Waiting for News.....A baby is on the way!

Austin and Amber are on their way to the hospital to have a baby! Our family is so excited, except for perhaps their son Dawson. He's sitting on my lap right now needing a few loves. He's not so sure about all the action going on today. But- to update everyone- Amber's water broke about an hour ago and they should be arriving at the hospital any minute- I'll keep you all updated!

Too Many Quirks- or not enough?

Tagged by Amy

Here are the rules:
Link the Person who Tagged you.
Mention rules on your blog.
Tell about 6 quirks of yours.
Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.
Leave a comment to let them know.

My Quirks:

1) I am a schedule freak. Part of this is due to running my business from home- I HAVE to have kids take naps at certain times, etc. But I am a freak about scheduling other things too. For example, I do my morning routine in the exact same order every day- say prayers, make my bed, lay out the kids clothes, fill up the sink with soapy water, make breakfast, do dishes, get kids dressed..... I do not deviate. Also I only do laundry, clean bathrooms etc. on certain days. If I have to do it on another day it makes me grumpy.

2) I am a loyal follower of way too many crappy chick shows. I love the following and you'll always find them on my DVR to watch whenever I get a spare minute: Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, October Road, Lipstick Jungle, The Hills, The Starter Wife, Army Wives. I think that's it.

3) I LOVE my job. I know most people work for money, but I work for my sanity. Although the money is nice too. I am so blessed to be able to help provide for my family while staying home all day with my kids and not having it interfere with our home life at all. I am crossing my fingers that it stays that way.

4) I can read freakishly fast. I can sit down with a book on Sunday morning and have it done in less than 2 hours. Many people have asked me how I find time to read all of the books that I do, but that's my secret. I skip over all descriptions and junk words (unconciously) and before I know it- DONE!

5) Most of you probably know this already- but I'm pretty much a control freak and kinda bossy. I've noticed that this week as I've told Livvy about 50 million times- 'Don't be Bossy! Then I thought- Hmmmm I wonder where she gets that from?

6)I'm a techno geek. I love computers, PDAs. software. All that good stuff. If there's something new out, I want to know about it and see it. I may not be able to afford it, but I want to be the expert on it. I know weird huh?

I tag Lori, Hailey, Jinger, Sadie, Brandee, and Katie.

Country Living

We were at my parents house the other evening for just a normal night hanging out together as a family, but I decided I better get some pictures because I never think to take my camera for the everyday stuff. Below is Austin's son Dawson, Livvy, and Afton's son Weston chillin on the 4-wheeler while they watch their daddies rope. Livvy riding the ponies. It took her a while to decide that she wanted to get on, but then we couldn't get her off and she kept doing her rodeo queen wave to anyone that looked at her. Uh-oh Shelby- you better start saving your money now!
Grandma Wendy also surprised us this weekend and came for a short visit. She spoiled the kids rotten as usual and brought Livvy a pink scooter just like Wyatt's and her own helmet and pads (pink Princess of course) and brought Wyatt a soccer net to practice with. The kids loved every minute that she was here. I didn't get a shot of Livvy yet with her gear on, as soon as I pulled out the camera, she had 'a moment' but I love this shot of Wyatt riding his scooter- look at that cute Wrangler bum!

Aunt Hailey and Uncle Blake were also down this weekend and it was so fun to spend time with them.
The video below was of the kids pretending to be cows in the chute. They were so funny running up and down swinging their heads and bodies around like they think cows do I guess. Weird little monkeys.

Bodacious Bunco Babes

Since I have moved to Gooding I have made alot of really great friends. I always miss my girls from Tremonton, but especially since I broke into our local Bunco group- we've had some wild and crazy times. We have some themed Bunco parties including- pictured below 80's night.A few of us wild and weird Stephenie Meyer's fans at the book signing in Salt Lake- it was actually just an excuse to get away for a weekend and shop in Park City :).Our latest round of crazy ideas- was to have a Prom theme for Bunco. Since most of us were the good girls in high school who would never think to wear anything immodest, we made the most of the experience. Pictured below is Crystal, Kim, Trista, Tara, and Lori. A few inside notes- Tara found this dress at DI and it was so perfect! It was hilarious with a monstrous hot pink bow on the butt. Lori- ever resourceful- made this dress out of three others.

