The Royal Court of Nat "Queen" Cole

A Great Weekend and Some Recommendations to Boot!

2009-11-08T14:55:00.004-07:00

It's been an eventful and fun weekend around here. Family was abound and plentiful all weekend long. We had the great pleasure of having our cute cousins Riley and Kalli spend the night with us on Friday night. It was a night filled with games and laughter! For a Family game recommendation I suggest you ask Santa to bring your family Uno Spin! This game has a great SPIN on the original classic and our kids LOVED it. We played it for a couple of hours!

Saturday was yet another fun-family-filled day! It started with me shopping with my mom for Kalli's Birthday presents! We ended up at Justice for Girls! If you have girls from the ages of 5-16 this is the store for you! But full disclosure...it's pricey UNLESS you purchase their Justice Club Card. Mom's this is worth it's money in GOLD! It costs $25 and entitles you to 30% off year-round! But it gets better...if you have any of their special certificates, like their 40% off your entire purchase, you get an additional 5% off. That's nearly 50% off your entire purchase! That's huge!!!! I have more than received my $25 back. Oh, and their J-Bucks are going now! For every $50 you spend, you get $40 back in J-Bucks! These are good starting 11/28...Just in time for Christmas shopping! And for those of you who do the traditional Christmas PJs, you're gonna love what they have for you! Oh and don't forget to tell Santa about the awesome Stocking Stuffers! (Yeah this place is EVIL...Crack-Cocaine for Tweens and their shopoholic moms!)

Needless to say our little Kalli made out like a bandit with her Birthday Gifts! She's gonna be one hot lookin chic at school!

After shopping we met my dad and Chris and all the kids and we went to see "Michael Jackson's This is It" This was Chris' third time seeing it and my second time. So yeah, I think we love it. It truly is an amazing film and just shows without question what a talented star MJ was. It made me so sad to watch and know that he is gone as is his talent. The concert that he was putting together was amazing and I cannot imagine the heartbreak the performers involved have experienced. My dad was just enthralled the entire time! Watching the movie and him perform all of his biggest hits was like reliving my childhood. It was a great time! In fact it was such a great time, that at Kalli's birthday party later that night, we ALL decided, all 24 of us Johnson's to run to theatre and see it again! Babies, little kids and all in tow, we watched the late night showing...my siblings and I practically dancing in the isles! It was a great night! If you ever loved MJ...Go see this movie! It has been extended through Thanksgiving weekend!

Today has been a typical lazy Sunday with the kids. But the part that I wanted to share, not necessarily a recommendation, but just something fun to BLOG about. My sister and BIL bought Cydnee "Coraline" the movie with the 3D version. My kids have never seen a movie in 3D and let me tell you...it's been effin hilarious watching them go through this experience! Jaxon has been exclaiming every minute.."WHOA this is AWESOME!" or "UH Mommy, I don't like it!" So funny! To say the least we will be going to the 3D version of Disney's "A Christmas Carol"! (But not until after Thanksgiving!)

15 Days Ladies...GO TEAM EDWARD

2009-11-04T13:01:00.002-07:00

Yeah, I'll be getting my copy of this magazine as well!!!!

18 Days Ladies..

2009-11-02T12:56:00.005-07:00

Seriously??? Seriously!!!! OH MY EDWARD!!!!

A Vamptastic Halloween!

2009-11-02T01:29:00.009-07:00

Why has Blogger become so difficult??? UGH! Loading pictures is a horrible time and a great struggle!!!! Anyone know what I am doing wrong or what has changed???

Sorry total sidebar there!

We had the most Fangtastic Halloween this year. I believe confidently that it was our best Halloween Bash yet. The only thing that would have improved it would to have all of our kids with us.

My friend's new boyfriend made a comment the other night that "I appear to make Halloween an investment!" I loved that! Because I absolutely do! And fortunately Chris has and does fully support that investment as he loves Halloween as much as I do!

This year's theme was Skull and Bones, and it turned out wonderful! As usual everything looked terrific and spooky! I decided to try something new this year and that is to put out our firepits in the drive-way and sit around fires as we handed out trick-or treaters! It was a HUGE success and we were by far the most popular house in the neighborhood!

As we all stood around the fires, completely decked out in our costumes, all the neighbors saw what serious Halloween Partiers we all were!

We warmed up after trick-or-treating with an awesome Hot Witches Brew! Then we finished up with gobs of good food and goodies!

My brother Jett dressed as Michael Jackson, so for nearly two hours we played homage to the King of Pop and we danced and lip-synced to just about every song MJ ever produced. It was great fun!

Everyone participated by dressing up which just added to the funness of the evening. My little brother delighted all of us with the scariest Joker outfit I've ever seen! But boy did he have fun with it. He dodged in and out of the street...chasing cars...and scaring all the teenagers! We had a blast watching him terrorize everyone!

Having the same kind of fun was Chris who surprised Jaxon, the Jedi, by dressing up as Chewbaca! Though with the height difference he looked more like an Ewok than Chewie! Love him for trying though!

Like I said, it was a fabulous night, and I'm not so sure I can top this one. And who knows where Chris and I will be next year. So this was a good year to end with a bang!

Hilarious BLOG about my new Vamp Show

2009-10-20T23:37:00.000-06:00

This is soooo funny gals! Seriously, I am in LOVE, LOVE with "The Vampire Diaries!" Stefan is so incredibly beautiful and hot it's sick! Did I mention I wish I could just have one of those? My cute little Caitlin found this and shared it with me. Please just use the link below and ignore the rest of this Busy Bee's blog...it's RaTarDED! Girl is indeed a busy bee loving herself! (I digress!) Anywhoo...the season is totally heating up and I am so happy that I can have Vamplove YEAR-ROUND NOW!

30 days till Edward!

busy bee lauren: the lauren diaries: "lost girls"

People Magazine - Collector's Edition - New Moon

2009-10-20T23:14:00.003-06:00

Ladie's...and you closet gents out there...People released it's In-Stores-Only Exclusive New Moon Edition. It is HOT! Lots of juicy pics and confirmation of Robsten's off-screen romance!

Get your copy today! I grabbed the last one at the Smith's in Herriman! (Whew and Sorry!)

New Moon micro widget

2009-10-20T23:13:00.001-06:00

October Book Club Review

2009-10-18T22:57:00.003-06:00

For October's Book Club we read "Mr. Darcy Vampyre!"

This was completely self-indulgent vampire fun! It had the beauty and love story of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy from "Pride and Prejudice" with a Vampire twist mixed in! Great fun!

The story pics up the morning of Elizabeth's and Jane's combined wedding day! Elizabeth's life was never the same from that moment on!

I thoroughly enjoyed the "Marriage Tour" throughout much of Europe and loved living vicariously through the Author's eyes.

If you're looking for an easy, and fun read... this book's for you!

Fall Randomness

2009-10-18T21:31:00.006-06:00

We've had a Spooktacular October and Fall so far! Here are just a few highlights of what we've been up to!

Jaxon and I made our own version of a Halloween Countdown Calendar!

I don't have to answer now every morning, "How many more sleeps till Halloween?"

The first weekend we participated in the Garnder's Village Wee-Witch's Weekend!

We had such a great time! Perfect way to kick off the month!

I loved having Hayley, Sammy, and Lamar with Jaxon and I!

Yummy Country Food, Adorable Witches, and Lots of Fun!

Jaxon and I loved the Hayride to the Witch's Post! The stories and Witches were a real Hoot!

Jaxon wanted a Spider Balloon Hat...and that's exactly what he got!

Jaxon LOVES his Aunt Hayley and his Aunt Sammy

He really enjoyed all the crafts and Halloween Projects he got to do!

Our trip to the Pumpkin Patch was as usual, a great time!

Jaxon is REALLY into the Corn Mazes this year!

He loves running through them and finding his way out!

Been great fun for us!

We couldn't get Jaxon to put this "tiny for 5-year olds" Wheel Barrel!

An Amazing Journey

2009-10-01T10:51:00.003-06:00

I wanted to share my thoughts on the journey that I just experienced reading "The Shack". Several weeks ago, a FB friend posted about the most amazing book she had just read. I happened to be at Barnes & Noble that very same day, and funny enough this was the first book that caught my eye as I roamed the store. I had no idea what the book was about, and certainly had no indication of how my life and spirit would be affected by reading the book. I was simply looking for a good book to read. I laugh to myself now, having read the book, and seeing that the most simple task brought an indescribable and unexpected joy to my life...a theme so prevalent throughout the story.

I do not want to go into any details of my experience. Not because I don't wish to share, but out of respect and hope of the experience you may too have if you choose to read this book.

I have experienced an awakening and path to self-revelation that I didn't ever believe or have faith in before. Who would have thought?

If you do decide to read this book, allow yourself some true solitude while reading. You will understand me later. Also, please contact me and I would love to discuss it with you one-on-one.

Enjoy!

Latest New Moon Posters

2009-09-29T20:23:00.002-06:00

Facebook | New Moon Movie: Excellent New Moon Fan Made Desktop Wallpaper

2009-09-18T04:00:00.000-06:00

Enjoy my friends!!!!

This beautiful pic is currently on my desktop!!!! Oh My Volturi!

Facebook New Moon Movie: Excellent New Moon Fan Made Desktop Wallpaper

I'm Back!!!! 'Bout Friggin Time!

2009-09-14T02:17:00.015-06:00

Wow, wow, wow....I cannot believe that it has been three months and an entire season since I last posted. Well, I take that back, I absolutely can believe it because my life and our summer has been one incredible ride. In the past three months I have seen a lot of wonderful, a lot of fun, a lot of sorrow, and a whole lot of growing. Through a lot of personal heart ache I have been able to reach deep inside and find out some things about myself as a person, and as a mom. And through my trials I have found my place as a mom so rewarding and have enjoyed my time with my kids more than I have in a very long time. I was able to find time and the focus to do more with my kids this past summer than ever before and I have loved it. I also found some great new personal loves and passions, and that's pretty great also. I have been trying to figure out the best way to share of my favorite moments, and I can't think of any real way other than to just list those moments and ask you to join me on the walk down memory lane!

1) Like every summer, it began Memorial Day weekend! This was the beginning of some really bad times for me and my family, but it also had some good traditional moments. Luckily my parents were there to keep my mind off some intense moments, and we spent the beginning of the weekend taking care of my grandparents' grave sites and my sweet uncle's. I love my dad for his dedication and all that he has always taught me about this great holiday.

The weekend also brought about our first ever campout! We didn't go anywhere further than our backyard, but boy was it an adventure. We used our fire pit for some pretty awesome tin-foil dinners, and it was a total blast sleeping outside listening to the typical Memorial Day Weekend rain storm! Chris didn't like it so much, but the kids and I faired quite well.

2) For the first time in two years, we made plans to actually utilize our Park City timeshare! For 10 truly glorious days we, well that is, the kids and I, and actually even more specifically, Jaxon and I vacationed and relaxed like never before. Cyd and Chase only were able to stay the first few days with us, so Jaxon and I had some great quality, Mommy and son time. Chris' new kitchen at the U of U opened the weekend before, so unfortunately, we only saw him in the evenings. He was able to get one day off the second weekend there, and that was great for him. Since I was on my own, I was able to have a great day with my sisters, a couple of days with some of our closest BFF's, and time with my nieces! We swam and laid out under the sun constantly! Jaxon FINALLY overcame his fear of swimming, all thanks to his magical Spiderman goggles, and I haven't seen him have so much fun before. I loved having this time with Jaxon so much. This was the summer of falling madly in love with my little guy all over again. He is absolutely at the funnest age, and I am loving every minute of it. We snuggled every night, and every morning. Watched all his favorite movies, and of course spent hours at the pool. This little guy saved me this summer! I love him with all my heart!

3) July 4th weekend found us apart from Chris for the first time in our marriage. Until the opening of the new kitchen I have been truly blessed to not feel like a Chef's Widow. But this new piece of Chris's career has brought about that obstacle, and it has been one major hill to climb for all of us. With Abbie and Connor gone for the entire summer, it was just me and my kids for the festivities! I was so excited and so happy to have Mel and her kids, Wayne and Maritza, and my siblings come and spend the evening with us. Mom and Dad were unable to join us for the first time ever also because of Mom's knee surgery. But we managed to have a great evening nonetheless. After great food, a great parade, and of course a killer fireworks display, Mel and the kids, and all my sibs headed out to my place for some fire pit fun! We laughed and talked and laughed some more until 3:00 AM. It was a great night for me. I really loved having everyone around!

4) July is a big month for us in terms of birthdays...three in one month! We had to wait until August to celebrate them all due to Abbie and Connor being gone, and well me traveling for work. However we managed to have a great celebration once everyone was together again. We allowed Abbie, Connor, and Chase all invite a friend to our home for the day. We took all the kids, and my sisters, Hayley and Samantha to a brand new waterpark here in town. The kids had an awesome time at Cowabunga Bay, as did I. Later that evening we had the rest of the family, including mom who was out for one of her first outings since her surgery, out to the house for cake, ice cream, and presents! It was a great time for everyone!!!!

5) With Connor turning 12, that same August weekend found us traveling to Springville to see Chris ordain him a Deacon. It was a really great day for Chris and Connor. I was happy for both of them, and was glad to have my family there to share the day with us.

6) The last big event of the summer was my first ever, solo mom road trip! The kids and I drove to St. Helens, OR to go camping with Tiff and her family on the coast! I rented us a nice big vehicle that was so fancy, I couldn't even figure out how to turn the stupid thing on. I wasn't sure how the kids were going to fair in the car for a straight 12 hours, but they actually did extremely well! The drive to Portland was absolutely beautiful! The kids didn't complain one minute the entire drive. But of course as soon as they had an audience (Tiff and Paul) all the descriptions of how it was the worst drive of their lives came pouring out. Hilarious...but so typical as well! Camping with the Erickson's was a TOTAL blast. It was incredibly fun having all of our kids together for the first time ever. Tiff and I just laughed looking at where we were today in comparison to the 18 years ago when we were single and at BYU. My kids of course had never seen the ocean and were beyond thrilled to be at the beach. Well it took Jaxon quite some time to even get his feet wet, but once that happened and he realized it was okay to get his feet wet, all was good. The weather was a bit colder than we had planned on, but a shopping trip later and the kids were bundled up nicely. Tiff's parents came up and camped with us and that was great fun seeing them again. It was such a wonderful trip and I can't wait to do it again next year!

Now the kids are back in school, and well, it was just one incredible journey for us all. Cyd has started the 6th grade, Chase has started 5th grade, and my little guy has started Kindergarten. I just cannot believe it! I'll post about school another day! I thought I would end with just a few of my most special moments with the kids....one's that I don't want to ever forget.

*Cydnee and I having a mommy/daughter Spa day in Park City. I loved watching her enjoy being pampered, and having massages together was so much fun! Yep, I'm teaching her young just what a SPA is.

*Walking up and down Main Street Park City with Pookie. We went to a great little book store, and had a lot of good story times together!

*Flying a kite with Chasers on the beach!

*Walking hand-in-hand with Cydnee at night, looking at millions of stars, the last night of our camping trip.

*Visiting the Twilight movie location with the kids!

*Watching my kids play on the beach and in the Ocean! I've always wanted to do that!

*And last but not least, I would be completely remiss if I didn't mention my love and new found obsession with Sookie Stackhouse! 9 books in two months! What is it with Vampires that have a first name that start with an "E"? Edward, Eric,...Oh My!

Nice...

2009-06-03T20:34:00.002-06:00

Official New Moon Trailer...BELOW!!!

2009-06-01T00:54:00.002-06:00

Twilighters...I am sooo excited for this movie I cannot contain myself!

Enjoy!

Official New Moon Poster

2009-05-20T07:52:00.003-06:00

OME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Jaxon 5

2009-05-12T22:23:00.009-06:00

Today is my little guy's 5th birthday. Now I know that we've been celebrating for close to a month now, but I think he's worth it!

I can't believe that Jaxon is five years old. Where has the time gone? He has been an absolute joy and light in our lives. He truly is the glue that keeps this crazy family together! He came into the world with flare (7 weeks early!) and he's been keeping us on his toes ever since!

Jaxon loves so many things in life. He finds happiness in everything he does. He mimics everything and everyone around him. I've never seen a kid with such a talent, and at his age. He cracks us up every single day. The kid never forgets anything! And he is by far one of the most polite kids I know. He says "Thank You" for absolutely everything, and is never prodded to do so! One of my favorite statements that he says is "I'm so proud that you bought me that treat!" Or something similar...but that is usually what he starts out with when Thanking Chris and I for something that we've done for him.

He is extremely complimentary and knows how to win you over with his 20-year old charm. Jaxon tells me on a daily basis how "beautiful" that I am. And the kid always recognizes when I have on a new outfit or dress. He is very into how his Mommy looks. He compliments me every time I get my hair done also! And every day he tells me that I'm his Best Friend. I love the way this little guy loves me.

Some things that Jaxon loves:

Mac n' Cheese and Chocolate Milk (He orders it wherever we go!)
Corn on the Cob
Marshmallow Cereal, Pop Tarts, or Donuts for breakfast (I suck as a mom!)
Getting a Strawberry Milk Shake after school
"Hot Chocolate, Chocolate Milk" from Beans & Brews
Anything "Cars" related
Helping his mommy out in the yard - "Mommy you're the best raker I never saw!"
Snuggles with Mommy (Both in the middle of the night and early in the morning!)
When Daddy puts his PJ's in the dryer to make them warm.
Playing all of daddy's creative and silly games
Reading his books from school and doing his "numbers" (That's homework!)
Going to the "Big Movie Feater" (We've taken him to movies since he was 6 wks old)
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
His dog Zoey
Flying in the airplane with Mommy
HIS Grandma and CRANpa
Sleepovers at Grandma's house
Watching his Uncle David play Baseball
Playing the Wii (he's better than all of us at Guitar Hero)
Chasing Bubbles
Eating Birthday Cake
Watching Twilight
Dancing to "Step-Up 2"
Watching American Idol "Mommy that just breaks my heart when that boy goes home!"

