I can't believe it is 2010 and the beginning of a new decade...I am not sure what to call this past decade. I mean when we sit around and reminisce what are we supposed to call it? The 2000's - 1-9?? I don't like it. It is not as catchy as saying the "60's" or the "70's" or my personal favorite...the "80's." We never get to celebrate the eve of the New Year as a family. Todd is always hanging out on the strip with the tourists and the rest of us are usually scattered here and there. This year Aaron, Ariel and I drove up to Utah. Megan and Todd stayed home. Todd had to work and Megan babysat Zoey. For days before I was going to leave, I checked the weather and it looked like it was going to be fine. Apparently, my weather sources are bogus. Within about ten minutes of leaving Cedar City we hit a big snow storm. Prior to my visit to Utah, I would have called it a blizzard. I have since learned that it was not a blizzard but a "heavy snow fall." At any rate, it was a lot of snow and the roads were all snow covered. I had not driven in those conditions for about 15 years. We saw about a dozen cars that had gone off the road or crashed into other cars, I was really hoping that wouldn't happen to us. The hours dragged on and from Spanish Fork to Bountiful my maximum speed was about 50. It took me 8 hours to get to my parents house. When we arrived I got to meet my newest nephew, Carson, so adorable! Then we celebrated my nephew, Mikey's, 4th birthday. We were excited about that. My brother, Stephen, did not disappoint with the "fish" cake either. It was almost as good as his "soccer ball" cake last year. The next morning, Aaron made his way into the bathroom with his crutches. He called to me from the bathroom and asked if he looked like he was going to throw up. I guess there is a certain "look" people are supposed to have when they are about to vomit. By the time I got in there, he was already kneeling in front of the porcelain throne. While I was standing by waiting to "assist" he unexpectedly passed out. It took me a few seconds to realize what had happened. One minute he was kneeling there, and then all of the sudden he crashed down into that small unsanitary looking space between the sink and the toilet. I grabbed him and laid him onto his back on the floor and shook him a little until he came back. It was a very scary experience. His face had gone so white. He wouldn't let me move him off the floor for about 15 minutes. I just couldn't stand him laying there on the bathroom floor any longer. I dragged him back to his bed, against his wishes and he stayed there the rest of the day with a stomach ache. It was a very short trip only two days if you don't count the two days of driving. I really missed visiting friends that I usually get to see when I come to Utah, there just wasn't the opportunity. I was happy we at least got to have lunch with our friends, the Alworths, on our way out of town. On the 31st, we went to the Freebairn Family's annual New Year's Eve Party. This year it was at my sister Cheri's house. There was too much good food, a plethora of games, and lots of great company. When we left to go back to my parents, we weren't as popular as when we came on account that we left before the New Year. I was so tired and had to get up and drive home the next morning. It really makes no difference to me in the arrival of the new year, whether I am blowing a horn, banging a pot, yelling "Happy New Year " or asleep in my bed...the new year still comes.

Christmas 2009

All those months of preparation, weeks of anxiety and stress and then BAM!! Just like that Christmas is over. We had our big dinner on Christmas Eve and I spent more time in the kitchen cooking then I did for Thanksgiving. This was my second attempt at making a Bouche de Noel, I tried last year but had to throw it away. I learned about the "yule log" cake in high school French class. I was very happy that this year it turned out and was rather delicious. We read our Christmas stories and opened our PJ's. I was sad that five minutes after I changed into my new zebra print PJ's, I spilled my wassail on the bottoms and had to change. So I had zebra print on the top half and leopard print on the bottom half. It was quite an eye sore. We watched "A Christmas Story" and then went to bed. The kids spent the day playing Wii games and watching some new movies. Todd surprised me with a laptop and he got a netbook. Somehow I always get the better present. It is amazing how destroyed a house can get on Christmas day.

Aaron's Surgery December 2009

Friday, December 18, Aaron had surgery on both ankles. We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 a.m. but he wasn't taken back for surgery until 11:00 a.m. Aaron watched "Cast Away" while we waited and I worked on making a list and checking it twice. Aaron's biggest concern about having surgery was getting the IV put in. Little did he know, that was going to be the easiest part. The nurse put a patch on his hand to numb it and he never even felt the IV as she put it in. The doctor removed the accessory naviculars on both of his feet. That is a little extra piece of bone he was born with that has caused him pain off and on since he injured his foot a few years ago. The surgery was quick only a half hour and then a short while later they called me back to recovery. Aaron was very confused and in a lot of pain. He had a panicked look in his eyes and kept saying, "my ankles, oh my ankles..." It was very hard for me to see him like that. Kids don't have a concept of severe pain like that...it is not something you can explain to them or prepare them for. I imagine he never thought about what it would feel like after the surgery was over. I felt very sorry for him. Both ankles were in casts and they were cut all the way up the front to allow them to expand with the swelling. He asked about a hundred questions in recovery and the nurse and I were trying not to laugh. At the beginning, he looked at her and said, "Who are you?" she said she was his nurse. A few minutes later he looked at her again and said, "Did you do my surgery?" she said, "I wish!" He is such a worrier and that characteristic was exaggerated a hundred percent by the anesthesia...she finally told him to lay his head back, that it was her job to worry about everything and he needed to try to sleep. We were able to take him home by about 4:00 p.m. It was quite an ordeal driving him home and getting him up into bed as every bump or movement caused him extreme pain. The first night he slept with me and we were up every hour on the hour. Either to give him pain meds, help him use the "portable toilet" or adjusting his legs into a better position. He was so thoughtful that night, always thanking me for taking care of him or apologizing for waking me up. At one point we were awake for about an hour and a half where he couldn't sleep because of the pain. He asked me to tell him some stories from my childhood to distract him. That was a little tough coming up with material that old, in the middle of the night and being sleep deprived and all, but I was eventually able to talk him back to sleep. I told him it was a privilege to take care of such a sweet patient. The first several days it took both Todd and I to carry him. We would take him downstairs in the morning and lay him on an air mattress and then carry him back up to bed at night. The first three days he had to take the pain pills every three hours on the dot. After that he went to the regular Tylenol and only had to take it a few times a day. Now it is a week after surgery, he has made huge progress. He sits in his wheelchair most of the day or on the couch. Yesterday he started walking with the crutches a little bit. It is very slow going but he is glad to be moving again. For someone as active as Aaron, being in bed for a week has not been easy. He has been very brave through it all and it is such a relief to have the worst behind us. He will go in on Jan 4th for a check up and to have the casts removed and surgery sites checked. They will either put the casts on for four more weeks or they might decide to put him in post-op shoes for four weeks. We will see. I am sure he will always remember the Christmas he was wearing cast numbers four and five.

