The Clarkes

Let's Catch Up!

2011-06-12T19:33:00.001-07:00

Since my last post, Cru has turned 1, 2, and 3 months old!
He is a HUGE kid! But I wouldnt have him any other way.
Shortly after he was born, about mid March, we moved into my sisters old house. She took her tribe and upgraded to a larger home as well. It has been so nice to be on our own again, but I really do miss my mom and dad.

Before we moved into this house, we had to do some painting. Thanks to Eric and my good friend Ben, I didn't have to do any painting. They knocked it out pretty quickly and we were able to install some new fans too.This is the bathroom before we painted it!

Now it is lime green on top and brown on the bottom.
It's pretty dang cute if you ask me!

I have had a lot of fun living down the street from Shelly, we are about 2 minutes driving, and I am always over there. We have traded off babysitting a lot and it is so nice to be able to run errands whatever without lugging Cru around.

At the end of April we took our first road trip to Arizona with Cru. We went down there for a late baby shower. We would have had it before be the doctor put the stop to that. He didn't want me traveling so huge. We borrowed Shelly's van and DANG that was nice. We weren't cramped in there, I was able to ride in the back with Cru if I needed to. Right before we left, we had the van and EVERYTHING packed, so I bathed Cru, and fed him then off we went and he slept just about the whole way! We made to to Wickenburg before we stopped to feed him. It was nice.
The shower was on Saturday and on Sunday was Eric's brothers confirmation. Two birds with one stone! Cru was a good boy the whole time, I really lucked out with how mellow he is.

May has been crazy! I signed up as a Heritage Makers Publishing Consultant, and I have been having a BLAST with it! I've made canvases for Cru's room, our living room, I've made Cru a little Gospel ABC book, and now I am working on finally putting our wedding pictures into a book!! I will touch on that a little later.
My mom went in for a 5way by pass, she had the whole family worrying over her. It's sad to think of her in the hospital. Shelly and I were able to go out to the hospital quite a bit and because there was a 2 person rule, we switched off watching Cru in the lobby.
The surgery went well and she had a speedy recovery! It's hard to keep her resting. She has always been a busy body and she doesnt want to stop.
We were also able to get Cru's crib! I started painting his tree on his wall and now I need to find my leaf stencil and finish it! I am excited to get it done. My mom is making some cute curtains for his room with little owls on them, and if we have enough fabric we will make a bumper pad out of the same fabric.
It has been fun planning out his room. I have covered some of his shelves with Contact paper that has blue and brown dots on it. I need to finish those too.

June-
On June 5th we blessed Cru!
I have waited patiently for our turn... April was my nieces baby blessing, and May we were in Arizona, so June was out turn. Two other babies were blessed the same day, but Cru towered over them in size for sure!! After his blessing he crapped himself, ruining his outfit and mine! I had poo all down my skirt and shirt! :( I even had on a new outfit!
I kept the top part on and wrapped him in a blanket for the remainder of church.
After we went to my parents for lunch, we had pot roast, potatoes, carrots, onions and some salad. It was soooo good. Eric's family was able to come for the blessing and I'm glad they were able to see Cru blessed.
My dad gave Cru his blessing and it was such a good one, no two blessings are the same and that makes it so much more special. I know Cru will be such an example to his friends and family. He is already an amazing kid, I just love him!

The next night we went to bed, and I woke up at 3am to feed Cru, we were back in bed by 4. I dozed off then woke up with a really bad stomach ache. I tossed and turned a little and finally got up and ate some crackers. Maybe I was hungry? After a bit I had trouble breathing and started to get pains in my back and under my sternum. After praying on what to do, I finally woke up Eric and told him I couldnt breathe! I told him it could be my gallbladder, and told him to call Shelly. He told her what was going on, and she was right over to get Cru, and we left for the hospital. We now live 2-3 minutes from the hospital too, which is fabulous! We went into the ER and got checked in, and back to a bed. Those pains were by far the worst things I have ever had! I'd rather be in labor every day. Once we saw the doctor, he gave me some pain meds, I remember him saying it was stronger than morphine. I believe him, once they put that in there, WEW! I was feeling GOOD! At one point they did an ultrasound on me, and I guess I was telling jokes to the lady, poor thing. They said I was passing stones. They gave me the number for a surgeon and said I can have it removed. Bleh... I have had two more attacks but they gave me pills for them until I have the surgery done. It is very hard to schedule your own surgery ya know! I keep pushing it off, but after last nights attack, I will be calling tomorrow.

Yesterday, we went swimming at my parents house. Some of my family was there, and it was nice. Cru got to put his feet in for a little bit, but I decided it was way too cold for him. Then seconds after wrapping him in his towel, he was asleep. Getting his feet wet was enough to wear him out I guess.

Later that night I went to Shelly's house(told you I am there a lot) and played some games with her, two cousins and Shelly's friend Tina. We played Quelf, and goodness! That game is hilarious! Lot's of fun!

So there is our little recap, we have been busy but it's mostly play! That is never a bad thing!

Absolutely Amazing

2011-03-03T01:09:00.000-08:00

Pregnancy has been the most amazing journey i have ever been on. also it gave me the most rewarding outcome anyone could ask for.

This post is just my point of view. perhaps i could get Eric to write his own.

At 35 weeks we found out Cru was a big boy. from that point on i wished for an early delivery. I will say each appointment was just sad. Being dilated to the same thing each time was so hard. I knew deep down we would hit the due date, and we did. In fact we even went 3 days over!
Hard to swallow, but it was ok in the end.
At my last appointment, Feb 28th, I went in and I was still dilated to only a 1. Dr. Juarez called the hospital and scheduled my induction for 7:30pm Tuesday.
On Tuesday I woke up and my sister Shelly was here with her kids and was taking my brother John's boy to play. It was also FREE pancake day at IHOP so the 5 of us ventured over there. After pancakes my sister was rad enough to drop me off at the DMV to register my car. Its funny to sit back and see what goes through your mind for last minute items.
With Eric going to school Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and having finals that week too, the plan was for my mom to take me to the hospital, have Eric take my car to school then head to the hospital afterward. Well, the hospital called and postponed my appointment to 10pm. Uggg it's only a couple more hours right?
It worked out, Eric was able to finish his test, come home and relax for a minute and then we headed for our destination!
We checked in, everything was good, I was hooked up to an IV, I was given cervidal and two monitors, one for the baby's heart and one for contractions. Hearing your little mans heart beat all night was amazing to me. If I shifted and couldn't hear it I would ask Eric if he could still see the numbers.
Most of the time he could. Our first nurse, Charity, who is very brutal when checking you... forgot to tell me that laying on my side was an option, and that I could have juice and jello still. So I laid there from about 11pm to 8am on my back... boy did that suck! After shift change we met Krystal, our day nurse. That lady was and is awesome! So let me roll around, she fed me juice and jellos... and she was hilarious.
At noon I was able to take the Cervidal out and walk around for an hour. I showered, well I sat in the warm water and tried to relax. My doctor also let them send lunch into me. Thank goodness, I was starving. After my hour of freedom, it was back into bed for me. They loaded me up with pitocin to start my contractions. It worked and it worked well, then came the epidural. That stuff is good! At one point one of the nurses checked me and Cru was very low. About two hours later I was checked again and Cru was very high. Not good. :( I was having contractions that could have shot a smaller weighing baby across the room.
A little later Dr. Juarez came in and broke my water hoping to help the little guy come back down and out!
No such luck, as time passed by I thought and thought "Man I don't want a c section" I don't have anything against them, I just have a fear of being cut open. I knew it was coming though.
When we first found out we were expecting little Cru, Eric and I talked about what we were comfortable with and what we would do if certain things happened. We decided that baby came absolutely first. AS long as he was ok and healthy we didn't care how he came out. I prayed as I laid in that bed and a calming feeling came over me and I knew it was what was needed and it was right to do. As the nurses and Dr came in, you could see the word "Cesarean" on their concerned faces. Once Juarez said We may have to do c-section, I quickly responded "lets do it!" No point in fighting if the doctor thinks it is best, then so do I.
The look on the nurses faces was priceless, they were surprised I didn't put up a fight at all.

Within minutes, Eric was dressed, I had a sweet hair net on, and our nurse has some rad "UGG" medical booties on. I wish we had a picture of those.(Sorry for my sexiness!)

I was given a ton more drugs to help with numbing me and we were off to Operation room #1.
On the way there, I started shaking uncontrollably from the epidural, it was like I was freezing cold. Once in the Op. room I was transferred from my bed to the table and given a warm blanket on my arms. It helped only a little though. Once the blue curtain was up, that baby was out in less than 5 minutes. Of course I felt a LOT of pushing on my stomach and that was about it. Once he was out we found out why Cru had gone back up. Little man decided to play bungee jump with the umbilical cord around his neck twice.
The moment you hear that first cry, there really aren't words for it. but it is just amazing. They carried Cru over to the warming table where he was cleaned off and where Eric was able to film and cut the cord. All I could to was try to keep my eyes open and sneak a peak of him.
Cru made it known that he had arrived by peeing on the nurses!
It was one of the most amazing moments, and it was all happening so quickly. Eric and Cru left with the nurses to the nursery to clean him up and make sure everything was good. I heard a phone ring and all I heard the nurse say was 9lbs 6ounces... 21 inches. HOLY COW! He's a toddler!
After they stitched me up I was wheeled back to our room where I finally got to meet the little guy who was beating me up for so long. He was born at 7:42pm March 2nd, 2011. I believe we met at about 8:45-9:00. It was fun to see Eric interact with him and just see the change in him.
We stayed in the hospital until Friday when they released us and home we went. It felt good to be home, to shower, and to relax without beeping noises.

Im am so blessed to have this little man in my life, I have waited for him for a long long while and I finally got my boy!

I stare at him all day and just day dream of what he will be and what his personality will be like.

He sure is a cute little guy!(First time with his eyes open)

"I'll decide!"

2011-02-27T11:18:00.000-08:00

The little saying, "I'll decide" has been one I grew up with. I am not 100% where it came from but I remember my mom saying it to my dad, and him saying it to her. Along with everyone in the family mimicking it. Well, Cru has picked up on this saying and it abusing it.
We tell him all the time to come out, he'll kick or squirm and you can just hear this voice with a little attitude look saying "I'll decide!"

