If you can't go to the cannery...

Bring the cannery home to you!!!!

It's a little difficult to get to the cannery as often as we should and want to. I asked around and found that my stake owns its own can-sealer and was available for check-out. When my mom came and visited last weekend, she brought me down some #10 cans, lids, and oxy packs so that I could finally seal up all the beans and rice that have accumulated underneath our beds. It was a fun project for me and Corky to do together, and surprisingly fast and easy. Especially having our two little helpers wanting to get a good look.

Keep in mind... (weekend part 2)

That if you come to my house, you have to earn your keep!

Just kidding!

My mom was the nicest person. I had asked her to bring some of her window cleaning equipment with her because I don't have any. She must have interpreted that as "Mom, you need to clean my windows when you come visit!" I didn't mean that, but she started cleaning my windows just after my race and I was conveniently rushing out the door to attend a baptism. She is so nice and my windows look great! I owe her big time.

That night we had a birthday part for Gracey. It was 2 days early but obviously Gracey didn't mind. We had a huge spread of BBQ and junk food and got to watch as Gracey blew out the candles of her "Dora the Explorer" cake.

*I felt so bad that I couldn't make her a real pretty cake. I had no time last week...luckily we found those sugar decorations and Gracey didn't know the difference.



Emily was a little confused why she wasn't getting presents, but next month is her turn.

Corky and I got her set of golf clubs. Whenever golf courses permit, Corky takes her along and she loves it. She was using a plastic toy club to hit with before so we thought it might be time to introduce the real thing.

The next morning, I definitely screwed up some pull-apart rolls. Ooops!!!

And Bailey gave me and Corky our flu shots.


Like I said, you earn your keep at our house. Looking at that picture though, I am thinking that maybe it was more punishment for my bed-head.

We had such a fun weekend! We love having visitors.

Busy Weekend (last weekend) (part 1)

So what I am a little slow. What's new?

Last weekend was a really fun weekend. Busy, busy, busy, but way fun! We crammed a whole lot of stuff into it and I am just now finally able to blog about it.

Friday night my mom, sister, brother in law, brother, and grandma came into town. (My stepdad came the next morning to surprise us all!) They all had a relatively low-key weekend planned so they decided to spend it with us, celebrating Gracey's 4th birthday a little early.

The weekend started off with a bang. I ran my first ever race, that was actually longer than 200 Meters!! Kingman started doing an annual triathalon a few years ago and a couple of my friends and I decided a couple of months ago that we wanted to join in on the fun and do a relay. Our goal was to just finish.



Rachel used to be a competitive swimmer at the University of Utah, so that was a given what she would do.


I don't own a bike, the biking portion was out for me. Luckily Tamsen loves the bike.


All that was left for me to do was the run. Keep in mind, I have ZERO endurance, ZERO long-distance running skill (and yes, I consider 5K long distance), and I have NEVER run more than a mile at a time.


I was a little disappointed in the race. I had practiced the same course a few times, even running longer than the actual race distance, but I wanted to die during the race. I finished in the time that I wanted, but I wish it wouldn't have hurt so bad.

Anyway, I finished. We finished. We were the first place women's relay team. (I would feel guilty if I didn't add that there were only 2 women's relay teams!)

And here are some snapshots of the cute spectators and events.

Consider this begging.

I am not a fan of unsolicited advice, therefore I try really hard to not give it. I am not always the best at it, but I try. Well, today I am calling on all advice I can get. Consider it extremely solicited.

My girls wake up every morning at 6:00am, sometimes even earlier. Last week I was getting them to sleep in until 6:45 and I thought I was in heaven. But now it is back to 6:00am and I feel I want to die. It doesn't even get light outside until after 7:00am. I have never been an early riser, ever, ever, ever...and I feel like the meanest mom in the world until at least 9:00 when I can somehow get out of my sleepy tired slump.

I just want to wake up one morning AFTER the sun comes up. Is that too much to ask????

