Family Togetherness......I Love It!!!

Here I am catching up again, seems like I do a lot of that on this blog o' mine! We were happy to have the Bills family with us for a few days, and we certainly manage to cram a lot of "going and doing" when they are in town. We had a great day with almost all of the grand kids (missing Jake) on Monday. We headed to the Family History Museum. The kids enjoyed a lot of hands on activities, Max is always up for a terrific "cheese" smile for his Nana Sue! The little girls loved the babies and the woolly lamb. Luke was happy to push the chairs around and tried real hard not to tip over!!

Water activities were in order because of the heat that FINALLY arrived. We made an evening of it at Cherry Hills and I had a great time taking different kiddos down the water slide, it was a blast.......but when I got up the next morning, I realized sadly that my brain is still about 17 or 18 and my body is all of my 55 years!! I was actually sick most of the day, poor Nana Sue, maybe it was something I ate! haha You will need to go to http://www.ermakaluso.blogspot.com/ to get a better idea of just what went on at Cherry Hills!!! You can see what a great time Doug, Linds, Marshall and Neef had!!

Bits and Pieces.....

Well where does the time go?! First some good news, I have gone almost 2 weeks without locking my keys in my car, I also had 3 keys made and they are in various different places, just in case I do it again!



I have been making quite a few runs to Herriman, Sandy, Draper, Layton back and forth. I'll tell you this gas thing is making me crazy! I am trying to slow down, it really does improve gas mileage, I tested it on one tank. Then I was totally late and of course since I had a new full tank of gas I decided going a little faster was in order so I wouldn't be too late!!



LaVon invited me to play in a golf tournament June 17 and she wanted us to go out and practice before the big day. Here we are at Lakeside having a great time! She is so much fun, we laugh and cry together a lot! We both played pretty good. For my first time I actually played real well. I was pumped up and ready for the tournament.......well the first 3 holes I did ok and then I really fell apart, taking 8, 9, even a 10 on one hole. I was pretty discouraged. Even so we won $10 each! We have also decided to try to play each week with Joe and Randy. This past Thursday was our first time out with them......well I had a couple of good holes. I have definitely decided to call and get some golf lessons going!

The Lost Week.....

Well here I am again playing catch up! Last week seemed to fly by and I was doing ok until I hit Thursday. I had spent Wednesday in Herriman showing homes and needed to go back out on Thursday. I was racing to Office Max to get a few office supplies, mainly small three ring notebooks and some ink for my printer. I was on the phone, jumped out of my car, pushed auto lock and slammed the door........oops, keys were not in MY hand or purse, keys were still in the ignition IN the car.

No worry, I have On Star, one easy call that's all. Imagine my surprise to be told "ma'am, you no longer have the on star service, your vehicle is an old school analog piece of junk and you need the high tech digital mechanism so we can find your junky car and unlock it for you!" So they transferred me to road side service and I realized after about 5 minutes that I was glad I wasn't bleeding to death because it was taking way too long to be connected. I hung up and called my dear friend Susan at the office and begged her to bail me out.......as always she cheerfully said she would be right there. We made a run to our home, I found Randy's extra key (thanks RDB for confirming the location of said key!) and then back down to Office Max, oh by the way, while waiting for Susan I ran in to buy my supplies and was so ruffled that I FORGOT the binders, I did however get the printer ink! I was able to hurry to Herriman for my appointment.

The buyer's in Herriman have decided to rent for a little while and then look for a home. It was good to make a connection with past clients, they are awesome people! Her name is Tracy and she has a hair bow business, it is http://www.harebows.com/ and has super affordable hair bows, check it out!!

I tried hard to find a photo of a cute set of car keys, no luck, but you all know what keys look like anyway right?

Then on Friday I was able to help tend this cute doll, Izzy, while Linds was out of town and Dougie was getting some work done. Izz is a terrific shopper. We ran out to find my friend LaVon a birthday surprise and found ourselves at Deseret Book. Isabella LOVES to read books so I told her to pick one out......she couldn't decide on one to buy so we ran over to Seagul Book, much better inventory of really cheap books!! Izzy picked up one right away and then I got a few things, but alas she spotted one green stuffed bunny and 2 purple ones, she carried all three around for quite a while, looked at a few greeting cards. I could not sway her to a book, she really liked the $2.49 bunny and she finally chose the green one, what a pill. She did not want to give it up for the clerk to scan it, so we held up the tag and the clerk had to "shoot" it with the gun to ring it up!