So here we are, February 27, 2011, D-Day.
Nothing.... is happening....
Yay for me!

The past two weeks have felt like months! Painful long months.
I've been dialated to a 1 for a month, and still at last Wednesdays appointment, I got a "Maybe a 2" after talking to my sister, I guess that is out Doctors way of being nice and saying "You arent doing anything". Sad face. I was also told that if I make it to Mondays appointment we will schedule a room at the hospital and get this kid out! I still have 20 hours before my appointment... COME ON CRU!
Yesterday I had a really good day. By good, I mean I was able to run errands without as much pain. It's like the calm before the storm I'm guessing.

The other night Eric and I were laying in bed, and Cru decided to give us a show. I've only seen this on tv, but he had his feet going and you could see the outline to them. He was pushing hard!! Of course it was very painful to me but I was trying not to laugh. The next morning I felt the damage from his kicking. I could hardly walk.

We have his bed all ready, every gadget and gismo we could think of, we FINALLY picked a FULL name for this boy, my mom finished his warm blanket, and now we just wait. After we have all of this, which we thought he was waiting for, we still sit here waiting for him to "decide" when it is his time.

On to other news... after a year and a half... almost two years, of living in a one bedroom "apartment" with my parents for room-mates, Eric and I are moving out!
The goal was to buy once we got out, but the fact that we can't find a house to our liking, and also we aren't 100% on staying in Las Vegas, it is almost too hard to buy and be stuck.
With some luck, we found a house to rent!
In about two weeks we will be painting and moving into this new place. We are excited to have more than one room, not pay for storage, and not have to say, "Oh I have such item... but it is in storage."
Cru will get his own room too!
We have enjoyed the luxuries of living with my parents (see Eric's waistline), but it is way past time to head back out on our own.

Eric is rounding up the second semester at school and preparing for yet another.
For now his bike is "semi-finished" We were able to get new tires for it and all that is left is just cosmetic things. He has enjoyed it a lot, and I will say it has been fun watching him enjoy riding.

As for me, I've been nesting.... spinning my wheels and trying to find things to do without really going out or hurting myself. I've been uneasy about going out without Eric, I don't want something to happen and not have him there. Also part of the time I am worse than a cripple! Getting out of the car, stepping up things... sometimes I just want to get a scooter and join the old people.

All in all things are good, some things are happening and others we are waiting for them to happen.
I'm sure (and hoping) this will be the last post until after Cru has made his debut!

Let it Shower!

2011-02-04T11:28:00.000-08:00

On January 29th, the day after my birthday ;) my Sister Shelly threw me a pretty rad shower.
As she said "It was easy to put it together, it was the pulling it together that was tricky"
Thank you to my other sisters, Megan for helping with cupcakes, and my rad cousin Sherri for helping out a lot!

I had picked out Brown, Blue, Green, and Orange for the colors, and Owls to go with!

The invitations were provided by my sister Patti as her gift and I LOVE them!

The idea was to open gifts as they came so the guests weren't sitting and watching gift after gift.... We tried that but none of us had an idea as to how spoiled Cru is! So I opened gifts right from the start and it was so bad. Guests played guess how many diapers are in the box, a baby word scramble game and ate while I continued with the gifts.
It wasn't so bad, After I was able to say hi to most but not all that came. It is fun to see how many people you have in your life that love and support you. Or they just love your baby... haha who knows.
Thankfully we got all the essentials we needed and then some. There were only one or two items I had to pick up, like extra onsies, and night gowns for easy midnight changes.

Shelly was a really good sport about my "ideas" for the shower. I showered her a couple pictures of owl cupcakes and Her and Megan made it happen.

They were chocolate and strawberry swirl with cream cheese frosting! mmmm

We had Chicken Salad Sandwiches, a must for a shower and my favorite too, fruit and blue fruit dip, veggies, ham and pickle pinwheels, grape salad, and Im sure some other stuff.
For the "treat" table we had a mini buffet of my cravings!

Cotton Candy, Soft pretzels with cheese and jalapenos, and oreos.
That was heaven to this little boy!

It was a fun shower and I will even show you some pictures, but not many. And yes, the DREADED belly pictures are here too. Bleh!

Looking through all of the goods again.
Some cute little shoes!

Thank you to Char for being my scribe and to Suzy for being my trash lady/gift hander-over

*I really don't understand the fascination of belly pics... maybe one day I will. Maybe not.

Let the count down begin!

2011-02-04T11:07:00.000-08:00

Ladies and Gents, we are now in the Month of the due date!
I really can't believe how fast this has gone by. I am having more and more dreams of actually having Cru out, and when I wake up, he's still tucked away in my belly.

January was a busy month.
I had an appointment and was "grounded" to Las Vegas as you have read.
I missed my nieces shower in St. George, and I had to cancel the Arizona shower too.
but I did get a lot done here. The baby shelf arrived and is installed and filled with all of Cru's belongings. It did sit semi empty until the shower here.

Eric and I went to our last ultrasound on Jan. 25th. It was mainly to check on my placenta, which was sitting very low last time and is now sitting at the top where it should be, but we like to see our little guy too!
The ultrasound lady is the sweetest thing ever. I don't know how to describe it, but she is sweet and gets hilarious too.
After she took all of her measurements, she let us see Cru, we saw him making kissy faces and sticking his tongue out, saw his hands going and of course I was being kicked for all the poking and prodding ;)
Can't blame him!

Turn your head to the right and you have two dark spots for eyes, the nose and mouth

I will warn you, this may be offensive to some so turn back now...

you have been warned.

Next we explored to the Netherlands and BING!!! Two giant orbs just hanging out.
We got an "Oh my" from the tech and Eric asked "are those his balls?" Yep, baby Cru has some big balls apparently. It was then confirmed with a stamp of guarantee that he is in fact a boy... with balls. :)

We weren't able to get a picture of them, I think I was a little shy to ask for it but we got a cute face one. From what we saw he has squishy little cheeks! Aunt Myrinda will need a restraining order so she doesn't squish them off!
The tech then said she had bad news, ok not good. She said he is measuring a "teensy bit big"
WHEW! I can handle that, we already knew he was a week ahead, we then asked how big, and she said by two weeks.
NOTE* I have not been eating fertilizer!
She then offered the weight and she said she could sugar coat it if we'd like, but we took it without sugar, est. 6lb 9oz. I was only 35 weeks at the time and he was measuring 37 weeks... so by 38 weeks he can come out yes??? We will see.
On the first day of the 36th week I received an email from Babycenter.com. I get weekly updates about the growth of the baby and what not and it said "by now your baby is ALMOST 6lbs..." I laughed and said wow you're about a pound late!
I have a feeling I will have to hit my mom up for some "Cooking for an Army" lessons so I can feed these two!

Eric and I are READY to have this kid join us, I think the bed is ready too, it's working extra hard on my side for sure!

New year already?

2011-01-10T09:29:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how the holidays just zipped by. I have to stop and think ok... did we have Christmas already? and what did I do for Thanksgiving?
Well the New Year means "No Traveling" for this lady.
BIG SUCK!
Last Monday (the 3rd) I had a Doctors appointment(I know it's all I do anymore, right?)
During that appt. There was blood in my urine, and I was told my cervix is thinning and that can be the cause of bleeding. Now Im not like hemorrhaging or anything so calm down. Its like as much as a good prick to the finger... ok a little more.
Needless to say while going over questions and my progress, he said something along the lines of No more traveling!
I get a lot of "feedback" from family and others saying "Pshh I have had x amount of kids and I traveled the day before" Of course I find out shortly it wasn't their first baby and after your first you know what to somewhat expect.
I like to think I won't be and I am not a crazy first time pregnant lady, but here is my reasoning for listening to my doctor...
First, I just paid this man some good money to gander at my nethers every other week and to get this kid out when the time has come.
Second, I don't want to be in a hospital in AZ, CA, or UT! I like the hospital we have here and I didn't just go stand in an hour long line to register for it.
and Third, if I was to travel one of the trips wouldn't have included Eric, so if I go into labor, I text him and say "hey baby is coming hope you can drive faster than he can slide"?
I Think not!
So forgive me for staying home and having to cancel parties and trips. But this baby has a mind of his own and until he is here, I will be in Las Vegas.
Besides, who wants my water to break in their car?

On a side note, but one that isnt too far off, Cru is still measuring a week ahead.
I can feel him getting crammed in there. One because he is all up in my business, and my business being my ribs. Two, when he moves I don't feel it in one spot anymore. He will kick or do an elbow drop on something and I will feel that movement in at least 2-3 different spots. He's filling up the space!

My nesting stage has continued... I'm either getting crazy hand-making 55 thank you notes, putting the stroller and car seat together or trying to re-organize something else.
Eric and I ordered a shelf for baby stuff and to free up room for the crib. Until that shelf gets here, I will be going crazy!

A little about the Mr.
Eric has been busting his butt with work, school and play. Mostly the first two.
He has started the 2nd semester at ITT Tech. and now goes Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday. So glad to have those Fridays back. I know next semester it will change, but Im enjoying this for now.
Work is work, I know they are moving into a new big warehouse making it be the ONLY warehouse in the valley. From what I hear this will lighten the load for the drivers and make things easier for all. I hope so.
Eric's motorcycle is ever changing. Just the other night he wrapped his exhaust pipes and re-painted a few things, I will say it looks a lot nicer with the changes. He has a few more ideas and things he wants to change and he is being awesome in the waiting department. They will happen just not all at once.

Things are good for the 3 of us. One of us has a free ride so of course he is doing great!
When he is older I will demand piggy back rides til his hips hurt! ;)

33 weeks PEOPLE!!!

2011-01-02T15:58:00.000-08:00

33 weeks, that means 56 days! Roughly... It also means that everything is slowly becoming uncomfortable. It hurts to sit certain ways, standing sucks, and even laying down won't do it. Sitting in church is a big time chore. The benches are not for pregnant butts!
This "Nesting" phase has kicked in and it is real. I always thought... yeah Im going to have the urge to clean and organize while Im huge. It's almost... ALMOST but not really addicting. I've asked Eric to build a shelf for me, I even drew it out and designed it for him. Now if only I could get his butt in this nesting mode too.
I have been really good at staying on top of our laundry and organizing my closet. Im not sure what my closet has to do with the baby, but its a lot more organized than it has been.