Montana Trip 2009

Dee and Angela



the view out the back of Jen's house

Jen sledding

Rachyl and Abby

Emma jamming

Last December I made the decision to contact my birth dad, Dee Linge. He has not been a part of my life for the past 32 years. The feelings I had that I needed to contact him came as a surprise and completely out of the blue, but it has been a very positive experience. I have had a lot of issues, feelings and emotions to work through but it has been a healing process. I appreciate so much the support I have received from my parents and siblings. I have enjoyed reconnecting with Dee and getting to know my two half sisters, Traci and DeeAnn, that I had no memory of. This year Dee bought me a plane ticket to go to Bozeman for a visit, so I used it the beginning of December. I was able to spend 5 days there and had a great time. Dee and his wife, Diann, picked me up at the airport. Their son-in-law was just transferred to the Bozeman airport so we all went to lunch after I arrived. We had a nice visit that day. I also got to have breakfast with them the next morning. My first night in town, I spent with Lara and her family. My niece Emma was acting in the play, "The Christmas Story." I got to attend part of her practice that night. She did a great job. I was really impressed! The theater was very beautiful but very cold. When we got back to Lara's we played a game, visited, and went to bed very late. The next day I went to Jennifer's. We did extreme sledding which was only "extreme" for me. I bumped along the trail so much that I am certain my coccyx got bruised, it was very sore. I wanted to make a snow angel...I hadn't made one of those in 20 years. I've always loved the snow and playing in it. The next day more snow came and it was a lot. I was very impressed with Jen's ability to maneuver her vehicle through the narrow, snow covered mountain roads. We went snowmobiling on Saturday. Beka loaned me her warm snow clothes, which was a huge help. Even in zero degree and below zero temperatures, I was comfortable. Jen drove me around for a while on the snowmobile. We went about 4 miles down to the bottom of their mountain and back up to their house. I was very impressed how good she drove that machine and how fast she could go. She has had many years of practice. We did have one small incident while she was driving me. I flew off the back of the snowmobile and landed in the driveway on my back. I still don't know what happened. My forearm was hurting when I landed so I think something must have caught me and knocked me off. It was pretty funny. Jen felt so bad because I had just finished praising her on what an excellent driver she was. I am sure it was all my fault and not hers. Kimball insisted that I drive the snowmobile for a bit. I was nervous but did a few loops and then managed to get it stuck in the deep snow when I wasn't able to make a turn. When you get a snowmobile stuck at the Frome's, you have to help get it unstuck. If I lived in the snow, I could easily become addicted to snowmobiling. We had to sit in the hot tub twice to recover from the sledding and the snowmobiling. Saturday night we went to the Christmas stroll on Main street. It was freezing that night and I was very uncomfortable but ate a delicious scone that the scouts were selling. They have a lot of food vendors along the street and all the shops on main street are open. On Sunday, it was -10 degrees. Jen said they were going through a cold snap and it usually wasn't that cold. Lara and her family came for dinner Sunday night and we had fun playing rock band. It was -6 degrees on the way to the airport on Monday. It was time to leave my arctic vacation and head back to the warmth of the desert. It was a really great trip. DeeAnn works for Delta in SLC and met my connecting planes to and from Bozeman. I was glad that we got a chance to visit and really appreciated all her help. Todd and the kids were very helpful while I was away so I didn't have to worry about things and Ariel came home from school while I was gone and had the house all cleaned. Zoey was very excited to see me.

Thanksgiving 2009

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. We are always excited when we have company to share our meal with. This year the Frome's spent Thanksgiving with us on their way back from California. We also had our good friend Art with us. It was nice to have Jen helping in the kitchen. With her supervision, I was able to locate all the disgusting turkey parts they hide in the bird. Years ago, I accidentally left the gizzards in the butt cavity and Todd found them when he carved the turkey...so gross. The cousins were all very glad to be with each other. The food was very good. This year I made my first chocolate cream pie...the real stuff not the Jell-0 pudding kind. I am definately going to make that more often. After the dishes were done up, we went to the movies, which is a Frome family tradition. We really enjoyed having our family with us and have so much to be thankful for.

Todd's Trip to Georgia

In November, Todd drove back to Georgia with his dad to keep him company and help with the driving. They drove about 10 hours a day and made it back in three days. A few of the things they found on the way were "Hendrix College" in Arkansas and Elvis's birthplace in Mississippi. Todd sent me a ton of picture mails while he was gone. I thought that was cool, I was able to share in what he was seeing and doing every day. He spent the first few days at his dad's house and was able to visit his uncle and grandma. Then he went north a little bit to spend time with Eric and his kids, Sarah and Jacob. He spent several days with his mom, which he enjoyed very much. He was also able to visit his grandpa and a few aunts, uncles and cousins. One of the highlights of his trip was ordaining his nephew, Jacob, to the Aaronic Priesthood. Todd brought us all souvenirs, the kids got Atlanta braves t-shirts. I got the one thing I would never have suspected or guessed...a "Piggly Wiggly" t-shirt. Yes, there is a store in the south called the Piggly Wiggly, I have mocked that store name for 20 years. I cannot take any grocery store seriously named Piggly Wiggly...so it was a pretty funny gift. I wore it one time so he wouldn't feel bad. When the kids came home from school and found out I had worn it out in public that day, they were horrified.

GPL's visit 2009

The bathroom "before" - yes..hideous.

The bathroom "after" - much better

Todd has affectionately re-named his dad GPL which stands for Grandpa Lonny. He drove himself out here from Georgia a few weeks ago to spend some time with us. We were really glad that he came and put him right to work. I had a "honey-do" list for him since Todd couldn't take any time off work to hang out with him. I was trying to help keep him active and from being bored out of his mind. He remodeled our downstairs bathroom which included taking out the old sink, mirror and light fixture and installing new ones. (see the before and after pictures) then he changed out the girls bathroom sink and faucet. He also hung up two towel bars and two toilet paper holders. He is pretty handy. Last year when he came he installed three ceiling fans and a light fixture in the dining room. He is always happy to help. Todd, Aaron, GPL and I were able to hike at Red Rock Canyon one day, that was a lot of fun. We also went up to Cedar City one day to visit Ariel so GPL could see her and take her shopping. Aaron enjoyed playing baseball with grandpa. I enjoyed going out to eat everyday. GPL likes to eat out when he's on vacation. Todd decided to drive back to Georgia with his dad. They left on November 6th and Todd flew home on the 17th. I was glad he got to go home. It has been many years since he has been back to Georgia and I know his family misses him a lot.

Some stuff about Aaron

Aaron is a great kid. He keeps us very entertained. This year he is taking choir as his elective in school. He seems to really like it and we love hearing him practice his singing on occasion. One morning, before school, he was playing something on the keyboard. I couldn't hear what it was because he had the headphones plugged in. I asked him what he was doing. He said he was practicing a song that he had written so he could play it in choir class. Apparently, if someone performs something in class on Fridays, they don't have to take their usual test. I said, "Aaron, you don't play the piano." Nevertheless...he had written a song and it was meant to be heard. I asked him if I could hear it, he unplugged the headphones and played me his song. It was mostly played on the black keys and he used both hands so more notes could be played. When he finished, I told him it was very nice. He seemed a little frustrated and said, "I don't know why, but, it sounds different every time I play it, except this part." (Which happened to be the first few notes of the song.) After school I asked him if he played his song in class, he told me he did. I was pretty impressed. One-that he could write a song and two-that he had the guts to play piano in front of his class and with absolutely no training. I haven't had the chance to ask the teacher how it all went down...but I plan to one day.

Halloween 2009

Trunk or Treat was a "splendid affair" as it is every year. Actually, each year they get a little better. Megan and I dressed up as Pirates... I forgot to paint my fingernails black, which bummed me out a bit, but other than that it was fun to dress up. Aaron was a "business man" zombie. You can't tell too much from the pictures but his white shirt and tie were ripped up a bit, and smeared with dirt and "blood." After dinner, we went out to the parking lot to see the RS ladies perform Thriller. It wasn't half bad either...here is the link in case you want to watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OIVtdjKrKc Yes...I know everyone is disappointed that I am not dancing in the video but, you do get a glimpse of me a few times. I'm in the black and white skull cap filming the show. So technically, this is my "YouTube" debut. After the dance, the trunk or treating festivities began. I went to my trunk to pass out the candy. Lucky break for Todd he had a guitar student and got to stay home. I passed out candy for a while but never saw Aaron come around. I started to worry that he was pre-occupied with something and wasn't aware that the crazed candy collecting had started. So I shut the trunk and went in search of him. After a few minutes, I had a lead that he was last seen at the haunted house feature inside the church. The man who was guarding the entrance didn't know where Aaron was but, he let me cut the long line to wander through and see if I could find him. Of course I found him inside the haunted house. He is obsessed with scaring people. He had wandered through it as a guest, and enjoyed it so much he decided to become a permanent fixture. I explained to him that the kids outside were getting all the candy, and if he didn't go out there now he wouldn't get any. He said he didn't care and was staying right there. This was good news...there was going to be a lot less candy for me to have to eat. I went and checked on him one more time that night while he worked. He was laying face down on the floor holding a screaming teenage girl around the ankle with both hands. She was literally dragging him across the floor trying to get away as she yelled, "let go of me...let go of me." After I composed myself...I had to have a little chat with Aaron that rule number one of being a "haunter" - you are absolutely not allowed to TOUCH people.

At one point of the evening, I had to work a shift for our Young Women booth. For the past several years we have had the most popular booth of the carnival, the dart throwing booth. You can imagine why it is the favorite, we give sharp, dangerous objects to toddlers and tell them to throw them. Keep in mind, these are real darts and they were attempting to throw them at a bulletin board full of balloons. As the game worker, I had to stand on the inside of the tables in a semi-direct path to the bulletin board. I was to collect the darts after they had been thrown and hand them to the next child. I had a few close calls and one child actually hit me in the back of the head with a dart. Luckily, that particular child was so weak that by the time it hit my head it was more of a tap instead of the scalp puncture wound it could have been. It did, however, heighten my sense of "alertness" for the remainder of my shift.

