Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Wow, I can't believe it's been an entire week since my last posting! I even missed a week of "Thankful Thursdays"... But I'm not necessarily sad because I took some MUCH, MUCH needed time off with my family! It's been a very difficult and emotional couple of weeks for us here but I'm doing my best to get through it all...and like I said, the time away definitely did me some good. I guess I'm trying to live by the good ol' mantra of "When Life gives you Lemons...You make Lemonade!" And I preferred flavored, Peach to be exact!

We had the kids, all of them, for almost the entire week, which we rarely ever get the privilege of doing, so we were excited to focus on the kids and have some quality family time. We have THREE birthdays in the month of July, Connor, Chase, and Abbie, and this was our time together to finally celebrate! Abbie just turned 14, Connor turned 11, and Chasers just turned 9! I can hardly believe it. We decided to take the kids away for an overnight trip and put some of those accumulated Priority Club points to use! (Free is always good!)

We headed up north...way up north from our home...to Layton and went to Cherry Hill Water Park. It was over 100 Degrees outside so the water adventure was just what the doctor ordered! The kids had a blast running from one end of the park to the next. And Chris and I enjoyed just doing whatever Pookie wanted us to. He eventually braved the water slides and LOVED it. But I think my favorite part was the hour or so that we all just floated around the Lazy River. Jaxon of course stayed on my tube at all times, but I was alright with that. We ended the night by playing Aeroball, Cyd did some rock climbing, and everyone took some turns at the batting cages. It was a great day! The only bad thing about it was that I left my camera in the car...but I thought I left it at home...so no pictures of our fun day! :-(

We stopped for ice cream treats on the way to the hotel and finally arrived around 10:30 that night. We loaded up all the luggage, pillows, stuffed animals, and of course PRESENTS, and headed to our rooms! Abbie, Connor, and Chase were all thrilled with their gifts and we had a great time watching them open them up!

The next morning the kids got up bright and early to go swimming again, and I took my time getting us altogether to leave. Chris had to work that morning so he had already left...WITH THE BIGGER CAR. Yeah, we didn't plan that so well. So not only did I have one-to-many children in my car...we were JAMMED PACKED with crap! And wouldn't you know it...I had a blow-out on the freeway! So typical of my life! So I sat on the side of the highway, praying a police officer would NOT stop to help me...waiting over an hour, in 104 Degree weather, with five crammed kids, for Chris to come and rescue us! It was insane! And positively exhausted me! I don't know what a road trip would be like for us Cole's but after that day...I'm not in any hurry to try one out!

Friday and Saturday were pretty low key for us...which was just fine by me! And then on Sunday Chris and I had the opportunity to go boating with some great and close friends of ours. Unfortunately as soon as we got on the boat a major Thunder Storm came through so we actually never even left the boat slip! :-( But regardless we had a great time. We BBQ'd right there on the boat, had a leisurely dinner, and just hung-out watching the storm and enjoying one another's company! The long ride to the lake, and back home, was also completely enjoyable! It was just great to get away for the day and relax some more!

Today of course the usual work routine kicked in, but fortunately, I think my time off re-energized me and I actually had a great and very productive day of work! WHEW! I ended the day in the afternoon and took the kids swimming at our neighborhood pool! That was a blast. I love watching the kids have fun and it is so nice having a pool at our disposal every day! But what I enjoyed most was just lounging in my chair and soaking up the view and the mountain that we live on. I think today was the VERY FIRST time since we moved in just a year ago this past week, that I have fully taken in and enjoyed my surroundings! It was great, and I intend to get in as many more days like that as I can in the remaining summer days!

One last thing...the title of the post...well I think it sums up just how great of a week we've had...and it also just represents the overwhelming need I think we all have to just stop life and soak it up. I know I do it far to far between and I need to do it much more often. And funny enough...the thunderstorms we had this weekend brought some amazing rainbows with them. Perfectly fitting!

Have a great week everyone!

All Twilighters PLEASE READ and POST a Message on my behalf!!!

Hey fellow Twilighters!




I am not sure how likely my attempt to accomplish this particular feat is going to be...but it sure will be fun trying. And I can't do it without your support.



This past week a local radio station (My favorite by the way), 101.9 The End, apparently is having a contest to choose a true TWILIGHT FAN to Interview Stephenie Meyer herself, LIVE on the Parker show! I've had several of you who read my blog and know of my love, okay, obsession with Twilight, and encouraged me to send in my application to be that interviewer. So I did!

In my email to Parker, I invited him to check-out my blog to see just how devoted I am. But what I am hoping, is that if you all could just take two-minutes and post a message to this blog and help convince Parker to choose me. Remember ANYONE can post a message. You don't have to have a Blogger or Google account to do so. You just simply choose "Anonymous" and post your message. So I'm asking, pleading, alright BEGGING you to help convince Parker to give me this opportunity!!!!

I'll keep you all updated if anything comes of this! Keep your fingers crossed...and remember, post a message!




Thanks!
Natalee

Late again...Thankful Thursday is here and has Edward written all over it!

Okay, I am on EDWARD overload right now. I can't even function!


1) Twilight Trailer Teaser #2 - This is the latest Teaser Trailer out there. "MMMMM...You brought a Snack!" Seriously, I mean EDWARD is hot...but can we talk about James for just a second! HOT! Okay, second is over! Back to Edward! Isn't it lovely that Vampires love Baseball! I want to be on Team Cullen please!