Things that Jaxon does NOT like:

Anything on his hands or being dirty in any way
Getting wet
BUGS, BUGS, BUGS, but especially Flies or Bees
Spaghetti with "Red stuff"
Getting up in the morning
When Mommy goes on the plane without him
When his older siblings won't play with him
When all of his older siblings go home, leaving him alone
When Daddy doesn't let him have Snuggles with Mommy
Being grounded from the Wii

I truly cannot imagine our life without this kid! I love him with all my heart and I'm looking forward to all the years ahead of us together!

Happy Birthday Pookie! Mommy loves you soooooo much!

Jaxon snuggling on Mommy's tummy after coming home from the NICU! He still loves to snuggle!

He was such a cute little toddler! I want to eat his cheeks and fat toes!

What a studly 5-Year Old!

Did I mention that Jaxon HATES Flies and Bugs?!?!?!!!

For Jaxon's birthday party we wanted to recreate some of his favorite moments from our recent trip to Disneyland. We had face-painting, bubbles, pictures with Mickey Mouse, and his favorite Birthday Dessert! We had a total blast!

We finished off the night by breaking out our new Fire pit and roasting Marshmallows!

Let the Summer BBQ's Begin!

2009-05-06T00:31:00.005-06:00

We are putting a lot of effort into our yard this year. Last year just wasn't going to happen with all that we had going on in our lives at the time. But this year we are learning all about landscaping, rock wall gardens, and having a total blast.

Here are some pics of the before and after of our new Patio Gazebo. Many more before and after garden/yard pics to come!

Before....

Jaxon loves helping his "Cranpa!"

And After....

Thankful Thursday

2009-04-30T22:52:00.008-06:00

I have to start out this week's list of items I'm thankful for by mentioning my one-year anniversary mark of Blogging! I missed out on posting about it last Thursday because I chose to discuss Disneyland instead. So I wanted to definitely mention it this week.

I cannot believe it's been ONLY one year. So much has happened in my life in that year! But I tell ya, I really had no idea how much of a passion I would develop for this world of Blogging! I sincerely love it! I have post and journaled more about my life than ever before. In fact I have never been a good journal keeper...actually sucked rocks at it! But this forum has provided me a real sense of creativity, ownership, and I love the interaction it has afforded me through everyone who reads my blog! The fact that people actually read it really blows my mind! I never thought in a million years that anyone would care! So that fact alone just super charges my desire to keep this going! In one year I've nearly hit 10,000 visitors, and that's just unreal to me! So in the spirit of my Thankful Thursday post, THANK YOU, to everyone who does stop by and reads my rambling! It truly makes me happy and a bit proud!!!!

Now, on to this week's theme. For Thankful Thursday, I thought I would actually list the reasons I am Thankful for Thursday (I giggled at myself when I thought that one up!) So here goes!

1) Grey's Anatomy - Truly, not since ER have I found a medical drama that I can obsess over in the same manner that I did ER. And until this year when ER went off the air, having both of these dramas on the same night was almost to much yumminess and drama for me to handle! I FREAKING HEART this show! And this season has been the best by far! The addition of Dr. Owen Hunt has done things for my heart that I can't even begin to describe! And McDreamy...oh my Hell...I adore and worship this man! His whole meltdown was fantastic and even better was his, UMM, I DO KNOW WHAT'S BEST FOR MY PATIENT, comeback was one of my favorite scenes. Well that and him proposing in the Elevator. And Mark and Lexie...Sexy Hot! Seriously???? Seriously!!!!!

***I loved this picture...because that is so me every Thursday night!***

2) The Office - With all the intense drama and meltdowns that the previously mentioned show brings to my life...I love having this incredibly funny show to chill things out for me! For the longest time Chris just could not get into this show. He didn't get the Office Humor. And for a while I let it go. But each week I would draw him in a little bit more and more...and yeah, well he loves it now also!

3) Next to last day of the week - YIPPEE! You're over hump day, you have all this godliness to indulge in at night..and the next day is Friday. Can't get any better than that!

4) Pay Day - Well for me at least, every other week. And who doesn't LOVE Pay Day!?!?!?

5) Weekend Planning Day - For us, we seem to always realize, hey that thing called a weekend is upon us...and we may want to make some plans! So I enjoy my convos with Chris on what we will be doing either for our Date Nights alone, date nights with Jaxon, or what crazy schedule we have for all the kids on the weekends they are all home! And you all should know by now that I love to have things planned out.

And Last but not least 6) Midnight Twilight Saga releases! - We have at least three more over the next 2 1/2 years! OME!

Thankful Thursdays - Deja Vu

2009-04-23T21:58:00.009-06:00

This may look like just one post, but due to BLOGGER completely wigging out on me, and the "new" autosave improvements they have made, this is actually the SECOND time I am making this post!!!! Not bitter at all! Yeah, moving on!

So this week's Thankful Thursday is entirely dedicated to our recent trip to Disneyland. Even now, two weeks later (and I can't believe that it's been two weeks!) we are all still incredibly High on our experience! I am so thankful for the opportunity that we had to go to Disneyland with Jaxon; thankful on many different levels!

Living the Brady Bunchlike life that we do, our four older kids tend to receive double the opportunities for trips, double the gifts, double the fun! So needless to say, Chris and I try to make most of the alone time that we get with our little guy! The last trip that we took, just the three of us, was when Jaxon was just barely one year's old and we went to Virginia to have him meet his Grandma and Grandpa Cole! Yeah, it's been a while! This Easter/Spring Break left us alone with Jaxon, and with all that we've been going through the past several months, we decided it was high time to get the Hell Outta Dodge!!!!

We originally discussed going down to Vegas to spend a long weekend with our good friends, the McDermott's! We priced out flying, renting a car, a few Vegas Shows, etc. and I began wondering what it would take to fly just a tad bit further to sunny Southern-California! As it turned out, with my frequent flyer miles, our awesome Hotel discounts, and the special Disney was offering on tickets, we weren't that much off the mark! So I made the proposal to Chris, and that was it...we just won the Super Bowl and we were going to Disneyland!

This was the first trip for Chris to ANYTHING Disney related, and with Jaxon being at the fun age that he is, I was soooo excited to experience this with them. My past life trips to Disneyland weren't all that great, so it was kind of like my first trip also! We packed an awful lot of great activities...an awful lot of good times in our four short days there. I'm amazed that Mr. Jaxon did as well as he did. He must have been channeling Edward somehow, surviving on an "Adrenaline Rush" (You can Google it if you don't know what I'm speaking of!)

Chris and I decided to make this trip part of Jaxon's 5th birthday celebration! And as such, we took advantage of the awesome birthday events that Disney has to offer. Jaxon proudly wore his Birthday Badge everywhere we went! It was an absolute delight seeing his reaction when, regardless of where we were at in the parks, anyone who saw his badge was wishing him a BIG Happy Birthday! Disney folks know how to take care of the kids! Jaxon acclimated very quickly to everyone telling him Happy Birthday. So much so, that when our weekend ended and we were headed home, Jaxon expected nothing less from the Hertz folks, and all employees at Delta! Hilarious! "MOOOMMMM, That guy didn't wish me Happy Birthday!?!?!?"

We started out the weekend with dinner at Medieval Times, which was fantastic fun! Chris and Jaxon absolutely loved it! We found our way to Goofy's Kitchen for an amazing breakfast buffet with Goofy, Pluto and the gang; Easter Brunch with all the Disney Princesses at Ariel's Grotto; and a rip-roaring Hoe-Down Celebration BBQ with Woody, Jessie and all their woodland Critter friends (my personal favorite activity!) So much food, in such a short time span. I think it was worse than a cruise. At least we did a TON of walking to off-set the high caloric intake!

Some of Jaxon's favorite rides were the Jumping Jellyfish (he rode this one several times); Dumbo (Who doesn't love that ride); Tea Cups (which made Daddy Green, and I don't mean the be good to Earth kind); the Jungle Cruise (which I had never been on before); Finding Nemo Submarine ride (although the 1 1/2 hour wait sucked!) and last but certainly not least, It's a Small World!

Rides that he didn't like and actually scared him to death and had him clinging onto Chris or I for dear life, only to proclaim how AWESOME that was as soon as the ride ended were the Matterhorn; the crazy runaway mountain train ride (can't remember the exact name); Pirates of the Caribbean (even Captain Jack couldn't put his little nerves at ease); and the Haunted Mansion! We couldn't even get him close to Splash Mountain! One, because of the height, but Two, and probably more importantly, my OCD son LOATHES getting wet or messy!

All-in-All it was truly the most magical trip we have ever been on as a family. And yes, we are completely addicted now to the Disney experience. You'll be seeing the ENTIRE Cole clan at Disneyland again in the not-so-far future!

Here are pictures of some of my favorite moments! Enjoy...we did!

Sir Jaxon Cole at Medieval Times!

Awww, boys and their swords!

Jaxon posing for Mommy in his new PJ's!

Jaxon and Goofy at Goofy's Kitchen

Great Candid Shot of Jaxon and Chris waiting for me to get our tickets so that we could enter the park!

One of Jaxon's favorite parts was getting his face painted! Mommy had hers done also!

Chris REALLY wanted this Captain Jack Hat!

We all came home with our own individual Mickey Ears!!!!

Jaxon at the Celebration Round-Up BBQ!!!!

Did I mention how Yummy all the food was?

Coolest Birthday Dessert EVER! We're going to duplicate this for his birthday party!

Enjoy your first day at Disneyland kid???? Exhausted much????

Princess Ariel! "She's so beautiful Mommy!"

Chris liked Belle!!!!

Jaxon's FAVORITE Movie, and bedroom theme is Cars!

Completely Star-Struck!

Jaxon stayed in close contact with Grandma Johnson the entire time!

Jaxon chased bubbles for 30 Minutes at California Adventure!

One of my favorite scenes!!!

I LOVE this ride!!!! I'm screaming like a girl!!!

Jaxon had a doggone good time with Pluto!

It took us until the LAST day to find Mickey!

Arriving home from the airport!

Now THIS is as hot as it always was in my mind!!!!

2009-04-22T23:37:00.004-06:00

I love this man! Vampire and Human! In case any of you had forgotten!

Goin' Crazy Much????

2009-04-22T12:25:00.002-06:00

I have been sick for the past two days and not getting any better. I wanted nothing more than to lie down today in between conference calls and attempt to rest. However, there was a whining puppy somewhere that would NOT stop crying. The cries were so close that I truly thought there was an innocent puppy trapped somewhere. The crying would not stop and because I wanted so desperately to sleep that the crying became as annoying as a leaky faucet! I went outside, looked around everywhere that I could see and nothing...no puppy! I was just about to pick-up the phone and contact Animal Services to see if they could locate the poor animal when I passed by my husband's laptop and the **** thing was crying! I wiggled the mouse, and wouldn't you know it, there was Cydnee's DOGZ game, and her new baby Pug, looking up at me through the screen, begging to be fed!!!! Good Hell! I'm losing my mind and sleep over a computer dog!

Somebody shoot me!

Never Looked this HOT in my Mind!

2009-04-21T23:03:00.003-06:00

Here is a first look at the Wolfpack of "New Moon!" OMG!

From Left to Right: Alex Meraz (Paul), Chaske Spencer (Sam), Bronson Pelletier (Jared), and Kiowa Gordon (Embry)

Thankful Thursdays - Brought Back to Life!!!

2009-04-16T23:43:00.004-06:00

It's been forever since I did my Thankful Thursday posts...So here is a new one to restart!

1) A magical Trip: Last Friday Chris, Jaxon and I took off for Sunny, warm, and perfect California. We spent four days there for Easter/Spring Break. We took Jaxon to Disneyland for three of the days and we had the best time that we've had as a "little" family ever!!!! I haven't had any time at all to post about the entire trip, but plan to do so this coming weekend! But it most definitely is top of my list of things that I'm so thankful for this week!

2) Ending in the Black: In the six years that Chris and I have been married, we have never once received a tax refund...until this year! Hallelujah! And NO...I don't thank Obama for it!

3) Mommy/Son Dates: I've been lucky this whole week to have Chasers home! His spring break is a week later than Cyd's and Jaxon's, so he is staying with us all week long! Poor guy has been sick all week, but he finally felt better today, so I treated him to a Mommy/Son Date. We went to lunch and to a movie of his choice! I know that he loves to go out alone with just me...but he can't love it nearly as much as I do!

4) "17 Again": We have been waiting for this movie to come out for months! I love, love, love
Zac Effron. Not as much as my baby sister, but close enough! Can't wait to see the movie this weekend!

5) Rob in GQ: Pictures speak for me loud and clear! H-O-T! Steamy H-O-T! Thanks GQ!

I mean seriously!!!!!!!!!!! What's not to be thankful about that????!!!!! I heart you R.P.

Saying Good-Bye to a Dear Old Friend

2009-04-03T02:48:00.005-06:00

Tonight was the Series Finale of ER. After 15, wonderful, medical-drama filled years, one of television's best dramas went off the air. I watched for three hours tonight, crying every minute of it, and every time I looked at the clock, I dreaded every minute that passed by. This final

show was incredible, if not cruel, because it left you wanting more! It wasn't some stupid-ass'd ending like everyone dying in a bloodbath, or the hospital blowing up, or Heaven Forbid a "Sopranos" Black-Screen Close out. Nope, this was truly perfect. The producer, John Wells, wanted to pay homage to Michael Crighton, who passed away just a few months ago, by recreating the Pilot show. And they did it brilliantly! I loved every minute of it!

Watching the recap show the first hour was so emotional for me. I know you are all laughing at me right this second for being so distraught over this, but there isn't an episode they recapped that I hadn't seen, nor that didn't remind me of so many aspects of my life in the past 15 years. Think about it....I watched every last episode, and have probably seen most of them two or three other times in syndication...and I've had quite the life in 15-years.

I am often teased about my "little" obsessions in life, but no one can accuse me of not being loyal! I remember so many nights racing around town and in my life freaking out over the VCR not being set to record. Or the cable going out. Or having to work through major episodes. Or even worse, being forced to wait three whole months until the fall premiere came on and we would get to see what happened next. Seriously, how did we survive without TiVo???!!!!????

I cry at anything, but I found that my relatability to the script evolved as my life did. For instance, as I became a wife or mother, any and every episode having to do with the mom dying I couldn't handle. Or episodes involving pre-mature babies, or little kids suffering and dying some awful disease...Yeah just shoot me! But also, I loved these characters...and their messed up lives, their successes, and their tragedies, always hit home to me.

So here are some of my favorite moments that I have recollected this evening, my little homage to ER:

Favorite Couple:

1st place will always be Dr. Ross Nurse Hathaway! However coming in a an extremely close 2nd... Dr. Kovac and Dr. Lockhart!

And in third place...Dr. Gates and Nurse Taggat!

Favorite Couple Moments: SOOOO Many, so so many!

1) Doug and Carol FINALLY getting together, on her exit episode!

2) Carol showing up in the desert to be with Doug after his father died....their "coming out" episode!

3) Abby's and Luka's wedding vows! Cried like a baby!

4) Abby and Luka deciding to stay together...on Luka's last episode!

5) Sam and Tony...holding hands as she thanks him for all he's done for her and Alex...on tonight's final episode! Freakin A'...I was gonna throw down if I didn't get my happy ending there!

Favorite Dr. Benton Moments: Yeah, he gets his own category! He was the BEST surgeon and there hasn't been one since him that can measure up!

1) Saving Carter after he was stabbed by the psychotic skitzo on Valentine's Day (yeah, this is by far one of my favorite episodes and I have seen this one probably the most out of all of the episodes!)

2) Not being able to save his own nephew from a gunshot wound! Wow!! It was awesome to watch his vulnerability being put out there!

3) Being able to communicate with his deaf son for the first time!

4) And saving Carter, once again, as a reckless, if not cocky surgeon nearly destroys the new kidney that Carter was receiving that would save his life!

Favorite Cliff Hangers:

1) The absolute best one EVER, was when the ER gets shot up and Jerry is being worked on, and Abby who is 6 months pregnant, collapses from being shot herself, and Luka, who was temporarily crippled by the assailants, was tied down to a gurney in the next room, unable to scream for help, nor get to Abby who just started hemorrhaging next door, and Sam has been kidnapped by said assailants, aka, psycho ex-husband and is being taken out of Chicago! WHEW...that exhausted me just thinking about it again!

2) Carter being stabbed by a psychotic college student, falling to the ground, only to see Lucy, his intern, lying on the floor with a slit throat! OMH!!!! Yeah, that was the longest week of my life!!!!!

3) Dr. Carter leaving Luka in South Africa and we don't know if Luka is going to be safe, or captured, or what!!!!!! Totally stressful!

4) As recent as last season, the ambulance blowing up and we don't know which doc is in the ambulance or if they are still alive!

5) Dr. Greene letting a serial killer die in the elevator instead of saving his life!

6) Neela showing up to see that Ray had been hit by a truck and had both of his legs amputated! WTH?!?!?!

Most Heart-wrenching deaths:UGH...this is just going to have to be a three-way tie!!!!

1) Dr. Greene dying from a brain tumor, on the island of Hawaii with his wife and two daughters! I was so emotionally distraught from this episode, I put in for a funeral day at work! (I'm not joking!)

2) Lucy dying from having her throat slit. Sounds obvious right??? But no, they worked on her for what seemed like forever, and then they made it sound like she was out of the woods, and then that darned PE (Pulmonary Embolism) happened, and no matter what Robert or Alex did, they couldn't save her. I cry every time I watch as Robert throws the surgical tools across the room and races back to her open chest cave and tries to restart her heart again!

