Here is a slide show of summer water activities...

EMOTIONALLY EXHAUSTED!!!

Today I went with my parents and 4 siblings down to Fairview to visit my brother who is in a drug addiction rehabilitation center. After years of drug addiction, my brother finally got to the point where he wanted help and decided to check himself into this rehab. We were all thrilled that he finally wanted professional help. He called and invited each one of us to this "family group therapy" day. It is always enjoyable being with the family you grew up with. (Nothing against spouses and kids, but it's nice). Anyway, we were walking into the unknown and I was very nervous and anxious. It was good to see my brother doing well. When we got there we sat in a class for a couple of hours and learned about addictions, relapse, etc. It was very informative. We had lunch and then had group therapy. Talk about scary. I only know what I've seen in the Movies. Anyway, there were four addicts and their families in our group. Of course we were the largest group. (I am the oldest of 7 kids and only 1 sister wasn't there.) We each took a turn telling what emotion we were feeling at the moment. Then each family group took turns having group therapy in a middle circle that we formed. There was a therapist involved in the discussion. We each let my brother know how we felt about him and his addiction and his wrong doings. He then appologized to each of us for different things and situations. Of course there were three big boxes of tissue in the circle with us. It was a very good experience! That may sound crazy, but it was for the situation. I am very glad I was able to go and I wish the best for my brother. But, needless to say I am very exhausted! Both physically and mentally. We were there for 6 hours and travel time was about 3 hours. I should be in bed instead of writing this blog...

HAPPY ANNIVERSAY!!!

Tom and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary on September 16th. Tom said he should of taken the thousand dollars his uncle offered and ran.(ha,ha) I can't believe we have been married this long. We went to dinner at the Roof in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City. It was very romantic and we had a great evening. It was a Tuesday night and we got a great table right by the window and had a great view of Angel Moroni on top of the Salt Lake Temple. The sun set while we were there. It was gorgeous! I started thinking while we were there about some of my favorite things. The things on this list our all from our evening in no particular order.

1-sunset

2-Salt Lake Temple(married)

3-Lion House dinner rolls with honey butter(I had two)

4-spending time with my Tommy

5-romance

6-great music

7-key lime pie
8-chocolate covered strawberries

9-carrot cake

10-eclair's

11-butter dinner mints

I know half the list was related to food, but they have alot of my favorite treats at the Roof. Anyway, we wanted to see a movie after dinner and went to Walmart instead. That's what happens when you've been married for 14 years! We missed the 8:00 show and it was a school/work night and I didn't want to take the kids to Walmart the next day. All in all it was a wonderful evening filled with favorites!

HELP!!

I need help blogging. I want a cute new background and I am inpatient to figure it out. Any tips would be wonderful. All of your blogs look so great! Thank you!!

Well my baby is now four years old and I'm freaking out. Cael's birthday was on August 27th. When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday he said, "a Lightning McQueen bat". At least it was a better answer than "I dunno know". Who knows if there is such a thing. I don't have time to search store after store. I knew he would be happy with anything to do with the Cars movie. I found him a little Lightning McQueen portable computer with fun games and a keyboard that he can learn on. I thought it would be the perfect present for him. He rarely plays with toys and is always asking if he can play a game. He knows how to play Sorry and Yahtzee and will finish a whole game. He loves it. Usually at that age they get sidetracked easily. Anyway the present was a hit and all of his siblings have been fighting over it. I'm sure the novelty of it will wear off soon as with everything. I decided to go with the whole "Cars" theme for his party. It is the first time I have ever bought a specialty cake. I thought what the heck it's my baby. We usually buy the big Costco cakes that are pre-decorated. It turned out really cute with Lightning McQueen (of course). Cael actually got two parties. One for each side of the family. He got new clothes, a "cars" flashlight, motorized cars, candy, ball and a plain black bat. He never said a word about it not being a Lightning McQueen bat. I knew he would be happy with anything. He had a fun birthday celebrating with all his cousins. He got to share one party with his cousin Tanner whose birthday is a few days after his. He really does look and act older. I think there is something about turning four. I'm ready for a new baby!

In August, we went to a cabin with my family and rode fourwheelers. The kids had lots of fun with cousins on this side of the family too. They are lucky to have cousins close to their ages on both sides of the family.

We also went to Bear Lake with Tom's dad, sisters and steps. Bear Lake is such a beautiful lake. The place we stay has minature golfing, a swimming pool/hot tub and a playground. The kids think it is the best. They would almost rather do other things than hang out at the lake all day. They love being pulled on the tube with cousins. It's just not as fun with the siblings as it is with their cousins.

Needless to say, we had the best summer ever!!!! We also squeezed in SevenPeaks and Lagoon. Tom thinks I'm crazy. But I love to travel and play hard. If it were up to him we would of only done 1/3 of what we did. Oh well, I guess it's not up to him. He's voted out 5-1. Thank goodness we got a stimulus check from the government to support our fun.

ONE HECK OF A SUMMER!!!!!

In June, Tom and I went on a cruise to Key West, Cozumel and Belize. We had an awesome time. It was quite the experience. We went scuba diving four times and it was wonderful. I had a couple of panic moments descending into the water, but I worked through my fears and I am glad that I did it. We saw a turtle, lobster, sponges, a barracuda, sting ray and lots of coral and bright colored fish. In Cozumel we were in a 7 man boat and had to flip into the water backwards with all our gear on. I felt like I was in the movies. In Belize we were on a 30 man boat and stepped off the side. Two totally different experiences. The food on the cruise ship was amazing. I wore a motion sickness patch behind my ear. There was only one night that the sea was rough and I noticed. We enjoyed the cruise, but decided that we would rather stay at an all inclusive resort instead of another cruise.

Tom's sister got married on June 21st. She was absolutely gorgeous! It was a perfect day! Everything thing went smooth. Morgan was a flower girl and Cole and Cody helped clear tables. They all had fun dancing.

In July, we went to Starvation Reservoir with friends boating and had an awesome time. Cole might think otherwise. He stepped on a big fish hook and Tom got it out. Cole was very brave letting his Dad get the fish hook out of his foot. Tom broke off the lure, poked another hole and pushed the hook all the way through. What a great Dad!

We also went to Oceanside for a week and stayed in a condo by the beach. We went with Tom's mom and three sisters and their families. On our way down, we stayed at Buffalo Bills and went on the roller coaster. What a blast! We all had alot of fun playing in the Ocean and on the beach. We went to Sea World a couple of days and loved that. Morgan and Cael are at a good age where they show excitement for new things. The older boys had fun, but I don't get the same reaction from them. My favorite thing at sea world was touching the rays and star fish. Cole and Cody loved the Sea Otter show and Morgan and Cael loved Shamu and the dolphins. The kids all loved spending time with cousins. We also were able to go and see the Anaheim Angels play the Indians. It was really fun going to a baseball game. The kids really enjoyed it. I didn't enjoy spending $4.00 for a hot dog. One day we went and saw some tide pools in La Jolla. The kids thought that was neat. The kids had fun building sand castles and waterways in the sand. They loved finding sand crabs and boogie boarding. I wish we could go to the ocean every year.