Here have been some of my tactics:

• Put the girls to bed later. (Doesn't work, they still wake up at 6:00)


• Put my girls to bed earlier. (They get more sleep at night, so that's good...but they still wake up at 6:00)


• Send them back to bed. (works long enough for Em to crawl back out of her crib time and time again, until I surrender and we all just stay up)


• Tell Gracey that she and Emily need to stay in their bedroom and play with toys (they can turn on the light) until the sun wakes up, then they can come get me. (it worked once, maybe twice)


• Lock Emily in the guest bedroom (literally lock) and listen to hr cry until it is somewhat light outside.

I have never, and would never slip nyquil into their milk...but sometimes it sure does seem tempting, right?

Someone please have an answer for me besides "go to bed earlier" for me. I try that too...it doesn't work.

November 10th, 2004

It was the second very best day of our lives! Our little Gracey was finally born.



4 years later, you continues to grow into a kind, charming, and lovely young lady....with a little stubborn mixed in there also. We are so happy to be your parents. Gracey, we love you more than PIE!!

Conquered the polls

I am not a good sleeper. Very few nights do I feel I get a restful night's sleep. I toss, I turn, I get up to pee, I wake up wide awake for no good reason, and I worry about the lack of sleep I am getting...which of course keeps me from falling back asleep.

Last night was another restless night sleep, but this time is was because of the stress of today's election/voting. No, my life is not so wrapped around it that I am worried about who will win. Of course I am worried, regardless of who wins, but that is not the point. Last night I was stressing because I had no plans for anyone to watch my girls while I went and voted. I feel so strongly about voting and I was imagining myself looking like a hypocrite by not getting the chance. I was worried that I wouldn't find anyone to babysit last minute, I was worried that Corky wouldn't get home in time from work for me to go vote, and above all I was deathly afraid of waiting in lines. So this morning, I decided to brave the lines....with my 2 kids!!!

What was I thinking, you ask? The stress was getting to me so badly that I was ready to weather the throwing of tantrums and mean looks from others, just to get this voting business over with. So I loaded the ipod with the girl's favorite Disney Christmas music and the Elf Soundtrack and we loaded my purse with book after book. I grabbed my cheat-sheet (I wrote down my yes and no's of all the propositions, and labeled all the names of people I knew i was voting for!) and we were off.

I was pleased to walk right in, be given my ballot, set the girls up at my feet with the ipod and books, and I proceed to fill out my ballot.

Those mean adult-looks were substituted for "cute girls" or jokes of "can I get your ID?" (to Gracey) People were pleasant, my girls were well-behaved, and I was SO RELIEVED!

I finished my ballot in record-time, even after double checking and we were out of there. We left the house at 9:10am and were home by 9:35.

We are all now sporting our "I Voted" stickers proudly. We celebrated by coming home and having a morning snack of hot chocolate and toast.

Day 4 (part 2)

*promise these are almost over.

We went to a football game that afternoon (Saturday) at Michie Stadium. By some miracle, we were able to watch West Point win a football game!! I am pretty sure that Corky wanted to cry because he was so happy. I mean it in the nicest way ever possible because we are true and loyal to the army football team, but they don't win a lot.


After the game, we did a little bit more walking around, trying to take it all in one last time before we said our official goodbye to West Point.

If anybody ever has the opportunity to visit that place, I highly encourage it. There is so much of our nations history that started there. It has been an academy since 1802. It schooled folks like Robert E. Lee, Dwight Eisenhower, Buzz Aldrin, Stonewall Jackson, and Ulysses S. Grant, just to name a few! I am no history buff whatsoever, but it is pretty cool to walk the same grounds as many of those men.

Day 4 (part 1)

Saturday was another a fun-filled day at West Point. This time we got there early because the graduated alumni were supposed to stand in designated spots for the parade.

[Side-note Story interjection] When Corky and I met over 7 years ago, my group of friends were meeting up with his group of cadets to go watch a "parade." I was a little confused once the parade started because I only thought that "parades" consisted of giant floats and throwing candy. These are not those kind of parades.