3) Dr. Pratt dying from the Ambulance explosion. This was the first episode of this last and final season, and I seriously couldn't take it! When they pronounced him, and then showed everyone's reaction as they wheeled him through the ER for the last time, I LOST IT! Well I had been crying long before then, but that REALLY did me in!

Other Favorite Episodes: (In no particular order)

1) Doug saving the boy trapped in a flood/tunnel!

2) Robert getting his arm chopped off by a helicopter!

3) Doug and Carol assisting a mother in the death of her dying son.

4) Dr. Greene being broken hearted and left on the L-Train Platform as Susan leaves Chicago.

5) Dr. Benton taking Dr. Carter personally and checking him into rehab. BFF's!!!!!!!!!!!!

I could probably sit here all night remembering different episodes, but I won't. And if you're still reading this, well then, either you enjoy my ramblings and are just using this as more material to tease me with...or, maybe, just maybe, you at some point were an ER fan also and didn't mind going down memory lane with me!

Cuz I Ain't Too Sick To Blog!

2009-03-31T19:56:00.007-06:00

*Fortunately all I'm doing is adding pics and hitting post! I started this post on Sunday, but I have been sick ever since.

This past weekend was Cydnee's first ever Dance Competition. She competed in four different categories: Lyrical Solo, Lyrical Team, Jazz Team, Hip-Hop Team. The event went for two VERY long days and was held down in Spanish Fork! Because of the length of the competition, Cyd and I decided to stay overnight in a hotel close by! Good thing we did. Abbie and Kira stayed with us as well, which made it even more fun! Kira is in the same dance company, along with her niece Sara, and because of it, we hung out with the Schultz/Ferre families for two days! Loads of fun!

Friday night were the Solo competitions! I was a nervous wreck!!!! I seriously almost threw-up waiting for Cyd to come on stage. Sara had already performed her Solo and did FANTASTIC. So we were all in the auditorium to watch Cyd. She was the last dance of the night! Cyd was so nervous, but she did soooo well! She made a small mistake at the end, but only her coach and I knew it. She was pretty upset. But her sadness went away once we got to the Awards Ceremony. Our entire team did awesome! Sara earned one of the five Queen Awards! We had one other 1st Place, 4th Place, and Miss Cydnee...she took 3rd in her category!!!! I was so proud of her and so very excited! The excitement of winning all these awards pumped the girls up for the next day!

Saturday morning, 6:00 a.m. came REALLY fast! We spent close to an hour getting Kira and Cyd all dolled up for their big day. Kira had 5 team events, and Cyd had her remaining three team events! They both did so well! We were all very proud parents. Cyd's team took 1st, 2nd, and 4th!!!! Not bad for the first competition of the year!

I of course could not blog about a dance competition, and not mention the Crazy, close to Psychotic MOTHERS of these competitions! There were some mom's there that I couldn't tell who was more dressed up, them or their daughters. I think I have a pretty smart and strong sense of style, but I am telling you all right here and now, that I will NEVER be a Pagent Mom! These women are over-the-top! Seriously???? Seriously!!!!! Sara's mom, Amy, and a few other moms from our group tried to warn me about these women...but it took some seeing to believe! Pure craziness I tell ya!

Cyd has two more competitions over the next two months. I am excited, but also, glad that I will be better prepared for the next one!

***Though my sister will say I have added this comment ONLY because she said something...it's just not true. I meant to give props to my awesome Brother-n-Law, Lamar, for the below photos. Check-out his Photography Blog and services at http://www.whitehorsephoto.blogspot.com/***

A Bit of Randomness

2009-03-25T00:12:00.005-06:00

So Chris started this on Saturday with Jaxon...and now the kid won't eat unless everything is in the shape of a smiley face! And you better not forget the EARS! According to Jaxon, my Oranges were better than Daddy's Green Beans and Carrot Nose!!!!

Today I picked up this metal porch decoration for Easter! I couldn't get over how cute an idea it was...A Spring Snowman! So perfect for Utah spring weather. 70 Degrees one day, Snow Storm the next! Love it! So cute! (Well I think so anyway!)

And this next picture is really for my baby Sis and my little Cyd! I know it will seem close to blasphemy that I say this about someone other than my Edward, but DANG BOY!!!! You are one Cutie-Pa-Tootie!!!!

Me x Five!!!! - Item #2 - Sisters

2009-03-22T18:29:00.019-06:00

There is no better friend than a sister. And there is no better sister than you. ~Author Unknown

I was delighted, if not surprised at Dana's request and association of me with "Sisters". My world is surrounded by my sisters, blood related, and those by circumstance. All of which I cannot imagine my life without.

I am the eldest of six children, 4 girls, 2 boys. And for the past 36 years of our existence, us Johnson Girls have always stuck together. With the exception of my sister Stacey, who was born when I was just two-years old, and due to a heart condition did not come home for months, and whom I believed was a breast pump, I remember with great detail the raising of my sisters. Although as a two-year old I wasn't much of a help in raising Stacey, boy do I have memories with this girl. My parents have mounds of movies of the two of us. Stacey always following my lead, or trying to do what I do. And the little stinker that I was, always found a way to take advantage of that. For instance, a certain Easter Egg hunt in our front yard. As Stacey would find her eggs and put them in her basket, I would sneak up behind her and steal them out. Nice! As we grew older, we always shared a room with one another, and I'm quite certain that Stacey's now insomnia problems have a lot to do with my sleepwalking and nightmares that would keep us both up every night! Nothing like flapping your sister of your king sized water bed out of complete terror! I believe that Stacey was always forced to follow in my lead, but fortunately she has found her own way in life! She is the devotee of our family and takes joy in all our lives.

Miss Hayley was the apple of everyone's eye back in the day. I loved dressing her up and taking care of her like nobody's business. I would love to dress her in her beautiful yellow silky gown and put a bow in her little hair and prop her in front of the back door so that Dad would run right into her when he got home from work. Hayley was so photogenic and I loved all the pictures that we would have taken of her. Somehow Jett always managed to destroy her beautiful pictures by gauging out the eyes, coloring them with white-out, etc. And she is just as beautiful and photogenic today as she was as a baby! The camera loves my sister, and she loves the camera!

And Miss Samantha...my baby sis! She was so gorgeous with her beautiful brunette hair and big brown eyes. And she was so obedient. Never fussed or cried about anything. She was a perfect baby sister. I couldn't get enough of her when she was brought home from the hospital. I loved playing dress-up with her as well, with Purple being my favorite color to put on her. She has grown up to be even more beautiful as a woman, and I love my baby sis with all my heart! I love her laugh, her love of children, and disciplinary skills I might add, and I love the many things that we obsess over together. I love to laugh and cry with her...always will!

As we grew up, so many wonderful times were to be had. Hayley and Samantha were always coming to my dorm to spend the night, and once I was married, staying over with me at the house was always a treat. Especially when Cyd and Chasers were born. My kids have the best aunts in the world.

As we have all come into our own, and as our lives have all evolved into their own stories, we have always remained close. Through the good and the bad, the fights and disagreements, the laughter and the crying, I know that my sisters are always there for me. We share everything with one another, and I love this part of our lives more than the times when they were all babies. I love that when life is falling apart my sisters are there for me, and vice versa. I love the associations we all have and the joy we receive in our commonalities. We have all bonded over our love for our family, and that of our growing family. We take joy in one another's successes, and sorrow with one another's failures. I love my sisters with all my heart and can't imagine a life without them.

A sister is a forever friend. ~Author Unknown

With all the blessings I have been given in my lifetime, my friends are counted at the top of my list. Because these friends that I have, are all sisters to me. Sometimes in ways, my own blood sisters have not been able to. These other "sisters" have come in the shape of my dear cousin(s), and of course the many special "sisters from another mother!" We all have friends that come and go throughout our lives, but those who stick with you no matter what, they are not just your friends, they truly are your sisters.

I look back over the years of my life, and every major occurrence has been shared with the love of my other "sisters". These sisters of mine, I know will be in my life now and forever. They know all there is to know of me, and yet they still remain devoted. We have shared school, work, love, heartache, weddings, births of our children, death of our loved ones...all making our sistership bond as tight as it can be. These sisters have saved my life on more than one occasion. I pray as YOU read this, you will know who you are and that I am speaking of you. And I hope that you will know what a kindred spirit you are to me. I love you and I thank you for being my sister.

You are my Sister by Chance, My Best Friend by Choice...Author Unknown

Of course growing up with sisters, I have always wanted to have at least two daughters. When Cydnee was born I was so excited for the possibility of her having a sister of her own. Though the Lord blessed me with two beautiful boys...I was never given the chance to get Cyd her sister. That is until I married Chris. Now I have a beautiful step-daughter, and Cydnee has a wonderful older sister! Not exactly how I imagined coming about a sister for her, but perfect nonetheless. Cyd and Abbie have been together now for over six years, and are getting to share all the great things of being a sister that I did growing up with mine. With them coming into their teen years it scares me in today's world what they may be sharing, but I am glad they are sharing regardless. I love seeing them becoming closer and becoming better friends. I love my girls! I love raising them, as difficult as it is at times. And I hope and pray that they will grow to love one another as I have my sisters!

My "5 ME" Requests for Jodi, Tiff, and Chanelle

2009-03-22T16:28:00.003-06:00

Here are the Five "ME" topics that I hope to see from you on your blog soon! Tiff, I know that you're in March Madness, so I will be patient and wait for that to finish up! But here are your topics so you can begin thinking about what you want to say!

Jodi:
1) Marriage
2) Domestic Goddess
3) Mothers
4) Smiling
5) Cooking

Chanelle:
1) Home Organization
2) Wedding Planner
3) Motherhood
4) Friendship
5) Secondhand Shopping/Decorating

Tiff:
1) Friendship
2) Music
3) Family Traditions
4) Sports
5) Visiting every State

I'm just about to post my second item, so it's not too late to respond and receive your "ME" items!

Thanks ladies for the posts!

Me x Five - Item#1 - Twilight Follow-Up

2009-03-20T10:44:00.003-06:00

Thanks for the posts so far ladies! Hoping more and more will come through so that I can send you your 5 Me requests!

Thanks to my friend Chanelle, I have this hilarious picture to add to my Twilight Collection!

Absolutely love it!

Me x Five!!!! - Item #1

2009-03-19T12:58:00.006-06:00

So one of my closest friends started her own creative twist on the "Tell-us-a-bunch-of-things-about-you" surveys by listing five "ME" attributes about herself. If you responded to her post, she would then respond with the five attributes that she most commonly associated with you, and your assignment was to then discuss those five attributes about yourself. I of course always find it fun and interesting to see what others think about you or associate with you, so I definitely responded.

Over the next several days I'm going to post the five requested topics/attributes that my friend made to me.

I would love to keep this string going, so PLEASE drop me a quick comment and I'll return your comment with the five things I would love to hear more about you!

It will be of no surprise to any of you that the first association listed from my friend was "TWILIGHT." Hey, I'm not ashamed, and I embrace my PASSION for my Edward and this fantastic guilty pleasure!

(I mean seriously...who doesn't want to love that all life long????)

I have written before, hundreds of times about Twilight and all things related to it, and I even believe I mentioned in one of my posts how many wonderful opportunities this little hobby of mine has brought to my life in the past year and a half! I have my kindred sistership to thank for pushing me to read the series. Hayley had already devoured the first three books, and it was still more than a year out before the forth and final book was to be released. She had been crazy obsessed with the first three books, and for someone who never was a reader prior to these books, it was just nuts that she had become the reading fiend that she was. Admittingly, I was adamantly against reading books having to do with Vampires. I had been tricked before by my dear sistership when it came to non-scary movies, and I figured she was pulling the same ol' trick with me again.

It is true that I am the BIGGEST scaredy cat on the planet. I sincerely cannot separate reality from fiction. It is all so real to me and all scary things will haunt me, literally, for years! Reference here my sick and twisted haunted life with Samara from "The Ring!" That evil little well-dwelling girl will NOT get out of my bedroom! So needless to say I was not about to expose myself to a 400 page book about Vampires. In my mind I was envisioning Ann Rice's vampires or the really scary ones that existed in that horrific film....Oh crap, can't remember the name of it now, but it is a really old flick and I watched as a very young child and it scared the dickens out of me. Anyway, Hayley persisted and persisted and swore on the lives of my children that I would not be scared and that I would absolutely be in love with this Vampire Love story.

Good Heavens was she right! And there are many of you in my Coven that I gave the same line too, and you to came around! So truly, once I started Twilight, there was no stopping, and luckily I only had a few months to wait for Breaking Dawn to be released. Plenty of time to reread each book twice, Eclipse I read three times actually, AND I listened to the audio narration of each novel twice! I am a huge fan of the Audio versions. They received mixed reviews, but I loved them! Loved the narrator, and I loved Breaking Dawn with the Jacob narrator coming into the picture.

Once Edward sunk his teeth into my mind, heart, and soul, there was no turning back! My passion, note I'm not saying Obsession because I think that word has a negative connotation, and there isn't anything negative about my PASSION for Edward, has brought so many enjoyable times to my life. And surprisingly, I have found that this love has awakened some personal attributes that I didn't know existed. My love of Vampire novels has grown immensely. Grant it, I'm still quite choosy, making sure I'm not getting myself into some Steven King time horror story, but I have found some incredibly awesome books. None of which come close to the Twilight Saga, but are great entertainment nonetheless!

This love of Twilight has brought out a crazy fashion sense in me that didn't exist before, and I am loving it! I have also found inspiration in the book covers in decorating my bedroom. Great fun!

All in all, I look forward to the future when I get to look back on all these years of this Twilight Saga and say that I was one of those who loved it, embraced it, lived it! Call me crazy...I don't care!

Hey Friends and Family and Blogger Readers...Have I got some great Hotel Rates just for YOU!!!

2009-03-16T22:30:00.003-06:00

Great News! I've enrolled in the IHG Friends and Family program and am now able to offer you discounted hotel stays. As a friend or family member, you now have access to special hotel rates only available to friends and family of IHG employees! Information and rules for booking the rate are available on the program web site accessible through the link below.
http://www.ihg.com/h/d/6c/1/en/friendsandfamily?key=PxyOqu9bjcqo0qAvnJO9avK5YWcui3GNxbbUsHmcjlM%253D&cm_mmc=DCE-_-FF-_-20090310-_-AM27684

Getting started is easy:

Click on the link to enter the exclusive booking site

Book a Friends & Family rate by May 31, 2009 at any of the over 4,100 IHG hotels anywhere in the world - including InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites hotels.

Download the voucher - which you must present at check-in

Enjoy your trip!

*The Friends and Family rate is only available through the link in this email. You must use the link provided to make your reservation or you will not get the discount.

Feel free to share this with other friends, but if you forward this to anyone else, please make sure they know to use the link to get the discount.

Regards and have fun traveling

The Morning After

2009-03-10T01:14:00.005-06:00

Unfortunately, we are still getting snow storms here in Utah. I really really dislike this time of year because we will go from a gorgeous 70-Degree Sunny day, to Utah snow storms for the next three or four days. It's like the song from Katy Perry, "Hot and Cold." With the snow, and the time change, my body is so messed up!

Despite however much I want this cold stuff to go away for the next three seasons, I was able to capture some excellent photos the morning after the first snow storm a few days ago. No matter how much I dislike the cold right now, I can never deny that Utah truly has the Greatest Snow on Earth!

I CAN do Some Crafty Things!

2009-03-07T18:19:00.006-07:00

Don't fall over dead...I actually worked on a craft project, AND it turned out pretty darn cute! Shocker! I know!

Jaxon's Pre-K program has been doing an amazing job of teaching the kids their alphabet, numbers, all the sounds associated with each, and they are even reading now! A great friend of mine had put together a wonderful little book for her daughter that had all the letters of the alphabet and the numbers 1-10. She decorated it with a cute paper doll figure that represented her daughter, and then every page had corresponding stickers or pictures. I loved it so much and thought "I can do this!"

So I headed to Office Max and Roberts, and three hours later (finding alphabet word stickers isn't as easy as it sounds!), I was home and putting Jaxon's little book together! It took me the better part of the afternoon to complete it and I am very pleased with the outcome!

Jaxon was so excited to have his own book! He even took it to school the next day to show Mrs. Miller! I love that he loves it, and I actually had a great time doing it! Who would've thought?!?

Dakota Fanning's "New Moon" Fate Revealed

2009-03-07T13:50:00.003-07:00

Dakota Fanning's 'New Moon' Fate Revealed

Posted using ShareThis

Complete the Cycle

2009-03-04T23:46:00.004-07:00

I'm going to lose some people with this next statement, but I am really NOT a big Oprah fan! GASP! Yes, it's true! I used to really enjoy TiVoing her shows every once in a while, but ever since she became political and so very predictable, she's lost her appeal...TO ME! That being said, what I still love, almost to the point of obsessiveness ,(What??? Nat obsess over something...never!), is her magazine, O. Funny enough, as much as I love this magazine, and pick one up every month at the airport (Favorite Travel Material), I have never subscribed to it. Go figure!

I don't know if it's for the fact that I have so many emotional needs and turmoil going on in my life right now, or if the two new editors just honed in on some seriously good stuff, but the March Edition is probably one of the best that I have ever read!

I love to sit and study this magazine, almost as if I am studying for an exam, or at a motivational lecture, and I will highlight all the meaningful quotes, or websites I want to visit, or fashion ideas, etc. Well this edition is now BRIGHT Yellow throughout. I was like a mad woman highlighting stuff! If I wasn't finding something completely relevant to myself, I was finding things relevant to my friends or family members going through their own struggles. --- Don't be surprised if some of you receive this copy in the mail with pages marked for your reading!

