minneapolis.

6 – I love to read True Crime books even though they scare me to death. Anne Rule is my favorite by far. I have read every Ted Bundy book I could get my hands on because he killed a girl I went to High School with and ruined the security of my teenage years. Also read every book about Mark Hoffman, the Mormon Bomber. I worked in downtown Salt Lake when all that happened. Very Scary!

7 – I cannot stand the smell of the meat department in grocery stores when they are cleaning for the night. I’m sure it’s the Clorox mixed with all that meat processing. Truly makes me sick. I have to cover my nose and almost run away as soon as I get a whiff. This all started with my first pregnancy and I never got over it.

So now victims to tag.....

1 - How about Tara at Mucho Matagi. Tara is so funny and I really want to know all those random things that she hides so well!
2 - Tonya living the dream in San Diego. OK, she works just like the rest of us but her adventures with her boys are hilarious. Plus I am sure she has some stuff we all need to know.
3 - Sherrie at Kaysville Momma. Sherrie is having a writers block so I thought I would help her out. I know she has done this before but really doesn't everyone have more than seven random things??
4 - My sweet step granddaughter Emily. Emily and her cute baby spent last weekend with us and she posted the cutest picture of us on her blog. Thanks Emily! Must know more about you.
5 - Adiel's little sister Steph. She is pregnant with her first baby, a little girl. I think I would like to know a little more about her, wouldn't the rest of you?


Sorry, that's it for my list. Two short, but I am sure we will learn some mighty interesting things! Enjoy!

Also, head on over to Rhea at Texas Word Tangle. She is having a giveaway that you don't want to miss out on! She is giving away a new Stir Fry Pan! Go on over and check her out!

I Do!

We had a wedding Saturday. This is the first big family gathering since hubby and I got married 15 months ago. It was the wedding of my cute hubby's second daughter's oldest son. (Whew, did you get that?) The whole family lives in Albuquerque except for Josh, the groom, who lives in Salt Lake. He married a black haired beauty named Molly. These two are so cute together! We had quite a diversified group of people attending the wedding. Hubby's youngest daughter said it was a little like the Democratic National Convention on one side of the room and the Republican National Convention on the other. It was pretty funny because that was exactly what it was like. Thank goodness we aren't all the same. Life would be mighty boring! And this wedding wouldn't have been as much fun.

The wedding was held at the 23rd Floor of the Wells Fargo Building in downtown Salt Lake. This is the view. The first picture is to the Northeast, the second is to the East toward the University of Utah and the last is to the South. I couldn't get a picture of the North because there is a huge building blocking the view, but, if I had I could have posted a picture of Temple Square. And the setting sun was shinning in the West windows so I couldn't get a picture of the Great Salt Lake either. You'll have to just use your imagination. Needless to say, it was breathtaking.

These lovely ladies were the Flower Girls. They are the twins nieces of Molly. They were so darling as they walked down the aisle dropping rose petals.

Here are Josh's sisters Alexi and Kayli dancing to the awesome DJ at the reception. The middle picture is the groomsmen's. Josh's youngest brother A.J. is first followed by the Best man. Sorry Best man, I cannot remember your name. Next is our handsome groom Josh with his other brothers Ben (who is getting married in May) and Matt. Matt is one funny guy! This last picture is of the young lady who caught the bouquet dancing with the young man who caught the garter. Unfortunately, Kayli and A.J. are brother and sister, but what good sports they were. The DJ wanted A.J. to put the garter on Kayli's leg. Very funny looks on both their faces!

And here are the bride and groom. First cutting their cake and then dancing their first dance together. Finally, here is Josh taking Molly's garter off with his teeth. Ah, to be young

These little darlings came over to visit us before the wedding. Alex and Jaden live in Idaho so we don't get to see them often. The last picture is of Alex and Jaden's Grandpa Jim taking a nap with their baby brother Paxton.

This little sweetheart, Kambri, stayed at our house with Grandma Gwen, (hubby's third daughter), Grandpa Jim, her Aunt Mary Jo and Mom Emily. She is so funny and we miss her already! (And the rest of our visitors too!)