Every Halloween night, the kids abandon us to hang out with their friends, yet they still expect the traditions that we carried out when they were younger and stayed home with us. I went ahead and got donuts for the black cats tail this year, but, next year no donuts unless they stay home with us. Grandpa Lonny was here again this year, we were glad he could visit. My friend, Mike, was in town with some of his family for the weekend. He called me up and told me had bought me a ticket to the 9:30 p.m. show of KA that night. I thought the show was pretty good, he thought it was stupid. The strip on Halloween night is a complete "freak show." Wow...that's all I can really say. It is an eye opener and there are some really strange people that are living among us. I just don't get Halloween..sorry.

Pumpkin Carving 2009

So...none of you may remember but last year I was accused of being a Halloween Nazi. This accusation came on account that I didn't try to secure some pumpkins until Halloween day and unfortunately, they were all sold out. This resulted in a year without the carving of pumpkins...which apparently is a tradition at our house. A few weeks ago I bought three large pumpkins so that when Ariel came home for the weekend, the kids could carve their pumpkins together since they wouldn't be together on Halloween. They did a fine job. If I had to give out pumpkin carving awards, based on their efforts that night, they would be as follows: Megan would receive the "best cleaning out the guts" award. Aaron would receive the "most likely to stab himself or one of his sisters" award. Ariel would receive the "most likely to get bored and quit" award. (As can be seen in the photo when I had to "help" her with part of her carving.) I guess we ought to throw an award in there for Todd too, he wins the creepiest knife picture. It is now five days before Halloween...the pumpkins have long since molded and slimed. They will be taken away in tomorrow's trash and dumped in a landfill somewhere...but the memories of those jack-o-lantern faces will live in our hearts forever.

Brace Faces..

Megan got braces on a week or so ago. She looks so cute. I figured this would be the only time I would be wearing braces at the same time as my child, so I told her we had to take a photo.

The Brass Challenge - October 10, 2009

The "Zoey" rock..weird huh? See the head, ear and muzzle?

A natural arch

Aaron and Zoey slept all the way home

On Saturday, Todd, Aaron and I woke up at 4:45 a.m. to get ready to go to the Brass Challenge. That is a cycling/running race put on by Metro police. Todd has done it a few other years but has always done the cycling part of the race. This year he accepted an invitation to be on a running team. His leg of the race was 5.1 miles and uphill. He was on the Leads Exhausted team and there were ten of them in all. The race was out at the Valley of Fire about 45 minutes north of Las Vegas. It is a beautiful place, I really love the unique scenery out there. It was quite cold as the race began. Todd had the third leg of the race. He did an excellent job. I was very impressed. It was a tough course. I followed along side of him in the car a lot of the way and took some video and photos. I am sure I threw off his groove a few times with my "cheer leading." He finished in 44 minutes. A most impressive time for the the uphill climb he did. We stopped for a few minutes and climbed on some beautiful red rocks. As we were walking along trying to find some climbing rocks, I found a giant "Zoey" rock. I could not believe how much the rock looked like the profile of a miniature schnauzer...I know I am pathetic. I was unable to enjoy climbing on the rocks because in a moment of brilliance, I chose to wear flip flops to the Valley of Fire. We walked up about 1,649 stairs to see some petroglyphs that were 4,000 years old. That was really cool. When the race was over, we met at a park in Overton and had a picnic. We were starving and the food was really good. We had a great time, though we wished Ariel and Megan could have been with us. Oh and by the way...Todd's team came in first place out of the "mixed teams" a team made up of boys and girls.

GVHS Homecoming

This past week was homecoming week. It felt weird to have Ariel gone for such a big Stuco event, but Meg is in her second year of student council and does a great job keeping the tradition alive... Meg dressed up as Indiana Jones, a Jedi Knight, a pirate, a green toga girl covered in "blood" and of course her homecoming GVHS t-shirt for spirit day. She passed out beads at the parade. We had fun watching the parade, we go every year. The highlight was seeing our friends little girl, Haven, with her face painted for class of 2022! She was a hit with everyone. It was so cute. My favorite dress up day for Meg was pirate day, she was an awesome looking pirate...when she came down stairs all I could say was, "WOW! Piracy is your thing!"

Camp out at the Boulders

Aaron and Todd went on another scout camp out to a place called the Boulders. Todd said some of the boulders were as big as cars and houses. The boys had a lot of fun climbing around the boulders. One of the scout leaders brought some chairs to chop up and use as firewood. Todd suggested they just put the chair right on the fire without chopping it up, it worked really well and the boys thought it was awesome. The night they were gone camping, I had a strange dream. In my dream, we were at a big house with a lot of other scouts and their families. The boys were going to be passing off a lot of requirements. The leaders told us that one of the requirements Aaron needed to pass off was to shoot another scout with a gun, a real gun. They assured us that he would only be shooting him in the leg and that there would be medics and people there to help the injured scout. The boy who needed to be "shot" to fulfill his requirement happened to be one of Aaron's friends, named Evan. So they paired the two up for this "shooting" event. In my dream, I was the only person who had a problem with this insane requirement. Everyone else was "good" with it. I remember how panicked I felt trying to convince someone, anyone..that this was crazy and a terrible idea. After spending considerable time trying to talk some sense into people, and failing, I finally took Aaron out into the garage where it was quiet so we could have a little chat. I explained to him that this was a terrible, terrible thing and how bad it was. I told him if he got nervous and missed Evan's leg and hit him in the chest or head, he could kill him. I asked him if he wanted to live with that grief the rest of his life. I told him that even if he only shot him in the leg, it was still going to be very painful for Evan to be shot in the leg and that he would have to watch Evan suffering, and would be responsible for that suffering. Finally, I convinced Aaron that he could not fulfill this requirement, and then I woke up from my dream. I was very disturbed about having such a violent dream. Around 9:30 a.m., Todd and Aaron came back from the camp out. Aaron came up to me in the kitchen and said very quietly, "Mom, I have to show you something, but don't tell dad about this, he will get mad." He then proceeded to pull up his shirt and showed me a small bloody area on his chest and said, "Evan shot me with his air soft gun. He didn't know there was any pellets in there." I was more than a little surprised at my psychic abilities, I had just discovered. I did not even know the boys had taken air soft guns camping. It was very weird. No...sorry, I am not accepting any calls for "psychic advice."

The Killers Concert

Last Saturday we had an great time at the Killers concert. It was awesome! They put on a high energy show, just wish it would have lasted longer. Concerts are a little nerve racking, you are squished into those little seats and you never know what you're gonna get as far as neighbors go. We had one of the worst singers behind us, who just so happened to know every single word of every song that was performed...he was so excited to be there that he screamed the lyrics at the top of his lungs in his heavy Mexican accent. The worse part was that he didn't sing any note in tune, he was always slightly above or slightly below the lead singer...never on key. We were really hoping he would lose his voice after the first few songs...didn't happen. We also sat behind two of the worst dancers, they were so excited to be there, that they danced the whole way through the concert, it was a little distracting, but not as distracting as Bob Marley, he was sitting to the right of the dancers and partially blocked my view of the stage, it was hard to see around his hair. In spite of these minor setbacks...we thoroughly enjoyed the night.

It was a whole family affair, we were even lucky enough to have my niece from MT with us. We really, really missed Jennifer though! She was sick and couldn't come. We were out quite late, and the kids passed out while we were waiting in traffic...it was funny. I am a little obsessed with the Killers now and can't stop listening to their music. I'm sure it will wear off in time...

Birthday

We got to go up to Cedar City on Friday, September 11th and be with Ariel for a fraction of her birthday. We went to dinner at Chili's, and then had cake and ice-cream with some of her roommates (which are all so great!) After dessert, we went to a comedy improv show, which was really good. One of Ariel's roommates had told the guys doing the show that it was Ariel's birthday, so they called her up on stage. Of course, I got blamed for this embarrassing moment, which I could not take any credit for...too bad. It was a fun night. The next morning Ariel took us on a tour of campus, and showed us where her classes were. It is a beautiful campus. We wanted to do some hiking in Bryce Canyon, but, it was several hours away and we had to hurry and get home to Vegas because Zoey was being very bad. We were really glad we got to see Ariel on her birthday.