Me, Lori again, Jaymie, Tracey, and Lori. I guarantee that these may be some of the worst pictures ever taken of me- what I won't do to have fun and get a laugh I swear. Point in case- a few years ago I heard of a girl at Gooding High School who had made her entire prom dress out of duck tape. So when I heard about the theme for this month's Bunco- I thought- that would be hilarious! So I went for it- halfway. I only made the duck tape top. My mom and sisters helped wrap me up and they even went the extra mile and added sequins! I look hideous, but please do notice their magnificent handiwork!

Two of our Bunco babes- my sis-in-law Amber, and Holli are both about to pop- thus there are very few prom dresses for pregos- they both made signs that read 'The Result of Prom Night!" So hilarious. Mostly I am just so thankful to a group of girls that have accepted me for me and make me laugh until I blow Coke out my nose or have to cross my legs to keep from peeing my pants on a monthly basis. You girls have saved my sanity in Gooding and I love you for it!

Homecoming

This last week was Homecoming Week. It was crazy watching my sisters play powder-puff football their volleyball games- we were gone every night! Both Fallon and Laramie were nominated for Homecoming Royalty for their classes. Fallon turned down the opportunity because she'd already won and wanted to give another girl the chance, but since Laramie is a freshmen it was her first time being nominated and she looked so beautiful! Here's pictures of Laramie in the Homecoming parade, the whole crew watching the parade- the Gillette's and Turners (it's our annual tradition to eat lunch at Dairy Queen and then watch the parade). My friend Crystal (she tried to escape the picture, but I caught her- so now she's making her blog debut!) with my adorable kids waiting for the parade to start.
Laramie after she won Freshman Homecoming Princess at the Football. Game. She was so beautiful. Congratulations Laramie Lynn!

Wyatt is a Super Soccer Player-

Wyatt had his first ever soccer game last Saturday and has now been to 2 practices. He and his friend Tate are the youngest players on their team, but since Wyatt loves to kick his soccer ball around, I thought it would be fun for him to play. Needless to say- he absolutely did not get it. He would try to kick the ball once or twice, but when a bigger more aggressive kid came into the picture, Wyatt was outta there! However- that was last week. This week will be a whole new ball game- Why- you ask? Well- seriously competitive momma got in on the action this week. Wyatt has been practicing all week how to 'take the ball away from the other kids'. AND- he's been promised an ice cream cone after the game if he succesfully takes the ball away. It worked wonders for his practice yesterday. So- hopefully- the practice will pay off and, as funny as the above video may be, I'll have an even better one to post tomorrow of Wyatt getting in on the action.

Just call me Suzy....Suzy Homemaker that is.

My very first attempt at canning peaches- EVER! I know that they are floating and really aren't supposed to, but my wise grandmother (having canned for many years) has made me feel better by saying that they will be just fine- And just look at how pretty they are! Can you tell I'm proud? However, just let me temper that a bit by telling you how totally over-rated I think this is. Had I not gotten the peaches for free, I am pretty sure that I could have gotten canned peaches cheaper by watching the ads and saved myself many many hours. But despite that- they are mmmmmm-mmmm-good! PS- this is only the pictures of my first batch- don't worry I went to all that work for many many more jars of peaches.

What We'd have looked like 100 years ago-

I promised to post this picture a long time ago when we first got home from Island Park, but never got around to it. I love Shelby's face- you can tell that he's thrilled to be dressed up can't you? Wyatt obviously loves it- Livvy really did have fun and loved the old-fashioned little fan that they let her hold.

Vegas Slideshow

Wild Times in Vegas

I got back from Vegas last Sunday, but it's taken me all week to recover from my wild and crazy times with my roommates from BYU-I. These girls were my very first roommies my freshmen year and although it took us a while to warm up to each other and figure each other out, they are some of my best friends in the world. Even though we haven't spent any real time together since I got married almost six years ago, it was like we had only been away from each other for the weekend. Our personalities were the same, our funny little quirks, and while we had all grown up and had different experiences, it was great fun to be back together.