And here is a picture of Matt, Misty and Emelia. I noticed when I downloaded the pictures I didn't get any family shots....just Matt and Misty. Thanks for letting me take your picture until I got one that wasn't fuzzy.

We really did have a good time and Hubby and I even danced. Now that was very exciting!

Thanks to Molly and Josh and their families for sharing their special day with us. We wish them much happiness and love for their new life together.

Welcome Home!

Sargent Bill, Welcome Home!

My sweet friend Donna, who lives in Minnesota, sent her son off to Iraq. She sent him knowing there was a chance she would never see him alive again. Bill is her first born, her baby, the only Bill she will ever had. Her heart broke and her eyes cried. I honestly don’t know how she was able to do this. But Bill was a Marine and wanted to serve his country. So off he went. Every time there was a news story about bombings or deaths or any of the horrors that go along with this war, I would wait and pray that Donna’s boy would come home safe. I know Donna always prayed for Bill, we prayed for Bill, many, many people prayed for Bill. Now, Bill is home. With Donna's permission I wanted to share his homecoming with you.

Bill arrived at Camp Lejeune finally at 6:30 PM on Wednesday! So happy to be here to welcome him home... he is one happy Marine to be in the good old USA! At one of their stops, about 300 Vets greeted them with cheers, clapping and many handshakes at the airport when they deplaned for a short layover. The town of Jacksonville, NC (where Camp Lejeune is) is just full of Marines and families welcoming them home...very heart warming to see the wives flying in to their returning hubby’s arms, the kids and babies being hoisted up and the smiles are miles wide! Bill is happy and very tired.... Thank you to you all for your prayers and support ... I am so grateful to have my son home.

Her is Donna with her boy Bill.

Thanks again my friend for all you prayers and support from you and Dick and your family. I can’t even adequately express what that means to our troops and their families!

I met a young Marine at the airport right out of boot camp on his way to combat training – of course me being me I introduced myself to him, told him how grateful I was for him and his brave service... and told him about Bill; he shook my hand, hung on the whole time we talked and grinned and told me how grateful he was for my words to him and thankful that I would pray for him... his name is Alexander...please add him to your prayers ... he was so young looking, sitting there with his music playing in his ear and this look of pride and youngness on his face... I wanted to just go with him and watch over him! Ha! The mom thing you know...

Flying back tomorrow morning... going to be hard to leave Bill, but not really... he is so much safer, and not long before we put him in our car and move him back home as a civilian. Yipppeee!

I cannot adequately express my thanks to those who have served and are serving in the Armed Forces. My prayers go out to all of them along with their families. Thank you Bill for your service and thank you Donna for being an inspiration to me. I love you!

SITS Rocks!

Heather and Tiffany at The Secret Is In The Sauce are having a blogathon and have asked everyone at SITS to join in. Since I am very obedient I am here to participate. Plus there are giveaways every hour. How can I resist that? SITS is a blog that joins together bloggers from all over and gives them the change to get to know other bloggers.

I have met some truly remarkable bloggers through SITS. If you are interested in meeting other bloggers this is the place to be. There are bloggers from all over the world and right here at home.

Here are a few of the lovely ladies I have met through SITS:

Veggie Mom I think I met by way of SITS through Adiel. She is such a great blogging friend. She always leaves me great comments. Plus she and her family sell Popr's. You have to go check them out. Pretty cool stuff!

I can't remember if I met Amy at Park City Girl at SITS but I do know that I was blog stalking someone from SITS when I found her. She is a totally amazing lady. She is so talent and makes some of the most beautiful quilts I have seen.

Melissa at the scholastic scribe is also a SITS girl. I love her sense of humor. Plus she gets huge kudos from me. She is a high school teacher and a great one. And she always sees the humor in it. I think she may be a saint! Plus check out that picture of the sleeping kitty, dont' ya just love that?