A little about Cru...
He's getting big and mean! I swear Eric snuck him a knife cause sometimes his little ninja moves can make me cry. His kicks are seriously like those from a 2 year old, some just jolt me and others hurt.
Oddly enough Im still in love with this mystery man I'm growing. I think Eric is too, past few days he can't keep his hands off my belly.
Also, recently I've been experiencing some pain. My stomach will just ache as if I had eaten so much food and can't relieve myself. It happened twice last night and the second one just about knocked me down.
Im wondering if these are the "fake" contractions (braxton hicks)
or if he is doing a stunt that involves balloons, knives, and MMA moves.

He moves a lot and that is a good sign. I have another doctor appointment tomorrow, then one on the 17th and every week after that. CRAZY!

This pregnancy has flown by, which is very bittersweet for me. I love feeling the kicks and I love having a craving for something, even just an apple and then being so happy after I ate it. (Total fat kid line right there...)
But at the same time I'm glad it is not dragging on and on to the point where I am sick of it all.
I do understand that can and may very well change.

That is about it for now! I will post more when I've got more!

A little about Cru...

2010-12-01T16:35:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick update on our little guy.

At our last appointment baby was doing great. They can't tell if he is upside down yet. This makes me wonder, how come if we stand on our heads we get dizzy? Does this mean all babies are dizzy in the last days in the cave? I always wonder about that. It is really weird to hear about all the things he is doing, like "breathing" in water... are they fishes too?
Along with feeling Cru kick and move around, we can now watch him move and kick. He has obviously advanced to the next skill level of what Eric says is MMA fighting.
It feels like he is trying to kick his way out!! Those round houses to the stomach will stop me dead sentence!
We are starting to prep our room and somewhat plan out where the crib goes.
As of yet he still doesn't have a middle name. We still have 3 months to go so Im not too worried, but I need a middle name to yell when he starts acting like his daddy! ;)

We are VERY excited to meet him, I can't wait to see whos ears or eyes he gets. I know he will have good hair, because both sides have pretty dang good heads of hair.

There are other pregnant ladies in my world and all but one are having a boy! We could start a hockey team or something!

We now go to the doctor every other week as I am now in my Third and Final trimester! It has gone so quickly.

That's all for now!

Upper cuts and rib jabs from Cru!

October Recap!

2010-11-24T08:55:00.000-08:00

This is late and so was my period as we all know!

October started the busy season. It seems it has been none stop since Octobers Bunco.

So for a quick recap...

This year I got to have 2 Costumes!
One for Bunco and Halloween, and the other for the Zombie Walk.

Since I am pregnant, I figured I should put this belly to great use. What better way than making it into an authentic "beer belly"? I became "Rusty" for the night.
Please note that the bottle I am holding IS ROOT BEER! AND the belly and chest hair is fake too!

My sister Shelly was more than willing to go as my "Wanda" who wore curlers in her hair, had some trashy tattoos, and stuck a fake cigarette in her curler. It was priceless!

Now for the Zombie walk, again I wanted to make use of the belly. You always see people with items like knives or axes hanging from their bodies, so I went a different route.

**********CAUTION*******************
Some people were... and I quote "BEYOND offended" by this.
and know I love babies, and I love my baby, and I am against abortions, and this is not an abortion. It is simply a Zombie baby that wanted to join the party. So if you have an issue with this, keep your remarks, comments and anything else that manages to come to mind to yourself, cause I liked it and I don't care!

Carry on...

I started with an old baby doll from a thrift store. Dont worry I picked the most beat up one. It had no stuffing left anyhow, so no child would miss it. I cut the arms off and had Eric cut the head in half. I then used liquid latex to attach the baby to my baby... :) I then used toilet paper and more latex to make the nasties on the sides and edges, followed by costume make-up and to top it off, fake blood.

TA-DA!!!!

I also did Eric's make-up and attached his eye-hole, that turned out pretty cool. We also picked up his sweet outfit from the thrift store including the Mallard tie! He make some really cool bite/cut marks on his hand using the latex and tp.
My niece Crystal joined us and we did her make up in a hurry but it was good! In the parking lot before we journeyed to the event, as Eric was applying more blood he felt the need to high five Crystals face, hence the sweet hand print! Don't worry it wasn't hard, it was more of a shock with the blood. Oh and she had this nasty looking scar on her knee that even crinkled as she walked... BLEH!

We met up with our friends Suzy and Don, and Krystal(their friend) and we started at the Luxor and headed towards Treasure Island, now called T.I.
Of course I can't walk that far without being in a wheelchair! So we made it to City Center, where there was TONS of ANTI ZOMBIE security! They did NOT want us in there at all!
I don't blame them. Because things like this.....were all over... Blood on bus stops, windows, anything within Zombies reach. No taxi went un-groaned at, Im sure each bus that made a stop had at least one or three zombies hop on.

After we turned back, we weren't done. We headed to Fremont Street for some great fun! But first we ate. Zombies love Gyros and subs! mmmmm
We spent about 3-4 hours on Fremont just messing with people. Just a few among the many crazies!
This is me and baby Zombie on Fremont! wooooo!
I wish we could get EVERYONES pictures from that night, but unfortunately I didn't have my tourist address book out. :(
It was a blast!!!

Halloween night, the tradition of homemade donuts at mom's house has continued. Rusty made a great visit. (Note: latex makes the mustache stick 1000 times better than the crap they give you)
Our friends Ben and Nicole came over to see us/Rusty, they also brought Nicole's cousin Heather too. I didn't get any pics from that night, but perhaps I can ask Nicole for some.

October was amazing, there was tons to do in between everything and Many blocks to be made for November Bunco.

So there you have it! Here is a little treasure from Rusty to you!

Chaos on the homefront!

2010-10-21T10:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I know I have only posted one of the 5 recipes. You may be thinking, are they not eating? False. We've had many distractions and occasions to dine out. So back on track!
The second meal I made was Glazed Teryaki Meatballs and noodles.
The first recipe called for me microwaving hamburger.... ehhh I wasnt too thrilled. This recipe also said the same thing. After realizing, you can't really burn hamburger, and there is no grease splatters, and less dishes. Wooo!
Eric and I love Stir fry, that's basically what this was, with noodles(spaghetti), and homemade meat balls that were dang tasty. I suggest a bigger package of stir fry, and I wanted more noodles. For once there was enough meat to go around!
Eric rated this 8.5 out of 10. He said he would never give a dish a 10. Im set to prove him wrong!
Tonight is Pork Fried Rice. I believe it has a longer name.

Dinner!!!

2010-10-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

So, I've had these rad Recipe cards for quite sometime now and havent touched them. They are from Pampered Chef(of course) and it is a 2 week, weekday meal plan. Each meal is about $2 per serving so you can't beat that.
I have decided this week and next I will be making all of these recipes.
That package comes with 10 recipes, two grocery lists, and a well stocked pantry item list, and some storage tips.
Each of the meals has a shared ingredient with another meal in that same week, so you're not running back to the store for more.
I decided I will blog about this, because the baby is doing nothing but growing.
So on tonight's menu, Cheeseburger Deep-Dish pizza!

Freakin tasty!

Peek -a- Boo!!

2010-09-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the day we've all been waiting for!! Ok, not all but a lot of people!!
We had our second Ultrasound and found out the sex of our baby!
Although it has not been revealed yet, I will still show some pictures and tell you all about it.

The night before I had trouble sleeping. I was dead tired but too excited to sleep.
I woke up to go potty and I just prayed it would be past 2 by now! It was 4:30.
I laid back down, trying to sleep but I just laid there with tired eyes closed tightly.

My alarm was set for 5:30 to allow time for showering and getting ready without rushing.
At I must have dozed off for a minute or two, because at 5:25 I heard the shower turn on... DANG IT! My brother John who stays here during the week beat me to it. Oh well. I got up and made Eric's lunch and ate breakfast and chugged my 24oz of water by 6am.

I showered and got ready and we were out the door.
Eric took his work van because there was no point in driving all the way home again, and he started work a little earlier too.
We go to the doctors and waited for about 5 minutes, then into the special room we went!
It was so much fun to have Eric there.
The Ultrasound tech is my favorite! She is the sweetest and funniest lady.
The lights go out and the green cold goo goes on my tummy and right away we see a tiny skull! Perfectly faced at the "camera".
It was a shock to see it, but it was fun. We made jokes about it being dressed for halloween, and of course Eric thought it was the coolest!
After all the "boring" measuring of my other parts were done, we moved to view the baby.
It's little arms were up across it's face, then they would move. It's little feet kicked and kicked! We saw the heart and Eric got to hear it for the first time. Eric was full of questions and the sweet lady answered them all.
Then we got to see who our baby is, and wow this baby was not shy!
She told me to hold still so we could see the baby move it's mouth, so I did.... nothing.
Maybe it thought, "Oh Nap time!" Then Eric decided to get me to laugh, ya know "Shake the baby" which he tells me to stop doing all of the time.
Sure enough, that little thing was trying to hang onto something!! We saw the arms go wild, and the mouth move, probably cussing my name.
It was so much fun, I could have stayed there watching all day.
Everything checked out just fine fluids, size of the baby, etc..

The Tech gave us an estimated due date from the size of the kid, which is again Feb. 27th.
The doctors gave me one of March 2nd, so somewhere in between we can expect this sweet little thing to make an appearance.

One thing for sure, this child is NOT camera shy!

I am not sure why my camera turned these red...

This one the baby looks like an alien for sure!

Boys and their toys

2010-09-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

Back in 2007, Eric and I purchased a 1964 Cadillac Sedan DeVille.
It is the car we drove off in on our wedding night, I took it out for dinner with the ladies, and we've gone on a few rides here and there.
Well for the past few months the poor thing just didnt get attention.
After much debate and going back and forth we are selling it. It's bittersweet, we love it, but Eric doesnt have the drive for it as much, and with Baby Clarke making it's way into our lives, who knows what will happen.

There has been talk about a motorcycle for quite some time. "One day" has been repeated over and over. Well ladies and Gents... That "One Day" was Friday the 24th of September. The day where a soon to be father became an extremely giddy little boy.
Eric found a sweet deal on Craigslist a few weeks back, I believe the price was about $3000.00 and there was an issue with title.
Thursday, he spotted the same bike, title issue resolved, and $2000 less!
Money was shuffled and Eric got his bike!
He worked on it, Saturday, putting parts back on(it came with all the old parts and some new in a box) wiring it and getting it ready. There is still a bit to do and perfect it, and we need to get that Cadi out before its ready.
Today he is out working on it again. It's his new addiction and all he can talk about is what he wants to put on it, or how to fix it. I'm glad to see him enjoying something again.