We arrived in Vegas on Friday afternoon and all screamed, ran and hug when we saw each other in the airport. We then went searching for our hotel- Cancun Resort Villas. It was a fun resort type hotel off the strip with great pools, a spa, and large condo type rooms. We promptly headed out to the huge pool (pictures of which are above) and enjoyed racing each other down the waterslides like kids. It was so hilarious because all of us were expecting them to be kinda lame, but we had all lost our sunglasses, topped end over end, and ended up with wedgies by the bottom. Then we got all dressed up and headed to the Strip for a great dinner at Samba- a Brazilian Grill Restaurant. If you've never eaten at one of these- you should- great food and a great experience. We laughed and laughed all the way through dinner. Then we made our way along the strip checking out a few sites that we had all wanted to see. However we did make it back to the hotel early enough to have ice cream sundaes and a NERTZ tournament (just like the old days!)

Saturday we laid by the pool and worked on our tans until noon then went to the MGM Grand for a buffet lunch/dinner. You HAVE to hit a buffet while in Vegas right? Then we shopped the Miracle Mile of shops (or the Mile High Shops as I kept calling them- I don't know what I was thinking) rode the New York New York roller coaster, bought souveniors and then headed to downtown Vegas for the Freemont Street Experience. It was so stinkin cool! They had a huge light show with live bands. We all got our VIRGIN drinks (as shown in the pictures below- I wanted to clarify that while we had a blast and may have looked drunk, we were dead sober), gambled a little in the old casinos, and danced like wild women to the live bands. Downtown Las Vegas was a definite highlight of our trip and we had a such a blast watching the crazy people that were dancing down there- one video of our favorite is below and hopefully another video of Bridget dancing with the runner-up is coming soon.

Sunday morning was filled with goodbyes and who know how long until we see you agains. Hopefully this will become an every other year tradition, but until then girls- I promise to stay in touch better and I miss you all already.

Wyatt is a school kid now!

Mr. Wyatt started preschool last week. He now goes four days a week in the morning. The school bus picks him up at 8:10 am and drops him back off at 12:00 p.m. He absolutely loves his teacher, bus driver, new lunch box, you name it- Wyatt is stoked. Here Wyatt and Livvy are getting ready to head inside to his class. Livvy had a really hard time leaving Wyatt at school. She sat on the floor and sobbed. It wasn't a fit, just extreme sadness. She missed him so much while he was gone that she had to draw a special picture to give him when he got home and insisted on sitting in his car seat while we ran errands. Every day when he gets on the bus, Livvy gets very sad and says 'But Wyatt is my best friend Mom." So sweet.

We have high hopes for Wyatt's preschool class this year. I was so encouraged by his new teacher. She seems to really love Wyatt already and is great at communicating with me about her class and what they've done that day. Wyatt will still be taking speech therapy (although he almost doesn't qualify for it anymore) and lot of occupational therapy to help with his fine motor skills. They are my biggest ongoing worry. I love this sweet little boy with a love for learning and new things. He's the coolest.

What happens in Vegas.....

14 short hours until I embark on my journey to Vegas to see my fave girls- what to know who they are? Check out this link http://justinandamynessen.blogspot.com/. It has pics of the four of us that are going this year- Brooke and Emily you will be missed! And don't worry- fellow bloggers- I will take lots of pictures and update you with all of the fun times ahead over the next few days. I am oh so very excited.......

Leak of Midnight Sun

Hey all you Twilight freaks like me- I know you're out there. I've recently learned of some news (thanks Christy)- Stephenie Meyer has recently posted the 264 page manuscript of Midnight Sun (Edward's version of Twilight) on her website. Apparently it was leaked onto the Internet and she wanted to have some control over which version her fans read, so she posted it for all to read. Click http://http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/midnightsun.html to read drafted version. I am loving it so far! Although I am tempted to have it printed to Kinko's so that I can have a print version to read instead of staring at my computer for hours on end......