I could sit and blog, journal, write all night long based on the numerous topics I was drawn to. But for now, I wanted to write about one that really hit home! The article is titled "A Spotless Mind" and it's an interview with the author of "Enough Already! Clearing Mental Clutter to Become the Best You" Note to self: Purchase this book tomorrow!!!!

The basis of the article is that Clutter in our lives, both literally and figuratively, "Robs us psychologically, by stealing our ability to feel motivated in our space." I Heart that statement! In diving deeper into this subject, the author, Peter Walsh, throws out a metaphor of doing Laundry. The interviewer asked about a typical scenario, one that we call relate to, in that one day you clean and clean your home, and yet within two days it's a disaster again, and you can't figure out how it happened! The author calls this the Cycle Problem. In relating it to laundry he states that it's as if yous started a load of laundry, stop it half way through, and then leave it for a few days. You come back to stinky, moldy clothes that you must wash again because "you didn't complete the cycle".

He goes on to further demonstrate this by asking "When you have a bowl of cereal, does the box go back in the cupboard? When you bring in the mail, do you immediately open and sort it? At night, do your clothes go in the hamper or in the floor?" I laughed in spite of myself as I read those questions because I either do them myself, or nag the heck out of Chris and the kids to stop doing it! He completes the metaphor with this statement, "We have a CHOICE: to me mindful and complete the cycle, or to end up with a stink load of washing in the metaphorical machine." I love this statement because it is so relevant and true to every one of us.

How many of us never complete the cycle? Even as anal as I am around the house, and my need to not have things cluttered, I still find so many situations that I have not completed the cycle. I love putting it into perspective that we all have a choice. Yes, some of these actions are the result of long-lived and formed bad habits, but that doesn't mean you can't Choose to make changes for the better.

The ad immediately following this article displays pictures of all the different situations life can bring to each of us. And in the middle of the page, in big bold letters it reads:

"Every Day is a Turning Point. Life can be tough, but we are not victims. If you want different, you have to DO different!"

That statement really hit to the center of my mind and heart. I really needed that statement in my life today. But I realize more that I need that statement in my life Every Day. I want different, so I must DO different. Good stuff my friends...Good stuff! I think I'm going to go do some laundry now! :-)

Ask What You Can Do For Your Country

2009-02-28T20:02:00.009-07:00

This past week I was in our nation's capitol for business. I've only been to DC three times now in my life, each time only for a short time, and barely there long enough to really enjoy the immense amount of historical sites available for us to enjoy. I love American History, and I love this country, and I long to go back to DC, on my own and thoroughly examine the sites. However, the few things I've had the opportunity to see, even if briefly, always leave me in utter awe. I was fortunate this past week to spend a peaceful and deeply moving afternoon at Arlington Cemetery.

Arriving in DC, I had joked entirely about running into our newest President, but truly there was no need to see him in person, because his face exists absolutely EVERYWHERE. The journey that this nation has been on these past 45 days has been an interesting one, and I admit my personal journey along the Obama Mania train has been a rough one. I genuinely do not wish for any President to fail because I truly respect the position in which they hold. However, I have struggled immensely in the light of how this country is drastically changing, and even more frightening to me is how worshiped our new President is. I have been disheartened from the inauguration and on. I am not affiliated with any one party, and I understand in the realm of all my friends, most of which are staunch Democrats, not being affiliated makes me an outsider. But I have always voted for the man who I believe represents my interests best, and with whom I can believe in. This past election was draining to me. And on a day that I wanted to find something to believe in, and stand with the millions of other Americans who were screaming they were "Proud to be an American", I was only saddened. I was saddened by how a man who stayed away from all race related campaign tactics had somehow become proclaimed by the minute "The 1st BLACK President". Everything became about him being BLACK, not the fact that he ran a great campaign or was going to bring change, or any of his platforms. It was only that he was BLACK, as if we hadn't noticed.

Let me say here that I don't take anything away from this historical event and the significance of what took place. I wanted so much to believe in him, rather than his color, after all, isn't that what being President of the free world is about? Regardless of any political party, or of how any one person felt about President Bush's presidency, he was still President of the United States, and it made me sad at how disrespected he was the last few days of his presidency. It made me sad to hear all the smears, and booing, and name calling at every place he was presented. And I wondered how he and Mrs. Bush must have felt as they took off in their helicopter that afternoon.

I didn't bring all of this up as a political statement, or to criticize one political side or the other, I speak of it all because in the past 45 days, as my faith in the country and our government has been tried and tested, it was my experience at Arlington Cemetery that provided me the renewed faith that I was looking for. Just days before I headed to DC, I had the great opportunity to watch the HBO Special, "Taking Chance". If you haven't seen this beautiful film, I highly suggest that you find a way to. The movie, starring Kevin Bacon, is based on a true story of a high ranked Marine Corp officer, stationed in the states, who volunteers to be an Escort. He volunteers to accompany the remains of a fallen soldier across the country to his hometown. This movie portrays and demonstrates to us the sacred and truly incredible process in which a fallen soldier is brought home. From the arrival into the United States, through the entire process in which their bodies are prepared for burial, to the final hand-off to the family of the soldier, I was never so touched as I was watching this process.

As I watched how every individual that this Officer encountered throughout his journey, I was so touched by the amount of respect shown to him, and to the soldier he escorted home. There was honor, and respect, and genuine love displayed to these two individuals, to these two strangers. It mattered not what political party they belonged too, nor did it matter if they agreed about the war or not, all that mattered was the sacrifice the soldier had made for his country, for each one of us. The tears I spilled watching this film, were magnified and brought even closer to home as I toured Arlington Cemetery.

Every day there are on an average, 27 burials conducted. There is an entire section dedicated just to the soldiers that have fallen in Iraq, and all the other wars fought for this nation. The day I was there was partially overcast, warm, and beautiful. The atmosphere was serene and peaceful and the loudest noise throughout were the tour buses that would drop you off at the various points of interest. Other than that, there was nothing but the sounds of birds chirping and the low whispers of those around us. I was inspired and awed at the site of President Kennedy's tomb, and the Eternal Flame. The beauty of the grounds was amazing and I felt at total peace as I walked around looking at all the headstones. And of course watching the changing of the Guards at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier was inspiring. So much meaning behind every movement. Every action done with the utmost respect and focus. It was breathtaking. And the people who worked there, whether they were at the welcome desk, the teller selling tickets, the sweet lady who personally guided us to the tour bus stop speaking of all her personal favorite spots, or the retired military men who told us the history of the cemetery as we drove around, all of them were so special, so friendly, and so very honored to be doing what they were doing. It was this experience that reminded me of why I love this country.

So no, I didn't purchase an Obama sweatshirt, T-shirt, or hat; I didn't even purchase one of the 100+ refrigerator magnets available everywhere I went...nope, I haven't been sold on the mania quite yet. But I do love the feelings that I experienced being in DC, and I am thankful for having been there to be reminded of the freedom that all our servicemen protect and provide for us every day. These servicemen ask every day not what your country can do for them, but what they can do for our country. I have a hope that this is the daily affirmation we can all come to live and believe in. It's how I hope I can be always.

Randomness of Jaxon

2009-02-21T16:44:00.003-07:00

Today was deemed Jaxon is the Boss day! Chris declared this early in the morning and we've been having one giggle after another ever since. Here are a few of the best moments!

J: GET ME SOME MORE CHIPS! (Yelling in my face)

Me: Hey, there...Do I yell at you like that when I am the boss?

J: No. But if you say please then I will say yes!

J: (Angelically) Get me some more chips please! Now I'm the boss, so say Yes now!

J: Hey Mommy, I have a great idea!

Me: You do?

J: Yeah. I just have the best idea!

Me: What is it?

J: How bout me and you be the boss of Zoey and tell her not to poop downstairs?! (Great Idea Jaxon!)

J: Mommy, I am the boss right?

Me: Yep, you're the boss!

J: Can I play Wii?

M: Not right now Jaxon

J: You are not the boss mommy! So you have to say Yes!

M: Well not exactly, we are discussing your options.

J: (disgusted with me and plopping himself on the floor) You are not a good Boss!

J: Mommy, did you hear me do my letters?

Me: Yes, I sure did! You are doing so good!

J: No mommy, you are doing so good. I am so proud of your listeners!

Me: My what?

J: Your listeners. You have your listeners on and you are doing so good. Mrs Miller will love you too!

Is this what it feels like????

2009-02-20T01:14:00.003-07:00

So I'm feeling a little funky! I feel like Bill Murray in Ground Hog's Day repeating my days exactly the same way, every day! I'm losing track of time and yet the week just won't end!!!!

Jaxon has been home all week sick, and today I started feeling not so well myself. So every day this week has been the same routine. He comes and gets in bed with me in the morning after poking me ever so gently with ONE finger and then gets in my face and asks me if I want to "have snuggles with him?" The kid knows how to pull on mom's sleepy heart-strings! My alarm will go off, I awake myself from my slumber that has just been achieved, considering that I am not asleep, EVER before 2 or 3 in the morning, and I "try" to be a mom to Cydnee and see her off to school. But this week I have pretty much sucked at that. In fact today, I felt so crappy that she was left to take care of herself completely! The rest of my days have looked exactly the same as well. Jaxon and I crawl out of bed, I roll myself and my two computers to the living room couch and it's off to work land I go. Jaxon sits next to me doing his "letters", a dry-erase alphabet book that he cannot get enough of, we watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes over and over and over, and eventually we get through the morning and lunch time is upon us. Once lunch time is over, the routine begins again and continues until 3:00 when my afternoon of picking-up and dropping off kids from school and to dance begins for the next five hours! And yeah, I will catch some episodes of my daily DVR fixes at the end of the evening, put the kids to bed, and somewhere around Midnight, I'm left all alone, sitting on the couch, thinking to myself, WTF? I fall asleep, I sleep for a few hours, and that little single-fingered poke gets me again, and it starts all over!

It doesn't stop. The constant worrying chatter in my head. Every day, every hour, every minute. I've got 1000 conversations going in my head, and I'm ready to explode. I know I'm not alone in this. I know I'm not the only person in the world with struggles. I know I'm not the only person with Financial struggles and facing severe issues. I know I'm not the first blended family, nor the first step-mom in the world. I know I'm not the only person out there dealing with polygamists...okay well maybe I am, at least in my circle of friends. I know I'm not the first mom with a son with ADHD and anxiety disorders. I'm not the first mom with a daughter who seems to be deaf and incapable of doing anything that I need her to during these pre-menstrual times! Seriously, is she ever going to start and relieve us all of this drama???? I know I'm not the only person out there with family drama that never seems to go away! I know I'm not the only woman out there constantly feeling badly about the way she looks, how fat she is, and all that self-loathing bit that we do. I know I'm not the only one who thinks, Wow, I should probably not feed my kid pop tarts and Caprisuns all day long! Oh wait, I probably am the only one who does that, because any of you reading this, I KNOW are better mom's than me! ;-) I get it! However right now, I'm just ready to throw my hands in the air, walk away, throw the towel in, put a fork in it, all that jazz. I'm done! I just need some sanity and peace. I need to feel for just a short time that my life is not going to Hell in a Handbasket!

It's alright to have a meltdown right? I'm not the only doing that either right?Maybe this is all because I really hate being 36? I have never hated my age until this year. I really and truly hate being 36. I feel like I've just crossed over into senior-citizenship! I hate it!

Is this what a midlife crisis feels like?I mean, I'm not out buying a luxury car, or looking for a sexy young boyfriend. I am experimenting more with my hair color, much to the delight of my hairdresser! So how do you know? How do you know if you're there? If you're having that mid-life crisis, or just plain losing your mind? Do you think Barnes & Noble has some books on this?

Yeah, Nat's needing some help here! Maybe next week while I'm in Washington, I'll pop on by the Whitehouse and see if President Obama can come up with a stimulus plan for my crisis! (Sorry to all my democratic friends...I couldn't help myself!)

A Birthday, Valentines, and a Special Tribute...All in One!!!

2009-02-16T15:49:00.004-07:00

Every year I make it a point to try to make a special deal out of Chris' birthday seeing that it is the day before Valentine's Day. That making it a very high potential of getting lost in the shuffle. Similar to my birthday getting lost in the shuffle of our Anniversary, but he never lets that happen! Last year was a real downer because I was in the hospital having my uterus removed due to my cancer scare, so both his birthday and Valentine's Day were lost. So I had some making up to do!

Seeing that we're in the same economic situation as so many others in the world today, this year was really about the things that matter most. In fact this year's theme was "Make Time in '09!" I truly want Chris to become healthier in many ways this year, and time is always a factor for him. So everything I did for him had that in mind.

I had to work on Friday, but as soon as I could I began preparations for his surprise dinner! The kids helped by cleaning up the house and setting the table for a nice dinner! I prepared his favorite meal, Chicken/Mushroom rolls with Rice and Chicken Gravy. I added individual baked Acorn Squash drizzled with Maple Syrup, Brown Sugar, and butter... a smashing hit! Then replacing the traditional birthday cake, I made Chris his favorite Chocolate Cream Pie and for the rest of us a Coconut Cream Pie, my first ever! I was actually impressed with myself!

After Dinner we did presents! I started out with a book that details 50 of life's most important things to remember! Also a little card to remind Chris that his "hopes are my dreams!" Then to help him with his goal of getting healthier this year, I re-enrolled him at his favorite gym! I also purchased him Bob Harper's Yoga DVD! He was soooo excited! It was the best gift he said anyone could give him! Well that and the foot rub that the girls gave him while we watched a movie! All-in-all, it was a great day for Chris!

For Valentine's it was relatively low key, but just as sweet and thoughtful. We spent the majority of the day with the kids! I always try to have a little gift and card for the kids and they always look forward to that as well. During the morning we traveled through the snow to Springville to watch Connor's last Basketball game of the season. He did awesome and his team went undefeated!

Before Chris and I went out for the evening we exchanged our little gifts with the kids and got them settled for the night. They were good to go with a night ahead of them and a tournament of Guitar Hero! As Chris walked me to our clean car I noticed my side of the car decorated with red and pink gel hearts on the window. Inside on my seat were chocolate covered hearts and my traditional TWO cards from him. It was very cute! I loved the decorated window! Chris always gets me two cards for every occasion. This time though he purchased a recordable card in which he actually sang "You are so beautiful!" Chris NEVER sings! It was awesome! I loved it! Chris had made reservations for us at a little local Italian Restaurant for dinner, and we then went to a double feature afterwards. I gave Chris his present at dinner. I had picked up another book in which there were messages of all the many different reasons I loved him. They were of course generic love messages, but I took the time to write on each page a personal message that made them pertain to just him and I. I think I decided that it is the non-bells-and-whistles Valentine's Day that suited us the best!

All that being said, I wanted to pay tribute still to my husband like I have been doing my kids on their birthdays and such ever since I started this Blog of mine. And so I thought I would capture 47-items that I know or love about him in honor of his big day! Oh, and also, the music is in honor of him as well! Because you all know I wouldn't willingly or knowingly put this stuff on my playlist! Love you baby! Happy Birthday!

1) Chris was born on February 13, 1962

2) There have been 85 Friday the 13th's in his lifetime thus far (Bet you would like to know how I figured that one out, huh!)

3) He is the youngest of 3 members of his family...all boys!

4) He is still his Momma's "Sugar-Darlin!"

5) He was born and raised in Richmond, VA

6) He went to school in an all Catholic-Boys School

7) He played tennis competitively in High School and College

8) He started out as a Culinary Chef before becoming a Pastry Chef

9) In Richmond he owned his own Bakery named "Sweet Confections"

10) His dream is to own his own Wedding Cake business again some day!

11) Favorite color is Orange

12) Zoey is his dog from his childhood reincarnated!

13) He has never been to Disneyland or Disneyworld

14) He hates change, especially sudden Change!

15) Loves sour cream!

16) Eats Ketchup on everything!

17) Thinks Fry Sauce is disgusting!

18) Has drank Diet Pepsi since he was a young child!

19) Has a hidden desire to do stand-up comedy!

20) Ran a marathon once, will never do it again!

21) Loves designing, building, and collecting any sort of Gingerbread houses (the largest one he built stood over six feet tall and five feet wide)

22) Has a weird fascination for "Weirdest Moments" or "Most Outrageous" TV type shows!

23) He is a closet "Twilight" fan!

24) His favorite Holiday is Halloween

25) His favorite season is Fall

26) He has a passion for working-out at the gym

27) His favorite part of Christmas is stuffing stockings

28) He loves chocolate almost as much as he loves me!

29) Loves watching our TV shows together!

30) Loves going to the movies

31) Loves to have his back scratched

32) Loves foot rubs

33) Loves to snuggle

34) Does NOT love to be woken up at night

35) Loves music and his iPod (Thinks it is the coolest invention ever created!)

36) Loves his children

37) Can't wait for his children to go away so that he and I can start dating again!

38) Does not like doing yard work

39) Has beautiful green eyes

40) Has a constant body temperature of 99 or higher!

41) Makes the world's best chocolate chip cookies in less than 10 minutes!

42) Always kisses me goodnight.

43) Hates drinking water!

44) Does not tolerate pain well!

45) Does not often get sick!

46) Is there for me when I am!

47) Is my best friend!

OME!

2009-02-12T19:51:00.003-07:00

So, I am overjoyed with the number of events that are coming up this year having to do with "Twilight"..and then "New Moon"...and TwiCon...and then "my" big "New Moon" premiere Event in conjunction with TwilightMoms!!!!! Oh the joy!

But first off...can't wait for Friday's Mail! Y-U-M-M-Y!!!!! Bring my Edward to me!

A Great Day for Miss Cydnee Magoo!