Ariel Lanae Hendrix

Today is Ariel's 18th birthday! She has waited for this day for...well... 18 long years. She was born at 3:45 in the morning. She has been a night owl from birth. She has always been a strong minded, determined girl. Here are some of my favorite Ariel quotes: "Mom, does your brain get all swirled up sometimes?" (four years) Looking at the caller ID and seeing LDS Church..."Here mom, it's for you...it's the Mormons." (12 years) Speaking about the youth activity water olympics: "It's so stupid, if I wanted to get wet, I'd go swimming or take a shower." (13 years) After looking at Ariel's grades online and seeing she was getting a "D" in Spanish... I said, "Ariel, you're getting a "D" in Spanish!" She shrugged and said, "I don't speak Spanish." (15 years) Ariel inherited a keen sense of humor, and keeps us laughing all the time. She has been blessed with many talents and we love her very much. Happy Birthday, Ariel!! Congratulations, you are now, officially..."an adult."

FHE - A time to learn new skills...

So this week, I asked Todd if he would prepare a little lesson for FHE. His lesson consisted of us all going out front to learn how to change a tire. He said this lesson was to mainly benefit Ariel, but the rest of us could learn from it too. To Ariel's great distress, she ended up doing most of the work. No one single person succeeded in changing the complete tire from start to finish but 4out of 5 of us worked on the process. Unfortunately, I had to sit this one out, on account that I was wearing nice clothes that I did not want to get dirty. Of course when I came out to watch, I had to bring the camera, which took the "stress" level up a notch. Ariel did not want the "event" captured on film...(she knows it is going straight to the blog..) The blog is such a handy little tool. I was very impressed with how long Ariel hung in there. She got the tools off the trunk board, she pulled the tire out of it's little hiding place beneath the trunk board (she had no idea all that stuff was under there.) She jacked up the car and while she was turning that handle round and round, she got a little annoyed. She said to Todd, "Can you do this?" he's all "Why, you need to do it." She said, "This is so boring. I am so bored!" She un-did the lug nuts and pulled them off and finally pulled the tire off. She was not able to hoist up the little tire back on the wheel, so, Aaron gave it a try. After a time, he succeeded in getting the spare on there. He took it back off and then Megan gave it a try. She was also able to get the spare lifted onto the wheel well and she even did it with a splint on her pinky finger. Good job Meggie! You made me proud. They seemed to have a pretty good time with the whole lesson. Ariel never did take her turn again in trying to get the spare tire on. She assured us that if she was ever actually changing a tire by herself, in real life, that her adrenaline would help her be strong enough to get the tire on. It was pretty amusing to watch it all from my seat on the back bumper of the van. I even learned a few things myself. If I had no cell phone coverage, I could probably change a flat tire all by myself now.

I SPY...A HIDEOUS BUY...

Saturday, I had to go show some houses in the northeast part of town. I found myself in the middle of the "hood" and couldn't wait to get out. This one particular house we went into, was so perfectly hideous, that I had to go back to the car and get my phone and snap a few pics. I knew if I ever attempted to describe this house, even with my keen sense of description, I would fail. The pictures cannot begin to do this house justice, but I had to give it a shot. My clients have a four year old boy. A few seconds after we had walked into the house, he exclaimed, "I don't ever want to come in this house again!" Here are a few of the photos. Remember, if you would like to buy this hideous house...or any other house...I am here to help. Feel free to click on the photos..go ahead...take a closer look.

The front door was accented with a beautiful plum color, it was deep and rich, truly beautiful.

The stylish silver, orange and white stripes above the sliding glass door. This was the extent of the stripes, they were not centered over the door. Either, they were going for the "cluster of four stripes" look, or they just got dizzy and quit.

This one got me all choked up. Someone had carefully placed and secured a delicate run of lace around the kitchen cabinets, it stretched across the tops of all the cabinets, which you can get a better sense of when you see the entire kitchen photo. Notice the beautiful shade of "peach"ish orange the walls were painted, which matched the ceiling.

This photo shows the contrast between the orange walls and the metallic silver "robot" color the back splash was painted. Don't get me wrong, I love the color silver...I think I had a pair of moon boots the exact same color. It just startled me because I would never have thought to paint it on a backsplash. Here's a little tip: don't waste time removing outlet covers, the roller just glides right over them.

Here is the view of the entire kitchen, see what did I tell you about that decorative lace?? So adorable! Why can't I think of things like that?? By the way, you will have to pick up a stove, if you want to prepare a meal, your first night in your new home. You might want to get an orange one, to match the hood.

Ahhh, the runway...this was the cat walk that led from the front door to the kitchen/family room area. Please, one at a time, single file. I'm not sure what it was made from, some unknown substance.

Here we get a view of the mirrored wall in the master suite...no matter where you are in the master...you know exactly where you are...thanks to the mirrors.

This is another bedroom with a mirror...don't ask what the chain hanging from the ceiling was for...I guess that little secret went with the former home owners.

Another view of the "chain" room...hey, I like the window seat.

The checker board bathroom...it just needs a little TLC. Now how do you get black paint off the front of a tub again? I guess if you wait long enough...it will just peel off.

Yeah this carpet was orange, but looks pink in the photo...wait...maybe it was black. All I know is it was disgusting...after walking through this house, I am considering throwing away my shoes.

This is a pink, black and white "SUNBURST" pattern that was painted on the walls as you walked up the stairs. The lines were pretty straight...I think they must have used tape.

This is the grand staircase. The same substance used on the "cat walk" was used to accent the stairs. Again, here are more mirrors... so handy, in case you need to crawl under the stairs and pick a "crusty" out of your eye before you run out the door.

Well thanks for taking the tour of the hideous house...You can purchase this house for $104,900. That is a steal at only $53 a square foot. It is a 4 bedroom 1975 square foot nightmare! This house was built in 1983...I was just a 13 year old girl in River Heights, Utah...I never imagined that I would cross paths with this house someday. I usually take notes on my MLS sheets, so that if a client has trouble remembering something about a house, I can try to help them out. After touring this house, I was speechless. All I managed to write down was..."a sick, sick house."

My trip to Arizona...so fun.

The view of the wild and untamed desert, from the guest room

The lemon pieCutting the lemon pie
Wendy showing a close up of the "coagulated goo" on the inside
Yum...eating the lemon pie

Logan, Courtney, and Amanda (Tyler not pictured...so sad)

Lunch in Phoenix (the people at the table across from us were loving our little tripod deal that was helping to take our photo)

Wendy got the quiche (which wasn't fresh and was sent back a few minutes after this photo) she also got the tomato soup. I got the turkey cranberry sandwich on a croissant, and the blue cheese crumble salad. We like taking pictures of food.

Trampoline fun..this is the best shot of Wendy, how can people have this much fun...legally??

I was a little timid about jumping at first. But, by the end, I could almost jump as high as Wendy

Something made me laugh before the camera snapped this picture. This was the morning I left and I was not happy to leave.

"Wendy and Angie - established 1984"

Some of the desert scenery on the drive home

I loved the miles and miles of big cactus

So...here's a little story...my life long friend and fellow Mustang, Wendy, wrote me an email on Friday last week. She told me that she missed me and wanted me to come for a visit...she wanted me to come next week. I was thinking...hmmm...I'm not "missed" by too many people, so I thought, why not? I made all the arrangements and two days later, I was headed out. Leaving Todd and the kids with the laundry done, a few meals in the fridge, and a clean house (to try to ease their "suffering" while I was away.) It took a little under 4 hours to get to Wickenburg. I was so happy to see the Jones family again. I hadn't seen the kids in about 3 years, they were all grown up. Wendy's subdivision is in the wild and untamed part of the desert (I know you are thinking all deserts are wild and untamed, but her desert is especially wild and untamed. There were critters scurrying all over the place. Lots and lots of lizards. My first night there, I enjoyed a delicious salmon dinner that Brian had caught in Alaska. Monday morning Wendy took me on a 4 mile walk and then we cooled off in the pool afterwards. After swimming, we got ready and Brian treated us to lunch at their favorite Mexican restaurant.