Although last night at dinner he started to look up handle grips and I had to ask him to give me the attention for just that night. After all it was for our Anniversary!

I can't wait to see it complete and YES I am terrified to have him out on the streets with the moron drivers of Las Vegas. People just don't look out for motorcycles! So PAY ATTENTION!

Baby stuff!

2010-09-26T13:45:00.001-07:00

September has been a busy month... not just for me, but for hospitals! So far I know of 5 babies that were born in September. Its very exciting!

As for the Clarke baby, we've got time!
The morning sickness is gone. There are still some smells, such as other anal gasses...., and other things that can trigger my gagging. I recently got over a cold, I didnt think it was that bad, but once Eric got it, hahah yes he got a sickness from me for once, he was just yucky.
I guess it goes to show that taking vitamins really does help.
Now this gets gross, and Im sorry but mucus is one of those things to trigger vomit monsters.
I have never had the ability to suck my snot back... bleh and spit it out..... (deep breath) and now being sensitive to this stuff, its worse.

Glad it is over with!

We go in Tuesday to find out if we will have a Cru or a Molly! I am very excited, I've been counting down the days since my last appt. We scheduled the appt early so Eric won't have to miss work.
Oh and a side note, No one... I repeat, NO ONE will be finding out the sex until Grandma Clarke gets her package from us. I have prepared a little announcement for her and the other grandmas and I won't be wasting a cute present. Our baby will be the first grand child for her and I feel she has a right to know first. So just be patient with us.

I still havent felt any kicks, I thought I did last sunday. It was something I have never felt, but who knows. Until I feel it again I won't know. I've heard between 16-20 weeks is when you should begin feeling the baby. That will be a neat experience for sure.

For now that is all. Baby is safe, Mom is doing great, and dad.... well he's goofy and that's fine because we love him that way. :)

We received our first baby gift. A Sailor Jerry diaper bag!
Thank you Ben and Nicole!

Baby loves oreos!

3 years ago.... last Wednesday

2010-09-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

I became the newest Mrs. Clarke!
It seems much longer, but then it doesn't. Either way I still enjoy being Mrs. Clarke.

Recently Eric started school again, and dang am I proud that he finally made that choice. Sitting on a big GI Bill (Military school fund for FREE) and doing nothing with it made me sad.
Well thank you to Mr. Bush, before he left he did a once over on this bill and made it so if Eric was to re-enlist I could use that money. Well that didnt happen, but Bush also made it so that while attending school, Veterans, receive housing allowance. WOOO!!!
So Eric goes to school Monday Thursday and Friday after work for about 4 hours. He has classes he likes and loathes. Don't we all?
So with Wednesday being our "big day" and with him working and schooling, I didnt want to be out late and have to rush. So we went to Taco Bell.
TACO BELL?!? hee hee. Let me "esplain"
Our wedding was a blast! There were loads of people there and I wouldnt change that ever! I never made it off the dance floor from our "not supposed to happen receiving line"
Therfore I didnt make it to the food. But some of the food made it to me, thank you Shelly.
I had a mini hamburger, some fries and a drink. But that didn't fill the stomach of a bride.
After Eric and I took off, we made a circle around las vegas to ride the strip. It was fun and of course people would shout at us. FYI Cadillacs arent made for traffic, so before the car overheated, we turned off and figured that was good enough. Besides we had more important things to attend to... :) like finding food. We passed a few places and spotted a Taco Bell, so in our wedding get ups and "sh"fancy car, we did a drive-thru. Took it back to our hotel and while we ate one handed, we used our other hands to fish millions of bobby pins out of my hair. That is all you need to know.

My dinner, the #4
Eric's dinner... the giant box of food.

Taco Bell on Sept 22nd holds a special place in our heart!
We went out to dinner on Saturday night and with much debate we chose Cheesecake Factory.
I am glad we did! I had the Tomato, Basil, and Mozzarella pizza, and Eric had the black pepper shrimp something or other. It had plantains beans rice and shrimp. Both meals were very good. I made sure to leave room for some cheesecake and grabbed a slice of the Turtle Cheesecake. MMMMM
Afterwords we met up with my brother, Kevin, and our good friend Ryan down at the Car show in Henderson. After walking about a mile we found them and hung out for about 2 hours. At about 10:30 the cops drove by and said "go home" literally. So we hiked another mile to the car and went home we did. I was dang tired.
I am so grateful for Eric and I really enjoy our time together. He does a lot for me and this little one growing in me. I still love him as much as I did that special night 3 years ago, but more.

Doesn't that just look good? Baby wants cake!

Shelstones!

2010-09-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

Meet the Shelstones! What the heck I know....
As you know each year on Labor Day weekend we have our fabulous Gifford Reunion!
This years theme, Cartoon Characters. Our family decided we would be the Flinstones, but since our Grandfathers name is Sheldon, we made it the Shelstones. Growing up he had a nickname of Shed so we werent from Bedrock, we were from Shedrock! Clever!

This year we planned ahead! It was so nice to have our own huge tent! A few months back we recieved a Costco catalog in the mail with a sweet deal on a Coleman tent. Of course we jumped on it and scored it for about $60 less than its selling for.
We also made sure that Eric put in for that Friday off. Every year we work the Friday and get on the road late at night.
So this time we drove up Thursday early evening, made it there by 10 with an hour stop in the St George Walmart. ... special special people....
We were only the second people up there so we scouted out a sweet spot!
Oh and dont get too excited because even though, "full battery" and "camera" were on my list and crossed off, I didnt take a single picture. Whoops.
Thursday afternoon, I packed everything but Erics clothes. I had the car just about loaded and ready to go. Eric got off a little early and we were on the I-15 by 5:00pm without traffic!
Friday morning Eric woke up early, perhaps about 6am. and set up my sisters tent she had sent with us. They got in Way late Friday night.... wait I should say way early Saturday morning and Im sure they enjoyed not having to set up a tent in the dark.
So Eric set it up by himself, while I was passed out in the tent.
Once I was up I busted out the muffins and we had breakfast.
No one was up there still so I read my book all day and Eric Cleaned both of our guns and cleared out bushes that grew in the middle of camp.
It was a nice lazy day.
We were a bit bored and needed ice so we drove down the mountain for a good hour to kill time and hope that when we returned someone would be there. Of course not!! We sat alone for another hour or two.
I never knew how jumpin the party was Friday evening cause we were always so late, but it was fun to be there when others arrived.
Saturday Morning we ate breakfast and of course... headed for the skeetshoot.
Now keep in mind I have strayed away from soda and I push my self to drink lots and lots of water. So with that said.
We go down to the shooting area and set up our chairs and sign up for the shoot.
This is my favorite thing about the reunion. I've been shooting since I was 14 so this is 11 years now. Crazy, who give a 14 year old a gun? My dad!
I prepared myself before I went down by grabbing more waters, fruit leathers, and a muffin incase I got hungry. Before the shoot I thought the women would be up soon so I stood waiting for our turn.
There were about 2 rotations before I got to shoot but once it was my turn I was ready... sort of. I downed a good portion of my water and got on the line.
It was hot and I was wearing a fabulous Shelstone Orange Tshirt like the rest of my family. The way the rotation went this year is, 5 shooters, 5 stations, 2 shots at each. Easy enough but it seemed so long. I remember getting to the 3rd station and then I wasnt feeling so hot. I shrugged it off and kept going... Then I woke up in a trailer with almost my whole family around me.
Here's what happened, so I am told.
I got to my 2nd to last post and I guess handed my gun to Eric and dove for the bushes. Emptied my inners and started to walk up to camp. Eric said at that time he grabbed our chairs and guns and would follow up. My brother in law Chris walked with me a little ways up the road when I was throwing up again... or something. My sister in law Annette drove by on a Quad and they put me on the back and thats where I just went limp according to reporters.
Once up to camp a group of guys were rallied to help get me in a trailer. Once in there I received a neck cooler, a blessing, a nasty Capri sun (that I remember), water and an IV. After the blessing is when I came to but I still dont remember much about it. I know my brother in law Chris was in my face when I woke up and soon I had my dad, Eric and my brother Kevin. Oh and another guy but I have forgotten his name. I guy this other guy used to be an EMT for so long and is now the Captain of a Las Vegas fire station. Lucky me he was there. Also My brother Kevin has had training in things like this. He is the one with the medic kit with the IV.
After a lot of fussing, water,a small fan, and the AC in the trailer, I was doing better, still just bleh though.
I wasnt dehydrated, but they were putting it together that being pregnant, at a high elevation, lack of iron, the sun and a fabulous orange shirt it was heat exhaustion. Woo!
Needless to say I wasnt doing much the rest of the day or the next. In fact I slept through most of them.

After that was all said and done, I didnt place in the skeet shoot, I didnt even finish my turn, I missed the auction, and I couldnt make it through the skits.
That made it sort of sucky but relaxing was nice.
This year we stayed to Monday, when usually we head home Sunday afternoon. It was fun to get up and take down camp at a slow pace.

All in all it was a good trip, minus the excitement.
But I am doing better now and I have a sweet looking bruise from the IV!
This was a picture from on the way home through Zion National Park. They are redoing the roads and have these stop signs through out the park. It took a good 5-10 minutes to get through each. I just found it odd to see a stop light in the park. Oh and don't mind Yoga lady doing her yoga. she got out of the car at each light.

Hey BABY!!!

2010-08-09T20:58:00.000-07:00

I'm now 11 weeks and my baby is the size of a fig! Its not a cookie its a Fig Newton! haha That is what popped into my mind when I first read that. So baby update... the kid is still small. I get a lot of people asking me "how's the baby?" Nice of them to ask, but I really don't know. So if you'd like to know go to babycenter.com and enter Feb 27th 2011 for the due date. That is what I have been going off of. Now that I think of it,maybe Im only 10 weeks. They moved my due date back to March 3rd... uggg Who knows.. Im 10-11 weeks.
I was put on a progesterone supplement a few weeks back and WEW! Those are a trip! At first I was taking them twice a day but I would have to plan my day around them because I would become "Drunk". Luckily the doctor said I could take them both at the same time at night. Well these pills make for some great "High on Acid" like dreams. I've had some crazy ones.
My hormone levels have gone up to where the doctors feel better, and the baby's heart beat is Strong. They were very shocked how fast they could find the heart beat. I have a very cooperative baby. Let's pray this trait is a life long one.