Continuing on...

I sat in the stands taking pictures before it all got started while Corky stood with fellow alumni. All of the sudden Corky yells my name and points to me in the stands. I look and am pretty sure I screamed out loud. He was standing next to one of mine and Corky's best friends from college. I had seen him (Jermaine) and his wife (Zabel) twice in the last 5 years thanks to living just off of a major highway in California, but Corky hadn't seen him since college. It was such a nice suprise.

This is Corky and Jermaine.



Finally the parade began and it is always such a sight to see a couple of thousand young cadets marching in such a historic place, all in unison.


There's that flaming tree again...I told you I couldn't get enough of it.


And of course a picture of me and Corky. (Jermaine, in true "Jermaine-like" fashion, said that the picture catches me being translated on high!)


After the parade, we went to the mess hall. If you can only imagine this place, my pictures don't do it justice. It is MASSIVE and it reminds me of Hogwarts from Harry Potter. It has a few different wings. (google West Point Mess Hall images and you can get a feel for it.) We ate a typical cadet lunch of some kind of hot dog (???), sauerkraut, broccoli, milk, and gatorade. Not the tastiest lunch but it was the experience that counts.


Corky and I standing in front of a wing of a mess hall.


Jermaine and Zabel hanging out in another.


I told you this place was big!


And here we are saying our goodbyes to Jermaine and Zabel. It was a blast being able to spend a few hours with them.

The day before, Corky and I were talking about what a great experience we had living back there and how it is always bittersweet to go back to something you loved so much. As much as you prepare yourself, it is always kind of difficult to go back and realize that you will never relive those times again. It really just makes the memories of those days even more precious. That day though, hanging out with Jermaine and Zabel (they were engaged at the same time as us!) I realized that there are definitely some things that never change. Spending time with them, and laughing HYSTERICALLY at Jermaine, I was grateful again to have been able to relive a little piece of mine and Corky's life, before life really started.

And my nostalgia for the night is definitely spent.

Actually, one more thing. Remember this post and picture? (scroll to the very bottom of it) We had to get another one. A more older, wiser, mature version.

Day 3, Part 2

Friday afternoon we set aside to golf. Let me correct myself...Corky golfed and I had a day of just hitting a ball. I was quite disappointed because I was doing so well last summer but I didn't go at all this summer. I suppose NOT practicing just makes one suck. Corky was so excited to golf. He brought his golf clubs all the way from AZ to golf on this course. You would have thought it was a dream come true he was so excited to golf on the West Point golf course.

Anyway, before our tee time we had a while to kill so we took another scenic drive and drove to a look out that we used to go to. (Don't worry mom, we almost always had company with us so it didn't turn into "one of those" kind of look-outs when we were dating!) It was gorgeous and you can see the bend in the Hudson River, ALL of West Point, and also a cute little town across the river. I always think of this town being like one those giant puzzles pictures.

We set our camera on the car and took a self portrait. We joked that it looks like we are standing in front of a green screen and the background looks fake.


It was finally our tee-time and it was such a pretty course.

Corky was so happy to be golfing.

But I was sad because I wasn't playing well.

But it was still a blast! How could it not be when surrounded by all those pretty trees and the perfect weather?

Day 3 of our trip. Part 1

I have been so overwhelmed with all the pictures from our vacation to New York, not to mention I have been in a blogger-funk, that is taking me forever to post. I really need to get our trip blogs out of the way so I can finally start posting about fun things we have been doing since we have been home.

So here it goes!

That Friday, Corky and I drove from Connecticut to West Point. We took one of the many scenic routes that we would take when we lived there and I just started snapping away. I love all the small towns back there that are so old. Charming is the only word I can think of right now to describe them. They have downtown avenues and shops, and tree just surround the roads. We drove through the historic town of Sleepy Hollow. The roads back there are like driving through a tunnel of forest. You can imagine when I moved there how cool I thought that was, coming from the desert and all.

Does this picture look familiar?