I just love Rhea at Texas Word Tangle who is so fun plus she wears a cowboy hat that is my favorite color in her picture. She has this wonderful ability to take pictures and add things that make them so hilarious. Someday I am going to learn that too.

And the last blogger I met through SITS is Kaysville Mama. Sherrie is such a sweetheart. She has the most wonderful uplifting stories. She has a studly EMT award winning hubby and two of the cutest kids ever.

There a some others that I just can't remember if I met them through SITS or through blog stalking....I think they may be the same thing.

Head on over to SITS and check out their featured bloggers and see if you run into someone who becomes you close personal blogging friend. And sign up yourself and someday you too could be a featured blogger!

Halloween

Saturday we held our annual family Halloween party. The kids are getting big and we were short three of the older ones and the youngest one. We were also missing all of Jack's and Kristin's kids. We still had a good time and I think most the those who came enjoyed themselves.

Here is Jill's oldest son Nick dressed up as a surly teenager. (I told him I was going to put his picture here and say that.) Nick is such a good kid. I tended him for a very short time when he was a baby and have always called him Nicky. Now that he's older he really doesn't like to be called that but he doesn't get mad at me so I'm guessing it really is OK. This is how Nick stayed most of the time.

The boys outnumber the girls for sure. Here is Jill's daughter Chelsea and her cute friend Madelyn. These two were such fun at this party. They were so excited to make all the crafts. They made scouring pad spiders, green apple witches, tootsie roll pop spiders, spooky eye votive's and a bat mobile. I didn't get a picture of any of the finished crafts but the scouring pad spiders and bat mobiles turned out pretty cute! Also, as a side note, Madelyn, who is 10, is wearing Jill's pep club uniform. Can you believe how tiny she was?!

The boys played a lot of Guitar Hero and ran around outside in the snowing and freezing temperatures. Boys, who can figure them out? We had chili and bread sticks and Jill made yummy hay stack desserts.

Here is the whole group (like I said we were missing a few people. 10 actually. Way more than half!) From the left is Marrla's grandson Gage, Alex, Chelsea, Nicky, Madelyn, Jill's #2 son Cody and another of Marrla's grandsons, Kyle.

Just before they all left Marrla handed out treat bags filled with candy, fake teeth, glow sticks, play dough and much more.

Welcome to the Other Side of the Hill

My baby brother and baby sister are turning 40 today. They are both on the downhill slide of that awful hill called old age. They do not look 40 and I do not feel like I am that much older than them. How could this happen?

I was 12 years old when they were born. Jack was 7 lbs 7 oz and Jill was 5 lbs 10 1/2 Oz. Our mother was in the hospital for a month before they were born on a vodka and tonic drip. (I don't know what it was but I do know they kept her drunk!) She was in the hospital on my brithday but when she came home she brought me a double present.

Jack and Jill have always seemed like my own children rather than siblings. They both lived with me in 1978 when I was a young newlywed. Well, Jack only did for about a month until he decided it was too boring there without his friends. But Jill stayed until she was 18 and almost out of High School. In High School Jack ran track and Jill was in the Pep Club. I used to loved to go sit in the stands and watch them. Made me feel like a proud mother.

Jack moved back in again while he was in College. He lived in a scary little apartment up by the U of U and was as poor as anyone I had ever seen. Plus he had a motorcycle and road it even in bad weather. I wasn't very patient when he needed a ride when the weather was bad. I'm sure someday when I am old and he is taking care of me I'll pay for that.

Jill and I used to go shopping every Saturday during the late 70's and 80's. When Jill's two sons were born I got to be in the delivery room when they made their appearances. It was a totally amazing experience.

Jack is all boy and Jill is all girl.

Jack and Jill at my wedding in July 2007

Jack is now a computer geek. (I think the correct word is IT Engineer, but what do I know. Geek works for me!) Jill has been in banking for 20 years and starting November 1st will be working right up the street from me.

Here they are at Jack's wedding in August 2007.

They are both now married to their High School Sweethearts.

Here are Scott and Jill with Jack and Kristin.

I am lucky to have Jack and Jill in my life.