2009-02-10T11:33:00.009-07:00

Yesterday, very early in the morning I woke up, and wrapped Cydnee's present that I was going to give her before breakfast. When she woke up...which was right on time mind you, I let her open it right away. It was two new school uniform/outfits, and she was really excited to have something new to wear today. While she was getting dressed I made her a special breakfast which she was so excited about! I love the way she thinks. It's very much the way I think, and no, that's not why I love her thinking, it's just that, it shows that some of the good things I do, have rubbed off on her. For example, as I was making her eggs and fruit, I asked her to get out a plate. Well today was her special day, so she pulled out a nice dinner plate, with matching salad plate and bowl, to make lovely breakfast setting! So silly! I had to giggle to myself!

After school we had her all but convinced that we weren't going to be doing anything for her birthday. At one point I even had buying that she was babysitting Jaxon while the rest of us went out! She didn't like that at all! We wanted the restaurant location to be a surprise, along with her birthday cake, etc. I think we did a good job at pulling it off. Even Jaxon was in on it, and I was amazed at his ability to keep a secret all afternoon, and even through dinner!As soon I had picked Jaxon up from school we headed out to finish up the last minute touches to the day. I wanted Jaxon to pick out his own present for Cyd. And it was so cute what he found for her. Cydnee LOVES LOVES LOVES monkeys, and Jaxon keyed right in on this cute plush set of monkeys that hug one another, kiss, and say, "I LOVE YOU!" Then even cuter was that he saw this Toblerone box that looked like a red rose and he wanted to "get his sister this beautiful red flower!" Couldn't deprive him of that! We then went and picked up Cyd's birthday cake. When Jaxon saw that it was a HSM3 cake he screamed, "Oh she's gonna LOVE that!" When we arrived home, Jaxon helped me put together all her gift bags. And may I say how impressed I was. I would hand him the tissue paper and tell him exactly where it should go in the bag and he would place it in the bag very gently. Then in then end fluff it up the way I always do! HA HA HA! Again, the good that I'm teaching my kids! He kept asking me, "Mommy, did I do such a good job on the presents?" Yep you sure did kiddo!

So for dinner we decided to take Cyd to this new Brazilian Steakhouse. She had never been to something like that before. She was completely surprised, and very excited to see that Sammy, Lamar, and Hayley had all come to join us as well! Dinner was fantastic! We all ate and ate and ate. Even Jaxon got into the whole meat concept! Jaxon knew that he had to eat really good in order to cake and ice cream later, and I've never seen a kid love birthday cake the way he does. Cyd had left the table to go to the salad bar and Jaxon started squealing about how excited he was to eat the birthday cake. I quickly looked at him and said, "We don't have any cake!" He gave me the most incredulous look and said, "UH yeah you do mom, I saw you buy it and hide it in the refrigerator!" Nothing getting past him. So we quickly told him we wanted it to be a surprise, and the cute kid didn't say another word until we got home!

After dinner we all came back to the house and surprised Cyd with her HSM3 cake and her presents. I think this was my favorite part of the whole evening. Jaxon was killing me with how cute he was being for Cyd. He was SOOOOOO excited for her to see her presents and her cake. He was giddy and jumping all over the place! We let him give her his present first. What an adorable interaction. He watched her with such anticipation and when she opened up he started jumping up and down with excitement telling her how to make the monkeys kiss. The best part was the big hug at the end!

Cyd loved all her presents! Mel and the girls gave her a complete set of real sketch-art-books, charcoal pencils, and all this other stuff she needs to work on her artwork. It's something that Cyd loves to do, and it's something that the four of them all have in common and work on together. So that makes me really happy! Chris gave her this Dance game she's been wanting for her DS so she was thrilled by that. And I surprised her with a Mommy/Daughter night-out-on-the-town complete with dinner and tickets to see "Phantom" at the Hale Centre Theatre! She freaked out! We get to go in a month! I really enjoy getting to take her to plays there. And I love that she loves it as much as I do!

So now, it's onto Chris' birthday this Friday the 13th (I wonder how many of those he's had in his life time???) and of course Valentines Day! Can't wait!

Happy Birthday Cydnee!!!!

2009-02-09T00:33:00.001-07:00

Wow! Wow! Wow! I cannot believe that I have an 11-year old! I thought turning 36 this year was difficult for me, this is worse. I am feeling really old. Yah, not liking this year so far! :-)

So my little Monkee (spelled that way on purpose) was born 11 years ago, just over six weeks early! Man was that an awful pregnancy! I was hit with kidney stones at about 30-weeks, and had to have a stint placed in my kidney as a result of the stones. We were lucky to get her to wait another month before she came. And even then, things didn't go as planned and we ended up having her c-section. I remember that my mom and Steve's mom were both there in the operating room, and there were two things that happened that kept me from slipping into unconscienceness. The first was my mother exclaiming as my doctor was cutting open my stomach that "My goodness Natalee, they are gutting you like a pig!" Nice mom! And the second would be that when the doctor broke through my water, it squirt out like a fountain and he joked that maybe it was a boy. Once again, the grandmas started screaming that they hoped not as they just decorated the entire nursery Pink! But truly, all kidding aside, what I remember most was the doctor holding Cydnee over the screen for me to see her little face for the first time. She was so tiny. Only 5 lbs 4 oz! She was our little angel...still is!

From the minute Cyd came home, on Valentine's Day, I have played dress-up with her. It's no surprise to anyone that she is the girly-girl that she is today. But if I was only to be blessed with one little girl, then I was going to have my girly-girl! It's great that we share a love for shoes, jewelry, purses, the color pink, and bling!

Cydnee has the biggest smile, and loves helping people around her. Well let me clarify, she loves helping people around her...outside of the home! HE HE HE! She loves her family, most days! And she loves her friends! Cydnee has a great talent for artwork! She enjoys creating new projects and I love it when she makes me new cards and gifts! Cydnee has just started taking dance again, and is loving that immensely. She is even going to be doing her first solo performance and competition! Go Cyd!

I love that Cydnee has learned to love all holidays and birthdays and these things are a big deal to her. I know that she will make them a big deal for her children some day! At midnight I snuck into Cyd's room and woke her up, just to wish her a "Happy Birthday!" She was so cute! She grabbed my neck and gave me big kiss, half asleep of course and thanked me for not forgetting! - I had been teasing her all evening that I didn't know what we were doing tomorrow other than normal Monday stuff!!!!

Mommy didn't forget Cyd! We have a whole day planned for you! We love you so much...and are so happy you are a part of our family!

Happy 11th Birthday Monkee-Girl!

You Found Me....

2009-02-06T19:53:00.001-07:00

I am in love with The Fray's new album! Had to share!

Our 6th Year Anniversary!

2009-01-09T16:16:00.000-07:00

Well it's been six years since Chris and I were married! And WOW, what a ride it has been! It truly feels like we've been together so much longer than six years with all that we have gone through in these six short years. I'm amazed many days that we have made it this far. But I guess the Lord has a plan for us, and well, there is this thing called LOVE that keeps us together! As I look back on the past six years and all that we have done together and all that we have accomplished, I am extremely grateful for every part of our relationship, the good, the bad, and the ugly...after all, that's what a marriage is all about right????

So here are some highlights of some great times that Chris and I have experienced in our past six years together!

Our Courtship: It was short, sweet, and perfect! Our first date was classic and he won my heart quickly! Since Chris had just moved to Utah he wasn't familiar with places to take the ladies so he was relying on his best friend Randy for advice. The "restaurant" that he suggested ended up being this total hole in the wall. I was so frightened when we walked in. And I thought to myself, "PLEASE don't make me stay here!" Of course he didn't and he walked us right across the street and he got us reservations on the spot at The Melting Pot! It was a piece of heaven. We stayed there for over three hours. The place was closing down and we didn't even notice! He had me rolling with laughter all night. When he dropped me off that night, I gave HIM a hug, something I had never done before! I knew that I wanted to see him again, but having gone through a divorce I was still a little gun shy of a relationship. But then Tiff came to town to plan her wedding and she insisted on meeting him! She totally approved and told me that if I let him go I was a complete moron! So that's all I needed! From that point on we were inseparable! And exactly three months later we were married!

Our wedding: It was very small, but very special! All of the people that I love were there. Chris made me my own wedding cake, and all the yummy desserts. The kids all looked so sweet, and I actually felt like a princess. More because he made me feel like one than because I really was one! I couldn't believe we put it all together as quickly as we did. One week to be exact! Craziness, but complete bliss!

Our Honeymoon: One of the best times of our lives! The entire trip lasted 11 days! The first half was in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico! I had won a trip through work and the entire thing was paid for! We stayed at the InterContinental and the location of the hotel was practically on it's own side of the island! The hotel knew it was our honeymoon and they put us up in the Honeymoon Suite on the top floor with a huge walk-out deck, jacuzzi in the room, and the works! It was magical! Every day the maids would make up our bed and place rose pedals on the bed in a different shape! And every night we would leave the patio doors open, but close the white sheer curtains and go to sleep to the sound of the ocean waves and the Mariachi Band! Romance at it's highest! The second half of our honeymoon we spent in Richmond, VA...Chris' home town! It was so awesome meeting his family for the first time! I love Chris' parents, especially his mom! She is such a sweet angel and has always been so welcoming and loving to me. We had such a great time going around Richmond and seeing all the historical sites, and all the places that Chris grew up at. I remember flying home on the airplane and we both thought what a major bummer it was that we now had to go home to reality and our version of the "Brady Bunch"!

Our Kids: We each brought two the bunch! Chris brought Abbie and Connor who are now 14 and 11! And I brought Cydnee and Chase who are now 10 and 9! Wow how these four have changed in six years! They were such babies when we brought this family together! But of course the glue that has bonded us together is a little guy we like to call Pookie! Chris and I found out that we were having a baby boy on our one year anniversary! And every since Jaxon has been born he has brought a joy to our life that I really can't describe! He truly is the center of all our lives and he knows it!

Our Homes: We have lived in three different "homes"! One apartment, and two houses! Each for two years so far! Our current home we hope to be at for a very long time, if we don't get kicked out of it! Stinkin' Economy!

Our Travels: Chris and I have been blessed with some great opportunities to travel far and wide! Some trips were due to my work, and others were just for us! Some of the highlight trips were to 1) San Francisco, CA. We had an entire weekend to ourselves. Chris had never been to California before, let alone San Francisco. So we had a blast touring the city! We had seafood every day, eating out on the bay! Took in a lovely Sunset dinner Bay Cruise, and our favorite activity was renting an electric GoCart that led us by GPS around the entire city for a scenic tour! It was awesome!!!!

2) I surprised Chris with a trip to Flushing Meadows, NY to the US Open! This was truly one of the best weeks of our relationship! I put away my BlackBerry, he truly didn't work, and we had NO kids with us, and we witnessed Andre Agassi's last and probably greatest games of all time! It was magical! Oh, and we saw "Wicked" on Broadway! We can't wait to go back and do it all over again!

3) I had to travel to our CRO in Sydney, Australia, and was going to be gone over our anniversary, so my boss thought it only fair that Chris get to travel with me. What a bummer right? It was so incredible. What am amazing place! Chris and I could not believe we were there! Our first day we immediately went to the beach because it was summer there (winter at home) and we were just in awe! And since they do not ship any produce or food into the country, everything is home grown, it was just the most amazing food I have ever experienced! We celebrated both our anniversary and my birthday there! Totally fun! We did a Dinner, Sunset cruise (we seem to enjoy those!) and it was totally romantic! Holy cow is the seafood incredible down there! Our week together went way too fast! We definitely needed two weeks there!

My Illnesses: We have been fortunate that Chris has remained very healthy. Unfortunately I have had more illnesses than most. In our six years together I have had meningitis, influenza type A (that's the bad kind), hospitalized 12 times, 3 major surgeries, at least 8 MRIs, cancer scare, and more visits to the ER than I care to remember!

Things I love: Chris' eyes, they are always smiling! His humor! Chris is a funny guy! Watching our TV shows together! Working out at the Gym...Miss those days baby! That he always gives me TWO cards for every special occasion. And every card is perfect! In bed, his feet are always warm when mine are always cold and he always lets me warm mine up with his! Staying up late and playing Guitar Hero together. Snuggling on the couch. Christmas Shopping together. Exchanging our Christmas gifts to one another. When he bakes me his Chocolate Chip cookies and brings me a hot one with a glass of cold milk! Going to the movies together!

In the words of my husband on his anniversary card to me.... Six down...Many more to go! I love you baby!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2008-12-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

Wow, I have really blown it with blogging this month! It's my worst month yet! I am going to take an easy out and blame it on the holidays and the craziness that comes with it!

It really has been an incredible month! December usually is though. But this Christmas has been especially incredible in many ways. Like so many people this year, it was a struggle for us, but in the end I believe it has been a wonderful holiday for everyone. I feel blessed to have been touched by so many wonderful friends and family and to have all that I have been given this month. So here are some highlights of this past holiday season at the Cole house!

Christmas is always a wonderful time for traditions. And this month started out with two of my favorite traditions. The first weekend of the month was a busy one for us. On Friday night Chris and I met up with the other "adult" siblings of my family, along with my parents, and we went to the production of "The Forgotten Carols." We purchased tickets as soon as they were posted online and this year we were down on the front row, center stage! It was incredible! There isn't a year that I have seen this play that I don't sit and cry throughout the entire thing. And having a night out with just us big people is always a plus!

That next day was our big first activity day with the kids! We started the day out by getting all dressed up for our Christmas Card photo's. That's always an ordeal! Why do we do that to ourselves??? Despite several kid meltdown's and a very BRIGHT sunny day (unfortunately) we eventually got through the photo shoot and came out with some great pictures!

After pictures were done, we headed out to let the kids shop for their sibling gifts! That is always a fun time for us because we let the kids choose pretty much whatever they want (within the given budget of course) for whomever they have this year; and it is always fun to see what they pick out for one another!

After grabbing a quick bite to eat for the kids, we headed to the Hale Centre Theatre for our third year of watching "A Christmas Carol." This year was really special because it was the first year that we were "allowed" to bring Jaxon. He was finally old enough to come! Also we had Mel and her kids with us, and they had never seen the play either! So it was great fun for everyone! Jaxon didn't move the entire time! And he is still talking about the play! It was so much fun watching his reaction to everything. And this year there were several changes to the production and the older kids recognized every one of them. That showed me that they really do like coming and that the play makes a lasting impression on them!

Then rounding out the weekend was our tradition of decorating the "family" tree! Every year since I was a little girl we have purchased a new, individual, ornament to place on the tree. I've been doing that for over 30 years now. And the tradition has been carried on to my kids. It's so great for me to hear that they love doing this as much as I do. We all have a great time carefully unwrapping all of our ornaments from the past years and remembering which one's are our favorites! Then of course I love watching them fill the tree up with all of the ornaments. More fun for everyone!

Leading up to Christmas week of course were many different school activities. Jaxon's school actually let out for a full three weeks, so he got to hang out with Mommy and go to all the different school events! We had a great time...every time. Probably my favorite was being able to surprise Chasers at his school by being the "Mystery Reader" for the month. I showed up in my Christmas attire and read a darling Christmas book to his entire class! Chase was so excited that I was there. Jaxon's favorite activity was most likely going to Cyd's school for her Christmas Party. He got to go to lunch with her in the big cafeteria and then play games with her entire class!

Jaxon had his first Christmas Program at school this year! He was such a ham! This kid is not shy! He sang his little heart out and we of course were very proud of him!

Last year, the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the extended Johnson family decided that they just didn't "feel like" having our annual Christmas party! Well we all regretted it afterwords and the Cousins and I swore that we wouldn't let the "parents" do that again to us. So this year we planned it all out for the parents and it was a HUGE success! Everyone showed up and I mean everyone. We ran out of food! Oops! But regardless, it was a great time. And for the first time ever we attempted an entire Johnson Family photo! It turned out awesome!

Christmas Eve is always a wonderful time. For the past three years we have started a tradition of everyone in my immediate family coming over, everyone in Christmas PJ's of course, and we make a massive breakfast for dinner! The kids are always so happy to eat because it is all breakfast food, and truly, who doesn't like a good breakfast for dinner! This year, Chris and I switched up the menu a bit and Chris made his version of Egg McMuffins! They were a HUGE hit! I think my brother Jett ate 5 or 6! Then Dad made his Cinnamon French Toast, always a favorite! And I found a new place to purchase centerpieces from...Edible Creations! I purchased a beautiful ceramic sleigh full of a bouquet of fruit! It was AWESOME! The chocolate covered pineapple flowers were the best part!

After we ate ourselves silly we started the best part of the night...Present Exchange! We let all the kids exchange their family gifts along with receiving their presents from Grandma and Grandpa! Every single kid was thrilled this year and that was a FIRST! We didn't have to do much to convince them all to take their new gifts and run away and play so that the adults could enjoy their Christmas exchange with a little peace!

As with the little kids, all gifts exchanged were a smashing hit! My favorite part was giving Hayley her present! She has been reading all summer the Harry Potter series, but had to get them all from the library, now that she lives on her own and is "poor"! HA HA HA! Anyway, I used several great discounts and sale coupons and was able to purchase for her the entire Hardback set! Her face was priceless! Lots of screams, giggles, and TEARS! I done did good!

I also received a wonderful surprise gift from my parents and Chris. There is a painting of the Salt Lake Temple that I have wanted for some time now. I was shocked when I opened the BIG gift and found the painting inside. It brought me to tears. I was so excited!

One of my favorite times of Christmas is Christmas Eve night after all the kids have gone to bed and Chris and I finish putting out all the "family" gifts out! It's always so peaceful and quiet and full of anticipation for the morning time to come! We always put out our cookies and milk for Santa and then I take my time soaking in the last night before the big day!

Christmas morning...why does it feel like it takes soo much work and time to get here, and then it's just done and over in a flash???? Oh well, we all had a wonderful morning! It was full of so much excitement and a lot of love and happiness. Having Mel and her kids with us made it extra special. They have waited several years for a good and happy Christmas and I was so excited to be a part of it! And of course nothing is better than enjoying Christmas through your children! I love watching their faces as they see what Santa brought and their excitement as they open all their presents!