I had Corky pull over so I could take my own picture of the Bear Mountain Bridge. I swear I was standing in the exact spot as the person who took the MSN picturethat I posted a few weeks ago. I just need a wide angle lens to duplicate it. Gorgeous, gorgeous view!!

Less than 10 minutes later we arrived at West Point.


It was so exciting to be back and walk around again after so long. The weather could not have been more perfect.

Take note of this tree. It was love at first sight for me. I took lot of pictures of it throughout our weekend.


This is a picture of Corky's class crest.



Here is that tree again.


This was Corky's room his senior year. It was fun to see that again. I remember driving up for the weekend and pulling right up to the curb and seeing his window open. I was always afraid I would get in trouble if I threw something, but Corky was usually expecting me so he was normally sitting by the window waiting.


We had a lot of fun times at West Point when we were dating. It was fun to re-visit and be reminded of them.

Praise the man....

That I now call my dentist!!!!!

Let's take a tiny break from my vacation postings, shall we? And speak of something that is definitely not as important or exciting.

I have had a toothache for a couple of months now but it was nothing in comparison to the tooth that needed a root canal only 3 days after having Emily. (I swear, I was taking percocet more for my tooth than I was for my c-section!) Anyway, so I have put seeing the dentist off since the past few months have been extremely busy. Not to mention, new place, new dentist....I haven't been in the mood to do my research for a good dentist here in town. Then on Monday, I decided to just go for it and I researched some dentists in the area and found one that had a website and looked pretty nice and modern. I was SO HAPPY to hear they had an appointment open for today, only two days later. My last dentist(in St. George) is a super good dentist but it takes sometimes weeks to get in to see him.

Let's back up a little. I have been getting headaches quite regularly the past few months. Before this, I RARELY got headaches and if I did they weren't too bad. I could totally deal with them, often times without the use of drugs. Which by the way, I rarely take. I hate pills. Not the taking the pill part, just the fact that I am putting chemicals in my body. I stay away if I can. Even after having kids, I always have plenty of pain killers that I end up flushing down the toilet because I don't even like them in my possession. Anyway, the last few months I am pretty sure that even though the economy sucks, the makers of Excedrin are doing just fine, thanks to me. It started only happening at that "time of the month" but then I started getting them all the time.

Just last night, I asked Corky if I should be concerned from all the headaches I have been getting.

Back to the dentist. They x-ray my tooth and tell me it is the tooth that had the root canal done. I was ticked and confused. Ticked because that root canal cost a lot of money, even with good insurance....and confused because I totally thought that once you have a root canal that the tooth is dead and can't feel anything. The doctor assured me that the tooth still looked really good so he had me bite down on the bite strips. It showed that my teeth didn't exactly line up and so that is what was hurting the tooth. He drilled the porcelain down a bit and it felt so good. Compare it to this; Have you ever had a day where you didn't realize your feet hurt but as soon as you take your shoes off, you feel so good and then you realize your feet are tired? That is what it was like in my mouth.

The doctor said "Have you been getting headaches recently?" I answer yes. He says this will more than likely help those. Thank you very much. He asked if I have been having stress lately. I answer yes. (2 kids, new town, new house, new calling, etc. etc.) He thinks I clench my teeth during stressful times. I know I do...and it hurts.

I will more than likely be getting a clench guard in the next little while but we are going to wait to see if just having the tooth filed down a bit will do the trick.

Boring post for you all, but super happy day for me!!!! Now if I can somehow get rid of this sinus infection that was pointed out to me from my x-ray...things will be smooth sailing. I guess it's back to the neti-pot for me.

NYC Day 2/Part 2

It's a small, small world. Let me tell you why....