I bought my first set of Maternity clothes. 3 Shirts and a good pair of pants. Oh how I love these pants. I was told they will stretch with me through-out the pregnancy. I would even recommend these pants to the non pregnants for buffets... or holidays. No need to undo any buttons, just let your gut go!!

I've become great friends with restrooms mostly to potty, thankfully the "talking to the dragons", or "Calling Ralph on the big white phone" has just about stopped. I've have fewer and fewer visits for vomiting. I think everywhere I go I have to quickly search out for the potty. haha soon Ill know where every potty is in any store.

Eric cracks me up with this baby gig. He is a HUGE support and is kind enough to have "sympathy" cravings. haha he has been kind enough to take me out for a hunt for soft pretzels. He is always checking on me and any chance to sit he makes me sit!
He will often converse with the fetus and most of these conversations, I am not to be part of. Usually they are about me. It just makes me laugh and of course then my belly starts laughing. He will look at me like I am interrupting something important or he'll say "Baby says 'Knock it off!'"
Im so glad he is having fun with this and I can't wait for him to feel the baby move. Oh and I am excited for that too! ;)

I'm Sorry, so sorry....

2010-08-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

So I've promised pictures time and time again. However, I need to just load up my flashdrive, and go "borrow" someone elses internet for a few hours and post some stinkin pictures!! Everytime I try to upload a picture or even a video, our internet craps out. Fabulous right? uggg I can't wait to get into a house with OUR internet system. I've never had this problem before. Sigh Oh well. Perhaps this week I will carry my laptop somewhere and load pictures to cover for the past 20 posts AND update my Photography blog.

So hang in there, I will be posting our past few weeks in a few!

Finally!!!

2010-07-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

I can post about our CURRENT lives!!! We/I am Pregnant!! Wooo!!!
This all started Beginning of June. There was a conversation about being mentally ready and financially. You'll never be financially ready unless you have 20 million bucks i guess. So as we joked about it we looked up to see what it would be... I know those calendars are fake but its fun.

Eric and I kept it hush for a few weeks, we told a few close friends that swore not to spoil our surprise. The Egbert family received the news on Father's Day with a card signed "Eric, Diana & ?"
Keeping it from everyone and keeping it off facebook was hard!
This last weekend we made the trip down to Phoenix. It was our scheduled month to be there so it wasn't too odd. Once we got there we searched for a hamburger bun and with no luck we dined out to Sonic.
Once we were back, bun in hand Eric slipped away and wrote "Property of Eric and Diana" on it then stuffed it in the oven.
His mom walked in the kitchen a few times then we turned the oven light on so maybe she would notice. Eric eventually had to ask her what was in there... hahaha It took some thinking but she finally understood the message!
This will be the 1st grandchild for his family and it will be #44 for my family... BIG difference, but just as much love!

The week after we conceived, and yes it was like a one shot one kill type of thing, I could feel it. It was like mutant sperm!! It wasn't until the 3rd week that I felt sick and even lost a few meals.
Last week I had some light spotting and it got a little worse, I made an appointment before our PHX trip and was told that it could be from heavy lifting or other "activities" but the baby is fine! I had blood drawn twice and had to go it for an ultrasound today!

Everything is where it should be and is fine. I even got to hear the heart beat!! Oh man if that wont bring tears to your eyes, something is wrong with you. Hearing that and seeing this tiny peanut shaped fuzz make small movements just makes this pregnancy so real. Here is one of Babies first picture!!

Fall is in the air....

2010-06-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

Every year around summer time I start my annoying habit of telling Eric, "Fall is coming" Its something in the air and I just can't wait for this "summer" to be over. If there was a town called Fallville, and it was fall all year, I would live there.
But there's not so I live in Vegas, for now.

We havent been MIA, but we have been busy/lazy.
There have been a ton of things happening so here is a quick run down.

- In April, the Egbert kids got together to throw my parents a 40th anniversary party. Mom had been planning this party over a year ago. Due to their huge hearts and helping others, they put their party aside.
Being awesome kids, we threw this party together in a matter of a month or two.
Colors-Red Gold Black and of hint of purple (of course)
A Splash of oriental (Mom has always loved oriental things)
Food-Amazing! We were smart and didnt want to spend the party in the kitchen so we got a caterer. We had sushi rolls, chow mein, lettuce wraps, fruit, chocolate dipped strawberries and a few other items.
We pulled together photos for a slide show, guest book, and family book.
For a whole week I went around town and did most of my siblings family portraits.
it sure was good for the experience.
My sister Patti was VERY patient with us and was amazing to help us make 8x8 canvas prints of all the family pictures.
13 in all. The saying "we may not have it all together, but together we have it all" applies. We may not be able to get together for a family portrait, but we can sure get individual portraits and hang them together!
Mom and Dad were both very happy about those!

May was filled with Finals for me and more work for Eric.

Eric's company does Audits every 6 months. The Pahrump center has never passed. The first time Eric missed it by 3-4 points, which were out of his control AND he was 3 months into the job I believe. That was all by himself! This time, he CLEARED the audit single handed! The other two centers in Vegas have more than one person running them and they didnt pass. Just goes to show what a work horse my husband is.

Towards the end of May I was offered a Nanny job that had $$$ written all over it. I accepted and the next day was offered a "Photography" job. and I use the " " marks for a reason. I figured since I was paying money to learn photography and thats what I ultimately wanted to do, it would be best for me to take that job instead. so I turned down the fast road to being debt free.
I started training on May 31st, and anyone that knows me knows Im not a sales person and I wont sell you something that just isnt great, or of good value.
Welcome to Picture Me Studios. BARF! I was hired by Kiddie Kandids and since they are now owned by the same company as walmart picture me, we trained for a week and a half at a walmart. I don't know where to start and I am trying to not make this a "Bash" session, but really... $300 for crap pictures? People... you can find a great photographer for about $100 an hour that will give you 30x the amount of pictures and better variety!! Needless to say after being told that my cropping wasnt good (you can always zoom in, but you cant always zoom out once the picture is taken, im just saying) and that I wasnt LOUD enough, oh and after my 3rd set of trainers, I quit. I wasnt going to have some walmart trained lady tell me I wasnt good at photography! Maybe Ive got a big head, but I KNOW I can shoot circles around them when it comes to pictures.

the first week of June was FILLED with Graduations!
Congrats to Crystal Miller, Evan Egbert, Taylor Butta, Jared Gifford, and my mom for graduating.
Taylor, Jared and I mom all graduated from Las Vegas highschool. although my mom was 50 years ago, they walked with the graduates. It was neat to cheer for my two cousins and mom. How awesome for her to share that day with two of her nephews?

The next two weeks have been a blur, a blur of camping.
I was recently called as Assistant Camp Director in my ward.
Each year our church has a Girls Camp that is a week long, and the girls certify in different areas of survival. They also get to rappel, ride on a zip-line, canoe, and do the flying squirrel. After the tiring week, I came home for a day and a half then turned around and went to another Girls Camp with my sister as a cook. We were cooking for about 300 girls each day. Man am I tired! Im a bit tapped out on Camping for now. July will be the next trip, but it will be relaxing.

Eric had his 25th birthday and I came home late late that night. He did get a day off, and he bought a Zune. Apple Ipods can eat it! Our good friends Ben, Nicole, Kellee, and Nicole2 took great care of him, feeding him and taking him swimming.

On a side note, I came home to sad news, those 4 friends got a hair up their butt to move to PA. Im happy for them but I wont let them know. They arent allowed to leave us!!! Im surely not moving to the East coast either. We will miss them for sure.

Well, there you go! I will post pictures tomorrow from all of these events.

Just remember, Fall is in the air!
HA!

Myrle Photography

2010-03-15T11:34:00.001-07:00

As most of you know I love Photography! I often get asked if I have a photography blog, or some online portfolio. So after much thinking and searching, because DMC photography/studios/photos by/everything was taken along with Diana everything and Clarke everything... I TRIED everything. The one thing about my name that is not common, my middle name Myrle. So i search Myrle everything... and nothing was taken!! Thank you Grandma!!!

Yesterday I spent ALL day designing and coming up with a watermark and figuring out how to make this stupid button to the right!! So please sport on on your page cause I worked my butt off for it!! :)

I am so excited to have something of my own like this. to be able to go out and shoot family portraits, weddings, cars and everything else! This is one life journey I have been waiting for, for a long long time.

So Please stop by my Photography blog and leave some love!
Myrle Photography

Hayyy it Was my Birfday!!!

2010-02-22T22:46:00.001-08:00

Big 25 people!!! What was I looking forward to this birthday? Was it the chance I may get grey hair now? Nope Ive had those babies since high school. Was it the possibility for more responsibility? Rhymes... haha but nope. It was... I can rent a car without a fee!!! Wooo! Ive always disliked that the 25 and under pay fees. I dont know why I enjoy this part... its not like Id rent a car that gets crappier gas mileage than my car. Plus traveling in your own car is comfy. Dont have to worry about who was in there before you, doing what... bleh.

So! This birthday was a huge party almost. Well it seemed this way. This year it landed on a Thursday so no playing until Friday or Saturday. I did get an early gift from the husband. A while back my ipod thing for my car broke. which means no music or one cd at a time... and huge cd cases in the car. BUT! Husband was smart and replaced it!! I have missed my ipod so much!
I woke up to my parents serenading me. Mom had a lamp shade on her head. It was a sweet customizable lam shade. Add your own photos, and waa-la! Lamp!
Later I got to invite one friend out to lunch with me and my mom. so I chose my nephew Sheldon, and since he is 2 had to bring his mommy ;). He grubbed at the Olive Garden and I had the amazing Black tie Mousse cheesecake stuff. Dang good.
Later we ventured to Dillards and I got some sweet bracelets that make noise.

I received a call from my brother who lives in St. George, asking me to meet the SG shuttle at the airport and pick up a package. When I got there, they didnt ID me but the driver knew it was my B-day. haha a little weird. I got a sweet gift from my bro, and dropped off a part to a guy he works with. LOL didnt bother me.

