Summer, Soaked & Sick

Yesterday was the Last Day of School. Last week we had told the kids we would let them have a last day of school party. That was before Kason gave me a head cold. Yep. We are starting off the summer SICK! I rarely get fevers and sure enough I have fever with this. We were suppose to go to my nephew's baptism in St. George, but we decided not to pass this junk around.
During the party my oldest child (my hubby) came home and because he is the scout leader in our neighborhood, the teenage boys loved tagging him with water balloons. Derek did not let his thirty-something age stop him, he grabbed the hose and soaked all the kids.
The kids kept busy with Air Hockey, Fooseball, the Wii, & a water fight.

So that is how we started our summer, Soaked & Sick.

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Something to Smile about

What makes me smile: (Things I am thankful for.)

1.)Derek's hands. I love to hold his hand. They make me feel safe, confidant,
and loved.

2.) My children's giggles. I feel my heart smile when I hear their laughter.

3.) Air Conditioning. I would be lost without it.

4.) Brownies. Nothing says comfort like a warm, soft, chocolate brownie.

5.) Humor. Laughter IS the best medicine

6.) Music. Although I have no musical talent, nothing touches me like beautiful
music does.

7.) Good Books. Sometimes it is nice to escape into another world.

8.) Freedom. It is a gift.

9.) Courage. To try harder to be a better person.

10.) Disneyland. I love the smell of popcorn & churros, while listening to the
music of Alice in wonderland as you wait to get on the Tea Cups.

11.) Cancun. Nothing says relaxation like laying under a Polapa while drinking
a virgin Pina Colada as you feel the warmth of the sun on your body.

12.) Sunsets. My testimony that God lives & loves us grows each time I watch the
sunset. It is beautiful & a miracle.

13.) Friends. (Laughing with a friend is living life.)

14.) Prayer. To always know someone is there, is peace. I walked in on my
mom countless times while she was on her knees praying morning & night.
What a great example of prayer. Thanks Mom!

15.) Life. I want to live it to it's fullest.

16.) Sitting with my family at Church. "I want to live my life with them through
all eternity." -families are forever, childrens songbook.

17.) A Father in Heaven. Because he makes all of the these things possible.

NEW INDIANA JONES MOVIE REVIEW

Is there a thumbs sideways? It wasn't Oscar great, but I had a good time watching it. I am going to say THUMBS UP! (I like Harrison Ford, so I am biased.) Hubby and I forgot how much fun going to the movies is. My family and I had such a good time just looking forward to it. It was fun to just sit and watch the trailers. (WALL-E & Hancock look pretty good.)

Obviously I don't get out much so you can't take my word for it. So when you go see it, let me know what you think. There is a scene with a snake that is pretty funny. (I hate snakes more then Indiana Jones.)

Sure I was the only one in the movie theatre who made a Cat Call when they first showed "Indiana Jones", but hey it was dark & nobody would have guessed that it was the plus size girl with 5 kids cat calling!

My opinion: Go with people you love to have a good time with & you will have fun at this movie!

Summer Blockbuster? Maybe.

I am SO EXCITED!! My husband came home with Indiana Jones movie tickets. We are going to see it Saturday mid morning. Now usually I am not one to say, "He is so good looking!" But for Harrison Ford..... yeah, I will. Sure, he is almost 66, but I still think he is WOWWY PAZOWIE!

There are few movies that come out that I get excited to go see, but this is definitely one of them. We really don't go to the movies that often. Now and then in the summer time I will take the kids to the dollar movie, when a family friendly show pops up. I think I would have to say I like comedey & action adventure.

What are you?

Are you a Sci-Fi, Chick-FLick, Comdey, or Action Adventure kind?

Is there A Summer Movie you are excited to see?

What would June Cleaver do?

So Tuesday, I had one of my friend's little guy hanging out with us after he & Jaxon got out of morning Kindergarten. I decided we needed to get out of the house. We headed to our local fast food indoor playland. (Ours has an indoor basketball area. I know. Cool!) I was prepared to be there for awhile. I took along a book I had got at Lowe's that I had wanted to look at. I brought the IKEA closet organizer workbook with me. (I even remembered a pen to make notes.) Guess what I forgot? Nope, not the kids. They were there. I forgot I had brought a child who still has wet accidents. (Ryan starts having fun & forgets to go to the bathroom.) Two minutes after I asked him if he needed to use the bathroom, he was sitting next to me in the booth, wet! We were just finishing up our Dollar Menu Double cheeseburgers & The older boys were just running over to the slide. What to do? I had no extra pants for him in the van. I was in a pinch. Now had it been ten years ago with my older boys, I would have felt defeated & packed everyone back up and went home. But now, I am older & lazier. So Ryan and I went into the Family Bathroom that was adjoining the playland and rinsed out his underwear & shorts in the sink using the pink hand soap as a laundry detergent. I usually hate those "push power hand dryers in the bathroom, but NOT TODAY!" In 2 minutes his shorts & underwear were perfectly dry! We were back to our plans in just minutes. Thankfully, we did not have a normal public bathroom where I would have to move away from the hand dryer every time some innocent woman or girl was just trying to use for it's purpose, as they watch the half naked toddler roaming around. Yes, ten years ago I would have been the woman judging that woman drying her child's underwear & shorts in the bathroom. But now I realize being a Domestic Diva is about sanity & working with what you got.