I brought a GIANT box of notes that Wendy had written me in high school, she had saved a small shoebox of notes I had written her...(I had to complain several times that she threw away the rest of my notes...) so we switched the boxes and read the notes we wrote. Whenever we see each other, taking a stroll down memory lane is always a must. In high school we use to have a soda with a fruit pie or a pack of mini donuts for lunch. We decided we needed to share a fruit pie (for old times) we captured the moments on film, for all to see. After we ate the pie, which was a little stale, we had a relaxing afternoon reading notes and laughing about the good 'ol days. Wendy also served the kids and I a delicious after school snack of peaches and graham crackers.

Tuesday, we left the house early and went to Phoenix. We went shopping and then saw "Julie and Julia," which we loved. After the movie, we had a delicious lunch and then headed back to Wickenburg. Tuesday night Wendy and I jumped on the trampoline, why?? just for fun. After we were worn out with jumping, Brian and I got to spend some time "bonding," watching a DVD of a Dave Matthews Band concert. He could hardly contain his excitement to know that I was a Dave Matthews fan. He was so happy, that he loaned me the DVD to take home and enjoy some more, which I have. My mini vacation was way too mini and went by too fast. I was sad I had to leave Wednesday morning but had such a great time! I will definitely be back to the Jones's Bed, Breakfast (and a whole lot more...) as soon as possible.

First Day of School

So the school year began. Fun times, for parents and children alike…Fun times. I get butterflies in my stomach the first day the kids go back to school. I feel so nervous, until I see them walking to the car and can get a "read" on their face. I can make a pretty accurate guess on how they are doing, by the look on their face. Once they give me their report, I am relieved and feel much better. I was pretty uneasy about Aaron starting middle school. Middle school is usually not a good place for any child. He seemed to do pretty good the first day. He told me that he had to help a lot of other kids open their lockers, on account that he was so good at opening his, and they could not open theirs. He did this so many times, that he temporarily forgot his own locker combination, due to the many “random numbers” floating around his brain. I hate to brag, but, apparently I am an expert on teaching the mechanics of opening a locker. We had to have a little practice session on orientation day. Megan is in the student council again this year. It is a big commitment, she stays very busy with that. It is strange to have Ariel starting the new school year in another state, but she is adjusting very well. Megan has missed her so much. I never thought I would have the privilege of typing those words; they really do love each other when they are apart. A week after Ariel had left for school; Megan woke up in the night around 1:30 a.m. She looked around the room and was surprised to see Ariel was not home yet. She walked downstairs and searched all over the house for her (which took about two seconds.) She started to get nervous and think she might have been in a car accident, so she called Ariel’s cell phone. As soon as she heard her voice mail, she realized that she was in Cedar City and quickly hung up the phone. Lucky for Ariel, she was sleeping soundly at 2:30 a.m. and was undisturbed. A few days ago, was the two week mark of Ariel leaving home. I was shocked when I realized it had only been two weeks. It felt a lot longer than that. We miss her very much. We are happy for the new experiences she is having. She comes home this weekend for a visit. Yea!

Move in Day

Wednesday we moved Ariel into her apartment at SUU. We left Vegas at 9:30 in the morning, which was too late to leave but as early as we could manage. We stopped at Pizza Factory in St George and had lunch. It was good, we were starving. Todd went to the bathroom and I picked a piece of each of the girls bread sticks off the end to eat. They said I should get my own, I said no dad wouldn't want me eating that big bread stick. Ariel said, "dad's getting worse and worse...pretty soon you guys will be grazing in the backyard." I had to include that comment because I laughed so hard about that one. I am sorry just the mental picture of being down on our hands and knees and grazing on the mostly dead grass in the backyard (thanks to our dog) was just such a funny sight. The van was packed completely to the ceiling and we removed one of the captain chairs in the second row. Meg was on the teeny tiny seat in the middle. She did not like that. She had a giant basket of shoes at her feet, Ariel had a case of water at her feet and I had a case of water under my feet. We were so crammed in there, we didn't even have room to bring Aaron. He was left home to babysit Zoey for a very long, long day alone. Ariel and Megan slept all the way to St George. I spent the whole time typing recipes into Ariel's laptop that she wanted and making her menus and other mother stuff like that.

We arrived at the school housing around 2:30 p.m. It was a very hot day in Cedar City. We had a ton of unloading to do and of course Ariel's apartment was on the top floor. There was one elevator, one very slow elevator, and there was a lot of competition for it because everyone was moving in at the same time. Lucky, for us there were volunteers (they were employees and faculty from SUU) that wandered up to the cars and said do you need help? We were so glad when a group of 5 or so "helpers" would walk up to us and we could load them up with stuff. The dean of the business school was helping us once, while we were waiting for the elevator he asked Todd if we were moving in a son or daughter... we laughed because we had already made about 50 trips with arm loads of stuff...Todd said a daughter...if we were moving in a son..we would be carrying in one suitcase. Her roommates seemed really nice. The girl she shares her room with is from Wellsville and she graduated from my high school (a few years after me) Mountain Crest. Go Mustangs! I was so excited when I learned about this. I promised Ariel that I would not break out singing the school song when I first met her. Maybe I can on my next visit.

We worked for about 3 1/2 hours unpacking and organizing things before I found out Ariel had to be to a meeting in an hour. We hadn't done her grocery shopping yet and she was really stressed to think about having to do that alone another day. I felt really bad so we said we would get the groceries and leave them in her apt while she went to the meeting. We went to Wendy's and got dinner and brought her back to her apt to drop her off. It was time to say goodbye. I gave her a hug goodbye and she felt so small and frail and so young.. I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. So then I got her all upset and she was starting to cry, which she did not want to do. I had to compose myself as best I could until she went inside and then cried some more after that. We went to my favorite store (typed with extreme sarcasm) Wal*mart, which is the only store in Cedar City for them to shop at. We spent an hour buying all the junk food that was on her list. Todd bought her a jar of pickled pig's feet. It was a disgusting sight. I tried to get him to put it back on the shelf but he wouldn't hear of it. He wrote her name with a pen on the lid so I couldn't try to take it out of the cart when he wasn't looking. He also bought her a Hannah Montana birthday card and crossed out the birthday and wrote in "move in day" we wrote some funny messages in there and quoted a few Hannah Montana song lyrics. We got back to the apt and unloaded all the groceries up to the 4th floor in the slow elevator, we put them into three big Rubbermaid containers so we only had to make one trip to unload groceries. We crammed the fridge stuff into the fridge, she was obviously the last to buy groceries there was no space left for her. The rest of the bags we left in her room for her to put away as she could. It was after 9 p.m. by this time. We still had a three hour drive home and Aaron had been alone all day, so I was a little anxious. Ariel texted us when she got home and got the groceries...she was excited and said she didn't think she'd ever run out. When she found the pickled pigs feet...she was pretty put out though...she said, "Also that joke pigs feet is not funny. I'm embarrassed." I told her it was a funny story she could tell her kids one day...you know the day you found the pigs feet in your groceries. She said, "It's really gross and I can't throw it away because they are all watching." I told her to hide the pigs feet under her pillow till her roommates fell asleep. It was pretty funny. We arrived home about 11:30 completely exhausted. We had been gone for thirteen hours. We accomplished a lot. We were glad Megan came with us to help us.

It was much harder for me the day after "move in" day. I woke up at 6 something and couldn't sleep and that is when everything caught up to me and I spent a lot of time crying at that point. I am very happy for Ariel and the opportunities that are in front of her. I am so proud to have a daughter going to college. I know it will be a good experience for her. I know this is a very long post with a lot of babbling but this was a pretty big deal!

Ariel's off to college...

How does a person go from this....

To this... in a blink of an eye?