So much took place and so many great memories were made! I am just so thankful for all the blessings in my life and for a magical Christmas season! It truly is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

"Endless Day" is HERE!!!!

2008-12-12T18:12:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's been two weeks since my last post, but I have literally not had one minute to myself. I never believed that taking on the music industry was going to be easy, but I didn't truly have any idea how crazy it was going to be! I've worked harder and more endless days (HA!) in the past two weeks than I have in my entire life! Blood, sweat and a lot of tears is an under statement in putting out this album. BUT, it was worth it! I am so proud of this amazing piece of work! Mitch Hansen and Brent Cook are amazing musicians and Mitch's voice is simply beautiful. The talent of John Hancock our music producer is uncomparable. All of our musicians who have brought to life Mitch's, Brent's and John's vision of this project are so incredible! I have sat in awe for the past two months watching them do their magic.

And then there are my partners and marketing team and art design team! This project would not be where it is today without support and backing of Gaylen and his entire team and for that I am so thankful. I am also so proud of Mel and all the incredible work she did on the album artwork. She was able to take mine and Clive's original vision for the album and bring it to life. And for Clive, I am most thankful. Though I have only known him a few short months, I know I have made a life long partner and friend. He is a music industry genius! I love him and his wife Bonnie!

Last and certainly not least, to Chris for supporting this crazy adventure of mine that is just starting. Hopefully this thing is going to take off the way we think is going to and we are going to start having some real fun! I love you baby!

And to all of you...check out our "Endless Days" website...and get your limited edition while they last! I promise you won't be disappointed!!!!! Go to www.endlessdaycd.com. Oh, and PLEASE, let us know what you think! We really do want your feed back. We have a blog at http://www.themitchhansenbandblog.com/. (It's still under construction so excuse the bleakness of it!)

Rock on everyone!!!

A Wonderful Thanksgiving!

2008-11-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

It's 8:00 AM on Friday morning, and I still feel like I am in a Turkey-induced Coma!!!! My darling niece and nephew are here today; they had a sleepover last night with Jaxon. So we are all up much too early. The only reason I would have wanted to be up any earlier is to do Black Friday shopping. But Chris had to work today, so we are going to do our shopping tomorrow! Hope there is still some good deals and stuff out there to purchase! I'm guessing there will be due to all that is going on in the economy, but still hoping I haven't missed out!

Back to Thanksgiving...it was absolutely PERFECT!!! My morning of cooking was stress-free and everything went flawlessly I'm getting all this Thanksgiving Meal cooking down to a science! Jaxon and I were all alone because Chris went to work to make his homemade rolls, yams, and his Virginian Corn Pudding! All the other kiddios were with their other parents this year, so it was pretty quiet around here. But Jaxon and I made great use of our time and he was such a big helper! We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, and then Wall-E!!! Well, it was more Jaxon watching while I was cooking!!!! Nonetheless everything went as planned and before Chris returned home I had everything completely done, and all the tables set-up and decorated!

My entire family arrived around 2:00 and the festivities began. Again, with all our kids missing, it was pretty quiet. Even with Jaxon and his cousins here, it was still relatively quiet! Dinner was fantastic and everyone was very content!

Since the little one's finished quickly and ran away, the adults decided to share with one another the things that they were Thankful for. It was a wonderful way to end our dinner. There were several mentions of family of course, the blessings of living in a country where we are free to worship as we choose, being members of the church and the blessings of the Gospel in our lives, as well as living in a free country altogether. There were some very touching moments, and we all shared in each other's love and tears. It was really a special moment!

I thought I would share the things that I am most thankful for this year, as this has been one incredible year for me personally. First and foremost, I am thankful to be here today. Having gone through the possibility of cancer, and having to have a hysterectomy at the first of the year, I am just happy to be alive. That experience was one of the most difficult and most painful processes I have gone through, and at the time, I truly believed that it was my time to go. I know that I wouldn't have made it through without all the love and support of my family and all my wonderful friends. I have never felt so much love as I did during that four month period. I know that the Lord was blessing me, and that it clearly was not my time...I still had too much to accomplish in this life!

I am so thankful for my children. I'm especially thankful for all the doctors and specialists that have helped our Chasers. It's been a year now that he has been on his medicine for ADHD and he is a completely different child. Chase has always had such a huge heart, but he has struggled for so long emotionally. And we have finally been able to get him the help he needs. He has improved so much in school, and he is doing so much better. I love him so much! I miss him every day that he is not here.

I am thankful for the wonderful schools that Cydnee and Jaxon are attending this year. Their new schools and the incredible learning environment that they are have been such wonderful blessings to us. Jaxon is so in love with his school and his teacher. He never complains at all about going to his school. I am so thankful that he is no longer in daycare and is a loving and educational environment. I am thankful for my opportunity and freedom to have time to be a part of the kid's activities. I've never really been able to be this involved and I am so happy that I can be now.

I am so grateful for this incredible new opportunity that starting this new company is bringing to my life. It has been a complete joy for me to work and meet so many wonderful and talented people. I am thrilled to be utilizing my skills and talents in a new industry, and of course learning about a new industry altogether. This experience has been one of the greatest in my life. And the best thing is that it is all just beginning. I know that there is going to be so many more wonderful opportunities coming our way!

I am thankful for my friends. Again, this has been one of the most stressful and trying years of my life, and I just don't know if I would have made it through without their love and support. I am so blessed with so many wonderful friends who I love and love me in return. Whether they are here in Utah, or far away in Oregon, Virginia, and Atlanta, it matters not, I feel close to all of them every day!

I could not have a list of things that I was thankful for and not have my ward and the Gospel a part of it. The members of our ward have shown so much charity and love to me and my family this year. I am so thankful for our Bishop and Relief Society President. These two wonderful individuals have been there so much this past year and most of the time without having asked. They just show up, and always when I needed it most. For nearly three months while I was down from my surgery there were people I have never even met coming to my home to help clean, bring in meals, and help with Jaxon. I never had to worry about a thing. Every minute of every day was taken care of for me. I've never experienced such compassion before. I will be forever grateful for all that they have done for me and my family.

I am so thankful to have Melanie and her beautiful kids living with us. I am grateful for the opportunity to help someone in need, but I am receiving so many more blessings because of it. I love this family with all my heart and I love seeing them happy!

And last but not least, I am so thankful for my husband. We have struggled together more this year than any other year of our very short marriage. It has felt so many times like we just weren't going to make it. But I am so thankful that I know that there is enough love there to get us through. And I do love him. He is a wonderful father and I love how he loves the kids. We have learned what we must focus on in order to make it through this dark and dreary world, and it's when we lose that focus that we are struggling the most. If we can remember to always put one another first, and keep the Lord close to both of us, we can make it through anything.

It has been a wonderful holiday and just the kind of break that I needed. I am so excited for the rest of the weekend. Today I am breaking out the Christmas Decorations and tonight when Chris gets home we are going on the train to downtown and watch the lights at Temple Square come on. Then all day tomorrow Chris and I will be doing our annual Christmas shopping marathon. It's our favorite thing to do together and I can't wait. We actually will NOT be bringing Jaxon this time. He is much to aware of everything now, so this will be the first year that Chris and I get to do our shopping ALL ALONE! Woo Hoo!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving also! My love and thanks to all of you!!! Happy Holidays!

Thankful WEEK!

2008-11-20T15:16:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been just over a week since my big announcement, and I can tell you it's been a whirlwind of a time. In fact I can't believe it's only been 10-days! Probably because nowadays, I am working more hours then there are in a day, and life just is crazy as ever! But we're trying to work through it.

Today is a rough, roller-coaster of a day, so forcing myself to stop and think about the things I'm thankful for right now is a good exercise for me. I'm already starting to feel better! So here goes...

1) A weekend alone with Chris and Jaxon! - One of the biggest challenges with all that is going on in our lives, and with as much as I have had to travel these past three months, has been staying focused on "us". So I am so thankful that this past weekend Chris and I were able to have "just-us" focused weekend with Jaxon. We traveled to Layton on Saturday, catching dinner on the way! Then spent the night at the Holiday Inn Express! Jaxon was so excited to be at the hotel. Sunday morning we slept in and had nice leisure morning. We had a late lunch at Cracker Barrel!!! Chris and I love going there at Christmas time and looking at all the Christmas stuff. We did that for over an hour before we even ate! We agree that Cracker Barrel is "the Devil"! After lunch we headed to Disney On Ice! We had great seats and Jaxon had a total blast! It was a great weekend and I was so thankful that we had this time together!

2) Learning a new business! - Though life is crazy, crazy, crazy due to all this business with the band, it truly is something I am thankful for. My trip to LA was quick and crazy! But it was all worth it. Attending the after-party Monday night was completely surreal! It was great to interact with so many people who are in this wild business and who also love Twilight! Additionally, the team I'm working with is incredible. It is very exciting to take skills learned and combine them with the talents of so many individuals. I am thankful for all of the opportunities this adventure is bringing to my family and friends.

3) A "Diamond in the Rough!" - I have more than once mentioned how difficult work has been the past several months. So much that I have a hard time finding the drive to keep pushing forward. This past week I had an associate out from Atlanta and we had a pretty rough couple of days. But having her here, her support and friendship was what got me through. I am thankful to have some sense of sanity in this crazy business right now.

4) Twilight! Twilight! Twilight Premiere! - It's not secret that I've been waiting for this night for over a year now. And I was not disappointed at all. I know everyone will have their own opinion, but 70.6 Million dollars in the opening weekend speaks Loudly!!!!! For the evening, my Twilighter Sisters and I all dressed up in Black & Red and met up late in the evening for a fantastic Italian dinner at Mark Anthony's. We took our time at dinner and enjoyed ourselves and the food thoroughly!!!! We headed to the theatre about an hour before the movie started and took in all the Twilight Frenzy! The movie was incredible and I loved every last minute of it. Rob Pattinson was as good as I knew he would be! Seeing the movie three times that day was the best medicine I could ask for! Twilight has brought so much enjoyment to my life this past year and a half! I am so thankful for the fun and excitement it's brought to my family and friends!!!! And we get to do it for three more movies! YES!!!

5) The Upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday! - I am so thankful that this coming week is a short work week, and that we get to celebrate Thanksgiving once again! We only have Jaxon this year, and so Chris and I hope to have a nice, long and relaxing weekend alone again! I can't wait to have my family over for our traditional Thanksgiving dinner, games and whatever! I love the kick-off of the Holiday season, and I love having all of my family over for the event! I'm excited to get Christmas out and the house decorated...and I can't wait for Christmas shopping with Chris. I love this time of year and this past year has been such a trying one! I'm excited to just focus on my husband and kids and make this another great holiday season!

Too Good to be True!!!!

2008-11-13T23:13:00.000-07:00

Wow, I don't even know where to begin this blog! It's been a long time coming and it seems every day more and more happens that just makes this announcement all the more exciting for me! First I have to say thank you to everyone for playing along and being so patient. Whether you have posted your guesses online, via email, on Facebook, texting, or however, it's made this process even more fun for me! And I promise, I don't think you'll be disappointed with the end results! (Chris and I aren't at least!)

So here it goes! And funny enough, this post lands on a Thankful Thursday, which I haven't been able to do in a really long time; and today, I have a lot to be thankful about!

Why don't we start with some of the clues: 1) This is a life-changing opportunity for me; 2) Has to do with Twilight; 3) There was a line in Pink's song "So What!" that applied; 4) There was a connection to American Idol; 5) Has nothing to do with the Twilight Movie Premiere!

Now for some of the guesses:
1) I am going to run off with the lead singer of The Mitch Hansen Band and sell my wedding ring on the way to the next concert! (Nice!)
2) I am going to head up a CBS show based off of "Moonlight" (Oh I miss Mick!)
3) I am going to the Twilight Movie Premiere (There were lots of those!)
4) I am going to start a Edward Stalking Coven
5) I am going to Sing on American Idol (Clearly you people haven't heard me sing!)

The Truth!!!!! Are you ready???? (Just kidding!)

It goes something like this... About three months ago a friend of mine was perusing my blogs and noticed my recommendations made regarding The Mitch Hansen Band (Blog on April 27th) He called me up and asked me what I really thought about this group. Being the Twilight freak that I am, and well, I actually really loved the CD, I ranted and raved about it. Must have done a good job because it prompted my friend to make contact with Mitch Hansen. As it turned out Mitch produced his original CD all on his own out of his home was at the time unrepresented by a record label. And that's where my life has taken quite a drastic turn....

My announcement is that I am officially sharing partner in Harper Records and Harper Publishing. I have partnered with two incredibly talented gentleman here in the Salt Lake valley and we are now the acting record label owners of The Mitch Hansen Band. We have brought in a gentleman by the name of John Hancock who is a music producer who just finished production work on David Archuleta's album (Thus the American Idol reference) and his entire team to re-record an arrange a new CD for national publicatin and distribution.

My role over the past two months as been a plethra of managing the Public Relations, scheduling events, and acting as agent for the band. And as such, just this week I have secured an incredible alliance with a company known as TwiCon. TwiCon is the nations largest Event organizer for all Twilight related events. They will be holding a three-day convention in July in Dallas, Texas in which our band is going to be the headlining performing artist. Along with the actors from the movie, Stephenie Meyer, and so on, this is the Twilight event of the year.

To advertise this event, TwiCon is working with Summit Entertainment, the producers of the Twilight movie and this Monday, the 17th they are holding a Podcast in Los Angeles before the movie premiere. The PodCast will have all of the cast members (not to public knowledge to prevent mass frenzy) and the director of the movie. Additionally the marketing President of TwiCon will be on the panel and she will be announcing the confirmation of our band at the July Convention as well as the release of our album in three weeks!!!! Furthermore...We will be at the PodCast!
TwiCon and Summit are holding an after-Premiere party and WE WILL BE THERE MONDAY NIGHT!!!!!!!

I am beyond disbelief at this point at all that has come my way. Working in this industry has been a complete TRIP! Chris and I are trying to take this all in stride and of course we are not making any drastic changes to our lives as a result of anything. My partners and I all have been working on this "project" of our long hours into the night, every night for months now, and we know that one day it will all be worth it!

I have been blessed to meet some incredible people, first and foremost Mitch Hansen and Brent Cook. These two are so incredibly humble and I can't wait to share their talent, their story and their love for music with everyone. We will be posting pieces of their new album each week starting next week. So stay tuned. I would post some of it today, but we don't want it leaked! HA!!!!! (We know what happens when leakers get a hold of stuff! "Midnight Sun" anyone!)

I have posted new weblinks under "TWILIGHTERS WELCOME" to the Right side of my blog so that you can check out the events listed. Our Twilight Music Website and The Mitch Hansen Band website are all being completely redone and will be updated in the next couple of days. We have a huge contest going with the release of the CD!

Oh, speaking of contests...I said it would be worth it to participate in mine...

So after all the entries and all the patient waiting, Chris and I talked about it, and we felt, as did many of you, that the winner is Tiffiny! So Tiff, You will be joining the Band and I in July in Dallas at the TwiCon Convention. Check out the event sweetie! We're going to have one Hell of a Time!

Here are some photos from our photo shoot today that will be going in our press release on Monday! All except the one of Mitch and Cydnee. That's just the one she's taking to her 5th Grade class because her friends don't believe that her mom is managing "the band of Twilight!"

Enjoy!

OME! Seriously!

2008-11-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

Here is Robert Pattinson's Song from the "Twilight" Original Movie Soundtrack. Love it! Breaks my heart!

More Clues....

2008-11-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay...Here are some more hints!

No, it is not a Celine Dion or a Pink Concert!

It does not have to do with the "Twilight" Movie Premiere!

It does have to do with Twilight, but only as a result of Twilight. (Remember to read my post on April 27th.)

When referring to a "life-changing" opportunity, it has to do with a Career opportunity!

It involves Talent, Production, and an American Idol!!!!

A little Incentive...(and with that perhaps a little clue)

2008-11-03T13:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, so you guys are like total downers... ;-)

Here's a little incentive to my Contest since you clearly have forgotten that when Natalee says it will be worth playing...it will be worth playing!

If you correctly guess what my big announcement is than you and a guest will win tickets to a concert.

***Where the concert is???? I can't tell you!***

You have until Friday to post your guesses!!! So get going!

Oh and P.S. Make sure you list yourself as a "Follower" of this Blog Please! Thanks! (To the Right)

A Teaser to My Announcement...and A Contest!!!!

2008-10-30T20:29:00.000-06:00

Okay, so here's the deal! I decided to have some fun with this announcement of mine! But there are a few rules:

1) Sorry family members, you aren't eligible! Sisterships already know the answer!
2) That goes for Household members also! Sorry, Mel and kids!
3) The answer must be exact...it can't be a close 2nd or close enough! You must be spot on!

So what's the Prize you ask??? Well, I can't exactly tell you or that will give too much of a clue as to what the announcement could be. But I will tell you this. It will be well worth it (at least I think it will be for you!) And it is something tangible and worth something! And you all know that I don't do things on a small scale!

So here are a few clues:

1) It has something to do with a posting I made on April 27th!
2) It is a LIFE CHANGING Event
3) In Pink's new Song "So What" there is a line that has an additional clue!

Okay...Post a comment with your guesses! And good luck! You have November 7th to submit your guess!

Natalee

Seriously...There will not be enough showings in a 24-Hour Period for me!

2008-10-27T12:22:00.000-06:00

Enjoy!!!!

Holy Crow...It's Been A Long Time

2008-10-21T22:49:00.000-06:00

Where has this month gone? Oh wait I know...Zippin right on past me! There is no way to summarize all that has changed in my life these past several weeks, nor is there any way for me to try to pick and choose elements to try and capture in order to catch everyone up. However, I will do my best. I've missed out on Three Thankful Thursdays, but I can tell you that despite the tremendous trials that have been sent my way this month, there are many, many great things that I have been thankful for along the way.