Afterwards I met my mom and dad back at the mall and ate at Chevys. SLOOOOOOOwest service ever and not the best, but oh well.
Friday was the day!! I had planned for me, Eric, my niece Crystal(same bday as me), and other friends to go cosmic skating! Well... who freakin knew skating was still a big this for kids!!! That place wwas PACKED!!! They ran out of skates and we almost left until we found out a couple of my friends made it in there. We ALL ventured in but only 5 of us got to skate. After a while we decided to go get some dinner and hang out. Not all made it to the dinner, and Im sorry they missed out.
It was filled with jokes, a cool waiter, laughter, and a giant frozen cake. (Thank you Pablo)

It was such a fun birthday. I think I just might have one again next year!

Tiki!

2010-02-22T22:24:00.001-08:00

This is a little update for those interested in the world of the Mr. Clarke. Since I've known him, he has always loved having a project or something on the side to entertain himself. After going to San Diego and purchasing a tiki on our honeymoon, and several other trips, and conversing with our good friend he has taken the task of carving them himself. So I purchased a small inexpensive kit for him, just something to start and see how it goes. Well first mistake, small pieces of wood are too ...well.. small to carve and too hard to learn what tool does what. Second we learned that some woods are not woodlike at all. They are more like brown textured metal. Good luck carving that! So after research, experimentation, and pure luck, Eric came across this fine piece of wood that carves like... frozen butter. Not impossible but requires effort, but not a whole lot. The design is coming out really nicely. I am excited to see how it turns out in the end. but for now here is the start of it. He has progressed since I took these so those photos will be added later.

2010-01-25T22:18:00.000-08:00

This Christmas we had the pleasure of spending/waking up at my parents. Since we live here thats how it goes. Growing up we would wake up and have to wait at the top of the stairs for Dad to get home from the firestation, or for grandma and grandpa to get there, and for all the siblings to get up! The brothers minus Kevin were hard to roll out of bed. It was a fun tradition growing. Especially since our stairs dont face the living room! We would be so excited to see where our "spot" was or what big thing was sitting out cause it couldnt be wrapped. I love that memory.

This year we got to jet downstairs! Then we were asked to go back to the top of the stairs for a picture. lol We opened gifts with mom and dad each taking a turn making the gifts last. Eric got a home Depot gift card from me, a really cool custom tool box, Edward Scissor hands... for me really... candy, Cheeze it chap stick... which smells... uggg dont ever put it on your lips... bleh!! It was funny cause one thing he REALLY wanted was a headset for the XBOX 360 a few days before Christmas I reassured him I didnt buy it.. Really I didnt. He was bummed "Out of all the things Ive hinted at... blah blah blah waa cry!!!" But really even though I didnt buy it, my mom and dad had for him. He we very surprised and happy. I got MAC gift card... for those of you who are worried about my bday coming up... MAC is awesome make up.. :D I got a glow sight for my shotgun, a pouch to hold shotgun shells in instead of carrying a box or stuffing pockets, a babylock sewing machine (because the one I was"borrowing" from my mom that was so old died), a sweet leopard blanket, and the bedspread Ive been eyeing from target! My brother John and his family had us this year and they gave us a Tom Tom GPS which is used everyday by Eric and when we go on trips, Rockband drum silencers, and a stand for the guitars.

After the gifts Eric and I carried on our little Clarke family tradition of going to Ihop. mmm pancakes.... We went the past two years and decided it will be our tradition. After a heavy dose of Eggnog pancakes, Eggs, bacon, sausage, Steak and eggs, OJ and hashbrowns we headed back home.

All the kids gather at mom and dads after their present time or seeing the other families, we hang out, pick at turkey, stuffing, salsa cheesy stuff, and cookies. Other gifts are exchanged and it is fun to see what everyone comes up with.

My brother Cory and his family had Kevin, Tiffany and Maeve. I guess there is a book that you can record your voice into and the child can read along with it. That was the plan but due to malfunctions with the book, Cory being the smart electronics man he is, made a video with the audio clip instead. I believe it has a bigger inpact hearing my brothers voice on surround sound reading "Twas the night before Christmas" 'to his daughter'. At first it was just music and then once I heard his voice I broke down... IT sucks not having Kevin home, especially for the holidays. We did get to talk to him that night, he called and we passed the phone around each taking a quick turn. His year is almost up only a few more months.

I really enjoyed Christmas this year and honestly Im looking forward/Im scared of next year. It will be my first Christmas away from family. But ITs the In-laws turn so its only fair! Christmas 2010 is in Phoenix!

Enjoy ALL the pictures I took! Thanks again Liz for showing me the collages! That program is amazing!!

Each year we rotate names... It would be like drawing names from a hat, of all the siblings and who ever you have, you buy for that family. This year we had my brother Denny's family. each kid got their own goody bag with Bakugan??? things candy and random items which they loved. But what Im most proud of was what I made for their home. I had asked her what colors go in her home since it is always changing, she said earth tones and browns. So thanks to my friend Danielle for this addictive/tedious/fun/relaxing craft that I now call a hobby!

Quickie!

2010-01-17T23:34:00.000-08:00

So this is a short quick one.

A while back when I was in Arizona for Thanksgiving I had the chance to meet up with my Da-Nell!!(Danielle) She is a childhood friend I grew up with. From Tap dance to middle school, Girls camp, High school, early morning seminary, School dances... more like Sadies, and Working together at LASER FORCE!!! Don't just play the game, BE the game! Many other things as well. Needless to say she was a part of me that eloped and moved to AZ. Poop on her for that. But it makes seeing her that much better too. So we got together and went through the Mesa Temple together which was amazing and then had lunch. that girl and I could talk for hours. I love that fact that after time apart its like we have been by each others side.
I got a call from her later that month I believe and she asked if I could pick her from the Airport for her familys Christmas party. Pshh well yeah! The night before she came in, I attended my nephews "Arrow of light" for scouts and saw Juju(Julie) there. Julie is also a good friend and the 3 of us worked together at LASER FORCE.. you know the motto... So I told Juju what was up and told her to meet us for lunch.
So I pick Da-Nell up and to kill time before "Lunch" brought her to see my moms new kitchen and such. After visiting for about 15 min we headed to Macayos for VIRGIN strawberry Daiquiris and lunch! Only none of us ordered the drinks. haha As we walked in there was JUJU!! Totally shocked Danielle but it was such a blast having the 3 of us, ahem.. 4 of us, we also had a fine gentlemen joining us. He goes by the name Ezra and is about maybe 2 months old.
I just had to post this and just say Im grateful for friendships that have seen it all and the are stronger than glue but dont need constant care.
Love yous guys!!!

Daniel Patrick Clarke

2010-01-15T17:35:00.000-08:00

So on December 3rd, I was driving to a friends house to do some crafting. I got a call from my husband saying his father had passed away. When things like that happen, the feeling is unexplainable. You hurt, you hurt for others, worry kicks in, your mind goes into "helping" overdrive. you just want to help anyone and everyone affected.
My father in law was not in good health and I know he was in pain a majority, if not all of the time. Although Im never happy to see anyone go, but Im glad he doesnt have to suffer anymore.

He passed away in Norwalk, California right out of LA. We drove to LA for the burial service and then to Phoenix for a memorial service (1000.3 miles total), both were very nice.
My parents made the trip to LA in support of Eric's family too.

At each of the services Marty and Alice (Eric's younger siblings) both read a poem.
I have taken verses from the poem and used them in the video, but I have listed the full version below.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

If Tomorrow Starts Without Me
Author believed to be
David Romano

When tomorrow starts without me,
And I'm not there to see,
If the sun should rise and find your eyes
all filled with tears for me,

I wish so much you wouldn't cry
The way you did today,
While thinking of the many things,
We didn't get to say.

I know how much you love me,
As much as I love you,
and each time that you think of me,
I know you'll miss me too.

But when tomorrow starts without me,
Please try to understand,
That an angel came and called my name,
And took me by the hand,
and said my place was ready,
In heaven far above,
And that I'd have to leave behind
All those I dearly love.

But as I turned to walk away,
A tear fell from my eye
For all my life, I'd always thought,
I didn't want to die.

I had so much to live for,
So much left yet to do,
It seemed almost impossible,
That I was leaving you.

I thought of all the yesterdays
The good ones and the bad,
I thought of all the love we shared,
and all the fun we had

If I could re-live yesterday
Just even for a while,
I'd say good-bye and kiss you
And maybe see you smile.

But then I fully realized,
That this could never be,
For emptiness and memories,
would take the place of me.

And when I thought of worldly things,
I might miss come tomorrow,
I thought of you, and when I did,
My heart was filled with sorrow.

But when I walked through heaven's gates,
I felt so much at home
When God looked down and smiled at me,
From His great golden throne.

He said, "This is eternity,
And all I've promised you."
Today your life on earth is past,
But here life starts anew

I promise no tomorrow,
But today will always last,
And since each day's the same way
There's no longing for the past.

You have been so faithful,
So trusting and so true.
Though there were times
You did some things
You knew you shouldn't do.

But you have been forgiven
And now at last you're free.
So won't you come and take my hand
And share my life with me?

So when tomorrow starts without me,
Don't think we're far apart,
For every time you think of me,
I'm right here, in your heart.

Welcome to the New Year

2010-01-15T15:23:00.001-08:00

Well, I was doing good with our blog, then December happened. It was insane! How we survived Ill never know. Well I think part of my reason for not blogging is that I take too many pictures, I dont feel like posting them all, but then I dont want to leave any out at the same time. Well, I found a solution, I asked a friend of mine how she makes her collages... cause stupid me was taking my time to measure each sheet out in photoshop. Lucky for you all, youll see more pictures from me!

So enjoy!

Why don't you take a picture? Itll last longer!