I have been having a hard time accepting that Ariel is leaving tomorrow. I have had a few "break downs" and she is not liking my "drama." She tries to explain it to me in simple terms. She says, "Mom, you just need to think of it as if I am going off to Hogwarts...that's it." She has left a daily reminder on the white board on the fridge for the past few days on how many days left until she leaves for "Hogwarts." She told me today when I was feeling a little down... "First, just think of Cheri (my sister) her daughter is going on a mission. She won't see her for a year and a half... Second, it's not very far away and you have a car to drive to visit me... Third, be thankful we have phones to call each other... Fourth, you have that new web cam now so we can see each other when we talk... Fifth, be glad you have the money to send me away to college... and Sixth, I will be back in three weeks for my birthday." So I felt a little better after her "pep" talk. I am thankful she is not actually going to Hogwarts, I've seen those movies and it is pretty dangerous there. One thing for sure is I cannot believe that she is really going. She is an amazing person with such a wonderful personality. She always makes me laugh. She is so caring and smart... She is going to do wonderful, but I will miss her fiercely! Have fun Ariel, and only remember the good things I taught you...

How can I have lived 39 years so fast??

Yesterday was another one of my birthdays... Ariel brought me breakfast in bed and then she woke up her sister and brother and made them come in here and sing "Happy Birthday" to me. It was only 8:00 a.m. so they were stumbling a little and their eyes were closed and they sang it while they plopped themselves down on the bed, but they didn't complain. Ariel had stayed up the night before very late and decorated with streamers and sequins. She told me she "risked" her life decorating on account of the rickety stools she had to stand on to put the streamers up. It looked very nice and I was so happy for the "extras" she did to make it a special day. We worked on getting things wrapped up for school for her, most of the day. When Todd came home we went to dinner, Mimi's Cafe. I had the chicken tenders salad, which was a little dissappointing this time. Oh well...you can't have everything...where would you put it? We picked up a double lemon pie from Marie's and went home to eat it. I was relieved when we cut into the pie and found out it really was a lemon pie. Last year, my birthday was on a Sunday. We picked up the lemon pie on Saturday night and put it in the fridge. The next day, when it was time for birthday pie, I sliced it up to find it was really a banana cream pie on the inside and a lemon pie on the outside. Well that was the end of my birthday pie. I don't eat banana's....ever. The pie last night was delicious. I only got two candles though...I said I don't know what that means. Ariel explained it meant "forever and always." I got some very nice gifts from everyone, including a web cam from Megan, so Ariel won't forget what we look like...it was a very nice birthday.

Aaron's First Scout camp out

On August 7th, Todd went with Aaron on his first scout camp out. They went up to Mt Charleston. I had fixed them some tinfoil dinners, I guess it must have been Aaron's first. He thought the steak and potatoes with a little A-1 drizzled over it, was one of the best meals he ever had. When Aaron and his friend, Evan, saw one of the scout leaders making a "walking stick" as they sat around the fire, they decided they had to make one too. The leader showed them how to do it and the boys ran off to find the "perfect" sticks. Aaron made one for himself and one for Todd and sanded them down really smooth. After Aaron was done with Todd's knife and handed it back to him, Todd waited a few minutes and then gave the knife back and told Aaron it was his now. Aaron's wide-eyed response..."seriously??" He was so excited and as they walked to the tent for the night, Aaron said, "I had a feeling you were going to give me your knife." They had a great time together. Of course when they came home and I saw that the knife was now Aaron's, that made me a little uncomfortable...this is a serious knife. I guess I need to have faith that Aaron has been sufficiently educated on knife safety by the boy scouts.

Dinner with my friends

Some of my best friends took me out for a little early birthday dinner. It was an extra bonus that my sister, Michelle, was on a layover in Vegas and got to come along. We went to Memphis BBQ, it was delicious and we laughed and had a lot of fun. Of course they made the waiters sing to me which I hate, but it was worth the big piece of strawberry shortcake they brought me. They are the greatest!!

Summer vacation to Utah

In July we left for Utah for a 12 day trip. Our itinerary was packed, more than normal. We enjoyed seeing family and friends. We got to celebrate my dad and Jennifer's birthdays together. We got to meet our new niece, Nikole and see her blessed. We got to spend a day with some of my siblings and their families at seven peaks. We took the kids through the Oquirrh Mt temple open house. We spent a day with our best friends in Highland. I got to see some high school friends. We spent three days in a beautiful condo in Heber with most of the brothers and sisters and their families. We spent a day fishing, which turned out to be one of my most favorite things of the trip. I realized I really like to fish. No, I did not catch a fish but I fully expected to. Aaron and my mom caught fish and let them go again. I really just loved the peacefulness of being out by that beautiful lake and the "quiet" of it all. It was a great time. We loved spending time with our family. I can proudly say, "I survived FFG 09." That according to my little brother stands for "Freebairn Family Get-together." I feel a little sad about not getting the T-shirt though.

My bumper is "like new"

Many of you remember my unfortunate car accident a few months back. When I went and got the quote for repairs it was going to be around $900 for a new bumper. Todd bought me a used bumper on Ebay for $115 and installed it yesterday. I came home from showing houses last night and saw the old bumper on the curb with the garbage cans. The used bumper has a few scratches on it but is much improved from the old one. I have to admit, it was a pretty good Ebay purchase.

Before

After After

A weekend STAYcation

I have to steal that term from Jen. The Fromes came to Vegas for a little get away. They had us come join them on Friday at their hotel to swim etc. She said it would be a little "STAYcation" for us. It was fun day at the pool. That night we watched a live band on Fremont Street and then Kimball, Beka and Megan got free tickets into the All American Rejects concert. Saturday we went out to eat, did fireworks, saw more live music, had cake for Rachyl's birthday, and saw a big firework show. We had a great time with the Fromes and glad they invited us to share their vacation with them.

Ariel has lost her wisdom teeth

So Ariel was beyond stressed about her "consultation" appointment with the oral surgeon, she made me pinkie promise her before we left that I would do everything I could to not have the surgery that day but postpone it for a few weeks so she could "mentally" prepare for it... She is petrified of everything "medical." I did all I could to help ease her mind that morning. I read to her from my journal about when my wisdom teeth were taken out and how I was back to school the next day and playing sports and washing cars...it was really no big deal and I even got dry sockets. She was not impressed.

When we arrived at the office, the nurse took her blood pressure and pulse. Ariel's pulse was 101 while she was sitting there in the chair. She asked Ariel if she was a little nervous. The doctor comes in looks at the x-rays and tells us all sorts of bad things that could happen if Ariel did not get her wisdom teeth out and the sooner the better. I guess he convinced her to go ahead with it. They let me go back with her to the surgery room and gave her some laughing gas. Within a few seconds she started laughing. She was feeling really good before they even put the IV in. She says she felt the IV going in and it hurt like it normally does, but she didn't even care. She was very impressed with the "magic" gas. As soon as her eyes rolled back in her head, they ushered me to the waiting room.

Ten minutes later the doctor told me she was all done and that she had done great. I went to the back to get her, she was sitting in a big arm chair, her mouth stuffed to overflowing with gauze and she was still laughing. I put that laughing girl into the van and she laughed all the way home. However, a short time later, it wasn't funny anymore. Here are a few cute pictures of her gauze face.

Aaron earns the Arrow of Light...

On June 23, 2009 we went to an extraordinary back yard pool party. It was also a special cub scout award night where Aaron was honored for earning his Arrow of Light. It was a fun evening and we are so proud of Aaron for his hard work in cub scouts. We know he will be a great boy scout too.

A tour through Bellagio

When grandma was here we took her to our favorite place on the strip, the Bellagio conservatory. So in case you are wondering what it looks like right now....here are some photos Ariel took.

Father's Day 2009

Today we got to celebrate Todd and his "fatherhood." He is a wonderful father and it was easy to take a day to honor and spoil him. Here's a photo of us after church. Todd's mom is visiting from Georgia, so it was fun to have her here for Father's day. Todd got breakfast in bed and his favorite dinner, chicken strips with honey mustard sauce, and of course chocolate pie. The sad thing was that he got called out to work on his special holiday...

The Pioneer Trek - June 2009

On Wednesday, June 17th at 1:30 in the morning, I dropped the girls off at the stake center to board a bus for Wyoming. I was very worried for the girls because I don’t think they had prepared themselves physically for the strenuous work ahead of them. I was afraid Ariel was getting sick with something and Meg was having a major anxiety attack about the 12 hour bus ride…she was sure she wouldn’t survive. They looked very cute the night they left with their “luggage” – one bucket and one backpack. I dropped them off for their "bucket and bonnet tour" and cried all the way home. Four days without one word from your children, is very hard for a mom.