As I was going through security in Phoenix, I noticed a girl that looked really familiar. Finally it hit me that she was my friend and fellow nanny about 6 years ago in Connecticut. She was about 50 feet ahead of me so I told myself that I would find her as soon as I went through security. Well I made it to security, found my gate and realized they were boarding my zone right then so I didn't get a chance to find her. Then with about a half hour left of my flight (I was on the very back row!) I was working on some primary stuff but looked up to see this girl walking away from the bathroom. I couldn't believe that my friend Terinawas on my flight. So I find her at baggage claim and we are both so SHOCKED and excited to see each other. She then tells me that she is vacationing with her husband and meeting another fellow nanny there. Who is meeting up with OTHER fellow nannies and members of our singles ward a long time ago. So we exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet for dinner the following night.

Thursday night comes around and we go to a place right by Union Square called Max Brenner, Chocolate by the Bald man. :) This place was so good and fun. I got a Cobb Salad and a chocolate pizza....in case you were wondering. Most importantly, it was a mini-reunion of people that never thought they would ever see each other again. There was a total of 12 of us in the party. 9 out of 12 of us were in the same ward together years ago. 6 of us just happened to be on vacation at the same time. This get together went together perfectly. Usually it is hard enough just coordinating schedules to have a party of 4-6. There were 12 of us and it was so easy and fun! Meant to be?? I think so. :) It opened up a whole new door for the blogging world and keeping in contact with old friends! Corky had to miss though because his flight wasn't coming in until later that night.

From left to right: Carol, Me, Brent and Terina, Nicole and Abe, Lamar and Amy, Azam and Amanda, Ted (taking picture), and Dan (married to Carol).

Here's another one that shows Ted and Azam's faces.


That night I went back to JFK airport to pick Corky up from his flight in from Georgia. My friend Heather just happened to be flying in at nearly the same time. Kind of funny that we live only 130 miles away from each other and yet we finally get to see each other clear out in New York City.

Between touring the city by myself, meeting up with old friends, taking the subway, and eating too much good food, it was a GREAT day. I am just so glad that the day before I rode the subway and saw other people's shoes. I remembered that nobody cares if you are wearing sneakers or anything else. If I wouldn't have remembered that, I would have worn my more cute/less comfortable brown shoes. Instead I wore my less cute/more comfy sneakers! Remember that for the future, folks.

New York/CT trip Day 1 and part of day 2

I have been home for over a week but have been a little overwhelmed by all the pictures I took and so I haven't posted any of them. Here they are though.

The first part of my trip to NYC was quite uneventful. I flew out of Phoenix and arrrived early afternoon. I knew I would have ALL DAY the next day by myself in NYC but I decided since I flew in early enough that I would go to the Manhattan LDS Temple immediately. I called to see if they would hold my luggage for me there and they would. So I hopped on the air train, then onto the subway and made my way to Columbus Circle. I was the only person around carrying a huge piece of luggage but I learned a long time ago that it is really difficult to stand out in NYC. I went into the Barnes and Noble that was next door, changed into my skirt, saw Munch from Law and Order: SVU, and walked on over to the temple. I was so excited because they had announced the temple when I was living in Connecticut a long time ago and missed the dedication of it by only one year. They converted part of the Lincoln Center, where members would go to church, to the temple and it was so great. It was really nice to walk into a place that was so peaceful and calm, and completely opposite of the busy-life that is New York City that is just outside.

I had a really funny experience with a man that was attending the temple, but I think I will save that story for later when I don't have anything else to blog about. (Sorry to keep you in suspense.)

After the temple, I took the subway back down to Grand Central Station where I hopped on a train to Greenwich, CT. Only about a 45 minute train ride to wear I used to work and live as a nanny.

I stayed up way too late catching up with my old boss and their son, Carter. (The oldest girl, Emily, was on her way home from college still).

I got up the next morning, took the train into the city and this is where the pictures begin.

For all the time I spent in NYC a long time ago, I never had been to Liberty/Ellis island. So it was fun to do that.



Walked around Ellis Island. (glad I did it but probably won't do it again...a little boring, especially by yourself and with no ancestry that had gone through there.)

I walked past the fools on Wall Street, spent some time at Herald Square (that had the most charming carousel), went to the NYC library, and then went to Grand Central Station.