2009-12-22T11:51:00.000-08:00

The day was August 19th, 2009 when I stepped foot into a college classroom to once again pursue my love of photography. Thats right! Most of you know already, but I'm going to talk about it a little more and show you what Ive done! So this year I was able to purchase a fabulous Nikon D90. I stinkin love Nikon and their awesome lenses. I was also able to purchase two college classes as well. The first being Beginning Photography, and the second Introduction to computer Graphics. Now back in 2003 I took both of these classes, the difference in taking them? First, I am all digital now, no more film. Dont get me wrong, film has an art to it that most of the kids today wont know about. Its sad but im glad I learned how to use it and devlope film. Second, my comp graphics teacher wasnt boring and monotone. This year Patrick Mermel was really awesome. Third and Final reason, I didnt get bored and drop out.
So I took Beginning photo again to relearn everything, but in digital format of course. I can't believe the endless possibilities that are within just the camera itself!! holy moly! I cant' wait to go back to Intermediate photo next semester. I plan getting my associates in Photography, and who knows where that will take me. For now enjoy the photos of this semester!

These first ones were an assignment to learn our cameras light settings, shutter, and other options. It was a lot of fun remembering what you can do with speed and light.

These next two were from our window lighting assignment. We had to use window light only, and the sun couldnt be directly on our subject. I woke up early and did my nieces hair and make up, then made her get dressed up and pose with her bass. Yes she really does play that.

These next three were my least favorite assignment. SELF PORTRAIT. Now usually its easy to snap a shot of your self, but to set up the lighting and try to aim the camera just right... ugg its a pain!! Not only that but I had to use a prop or something to tell others about myself. So, as usual I shocked most classmates with a picture of my pointing a gun directly at the camera. Dont worry, It was UNLOADED, safety on and I had a very trusting friend help me. Thank you Christy!! I set up the shot and had her push the shutter. Thats all the help we were allowed. IT was hard and frustrating and embarrassing... Not a huge fan of myself ya know? But here is the out come.

Thats all for now. I need to locate my jump drive with the rest of my assignments!

Turkey Lurkey Dooo and Turkey Lurkey Dat

2009-12-14T21:31:00.000-08:00

I eat dat turkey and I take a nap.

Thanksgiving!!! Yum yum yum! This year we traveled to Arizona to celebrate Thanksgiving not only with Eric's family, but on Saturday! In your face traditions! Ok I'm big on traditions, but because Momma Clarke was making the big dolla dolla bills, we waited for her and Eric to be there. I left the Wednesday before and drove by my self. I wanted to make sure Alice and Marty did something fun on Thanksgiving. Eric flew in on Friday night after work. Thursday we hung out and went to see New moon.... mmmmm I'm glad I waited to see it with Alice. We had fun making jokes about each of the boys and such. She like Jacob and I like Edward... so fun.

This next one is for Alice.

After the movie, we headed to Eric's sister Amanda's soon to be in-laws place for some dinner. They had some killer Turkey! We hung out played some rock band, the drummer was one handed.... which was interesting to play. and then we went home and vegged out. It was a relaxing day.

The next day we all had out happy butts up at 4:30 heading to Walmart. Attention people, the Electronics cashier has a short line! It was in a very weird way fun to see all these sleepy eyed people rushing to destroy a store just to get that one toy or one shirt! haha. Even though I missed sitting in my sisters van with the seat heaters on staring at the Toys r us line that wrapped around the store, I still had fun rushing around with my mother in law and the kids.

Around Halloween time, the Clarke Residence had added a new member, no we aren't pregnant, I'm talking about this cute, fuzzy little ball of TERROR! Properly named, Grim, after the Grim reaper. This thing DOES NOT WANT TO CUDDLE on your watch. It will cuddle if and when it is ready. Its teeth and claws are sharper than anything Ive come in contact with! But the cute "mews" and playfulness with just melt your heart.

Saturday we hung out and relaxed. Amanda and scott came over. Amanda got a new camera... its a NIKON!! Good job! Im a nikon girl. All but one of my cameras have been Nikon. The day was filled with Video Games, Movies, Food, and Rummikub! We had a lot of fun just hanging out.

Sunday Eric and I headed to Grandma and Grandpa Kennedys. They took us to a cool bar almost in the middle of nowhere... so we'll say its the middle of somewhere. Its called the Wild horse or something wild. Their cheeseburgers are Amazing! It was about a 15-20min wait but Dang worth it. After that we headed home and didnt even touch Grand Avenue!

Turkey Shoot!!!

2009-12-14T20:41:00.000-08:00

The men in my church get together and go shooting for an event. This has been happening for as long as I can remember. Growing up I would BEG to go, but nooooooo its men only. A while back the men planned an outing for such event and invited me. I out shot most of them and of course made my dad proud once again. I was given the name shooter, which most of them men know me by now. Well This November they planned a Turkey shoot, winner gets a Frozen Turkey. On the invites... I kid you not.. It said "Help us defeat the Egbert Family" For those of you who dont know Egbert is my maiden name. We are that "terrifying" hahah! We all packed up our guns and ammo and headed out towards Nelson Nevada. It was my dad, Eric, My brother Cory and his wife Anya, My brother Denny and nephew Noah, and me. We travel in packs! We played around, I guess the men had to "warm up" haha

Then we got into the comp. There were 3 round of elimination. 4-5 people each round and the winner of each round shot in the final round. If shooter 1 missed and shooter 2 hit, one is out. If one and two miss, and 3 hits it, both one and two are out. Pretty cut throat.
So the first round, My father won. The second round, Eric won, and the Third round, I won. So the final was My father, husband and me. Sure enough, miss, miss, BAM!! I win!!!
The following Sunday one of the men had to walk in where the women meet and Deliver my prize! I think it truly SHOCKED all those ladies and at the same time, made them laugh.
The Small Turkey in my hand is Eric's trophy and mine is the big fat bird, which I took to Arizona and on Thanksgiving with my in-laws.

How did this week go by so fast?

2009-10-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

Yay for me! Im posting again! This week has been crazy. Just about something each night. But first, a little more updating. When we moved in with my parents, I worked and Eric had just gotten laid off. Lucky us our neighbor came over and put a bug in his ear about a job. He pursued it for weeks and got it. He delivers home oxygen machines to people who need it. Mostly in the Pahrump area, sometimes Beatty, and often "The middle of nowhere Nevada". Each day is about min. 12hours. Driving to and from and being on call each night of the week. He is a trooper for working and not complaining. I love him!

Monday I had school, Beg. Photography.
Tuesday I had my Comp Graphics class. MIDTERM DUE!!! Lucky us we got a 10 out of 10. and No I don't enjoy working in teams. I felt I had to pull teeth to get it right.
Here is our final product...

Not the greatest but hey, Im still learning.

Wednesday I had my nephew Sheldon all day. His mom Shelly is PTA President and sometimes has to be at the school all day. This kid is the most chill kid ever! We played rockband, watched cartoons, and gardened. Before we moved in with my parents I had planted some basil, chives, pumpkins :( and cilantro... the puny basil plant is the only one that survived... its a giant mutant now! So we plucked the leaves and Sheldon had so much fun "helping". Now I have tons of Basil and no Mozzarella!

Later that night I went to my first Lia Sophia party. Its a Jewelry party, yes they have nice stuff but are they over priced? You betcha! I couldn't believe some of the necklaces and their prices! It was insane!!!!

Thursday I worked on my sisters invitations for her Holidy Open House! check these sweet babies out!
Awww for cute!!! I mean come on! Would you not just go to the show just to meet the Awesome lady who made these and buy some Pampered Chef Products from her? I know I would... wink wink.
I have been doing invitations for my Aunt and sister. Mostly my aunt, and I think Im going to do them on the side now. Its fun.
Later that night I went to see one of my favorite bands, The Creepshow! I first saw them in Washington and have loved them since.

*Thanks to the lady smoking for the theatrics...*
A quick lesson on what type of music they play... Some may have heard the term Rock-a-billy, which is based off music around the 1950's to 1960's. Most bands have stand up bass' and a lead singer that just has that "old" voice. Now there is a spin off rockabilly called psychobilly, same sounds, maybe more guitars? but they sing about Zombies, monsters, and dead things. The Creepshow is psychobilly. I have an undying love for Halloween, Frankenstein and bride, and other creepy things, just keep the clowns in the closet please... bleh. So there you have it...
I went with my friend Char to see them, and it was fun. It was a small intimate show, but still glad I got to see them.
That same night Eric got a call at about 10:30pm for work. Poor guy had to go out to Pahrump to give someone a new machine. He didn't make it home until 1:30am and had to get up at 6am to get ready for work and drive back out there... Maybe we should look into Blue Diamond homes... sigh.
Needless to say he and I got home about the same time, and wow we were beat. Most of the time we are in bed by 10:00.
Friday morning he makes it to work and I tumble out of bed to an empty house. Mom and Dad are gone and so is Eric. I continue working on my sisters invites and she comes over! Mind you Shelly is some odd months pregnant... and of course it doesnt stop her. I find out she has her Fall Carnival at the school and needs some help. I send her on her way to run a couple errands while I get dressed, She picks me up and we head to a few more stores then to the school. *Note to self, NEVER join PTA* I don't know how she doesn't High Five some peoples faces! I know I could have... After all the set up and once it started I head over to the Karaoke booth to help my brother Cory. I cant tell you how many times Best of both worlds was requested and sung... Attention Elementary kids... there is more music out there!!! Please find it! After all was said and done it was a success. I came home beat and so did Eric.
Saturday, we get up and Eric is all dressed and tells me to get ready. I ask him for what and he says a surprise.... So I get ready, do my hair and makeup... and we're on our way... we headed towards the mall and Im thinking aww he's taking my to breakfast... about half way there, he looks at me and says "By the way we're going to Target for underwear and socks"... Seriously!!! Punk! He had a friend in town that he knows from the Navy and wanted to meet up and grab some grub, so we walked the mall just window shopping until we heard from his friend. I convinced him to walk into Bath and Body works with me. I haven't been in there in forever. They had their big soaps on sale for $3 each, so I picked two fall scents and then a lady hands me a coupon that says Spend $15 and get an item up to $13 for free! so I picked up 2 of their lip glosses that are awesome each for $5 and noticed a sign buy two get one free... so I grabbed another and then headed to find my free thing. I picked up a double refill pack for the air fresheners for $12.50. I paid $20.04 total for over $40 worth of stuff. it made my day! We headed to IHOP and had Breakfast/Lunch with his friends and then showed them our favorite store Cash 4 Chaos. Its like a hot topic but better and hidden. They sell more local stuff and you can always find some unique things there.
Eric bought me a book bag for school, It matches my wallet, and a necklace. He bought himself a new button up that just looks sweet on him! His friends were really glad we showed them that store. After that we dropped them off and headed home to veg for a few hours. I took a cat nap and Eric played games. Then we were off to our friends Ben and Rachel's for dinner and pumpkin carving. They invited us over since I decided not to do the Halloween dinner this year :( We had some awesome steak and roasted potatoes with special cheese, peas, and home made tortilla chips that were soo good. Then Banana bread for dessert.
Ben and Rachel went to a local orchid and picked out pumpkins for us. Goodness they were THICK!!! tons of scraping so we could get a good design. Ben didn't carve one because he had creative person block, so he looked up some crazy pumpkins on line. Rachel did a sweet possessed PAC Man, Eric did Satan... I was just corrected, I thought it was a mean ram... ahha and I did the skull from The Horrorpops, another psychobilly band I love. We played with the lights and shadows for a while and then headed home.
That has been our busy week.... or mine? Now enjoy our pumpkins...
This is part of the mess we created!