The Mormon Trail

Ariel crossing the Sweetwater River. She said after the first two steps she took, her legs were numb. The girls felt a lot of sympathy for the pioneers that crossed this river six times in the winter with ice floating in it.


The "silent walk" up Martin's Cove. Several times as they trekked the youth were asked to remain silent out of respect and reverence.

Megan crossing the Sweetwater.

Ariel with her pioneer family

Ariel and Megan wearing mostly pioneer attire...the gator sweatshirt Meg has on is obviously not "period" clothing. The first day they trekked, it was around 50 degrees. They said the wind never stopped blowing. They trekked five miles the first day and ten miles the second day.

The girls were very tired, sunburned and bitten by the time they stumbled off the bus at midnight Saturday night. We were very glad to see them and hear of their experiences. Ariel had 44 mosquito bites and Megan had 11. Ariel was a bit traumatized from the bites...she asked, "Do mosquitos inject poison into you? Why can't they just take the blood and leave?" I thought it was a valid question. Ariel was walking on some painful "cankles" as her ankles had swollen up to twice their normal size. I asked Meg how come she didn't have more bites. She said, "I was prepared mom, I stayed covered up and sprayed constantly." Ariel said if she got some sort of disease from the mosquito bites, she was suing the state of Wyoming. I guess we will need to get us a really amazing attorney to take Wyoming on. In spite of their suffering, they had a great time, learned a lot, and gained a deep appreciation for the pioneers. One that they couldn't have had without experiencing, on a very small scale, a bit of their lifestyle.

High School Graduation

Tuesday, June 9th, was a big day in our lives. Ariel graduated from high school. We were glad that her grandparents could come from out of town to be with us. The graduation was at the Thomas and Mack. It was so neat when the music started and Ariel came walking in. She had the honor of being the first student to walk in because of being student body president. She looked beautiful. It was a proud moment. She gave an awesome speech. She didn't look nervous at all for speaking in front of thousands and thousands of people. Ariel said that her heart was beating so fast right before it was her turn, she thought she was literally going to die of a heart attack. She said she didn't pray that she wouldn't mess up on her speech but prayed that she would actually live through it. She was sure when she stood up to walk to the podium, she would faint. A few seconds before her turn...her heartbeat went back to normal and she felt fine. I can't believe Ariel has graduated. It doesn't seem like that long ago when I graduated myself, and now my daughter has finished high school already. Her life has flown by and I am not ready for her to go away to school. The graduation was really good, it was brief and there was no long boring "guest speaker" to sit through. We had a BBQ after and had almost 40 people at the house. It was a tight squeeze in our little house but a lot of fun to spend time with such good friends. Ariel has met a lot of great people over the past 13 years we've lived in Vegas and we are so thankful for their friendship and positive influence. It was a great day to celebrate a wonderful girl and all her achievements. There will be an empty space in our house when she leaves. She will be greatly missed. Congratulations Ariel!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Aaron's graduation from elementary school

Aaron and Belle enjoying their ice-cream after the big ceremony

Megan and Aaron

Aaron and Belle have been buddies since they were three -

she is a tom boy so they get along really good.

Aaron and his "super star" his favorite subject was PE, favorite book "Swindler" and he wants to be a professional drummer when he grows up.

Aaron and Zach

Aaron and Tim

All the kids came walking into the gym wearing sunglasses.


On June 3rd Aaron graduated from elementary school. All three of the kids attended the same elementary school and we have a lot of good memories at Bartlett school. Aaron is making the huge jump to middle school. We had a fun time watching him graduate and celebrating with some close family friends after.

Sometimes older people have to get braces...

Yes, it is true...I am now a "total nerd" as of June 3rd. My teeth are wearing braces now. Technology has improved a lot since the first time I wore braces 21 years ago. I was amazed that the tech put the bottom ones on in 20 minutes and the top on in 15 minutes. Putting the braces on was pretty much pain free except a few times when I was sure I was going to suffocate from the "lip spreader" contraption, then I remembered I was still breathing through my nose and was able to calm down. I had a few days of pain but it hasn't been near as bad as the first time around. The overwhelming feeling that I have had 24/7 to rip a very annoying appliance out of my mouth, is starting to subside a little. Five days later I still cannot bite my teeth together and eating is very complicated. The tech told me to floss at least once a day...I wonder do people really floss every day when they wear braces?? Flossing is a little time consuming and tedious. Maybe I will shoot for every other day...we will see.

Seminary Graduation...so many proud moments in a senior's life

May 31, 2009 Ariel graduated from seminary. It was a wonderful program and a wonderful night. Todd and I were very moved as the seminary choir sang the closing song, "God be with you till we meet again." During the song, I had images of Ariel flashing through my mind as a newborn baby and various pictures of her growing up through the years. They were wonderful images and brought tears to my eyes...I cannot believe how fast the years have flown by. We are very proud of her many accomplishments, especially that she made the commitment to attend seminary and know her life will be blessed because of her choice.

Third cast for Aaron

As of Thursday, Aaron is sporting this nifty blue leg cast. He wanted to get purple. As much as I love the color purple, I was just a little worried about that bright purple cast for my son. I talked him into getting the blue, which looks really sharp. He has some real bad swelling from torn ligaments in his left ankle. He will wear the cast for the next three weeks to allow the ligaments time to heal and settle down.

Senior Award Night for Ariel

Ariel's "stressed" face. She had to sit for 2 and a half hours for all the seniors to be given their awards. It was a night of torture for us too except for the couple seconds when they announced Ariel's name and we saw her get her awards.

Ariel receiving her awards. She is graduating with an Honor's diploma and with High Honors. That means she gets to graduate in a white gown instead of the green or blue and gets to wear gold cords around her neck and a special medallion. I was so excited and didn't know about her graduating with high honors..which means she's graduating with a weighted GPA of 3.8 or higher. We were very proud of her. She also received a partial scholarship to attend Southern Utah University in the fall. Good job Ariel!

Megan turns 15...

Megan had another birthday! She does that every year...weird. Sad for her she had to go to school all day and then a student council meeting after school. We tried to have fun after she got home and went to dinner and then to Aaron's talent show performance. Then we had cake and ice-cream and went shopping. Megan has come along way from her premature birth and her 4 1/2 week stay in the I.C.U. with her ventilator, heart monitor, lung tear, heart murmur, apnea, and head IV's. She has recovered quite nicely from her dramatic start to this life. Happy Birthday Meggie!!

Grand Canyon Hike May 2009

Todd and I and our long time friend, Dave Parry, left for our Grand Canyon hike on Thursday morning. We got to the camp site around 4:30 p.m. and the guys set up the tent while I got dinner ready. We ate then sat around the fire pit and talked. We had no camp fire, because no one brought any wood. When it got dark it started to rain. We got in the tent around 8:00 p.m. hoping to get a good night sleep before the big hike. As the rain started getting a little heavier, it brought back bad memories from the last camping trip we had. We asked Dave to bring his tent on account that we had discovered our tent was not water proof. The guys went to sleep and I continued to lay there as the hours crept by. I listened to my ipod hoping to drown out the noise of the rain (which I normally love, if I am not trying to fall asleep in a tent.) Somewhere around 2:00 a.m. I realized that Dave's tent was also not "water proof." Water was coming in through the walls and from the roof and dripping all over us. I spread out Todd's water proof coat over both areas of our bags that were getting the wettest. I kept reaching over and feeling around the coat to see how much water was collecting. It wasn't long before I had caught a pretty big puddle. The guys discovered the rain dripping on them around 3 or so and went out and got the tarp and draped it over the tent. This helped keep anymore rain from coming in. When my alarm went off at 5:40 I had to dismiss it since it was still raining. Our plan was to hike down to the Colorado river and back up the same day. I fell asleep the last two hours before we got up.