So in those moments of, "What are we going to do?" Ask yourself, "What would June Cleaver do?" And then laugh and do what you have to do, to keep what little grain of sanity you have left, intact. ;)

TWILIGHT MOVIE COMES OUT IN DECEMBER

Well I am officialy one of those Twilight Fans aka Twilighters or Fanpires. The book is so so good! It reminds how you feel, when you first fall in love. (and it is is sci-fi & I am a sci-fi girl.)

I Love the way you Love me

I have got to be one of the luckiest women in the world, when it comes to having a great husband. Derek and I met 15 years ago in July of 1993. We married in January 1994. (I know fast!) This has to be my all time greatest decision I have ever made in my life. Life has been a challenge at times (as it is for everyone.) but being married to your best friend, can sure make those challenges much easier. Nothing in our life is "picture perfect". Not even close! (We have 5 kids, not possible.) Derek and I get annoyed with eachother at times, I yell my kids for leaving their clothes on the bathroom floor, Laundry is an endless abyss, My health has not been what I thought it would be. Yet Derek seems to keep our house and our family going. And he keeps me going. We also owe some marital sucess to 2 great books; "The Pamered Wife" by Mark Douglas & "The Proper Care & Feeding of Husbands" by Dr. Laura. When I get depressed, overwhelmed, anxious, worried etc. Derek knows how to make me laugh & keeps me going. I know not everyone has a great companion in their life and I feel very grateful that I do. (It also could be that we watch Everyone Loves Raymond and any husband looks good compared to Raymond. ;)jk

Derek and I did not have the ideal first date. Their was no love at first sight, no "call me". I ran to the front door said,"Goodnight." and shut the door. He was not expecting a kiss or a hug, but he was not expecting a door slammed in his face either. (That's a whole other story.) But for some reason Derek called me the following Monday because although our date was blah, we did have a great time talking on the phone (and he was bored.) We decided to go out again and we went with a friend of his and his date. The date was better then the first, but still I just could not relax. After golfing & bowling, we dropped off his friend's date and the three of us were driving to Ivins. Their was a Ray Stevens song playing in the CD player about a Pirate who wanted to sing and dance. Derek and his buddy, Mark, sung to their hearts content. I realized in that moment that this guy (Derek) doesn't care if I think he is being goofy or "not cool" because he was going to have fun even if I (his Date) chose not to and I LOVED THAT!! I was able to relax because Derek was relaxed in being himself. That to me was a a trait that I admired and rarely saw. He has been making me laugh ever since.

Sure, it has not been all flowers and hollyhocks since we met 15 years ago. We have had our share of disagreements. But thats OK, because making-up is sure fun. Derek thanks for fifteen great years. I hope we have a thousand more together.

Male or Female? This is funny.

Male and Female


I got this from my brother, Josh as a forward. I thought it was funny.

You might not have known this, but a lot of non-living objects are actually either male or female.

Here are some examples:

FREEZER BAGS: They are male, because they hold everything in, but you can see right through them.
(the next one is my favorite.)

PHOTOCOPIERS: These are female, because once turned off; it takes a while to warm them up again.
They are an effective productive devices if the right buttons are pushed, but can also wreak havoc if you push the wrong Buttons.

TIRES: Tires are male, because they go bald easily and are often over inflated
HOT AIR BALLOONS: Also a male object, because to get them to go anywhere, you have to light a fire under their butt.

SPONGES: These are female, because they are soft, squeezable and retain water.

WEB PAGES:
Female, because they're constantly being looked at and frequently getting hit on.
TRAINS: Definitely male, because they always use the same old lines for picking up people.

EGG TIMERS: Egg timers are female because, over time, all the weight shifts to the bottom.
HAMMERS: Male, because in the last 5000 years, they've hardly changed at all, and are occasionally handy to have around.

THE REMOTE CONTROL: Female. Ha! You probably thought it would be male, but consider this: It easily gives a man pleasure, he'd be lost without it, and while he doesn't always know which buttons to push, he just keeps trying

Check out my Slide Show!

Ship of Fools

Recently, we celebrated the life of Alta Johnson Brooksby. She was and IS Derek's Grandmother. She was a good, kind woman and even though her body would not keep up, she had a work ethic that would put others to shame. She loved dancing and she loved music! I loved her and know I am a better person for knowing her. During the weekend of her funeral,I thought about how happy we were for Grandma. We (her family) know she is with those who have passed before her. She lost her father when she was 9 years-old and decided then and there, that she was going to live the gospel and do whatever it took to be with her father again. Alta had a destination and did not just float through her 92 year of life. She worked, she loved, she was upbeat, she was serving others, & she always put her the Lord first. (which balanced her life, I believe.)