2) Twilight Preview/Scenes NEW! - This is what you will see if you purchase "Penelope" on DVD folks. Now the movie is also worth the money...totally sweet little love story! But...HELLLO, these 4 minutes of bliss make it worth the money alone! Enjoy!



3) My Chasers!

Last night Chase had a special Pack Meeting for Scouts where he has earned his Wolf Badge and about 10 other awards. Now, I have NEVER been into scouts, nor know anything about it (My brothers did sports!) But I am so thankful that Chase has found something that he enjoys and is really excelling in. I'm also very thankful for his dad for finding and helping Chase in this area. It's something they enjoy doing together and for that I am so very thankful!

Besides the award ceremony, they held a "Boat Derby" which Chase Won amongst the boys...but even funnier is that his dad won over everyone!

Here are some photos from the event! Check out some fun videos in our Royal Family Photo gallery!

4) A Save Haven and Nice Retreat! Thanks Mel for everything this week! Love you!

5) TGIF!!!!! I know this is "Thankful Thursdays" but since it's late again, I think I can technically still be very Thankful that is FRIDAY!

Thankful Thursday (Late Again!)

Yeah, so another grueling week at work prevented me from posting my "Thankful Thursdays" post...but oh well? Better late than never! :-) So here you go...

1) Baby Darcy! - So this past Tuesday, one of my dearest and closest friends gave birth to a beautiful baby Girl! All went well and both Mommy and Baby are doing great! I am so thankful for this blessing and sweet addition to Tiff's already precious brood! Welcome to the world Darcy...Aunt Nat loves you soooo much!

2) Redemption! - Yeah, so EW Weekly completely BLEW their cover this week with the picture of our Beloved Edward and Bella. I hated it, but I already discussed this point in my previous post. But what I do want to speak to is that the photographer clearly redeemed himself with the photos INSIDE the article. And for that I am soooo thankful! OME! I love him! I love him! I love him! The first photo is titled "Stormy Relationship", and the second photo is titled "Blood is Thicker than Water"

3) The Sistership! - So this afternoon I spent several hours online IM'ng with the Baby Sis and I am so thankful for our shared love of Twilight, aka EDWARD...but also HSM3!!!!! We had such a blast sending one another different YouTube links to different HSM3 clips, etc. And then switching right over to anything Twilight! We both love escaping to our little worlds, but it's always fun to share your obsessions with Blood! HA BLOOD! OME!

4) My Pookie! - So, truly I'm not sure just how thankful I am about this subject Matter, but I do know how thankful I am for my sweet little Jaxon! Just like any other parent I'm going through the "progressing to the next level" of behaviours, attitude, etc. that all parents do. But these two particular phases stand out with me because they are so endearing to me, and well, I hope I never forget them. When Jaxon first began talking, from the very beginning, I was always "Money". I remember the day so clearly when he lost that cuteness and innocence and actually began pronunciating his M's and moved up to "Mommy". I was crushed. Not that I don't like him calling me "Mommy" but that he was clearly getting older. Well I've now reached the point where hearing him call me "Mommy" is the most precious thing...because NOW he "just wants to call me MOM!" He's adorable in that he asks my permission to call me "Mom" instead of "Mommy", but man, it just makes him seem even older to call me "Mom". Another crushing moment! I hope we don't get to "Natalee" anytime soon! HA!

5) A great Holiday! - I previously discussed how much I love the 4th of July! Well I just wanted to provide a quick follow-up and share how great of a day it was for us. Jaxon and I spent the day together because Chris was unfortunately working...But Jaxon and I made the time go by! We received a surprise phone call from our dear friends Wayne & Maritza and they decided to join us for the Sandy City parade and Fireworks. Yipee! So as soon as Chris got home, we took off for the evening.

The weather was perfect since it was overcast. We arrived at Sandy City Hall just as the parade began. The Johnson clan was already there and had staked out our area! Funny enough, Jaxon wanted nothing to do with the parade. Instead, he just wanted to sit in his new chair. He was full of himself all night long just hanging out in "his brand new, so special chair!" Hilarious!

We spent the evening enjoying one another's company, and doing all that we do every year...enjoying every minute of it! I love my family and I love sharing this day with them! I'm never disappointed!

"It was an adrenaline rush...You can Google it!"

Wow Twilighters...in my brief return to my favorite world today, I realized how laxed I have become in my Twilight updates! Shame on me. Being in this world just makes me so happy!

Anyhow, posted below is the upcoming Entertainment Weekly magazine cover and it features our favorite Vampire and Vampire-To-Be. HOWEVER...it is an AWFUL, AWFUL picture. So, NO Brittany, you can't use this as an example of why you still don't like Robert Pattenson as Edward. Truly folks, it looks to me like a really bad Photoshop make-over gone VERY WRONG. Edward is nowhere near that weird looking in any of the scenes, or in real life...HELLO...I saw him myself! And Bella looks like some 1920's goddess...which we know she is NOT in the movie. But whatever...the fact is that the magazine is going to highlight the release of "Breaking Dawn" and talk more about our movie!

So to make up for the horrid picture, here's an update video/interview talking about WHY the movie HAS to go away from some of the book...and Hello!!! Edward is y-u-m-m-y! He just sent me into an Adrenaline Rush (watch it and you'll know what I'm talking about with that phrase!)

Enjoy my fellow Twilighters! And Godbless Stephenie Meyers! Woo hoo!

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