One Step At A Time - Well I think the biggest change to our household has been the addition of another family! You never know when life is going to throw you a curve ball, but when it does, you hope that you will have the love and support of friends and family to help you get through it. I have a very dear friend who has been what I think as mothers we all pray we never have to face and that is having to endure an abusive marriage. Well long story short, with three children, no where to live, and needing a place to start over, Chris and I have opened our home to them. There are sacrifices for all of us in order to make this work, but the blessings we will all receive I know will be tenfold. And it's worth it to me to see the kids so happy and my friend just a bit relaxed a little bit more every day. It has been amazing to me to see the love and generosity of my friends, family and church members that have shown an outstretched hand to help us all make this work. Starting over cannot be easy, but all we can do is have faith right??? That's what I keep telling myself, my husband, and my friend every day. We just have to take One Step At a Time and the rest will all come. And always look upwards.

Leave Out All The Rest - In all the craziness of going from a family of four most of the time, to seven every other weekend, to 11 nearly every day, we've had to do some MAJOR reorganizing around our home! And it's been absolutely crazy! It's been so easy to lose our focus on the little things. But it's the little things that are going to get us through. So we have tried to have some good quality time with the kids along the way. This situation has not been easy for them either. We spent a great afternoon at a Pumpkin Patch and the kids have LOVED decorating the house for Halloween! I am just not doing such a good job of doing this on a personal level. I've got to remember some down time for myself, for Chris, for us as a couple, and also for my friend! She needs time for herself also! We'll put that on our "To Do" list next! Here are some photos of some of the better moments!

MERCY - Okay, so I think that Karma is not working here for me! Isn't it suppose to be that you do good deeds you bring about good to your life???? So how is that crap keeps "flowing" our way! Yeah, we had a flood at our house amongst all this craziness! Started in the Upstairs Bathroom of Cydnee's bathroom, flooded her room, the kid's loft, drained through the walls down to my bedroom and my beautiful new closet, and then down through more walls, all the way to the bedrooms into the basement! COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously People! Let's just say Nat had a nervous Break-down that three-day period! "I'm Begging You For Mercy, Why Don't you Release Me?!?"

Honorable Mention- Along with all that, there is one other happening in the past few weeks that definitely deserves mention; and that is the birth of my precious niece Kamryn Mary Johnson! Secretly her name is Natalee, but they had to put Kamryn Mary on the birth certificate! She is so precious and beautiful and healthy and we are so happy she is finally here!

Oh, and One last thing...On Thursday, I'm making that big announcement that I promised to make at the first of the month. I'm way excited about it! Talk to you all then! It's good to be back!

OMFREAKINEDWARD...Here it is!!!!

2008-10-09T21:27:00.000-06:00

(Sorry for the technical difficulties Twilighters...this trailer works now!)

November 21st can't get here fast enough!!!!!

Twilight Updates

2008-10-07T23:54:00.000-06:00

Hey Twililghters!

My life has been crazy MAD these past few weeks, and I feel like I have been completely out of touch with life, reality, everything...but one thing that I've not been out of touch with is what's going on with Twilight!

So here are a few updates!

Tomorrow, there will be a new Movie trailer released and YES, I will have it posted as soon as they have it posted for us all to share!

The soundtrack is now available to pre-order through Stephenie's site. Hit my link below. It's only $10! And below is Paramore's new song from the soundtrack! It's HOT!

And last but not least, I wanted to put out a teaser to all of you of something so incredibly HUGE coming! This is a dream opportunity for me that I never imagined would ever come my way. I've been working on this for several months and I can't wait to reveal what's up to everyone! But it's pretty huge, and it's all Twilight! YES!

So stay tuned!

My Last Thankful List of September!

2008-09-28T12:19:00.000-06:00

I feel like it's been forever since my last post, but this past week at work pretty much took me out of all of normal life (more on that later). So here it is, the last "Thankful Thursday" list of September in all it's glory!

1) Fate and a Change of Flight! - So you all remember how I was so saddened about how I was going to miss Jaxon's first day of school???? Well, as luck, or fate would have it, I had to change my flight out to LA and the IHG Investors/Owners Conference, so I didn't have to leave until Monday morning. Which means, I was able to see Jaxon off Monday morning and see him before his first official day of Pre-K!!! I truly don't know who was more excited, him or me! Typical first day of fall here in Utah of course brought with it a horrific rain storm so we had to change-up and dress him in one of his warmer uniforms! I didn't mind all that much! He looked adorable and he couldn't wait to see his "Mssess. Millrer" again! And god bless these teachers and administrators for even trying to hold school in these circumstances. The new building is still not available, so they had to hold the first three days in pitched tents at the park next door. And the rest of the week they were able to secure the old school, move enough furniture back in, and that's where the kids will be until the end of next week. And Jaxon wouldn't know any different! Truly! He was oblivious! Chris said he loved every minute of every day! They even pulled off two field trips! Pretty impressive for a difficult first week! Kudos to his school!

2) Great Successes! I mentioned that work took me out of all normal life this past week. After 15 years with IHG, I attended my first ever annual Investors and Owners Conference in LA. Distribution Marketing had two large days planned, the usual trade show, but then my group had planned a one-day training workshop for about 60 hotels. This was held the day before the trade show. My team and I have been putting this together for the past three months and have put so many hours into this and had so much riding on it's success. We all arrived on Monday afternoon and began practicing that afternoon. We went all evening, again all day and evening Tuesday, and then Wednesday was our big day! It was a huge Smash! I was so thrilled with the outcome! We had all but 5 hotels show up and the participation and engagement was stellar! The feedback and reception from the hotels was more than we expected. It was awesome! The team was on a great high! We of course celebrated that night by taking the team to dinner at Roy's! Thursday was the trade show, and again, another HUGE success! So many hours of preparation and work paid off! We spoke to hundreds of hoteliers for about 10 hours non-stop and came away with far more success than we had expected! I don't remember being on my feet or walking as much as I did in that four days than I have in a very long time! And I am still recovering! But it was all worth it! And felt so awesome to see all of our work pay off in so many great ways!

3) Premiere Week!!!! Must See TV Week, National Stay Home Week, or just plain ol' best week of the year Week, however you want to label it, this is by far my favorite week of every year, and it absolutely was KILLING ME that I was in LA missing nearly ALL of it! THANK THE HEAVENS AND STARS above for DVR! I don't want to even relive the nightmarish days of VCR tapes and scheduled recording times, and having to be home to hit record, and only be able to "tape" ONE show at a time! Holy Hannah, how did we survive in such archaic times!

So, I could not be happier about having my DWTS back! But man, my Monday's are so full and complicated with that, Raising the Bar (TNT), and now the very BACK and HOT Heroes! Hello! So first seasonish! and Scary! Mr. Kring has got his groove back on! Mommie Dearest is a freak and someone has seriously got to do that girl in!

Biggest Loser Families...Love sitting on my couch watching those people losing weight! So inspiring! Oh wait, maybe I should put that one on the DVR in my work-out room! HA! And Law & Order, SVU! Hello! Love it! Luke Perry, what a rotten little man you turned out to be! Sick!

Americas Got Talent! I don't care how many of you think Hasselhoff is a freak, I agree, but the show rocks! And the finals were awesome! And I can't wait to see our sweet brothers from the Bronx win! BTW...back to DWTS since it was on three nights in a row, is anyone else bugged by Susan Lucci???? Is she always that weird???? Can we vote her off next? I love Maks!

Thursdays are my favorite day of the week with The Office...so stinking funny! Liposuction anyone? And poor Toby! Will that guy every get a break? And of course, Grey's Anatomy! HOTDREAMY! I could not be more happy about Uncle Sam, aka. LT. Hunt! Yeah, he was on NBC's Journeyman, but they cancelled that show, stupid suckers! But I guess we reap the benefits and I get see him live on in this role! Woo Hoo! Go Christina!

And next week there are more shows coming on...and well more to record through DVR! Oh my!

4) ER! This one gets it's own spot! I have watched this show for 14-years now. I can't say that I am thankful that this is it's last! I can't imagine not watching Thursday night ER! But I have absolutely loved this show! And as Chris is always saying, they are a part of my family because I have a difficult time separating fiction from reality! So to say the least, on the season opener and the death of Dr. Pratt, I nearly lost my mind! I have "HAD" to watch it three times now. Once in LA, once upon returning home with Chris and Cyd, and once with Abbie and Connor. All three times resulting in the same break-down! I don't think it's been that bad for me since Dr. Greene died of his brain tumor! Wow! Anyway, I am truly hoping the show's producers are not intending on putting me through this kind of emotional turmoil every show this last season! Nonetheless, I love it!

5) The Fall!!! This is my favorite time of year! And I am so excited it is finally here! I love the change in the air. The crispness in the air. I love the excitement in the air from the start of school. The changing of the color of leaves and the falling of those leaves! Halloween! Thanksgiving! All of it! This is the best time of the year! Hope you all are going to enjoy it as much as we are planning on to!

Thankful Thursday!!!

2008-09-18T23:48:00.000-06:00

Today has been one of those days that starts out not so good, but then turns out not so bad! And I figure it's because I get to do my list of things that I'm thankful for and it always gets me out of whatever gloomy mood I may be in and reminds me of why I insist on doing this list in the first place! So here it is!

#1 - Being Together Forever - Today my baby sister and her awesome husband were sealed for Time and all Eternity in the Salt Lake Temple! It breaks my heart that I was unable to be there with them and my family on this very special day, but I couldn't be happier for them! It's their one year Anniversary today which makes this day all the more special! I love them both so much and I am so proud of them for this accomplishment! What a special blessing!

#2 - Support of great Friends/Neighbors - Once again we have had great neighbors and friends help us out this week with Jaxon while I have been here in Atlanta. Due to the start of his school being delayed because of flooding, we have been without daycare. And of course we had great friends come to our rescue again! Nothing is worse than worrying about your kids while you have to work, let alone worrying about them while you are out of town. So thank you Kym and Kathie! We owe you big time!

#3 - Team Work! - This past weekend the website for the government project that I have been heading up finally went live! I am so excited, but couldn't have done it without the help of the best technical team at IHG! These guys are miracle workers and I am so proud of all that have done and for all that they have tought me over the past year! They worked so hard and the end result is unbelievable! I can't thank them enough!

#4 - Recognition! - After unveiling the website to my boss, his boss, and another VP of our organization it was awesome to recieve some recognition for all the hard work put in on this project. When you poor your heart and soul into your job and all that you do, it always feels good when your employer and stakeholders recognize that. It feels good to receive those Kudos!

#5 - Reconnecting! - Every marriage has it's struggles and it's ups and downs, and mine is not immune. But lately Chris and I have really been focusing on working through those struggles and it's been nice reconnecting. I just want him to know I appreciate all that he does for me while I am away, and how much I love him and miss him! I'll be home soon! XOXO...me!

Midnight Sun...On Hold Indefinitely...It's A Bad Day!

2008-09-15T22:50:00.000-06:00

This isn't exactly new news, but I have had many of you ask for an update on what has taken place with the "Midnight Sun" scandal! Unfortunately, someone that Stephenie Meyer trusted with a copy of the manuscript of the first 12 chapters of "Midnight Sun" leaked that copy and downloaded it to the Internet. There were several versions out with variations, so Stephenie is aware of who leaked the copy. But nonetheless, due to this, she has decided to put the finishing of the book, and release on hold indefinitely. This of course is heartbreaking news for those of us who have been waiting for Edward's Point of View to be released. I for won am devastated. I cannot blame Stephenie for feeling betrayed and for not wanting to finish this book, but I sincerely hope that she will have a change of heart. As much as I was waiting for the release of "Breaking Dawn", well I was that more excited about this book. To be inside of Edward's head for several hundred pages is more than I can stand to hope for! And that's just what I will keep doing!

If you do want to read the 12 Chapters that Stephenie posted, you can go to her website. The link is posted below!

OME!!!! I need thee!

Thankful Thursday!!!

2008-09-11T22:45:00.000-06:00

My list this week is going to be all over the place because that's just how I'm feeling right tonight! It's been a really funky weird week! So much has been going on each day that it has felt like several weeks jammed into one week, but not necessarily in an overwhelming way. So I guess that's good! All in all, I have several things I'm feeling good about right now and thankful for, so here they are! Enjoy!

#1 - Good Politics! Man this election has been kicked into high gear this past week and a half since the announcement of Sarah Palin as the VP choice for Senator McCain's running mate! I have been so over the election for months now and the battle of of the democratic nomination between Senator Obama and Senator Clinton. And finally that was put to rest, and with this announcement we have ourselves some real excitement going on! It's been great fun listening to all the talk shows and news reports this week and of course both party's conventions the past two weeks! I know so many of us have different opinions and beliefs, but what I love about the circles we all run in is that we can all debate and still exist with one another. And it looks like we've got ourselves an exciting two months ahead of us!

#2 - Humor and Friends... Friends are like butt cheeks. Crap might separate them, But they always come back together. (I laughed my butt cheeks off when I read that one earlier this week! and I had to share it!)

#3 - Sleepovers! - I've had two sleepovers this week! The first was on Monday night with Mel and her Daughter Caitlin! We stayed up until almost 2 AM regardless of the fact that we all had to be up just a few hours later. We laughed all night long! I made my famous Parmesan popcorn and we had a total blast! The second was with my sweet Cydnee! Chris was in Seattle for a few nights on a business trip and so she and I had a sleepover together! We stayed up watching t.v. and laughing and eating ice cream! I love my little girl! In fact I love all three of these girls! And I couldn't be more thankful for these mid-week sleepovers!

#4 - My Brother and Sister-N-Law!!! - Because they JUST GET ME! I love you guys! Thanks for the talk and the laughs! I don't know what I would do without you two!

We Only Get What We Give!!!!!

2008-09-10T21:32:00.000-06:00

Well I can't believe it's only Wednesday with all that has taken place in the past three days! So I thought I would take a minute and share a few exciting items here in the Cole household. Last week during Cydnee's Back-to-School posting I briefly mentioned that Jaxon was unable to begin his school as scheduled due to his new building being flooded over the Labor Day weekend. Well Monday the school held a school wide Picnic to celebrate the beginning of the new school year and the new school building. This gave all the children opportunity to wear their new school uniforms, meet their new teachers and classmates, and best part, it gave me the opportunity to experience a little piece of Jaxon's first day of school! I have been so upset over having to be in Los Angeles on his first day of school so this was just wonderful for both of us.

Jaxon was so excited that morning. Luckily we didn't have to wait long to go. And of course he looked absolutely handsome! He was over-the-moon being able to FINALLY wear his uniform and new school shoes and that I finally let him use his brand new Cars Lunch Bag! He of course was disappointed that he didn't get to take his Cars "Pack-Pack" yet!

Jaxon's teacher's name is Mrs. Miller and she's adorable! She's newly married and new to the school! His class has 12 little adorable girls and only 3 other boys! Jaxon will look back on this one day and realize just how lucky he had it!

They had all the grades sectioned off into different areas. The three Pre-K teachers had large blankets all set-up for their kids and were well prepared for some fun for the kids. They played parachutes, What's-that-Sound, and of course their favorite BUBBLES! They all lined up in a train and went to a large grassy area for a school wide meeting before lunch where the school's principal spoke. Afterwords we went back to our area for our picnic! It was great fun and I am so excited for Jaxon to start his program on the 22nd!

The other thing that I am very excited about is that I finally finished organizing and decorating my closet! Yes, my closet! I was shopping at Hobby Lobby and the lady at the check-out asked me if I was redecorating and I said, "why Yes I am! I am redecorating my bedroom closet!" She laughed and said that most people don't decorate a closet! I laughed and said, "Well, I'm not most people!" So here are some pictures of what I've done! I'm really excited! Only took me a year to get it done! Oh, and my favorite part, the dresser you will see is entirely dedicated to my jewelry and accessories! YES! You all know I love to accessorize! Ha Ha Ha!

Thankful Monday this Week...for LAST Week!

2008-09-08T00:12:00.000-06:00

Yep, Late again, but I guess it was worth it. It's been one busy week and weekend for me so that's why I completely missed out on my Thankful Thursday last week! But I'm getting to it now. I had a great weekend, even though I've ended it with the beginnings of a terrible cold. Hopefully I will kick it before it gets much worse! So typical of this time of year and the change in the weather! And truly, I can't afford to get sick the next three weeks, so Vitamin C and I are going to be best friends! Anyway, back to the subject at hands, my thankful items/subjects of the week!

#1 - My New Luggage! Yippee! Now I know most of you are thinking what is so cool about that, and why I would be so thankful for luggage, but you must also if you are thinking that, than you must have also forgotten how much I have to travel! And Delta is NOT kind to luggage! They have destroyed my luggage and I desperately needed some new bags. This will be my third set in three years and I have FINALLY learned my lesson in economy and quality! My prior two sets have been Large, HEAVY, Light colored, easily soiled, and EXPENSIVE, and of course easily destroyed. This set, I got through my sis who works through OGIO and she got me the CUTEST set that is dark, Durable, Light, and the best part a fraction of the cost of my other sets! I'm sooooo excited! Thanks Hayley! I love your face!

#2 - Date Night! Yeah, Not what you all are thinking. This date night that I'm thankful for was with my Pookie! My little Jaxon! Friday night Chris had to work late, so Jaxon and I got all spiffied up and off to the movies we went. I let Jaxon pick the show so he picked "Star Wars, The Clone Wars!" We grabbed our treats and Popcorn, he held onto our tickets and off we went! I don't know what all the hype was all about. I thought it was a great show. And Jaxon was in a trance the entire time! We were both thoroughly entertained! It was an awesome date night!