On the night of her funeral, I was zooming around on Wikipedia History and I came across a Dutch Artist named Bosch. Here is one of his Paintings

The painting is so small and I could not find a larger jpg to look at or post here, but I read the meaning behind this powerful painting and now I want to get a copy of this painting.

Here is the story behind the picture:




"In The Ship of Fools Bosch is imagining that the whole of mankind is
voyaging through the seas of time on a ship, a small ship, that is
representative of humanity. Sadly, every one of the representatives is a fool.
This is how we live, says Bosch--we eat, drink, flirt, cheat, play silly games,
pursue unattainable objectives. Meanwhile our ship drifts aimlessly and we never
reach the harbour. The fools are not the irreligious, since prominent among them
are a monk and a nun, but they are all those who live ``in stupidity''. Bosch
laughs, and it is sad laugh. Which one of us does not sail in the wretched
discomfort of the ship of human folly? Eccentric and secret genius that he was,
Bosch not only moved the heart but scandalized it into full awareness. The
sinister and monstrous things that he brought forth are the hidden creatures of
our inward self-love: he externalizes the ugliness within, and so his misshapen
demons have an effect beyond curiosity. We feel a hateful kinship with them. The
Ship of Fools is not about other people, it is about us." -Nicolas Pioch

WOW!! that to me is powerful. I love that description of humanity. It talks about how there is never long term joy in floating senselessly through life. You have got to have a destination in mind. Bosch being a man who believed in god, even put himself in the painting with the "sad laugh". He was not saying others were aboard, he was implying us as in all those who dwell in moments of selfishness.

My maiden name has a ship connotation attached to it, So I am biased to liking ships and boats. After reading and studying this piece of Art work, I thought, "The lord is our lighthouse and the light is ON, beckoning us back with love. However we are the captains of our lives and we decide the course to take.

Alta Johnson Brooksby was a great example to me of what it meant when you had your destination in route. It was a life that had hope, even when times were hard. It was a life of working even when your tired. It was a life filled with love and joy of her family. And peace of mind, because she did not put things above people or the Lord. She was not on the Ship of Fools. No, not Grandma, she had a destination and if you wanted to get on board she would bring you up. But the compass was checked often and she knew to look for the lighthouse in her life to see which direction to take. What an honor to be married to such a woman's grandson.

I am going to end this post with a quote from Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckey that I have always loved:

" I do not want to drive up to the Pearly Gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long perfectly manicured nails. I want to drive up in a station wagon with mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schneck's lawn. I want to be there with smudges of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with dirt under my fingernails from helping a neighbor weed their garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and a friends tears on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived!"

Poetry in Motion

"Poetry in Motion" That is the name of that hog sculpture behind my brother-in-law, Kody. He is an up and coming Sculpter. He finally entered his first Art Show and got a Honorable Mention. That is so Huge! the sculpters who took 1st & 2nd place are well known sculptures in Utah. So we were beyond excited for him. His first peice up for sale is a hog. It is $1,500. After walking through the Art Show, we knew it was a steal because the 1st place sculpture was $240,000. (Can you say Mortgage?)


The Art Show was great. It only consisted of about 300 peices and they had a "I spy" worksheet for kids. So the kids had fun walking around looking for the pictures on the worksheet.


This is the 3 foot size papa pig at Kody's studio, that we toured after the Art Show. (This pig is dragging it's belly. It is so funny. He also is working on some other really amazing sculptures and it is so fun to see Kody doing what he was meant to do.

Our Weekend


My Sweetie and his Brothers & Sisters.

We started off the weekend at Derek's grandmother's funeral. She was 92 & a great lady. She had 8 children, 48 grandchildren, 97 great-grandchildren, & 6 great-great-grandchildren. I think about 30-40 grandchildren came & 60-70 great-grandchildren including her children with everyone's spouses. It was a nice tribute to a sweet woman. We had such a great time seeing everyone and we were so happy for Derek's grandma to be with her husband again who had died in 1980.

Then we had a great time getting together with Derek's Brothers & Sisters and their families Saturday night. It was a night of Pizza & Games!

Sunday we got together with cousins and had a big lunch at my in-laws house. We were going to head home and we were on the road when we turned around and headed for St. George. (The opposite Direction) Kody was taking some family to the Art Show in St. George and we decided we wanted to be there and show our support. We thought we would head back after the Art Show & Art Studio Tour, but we stopped by both of my brothers houses to see them and ended up spending the night.

It was a great weekend, until we came home and realized we were sick. Especially Derek & Austin. There were about 15 people at the funeral who had the flu or bronchitis. Ryan has got such a deep cough, Austin is miserable, Derek came home from work tonight,I suggested he go upstairs and got to bed, he said OK! I knew at this point he has got to be feeling horrible. He never does that. I sure hope we all get over this before we head to Cancun.