When we got up we decided we could not hike the original plan because of the weather and the late start. I was very disappointed because I was prepared for this and looked forward to it for quite awhile. Dave said we could do a shorter hike down to Indian Gardens and back up again, if the trail wasn't too muddy. When we went to the edge of the canyon before we started the hike, I saw the most spectacular sight I had ever seen. The whole canyon was full of fog. It was incredible! Within a few minutes of standing there you literally could not see down into the canyon anymore because of the fog. We started down the Bright Angel trail at 8:00 a.m. The trail was pretty muddy and slippery with lots of puddles of water everywhere. We saw a massive condor sitting on a rock ledge as we first started. Of course there were plenty of mule trains going up and down and we had to yield to them and were not allowed to pass them. So we were constantly hiking around fresh (as Dave politely put it...) mule "biscuits" the smell was burned into my nose for several hours after we got off the trail.

We ran into a friendly squirrel at one of the rest stops on the way down. It climbed right onto the front of Dave as he was eating his snack and then tried to get into my pack. As I was trying to zip it up, the friendly little rodent tried to climb right up the front of me. I wasn't too thrilled about that and yes, I was being a little dramatic in the picture of me and the squirrel. On the way down we were diverted off of the trail through some rocky terrain for a short jaunt because there was a hiker on the trail who had broken her ankle. They were bringing a helicopter in and so they closed part of the trail for a little bit. It was pretty cool watching the helicopter fly into the canyon though I felt very sorry for the girl with the broken ankle. I had a broken ankle once and they hurt...a lot. We descended about 3,000 feet by the time we got to Indian Gardens. It took us 2 hours and 20 minutes. We rested for about 30 minutes on a bench, ate, drank, and took off our socks and shoes.

It usually takes twice as long to hike up as it takes to hike down, so I was trying to "psych" myself up for a 5 hour climb back up. The climb up was pretty hard. I could feel my pulse in my head quite a bit. I felt thirsty the whole way up, even though I had been drinking the whole time. I felt a little nauseous and light headed at times too. Dave was kind enough to loan me one of his trekking poles, which I found was very helpful. The trail wasn't nearly as muddy as it was on the way down now and we made really good time back up. We got to the top in 2 hours 40 minutes, which we all thought was pretty remarkable seeing how long it took us to go down. I was a little bit ahead of the guys when we got to the top, I accidentally followed the mule train instead of turning off where the trail went. Yes I am embarrassed to admit, I got lost at the Grand Canyon. I was only lost for about 15 minutes before I found my way back to the truck where the guys were waiting for me. In all we hiked nine and a half miles, 3,000 ft down and 3,000 ft up. It took us 6 hours to complete. We hiked a little over half of the original hike we had planned to do. I was very happy that I was able to do it. I wish I could have hiked all the way down to the river, but after the hike was done I tried to imagine hiking for another 6 or 7 hours, but it was too hard to comprehend. I was really proud of all of us and the great job we did. Of course Todd was a machine as usual. He was carrying a little extra water for me and lots of miscellaneous supplies in his pack. The alcohol came in real handy when I wanted to wash my hands before eating. His pack was so heavy I could barely lift it let alone carry it for 6 hours.

The weather on the hike was perfect. It was about 50 degrees when we started and only got up to about 65 degrees that day. That is unusual for this time of year. We had cloud cover almost the whole time which helped me so much. I am very sensitive to heat and couldn't imagine doing the hike in hot temperatures with the sun beating down. It was a beautiful, wonderful day of hiking in that spectacular canyon and I highly recommend it to everyone. By the time we were done with our showers, it was raining again. We were supposed to camp Friday night too and come home Saturday morning. None of us wanted to face another night of rain in the "not so water proof" tent, so we decided to go home. We packed up the supplies and all that was left was the wet, muddy tent. Dave said he was just going to throw it away rather than bring it home. I was so surprised. He said he didn't want a tent that leaked. He just gathered it all up and threw it in the dumpster. It was very funny. He threw his shoes away too, they were very muddy. He said he wasn't throwing them away because they were muddy, it was because they had holes and were old.

It was a great trip. Within about two hours after the hike was over I could already feel pain starting in my calves and legs. I knew it was going to be bad, usually the pain doesn't come until the next day. I was right. Saturday morning I was in quite a bit of pain in my legs and calves. I have to admit I was glad to see Todd and Dave were limping around too (I know... I am a sick and twisted sister.) I am very thankful for the experience of hiking the Grand Canyon and I will definitely go back again someday. Maybe the next time I will hike down to the river... or maybe not.

Some of Ariel's photography...

Here are some of Ariel's photos that I said I would post. She has a creative eye for unique photos. She used her camera settings to accent different colors on some of them. We are very glad that she signed up for a photography class at SUU.

Young Women Medallion Night

Ariel earned her Young Woman Medallion and was honored with some other girls in our ward on Wednesday night. It was a lot of "gentle prodding" from mom, but she did it! We are very proud of her and know her sister will follow in her footsteps soon and earn her Young Women award too. In Ariel's honor, I took out my medallion and dusted it off to wear for the night.

Senior Night

Last week was senior night at church and they honored the seniors who are graduating. After dinner, the seniors had to get inside the "senior superstars" squares. We played a version of Hollywood squares. It was very fun and the contraption our YW president's brother-in-law came up with was amazing. The top seats were 15 feet off the ground! Ariel was in the second row and was pretty nervous sitting in her chair on the narrow wooden plank held up by scaffolding. She was also very put out at the boy who sat above her, who thought it was funny to shake his legs through the entire game, which as a result shook the contraption. We set up a display table about Ariel, that was fun. The three photos in the frame are pictures she took...I will post them on the blog on another post they are really cool. She has a real gift. Ariel made the awesome senior superstars sign too. It was a fun night and we are very proud of Ariel and all she has accomplished during her high school years. Great job Ariel!!

Disneyland Trip

In spite of a recession, the swine flu and being weekdays (during the school season), Disneyland was still a little too crowded for us. It wasn't as bad as when we went on Spring Break or during summer vacation, but there were still too many people. We went with Jennifer and her kids and Ariel's friend came along too. It was a lot of fun and the weather was perfect.

Aaron Michael Hendrix

Saturday, May 2, 2009 I woke up at 6:03 a.m. My alarm hadn't gone off, I had no reason to wake up at that exact moment. Except for the fact that one minute later at 6:04 a.m, eleven years earlier, Aaron Michael Hendrix came into this world. I thought waking up at that time was pretty significant. Aaron had a couple of friends sleep over the night before, he enjoyed that. He opened his presents, went bowling, went to dinner and had cake and ice-cream. What more could you hope for on your birthday?? Aaron makes us laugh. He is full of energy and loves life, and is a joy to have around. I can't believe this is the same little 4 pound 2 ounce boy who's head was the size of an orange when he was born!! He is growing up too fast!

PROM

Friday night was prom. Ariel looked beautiful. Her friend's mom made her dress for her. There were really no options at the mall of a "suitable" dress. It was fun going through the "prom experience" with her. It took me back many, many years to my own prom and the fun I had. I am very sentimental. The only thing that is similar now days to my prom days is that it is still called "prom" everything else has changed. Most kids don't actually go to the dance at all. Some don't even take the pictures at the school. They go in huge groups and do activities instead of going to the dance. First, they meet at someones house and all the parents show up and take hundreds of photos of them. There were 12 couples in Ariel's group and a huge party bus arrived and they all piled in. They went to a Japanese restaurant where the food is prepared in front of you. They were going to ride three roller coasters, which is one of Ariel's least favorite things to do. Prom day was an extremely windy day here in Vegas. Good news for Ariel, the roller coaster rides were closed down...bad news the wind made it a difficult hair night. My favorite pictures are the three of Ariel alone, texting, holding her hair out of her face, and showing me she was "done" with me taking pictures. Of course we all had to have a photo with the prom girl. Since they couldn't do their original plan, they went to the Bellagio conservatory, M&M world and game zone down on the strip instead. She had a lot of fun and woke me up at 1:30 a.m. to tell me all about it. She had to tell me again in the morning, since I had forgotten everything by then. I can't believe my little girl is about to graduate. I don't know how the time went by so fast, I wish I had more.

Zoey Turns 1!!!

On April 22, Zoey turned one year old. Here are a couple of my favorite pictures of her. The little thing she is reading on the floor is a miniature birthday card Aaron made for her. She also got a new collar (which was too big for her) and an alligator toy (which she destroyed within two days) and a rubber ball (which is still in tact.) We have had a lot of fun having her around the house for the past 9 months.