#3 - Organization! This weekend was all about organization! On Saturday morning, Jaxon and I got up early, did our chores together and then we headed off to Target and IKEA for a long day of shopping and exploring for organizational ideas! By the end of the day I had purchased items to redo my closed and Cydnee's bedroom and her closet!!! This is a picture of the fabric boxes I am using in my closet. Well at least one type. There is a whole theme of course that goest along with it! And the green matches the sea grass green in my bathroom and bed room of course! Yippee!

#4 - Surprises! Cydnee had left for the weekend quite sad to be leaving to her dad's. So having decided to do up her room for her I worked most of the weekend on her room to make sure it was completed for her when she returned. We built her a new desk and chair. Added a new shelf for all her pictures. Divided her room with some cool Bright pink curtains. And I organized her closet. She was so excited when she came home and vowed that she would always keep it just as she found it!

#5 Feeling Accomplished! - I am butt tired from all this work this weekend, but I am so glad that I did all of it and I feel so accomplished for having completing it all in one weekend! Whew!

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

2008-09-02T22:12:00.000-06:00

Today was Cydnee's first day at her new school, Providence Hall. She was so excited. She woke up 30 minutes before her alarm went off, and was dressed in her uniform in less than three minutes time! She looked absolutely adorable. It was a chilly morning, but bright and sunny, just like her!

Jaxon and I went through our day as usual, but he did notice that she wasn't around. I explained that it was time to go back to school and he immediately ran and grabbed his brand new Cars "Pack-pack" and was ready to go. Sadly I had to explain that he still had one week to go before he got to start his school year!

When it was time to go pick-up Cydnee we headed down the street to be surprised to see her already half-way there! Come to find out they decided to let the "walkers" out before the "carpoolers!" However, we turned around and went right back to the school to get more pictures and to turn in some paperwork. The pick-up system that the school had come up with was NOT working out at all. There were cars lined up for blocks and very angry parents! I felt bad for the Principle and all the teachers. It was a seriously flawed idea, and you could tell that they were very stressed, as were all the parents and kids. Cydnee and I were very thankful that we lived just a block or so away!

I still can't believe that I have a 5th Grader! I remember when I was a 5th Grader! That was right before they moved 6th grade back into Elementary school! So we ruled the school! 5th Graders were the oldest, the most experienced...we were pre-MIDDLE SCHOOLERS! Oh yeah! Oh NO! As we were eating dinner tonight and we were listening to Cydnee retell the stories of the day, jumping from one subject to the next, sounding so pre-teenish, I felt really old! But I'm not old...right? Of course not! Crap, I started out this blog feeling really happy and all excited, and now I'm just depressed! Wait...No, I'm letting that Go.... Let the bad thoughts Go Nat....Deep breath in...Deep breath out....

Thanks for indulging me in that minor breakdown! :-) Now where was I? Oh yeah, Cydnee, I am really proud of her. She started learning Spanish today! I feel a bit inclined to do so with her since I know for the next two years she will be doing the same. Nah...I'll let her Pseudo Aunt Cindy take care of that! Anyway, the curriculum at the school is really great, and I am very pleased with Cydnee's teacher and her creative ideas and plans for the year. I believe it's going to be a great one!

Well I better be off and get Cyd's lunch ready for tomorrow! TTFN!

Thankful Thursday

2008-08-28T21:42:00.000-06:00

Wow, did this past week fly by or what? I can't believe how incredibly busy this week has been for me! But that is a good thing because the week is now nearly over and the long holiday weekend is upon us...WOO HOO! Hope you all have some great plans for the last hooray of the summer!

Here's my list for the week:

#1) New Opportunities - Last night I held my first "Spa Escape" and it was a total blast. I knew that I was going to enjoy doing this little business on the side, I just didn't realize how much! It is so rewarding having friends and loved ones come to your home and provide spa services to them and help bring relaxation and a healthier lifestyle to their world. I can't wait to keep sharing with others and watch this business grow! I was really nervous about venturing out and trying something like this, but I am really thankful that I have trusted my love for this type of product and service and have decided to go for it!

#2) New School(s)/Year- I love this time of year. It's always so exciting getting ready for the new school year! Finding out who your new teacher will be! Finding out what kids you will have in your classes! All the new school supplies and school clothes! This year both Cydnee and Jaxon are going to brand NEW schools, Cydnee a new Charter school, and Jaxon a new Private school and I am so excited! We went to Back-to-School Night for Cydnee tonight and it was so great to see this brand new, beautiful building and meet all the wonderful administrators and teachers. I am so thankful that both of the kids are going to be in solid education programs and great positive environments. And they both have to wear uniforms! YES! No more fighting with Cydnee on what to wear every morning! Thank you! Jaxon is going to be adorable!

#3) New Beginnings - Chris and I started our couple's therapy today! Any of you who know even a glimpse of our lives know what a messed up situation we are always in, and the years of trials just keep taking their toll on us. Not that we are worse off than any other couple, but we do have our share of unique trials. Either way, I'm thankful that we are taking some steps to help us work on our relationship and our communication and find better ways to deal with these trials. I'm thankful to be moving in a positive direction for once.

#4) New Prescription - This one is a doubled-edged sword. I had to go back on my migraine meds this week. I tried for the past two months to go without, hoping that I had grown out of the need to have them, but no such luck. I couldn't take the pain any longer. So I'm thankful to have the pain subsiding...but sad to feel that there is no end in sight to my dependency on medicine for these awful headaches.

#5) New Laptop - This was the best part of my entire week! The time finally came that I had to purchase a new laptop for all my personal usage! And I am soooo excited! This baby is Sick! Another reason for me to be thankful that it's the weekend...more time to play with my new baby! YES!

Thankful Thursday

2008-08-21T19:24:00.000-06:00

It's been a few weeks since I had a chance to do my "Thankful Thursday" list...and look, I'm actually getting it done on Thursday this time!

#1 A Dark Hotel Room! - I have had a miserable migraine today, so I'm thankful for the curtains being drawn, and the dark room I've been able to fight this misery off with.

#2 2008 Olympics - This has been an incredible Summer Olympics. I have enjoyed so much of it. But I always do. I love every minute of the Olympics from beginning to end. Go Team USA!

#3 Michael Phelps - Thank you Michael for bringing so much talent and joy to our Country! You are a thrill a second!

#4 Uninterrupted Shopping Time - I don't get many uninterrupted time at my favorite store, but I took advantage of one of my evenings here in Atlanta and spent quality time at Target. Now the kids are all ready for school! Whew!

#5 Sleeping Like a Baby - This rarely happens for me...but I'm praying for it tonight!

Breaking Dawn Review - SPOILER ALERT!!!!

2008-08-16T11:50:00.000-06:00

Before I start in about "Breaking Dawn" let me put out there some pretty INCREDIBLE news!!!! Lexicon just released that due to the postponement of the release of "Harry Potter 6" to next summer, they are capitalizing and moving up the premiere of "Twilight" to November 21st!!!!! YES YES YES!!!!! I'm sad we have to wait even longer for H.P. but OME...we get two extra weeks and an holiday weekend to watch "Twilight" over and over! Celebrate good times..COME ON!!!!

Okay, so after far too many days and weeks, and nights of falling asleep, I finally finished "Breaking Dawn"!!!! I am anxious to discuss this with all of you who have finished also! Honestly, I am completely torn on this one. I'm afraid that all my building up to loving this book Sooooo much left me open to disappointment. Not to say that there weren't many things that I totally loved in the book, but I found myself not LOVING it more than LOVING it. So finishing it is quite bittersweet for me!

So here it is...my likes/dislikes list of "Breaking Dawn"...

What I liked:

The Wedding! This was awesome! I loved that the entire theme was for Edward! Envisioning the entire event was fun also. I loved Alice! And my favorite part was of course Edward seeing Bella for the first time! I loved the gift from Charlie & Renee! And I loved Charlie seeing Bella! Charlie made me cry! Which brings me to my second favorite thing about the book...

Charlie! I loved him throughout the entire book! I cried more with his parts of the book than even Edward! I found him very touching and I loved that he didn't have to be broken hearted about Bella "dying!" I also loved that Charlie got a happy ending! Poor guy deserved one!

The Honeymoon! I loved every minute of it! I loved the long boat ride out to Esme's Island, and the vision of walking up to the cottage. It was truly written out of a dream-honeymoon come true. And I cracked up over Bella trying to decide which of the Intimate Lingerie that Alice had packed for her to wear for their first night. I nearly died with the vision of Edward waiting in the water for Bella! OME! I loved Edward's concern for her, but also fighting his own wants and needs! Whew! Too much ecstasy for me..NOT!

Edward Saving Bella! I could just picture in my mind the fierceness and determination in Edward to save her! He was methodical and full of passion and he was not going to lose her. It was like the scene with James all over again! I loved it! I love him! (Are you sure Nat? Really? Love Edward? No one would ever guess!)

Seth! I loved this little wolf! I loved his devotion to the Cullen's, especially Edward, and his complete loyalty to Jacob! He was a great part of this book!

Carlisle! I loved that he had a bigger part in this book. I loved his touching conversation with Jacob on the stairs. I loved that Jacob loved him! I loved the deep interactions between him and Edward. And I loved him dismissing Aro at the end!

The Cottage! I loved Edward's and Bella's home. I want so much for it to be a real place! I want to go there! And I want the closet and clothes that come with it.

Bella's "Awakening" outfit! I loved that Alice had dressed her in a blue satin dress. LOL!

Bella Sharing her mind with Edward! What a gift! He finally got to see inside her head! He finally got to see and feel truly how much she did love him, and that he was worthy of her love! Tear tear tear!

Bantering between Jacob & Rosalie! Hilarious! I loved every interaction between these two...from her bringing him food in a bowl that she made herself with the work "Fido" etched on the side...to him chucking that very bowl at the back side of her head! Seriously! That was great!

And as much as it dismays me to say this...I loved Jacob! At first I was completely put off that he had an entire section of the book dedicated to his POV. But actually, I ended up loving it. I loved the humor he brought to all the situations and I loved his story! I loved when he and Bella FINALLY stopped pining over one another! (I had had enough of that!)

So obviously...I loved that finally IMPRINTED on someone! Good grief! I'll say more about the WHO later!

Overall...I enjoyed Bella as a vampire! I loved her first trip in the woods with Edward and flying over the river and trees. I loved that she could control her hunger (which I expected all along of her). And of course, I loved her undying infatuation with Edward! (Not that would be difficult). I loved her awakening! It was exactly what I had hoped for! (YES, I have always wanted Bella to be turned! Sorry!)

Esme feeding the wolves and offering them a Home! I seriously was crying hard at this! Go figure!

Listening to "Breaking Dawn" on Audio vs. Reading it! I was NOT liking the book until I started over and listened to it instead. I am hoping now that I've heard it, that reading it again when I revamp the book will be a better experience!

Favorite Edward Moments: Some I've already mentioned, Seeing Bella at the wedding as she came into view; Him stabbing his venom directly into Bella's heart and screaming at Jacob that she is NOT going to die!; Him standing naked in the ocean with the full moon shining on his sparkling white skin, waiting for Bella; Him getting dressed after their "first" time in the cottage; His broken heart after Alice left; The cars he bought for Bella; His anguish over Bella's pain; and Feathers!

What I didn't like:

The Wedding! Yes, I know that I said I loved it...but I also felt very strongly that it was ruined by the appearance of Jacob. That realllly pissed me off. It took away from the perfect event happening. I immensely disliked the fact that it took Bella away from Edward and made her start pining over Jacob again. That whole interaction could have happened before the big day if you ask me. That way the day could have been all bliss!

The lack of Edward! Once again, I felt like Edward was lost in the shadow of Jacob. Now, yes, I did say that I loved Jacob in this book, but come on...we have all fallen in love with this series, okay, well MOST of us have fallen in love with this series because of EDWARD. I felt like SM just trumped him way too much in this book. I wanted more...much much more!

Alice! Or I should say what SM did to her in the book! I really disliked this. Once again I felt like one of the best characters was completely trumped by a character that we didn't know, and one that we didn't necessarily love with Renesme blocking her and silencing her, and Rosalie taking her role as "BFF" and protector of Bella. Didn't like that at all! And her "big scheme" at the end...nope, didn't like that either! I'm glad she came back, but it could have been done so much better!

The lack of all the characters that we love! With the exception of Carlisle getting his fair share of time in the spotlight, everyone else just kind of disappeared throughout the book. Emmet for one! Not nearly enough of him! He was just a sidekick throughout the entire book. The wolf pack...all but disappeared at the end! Leah! We finally get to see her side of being a "Shape-shifter" and her finally being accepted and she just disappears. She deserved a better ending! Seth...my favorite wolf, where did he go? We'll never know!

Rosalie and Jacob parenting! I mean if we're going to be forced to deal with the whole half-breed situation, then why not let us see Edward and Bella bond more with her. They always seemed to be an afterthought in the entire scenario. I am sure that SM was trying to fulfill Rosalie's need to be a mother, but it was just too weird for me. And why didn't Edward get more time with this kid??? He had existed for nearly 100 years thinking he would never be a father and now he is...and again, their connection, I THOUGHT, was underwhelming at best. The only believable tender moment was when Bella said good-bye to Renesme and Jacob understood what he had to do. The look on Edward's face and Reneseme's and Jacob's as they all knew what was coming was great and touching!

The REAL Werewolves! O brother! Totally unnecessary! Shape-Shift this!!!!

Oh Reneseme, Nessie, or whatever... This whole thing just didn't work for me. I tried! I really really tried. In fact, when I first realized that Bella was pregnant, and I thought of the opening Preface where she discusses having to be killed by something that she loved so much...I craved for an emotional demise of some sort. I had a first thought that it was going to represent a battle between her and Jacob, but then I realized it was between her and her child...but nothing came of that! The entire pregnancy was way too much like that awesome 80's mini-series "V"! Remember the alien twins! HA HA HA! Yeah, that's all I could envision in my head. So I never became emotionally tied to the baby. I bawled my eyes out when the little green alien baby died. But never shed one tear over NESSIE!

The Volturi Battle! OMH! This was the most frustrating part of the whole book for me. I felt like we had gone through a lot to Live through the birth...to live through the imprinting on Reneseme...and so on and so on! But why did we not get to have a battle??? It was SO anti-climatic! Why all the build up of training Bella? Why the build up of hatred between the various Cullen's and the Volturi! Why didn't we get to see any of it come to fruition! I mean I loved the battle between Edward and Victoria in "Eclipse". We were not left hanging in that book...why do that to us in the FINAL episode of the series! I was sooo disappointed! It thought it was awful! It turned way to preachy instead of some kick-butt Vampire battle! I desperately wanted to see Edward take on Demitri, Bella take on Jane, and so on! And for the love...why didn't that annoying ARO die! I'm with the Romanians...completely disappointing!

Jacob imprinting on Reneseme...Well I'm going to have to label this as my one "on-the-fence" topics. I am thrilled that he finally imprinted on someone and found his happiness. I'm just not so sure about it being Reneseme. I mean I loved how he protected her, and how she liked biting him...but I think that SM led us to believe that something was happening between him and Leah...and then NOTHING. So I'm torn on this whole thing.

And finally, the ONE thing I disliked out of the entire book...Edward's whole Sharing Bella idea! Come on Eddie! I totally did not buy into that whole thing! I was so disappointed! Like I don't have enough Polygamy in my life! Snap out of it Edward!

So that's it...that's my list/review! Overall I enjoyed it, just for the love of the entire series! It definitely is not my favorite, "Twilight" and "Eclipse" will remain in that category forever. But I did like enough because in the end I got what I wanted, Bella with Edward, and Bella as a vampire. I just wish SM had taken us all there in a few different routes! Oh well, there is always FanFics!

Well Post away... I can't wait to hear/read what you all think as well! (I'll be disappointed if you don't!)

Singing in the Rain!!!

2008-08-10T19:10:00.000-06:00

This weekend has brought about some wonderful thunder, lightening and rain storms! Much needed moisture in this hot desert valley! It took me until early evening on Saturday to travel home from Atlanta...Yuck! So naturally, I was beat and not up for doing much of anything! And fortunately the rain storms outside were providing me the perfect environment to do just that. Don't you just love those days when you can just remove yourself temporarily from the world and just STOP and listen and watch the rain outside??? Well I do!

The storms continued most of the early evening but then let up. Based on the storms that came later in the evening, this must have been the "Calm before the REAL Storm!" Chris had left Jaxon and I for the evening to go look for a car, and that's when the storms started brewing. However this time, Jaxon and I decided to go outside and watch.

I've spoken of the Grand view we have from our front porch, so we are always in great position to watch the storms roll in and out of the Salt Lake Valley. The thunder was loud and the rain heavy and Jaxon and I were having a blast watch it all take place! As the sun set that is when the real lightening show began. Jaxon and I curled up on our lounge chairs, brought out our individual books that we were reading, popped some popcorn and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in the rain! Jaxon screamed with Excitement every time the skies lit up with lightening! Also, whenever Jaxon is happy and content with the activity at hand, it comes with plenty of "Thank you Mommy for watching the rain with me!" type of comments. Or, "I love you so so big so much in the Rain Mommy!"

Today, while at church another storm came barreling in. You could hear the rain pouring down outside. As I was leaving to head home, I interrupted a very "studious" and "serious" lesson with a group of the most adorable 2 & 3-Year Old Nursery kids! Their teachers were letting them stick their hands out in the rain to feel the drops flowing down! They were squealing with delight. But not nearly as loud as when they told me that I was going to get "BERRY WET!" I said to them all, "You're sooo right!" and I ran out and stood in the middle of the parking lot letting the rain pour on me! They all laughed and laughed...and so did I.

It feels good to see the world through our children's eyes...and this long weekend of rain and fun was just the medicine I had been needing!!!