Now it was lunch and then nap time, we headed out to my car and can you even believe it.......... the keys were NOT in my purse-they were hiding in the ignition AGAIN!!!

How does this happen to someone as well put together as me you ask??!! Well I am certain I am totally losing it. This time I called my terrific daughter Suni to see if she could bail me out (again), hooray, she was available and ran right to the house, got the key (good thing I had put it away!) came right over and for her time and trouble we all went to lunch at Wendy's! Thanks a ton Suni you're the best! Her sweet husband had a great solution to help my "locking keys in car" syndrome, this cute handy and ever so sylish retractable key chain. Don't you all think this would look just grand hanging on my waistband?? Knowing me I would inadvertently unhook it and leave it in the car as I am talking on my phone, getting out and locking the door, again...!!

I almost didn't tell Randy about the second time. He was so sweet the first time, making sure I found the key, checking back to make sure I was able to get in the car and not once did he ask me how I managed to do it or WHY did I do it. But boy oh boy, I was sharing the stories with the Johnsons and told them about the second time and how great Randy was the first time, well after telling my story about the second time, dad smiled at me and quietly said "idiot"! I had to agree, I was a total idiot for doing it the second time!! So I will be making my way to Mac's lock and key, have them make oh, maybe 5 or 6 keys and place them in stragetic spots around town, you may all end up with a spare key to my car!! Maybe even make one into a really cool necklace!!

So another week in review. Happy traveling to you all!!

This Handsome Guy is 28 Today!!

Isn't he just the best looking guy ever!! I am proud to say I gave birth to this fellow 28 years ago today in the basement of the new Payson hospital! We were so excited to get a boy after our two girls, and believe me, from the very beginning he has been ALL BOY and going 100 miles per hour all the time! Here are just a few things I know and love about my Dougie boy:

He is so coordinated!

He loves Lindsay and Izzy and it shows!

He is honest!

He works so so hard at everything he does!

He plays even harder!!

He is very athletic!

He doesn't like pie!

He thinks writing is a waste of time!

He is a perfectionist with a lot of things!

He is a terrific dad, Izzy is a lucky lady!

He loves his mom, dad and sibblings!

He has two speeds: super fast/sleeping!!

He loves dogs!

He enjoys fly fishing, golf, skate boarding, snow boarding, surfing, wake boarding, soccer, etc!

He is naturally good at all of the sports listed above!

He loves Iron Maiden!

He is a good business man!

He has a really big truck!

He has a great smile!

He has had a couple of near death experiences (thay I know about!), and lived to tell the stories!

I love to hear him tell stories, dude!

He makes me smile when he walks into our home!

I love to see him play and be with Izzy!

He loves little kids!

I think he is still a kid and will ALWAYS be young at heart!!

Way to go Doug! I love you and am so proud to be your mom!!

Happy Birthday!!

Had to get a photo of the June birthday kids!!

A Beautiful Girl Turns 25 Today!!!

I am proud to say I gave birth to this beautiful girl 25 years ago today! Whew, glad I lived through my 4th natural child birth! Janetha Ann was born just after the infamous floods of '83 (not a word in any Salt Lake papers about this incredible event) She was beautiful from the very beginning, she was even pretty cute when she was eating dirt that had spilled on the floor from the flower pot she had pulled over! She has experienced a lot in her 25 years. I want to share some things I know and love about Janetha:She is always smiling, a very beautiful smile too!

She loves pedicures, but her feet are ticklish!

She loves animals, especially dogs, it used to be cats, in fact I don't think she ever did own a doll, only stuffed cats, pound puppies and purries!

She is a TRUE friend and will go to bat for the people she really believes in!

She is full of energy, but loves a good nap too!

She loves words and word games!

She has a counting fetish (inherited from her mother)!

She has such beautiful blue eyes!

She may have short legs, but the gorgeous long hair makes up for them!

She loves clothes and shoes!

She also loves hand bags!

She has a million friends!

She has lost too many friends to death......

She has a superb memory!

She loves to have a good time indoors or out!

She loves her family and loves to spend time with all of us!

She is a great organizer (when she wants to and when it is needed)!

She is a "people person"!

She has learned from her mistakes and is a stronger person because of them!

She loves ALL food, especially Trader Joe's!

She can be trusted!

She is a blast to be around and can make those around her feel comfortable and welcome!

She is very, very smart and can put ANYTHING together with or without instructions!

She is passionate about many things!

She is wise beyond her 25 years!

I could go on and on, but as you can see she is a pretty special lady, one thing is for sure, she will always be my baby!!

Happy Birthday Neef, I love you too, too much!!

Mom