Me with my arm half way of the pumpkin!

Eric Carving his pumpkin

Rachel's Scary Pac Man!!

Rachel's Shadow, pretty cool huh?

My Pumpkin, and check out the stars on the wall and ceiling!

I cut stars out on the back so when its lit and next to a wall they will show!

This is Eric's Pumpkin!!

Rachel and her pumpkin... I liked the picture.

Eric felt the need to stab his pumpkin with every carving tool

Ben's Pumpkin... God Job???

IT'S ALIIIIVE!!!

2009-10-19T11:15:00.000-07:00

and so are we... right Eric?... Eric? Oh right he's at work.
Since I havent been on this since April, I am sorry to say I am not going to recap every stinkin event.... I know... you wanna know it all, but seriously I know you've got that pile of laundry staring at you from the corner... go ahead and look, cry if you need to... *Waiting* Ok, feel better?

Welcome back to the ever changing world of Clarkes. In April, Eric was laid off and to save ourselves from falling deeper into debt, we decided to find some roommates and cut down costs. We moved in with my parents! We arrived beginning of June and here we are in October. We have been out of town left and right, and we have passed on going out of town a couple times. We did make it to our Gifford Family reunion, and yes... I did win 1st place AGAIN!

Gifford Reunion recap
Theme: Olympics
Sheldon Gifford Family: Team Jamaica
Colors:Green Yellow and Black
Choice Event: Skeet Shooting (Jamaica we have a skeet shoot team!)

This year we made our own shirts for team Jamaica. The famous"Annoying" green shirts as all the other teams called them. hahah they only become annoying when you dont get to wear one! and when there are soo many of us.

Team Jamaica place 1st 2nd and 3rd in both Mens and Womens Skeet Shoot and we took 2nd in both Boys and Girls. Woooo!!!
Everytime we go camping, Eric looks forward to riding quads around, and the kids look forward to it too!

Right after this glorious 3 day weekend, I make it back to work to get laid off... Super... I've had one hell of a time gettin my unemployment correct. It's funny how it all happened, but bottom line, Im glad to be out. The job stressed me out, well more the people than anything. A few weeks before, I took a big step back and saw that no matter how well I did my job, that message wouldnt get through to the right people. There are some people in the world, who can't or don't like to be out shown. Whether its a joke you tell them and they take credit for, or a drawing you found or something you've done right. I knew I would never be able to move up and so my prayers were answered and the lord found a way out for me.
Since then I have been working on my schooling. I finally made it back! Its a huge accomplishment just clicking on that "Pay now" button! Im taking Beginning Photography and Intro to Computer Graphics... both for the second time. My Beg. Photo is all digital. Before I used film which we all know is out dated, and hard on the pockets. I have a deep respect for those who still use film and use it right, its a lost art and true talent.
My comp graphics class is a BLAST! If you ever take it at CSN make sure you get Patrick Mermel! He is awesome! I dropped out of my class before cause the teacher was soooo boooring... and blah blah blah. Not this guy, he has been soo helpful with photoshop. Although Ill say poop on him for making us do our midterm in teams. Bleh!
Over all Im loving school. So glad I was able to go back.

On September 22nd, Eric and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary with me going to school and him working late! LOL we did go out the following weekend for dinner and a small show. We ate at our favorite spot, The Melting Pot, and then watch a friends band play at a record store. It was fun just knowing we can still have an awesome time.

In other news, I have been working more on my spiritual side. For those of you who are LDS, I went through the Temple on October 17th. For those that arent, Ill try to explain. To enter the Temple, an individual must be clean and worthy. There are guidelines we follow, a few for example, keeping the word of wisdom, no smoking, no drinking coffee or tea. Attending church each week, saying your prayers each day and having faith in it all. For further information go to www.mormon.org There you can chat with missionaries and ask them any questions you may have. You can also request a free copy of the Book of Mormon.
Once an individual is worthy and your Bishop and Stake President find you worthy, you receive a Temple recommend. It is like a pass to get in. In the temple we perform Sacred, not secret, ordinances for ourselves and others.
How neat that in a city full of sin there is an escape. A house of beauty and peace. Just being on the temple grounds is peaceful and calming.
The experience was overwhelming, the presence of past loved ones was so strong there and I just knew it was the right thing for me to do. I look forward to making it back there each week and being able to have that time to dismiss the world and just listen to the spirit. *From Left to Right-Anya (Cory's wife) Cory, Tiffany(Kevins wife) Kevin,Denny, Eric, Me, My mom, My Dad, Adam (Shellys Husband), Shelly and baby #5, Myrinda, and Chris (Myrindas husband)*
This is all who went. Eric surprised me by being outside when we were done. It made me tear up seeing him out there. I love him for all his support through this.

If you've never been to a temple, I recommend finding one in your area and visiting the grounds. You are welcome to walk around the outside, and I know you'll find the spirit there.

I was able to go through with most of my family. My brother Kevin was home for his R&R and it just made it that much more important to me. I loved seeing my family gather there knowing we are together forever.

I hope to post more, not just of our lives, but of some of the pictures Ive been working on. I'm very excited about them, so here are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend of Oct 11th.

Enjoy.

My niece I love her squishy cheeks!

My nephew who never fails to make me laugh!

My niece again. This little girl was feeding her some of my mini carrot cake treats, it was too fun to watch!

Is this thing on?

2009-04-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

Let me dust the webs off my blog….

Alright. It’s been a while. I haven’t done a real post since Novemeber? How sad is that?
Well to sum it up I will throw out a few or a ton of one liners… here we go.

Thanksgiving- We drove down to Phoenix to spend Thanksgiving with Eric’s family. We had some rad food, but its thanksgiving, who doesn’t have really good food? It was nice to see a thanksgiving inside a different family. This was my first away from home, yes I was a little home sick but it is something I have to get used to. It was nice to hang with his family and like ours, pick at the food whenever.

Dec. 10th was my first pampered chef show. Oh how nerve racking! I felt like I was tripping over myself again and again. Thanks to my sister Myrinda who helped me through it. WEW!

December in general was crazy! Girls had the cookie exchange, 100 mile Family Progressive dinner (done in record time) I made some awesome “Snow Flake Cocoa” and burnt everyone’s mouth. We had my mom’s side Christmas dinner and program, where we re-enact the nativity with the kids. I am so glad we are still doing that. I can remember being a sheep or an angel, this year, I played the voice of an angel. Haha. Christmas we woke up and Eric drug me to the tree, eager for presents. We did our gift exchange and went to IHOP(2nd year tradition) Then headed over to my moms to hang with the family.

For New Years we hung out with Kevin and Tiffany, had dinner and 1 minute to count down, we ran to my sisters house to see the LAME beyond belief fireworks on the strip. Budget cuts?

Jan is the special month that holds my birthday! A day when all your lives were blessed. Right? We went to dinner with some of the family to Joes crab shack, now I guess I should add that my niece/mini me shares the same birthday as me, so double blessing that day. And this was her dinner too. She had never been to Joes for a birthday, that’s why it was chosen! When it came time for the birthday song, It was me, my niece, my sister and my brother in law, all Jan Birthdays. It was nice to have 3 others blushing. Eric bought me some shoes, Hot pink and black Zebra Striped shoes. They are amazing! I feel like magic when I wear them. Haha.

Valentines was a mutual agreement to do nothing, get nothing. And we’re ok with that.

March was a busy month it seemed like there was something each weekend or we were sick. We both go these lovely colds and Im still trying to get rid of my weezy cough. Eric kicked his of course.

April should be eventful as well. Kevin is home for now which is exciting. Im still trying to work out a plan to break his leg or something so he won’t be able to go to Afghanistan but so far nothing is coming to mind. This weekend we will be trying to go to a car show, family Easter picnic, and a concert all in one day. With rain on the forecast, this should be interesting.

Well now, I feel a lot better and I feel caught up. Although Im sure there are a thousand events or funny things I left out, but that’s what you get when I slack. HA!

For Tiff... Oh Nao! Gawd Ziwra!!!

2009-02-27T22:16:00.000-08:00

So here we lay in bed. Eric updates his contacts and I blog. What a friday night! Its been a while since I have blogged about anythign other than food savings. Not even holidays or my Birthday! Things get busy and I get lazy or just really tired at the end of the day. Sitting in front of a computer all day makes my laptop the last thing I want to see. Things have been crazy and not what we expected, but we are alive, well and still putting up a good fight! But for now the battle against my eyes and my eye lids is taking its toll. To be contrude... Hahaha

I do believe that money goes in my pocket...

2009-01-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

So I've attended two Shop Smart/Coupon shows. The first I said hey this is cool... and then I looked at the web site a few times... It was always in the back of my head and I wanted to be able to get great deals at places other than costco or sams club. I never did anythign about it. I've heard stories and seen the final product of those stories but it still was never enough to really get me going. Well my sister and sister in law hosted a show the other night. I bought my RJ subscription for I can get the coupons from those instead of hoping for the massive pile in the mail. Well yesterday I got on line and went to the site. I saw Albertsons had a ton of deals going on. so without a newspaper I clicked the links to the online coupons. I put them all in order and made sure I knew how many to get. I took my friend Rachel and we went at about 10:30pm or so. The store was empty and quiet and we just did our thing... well I did my thing. She made jokes like "are you going underground?" or "Diana has her food storage" Cause realy it looked as if I was stocking up for the end of the world. We strolled through each isle and sometimes more than 4 times. haha. but I got it all. I was nervous for sure. the what ifs were kicking in... what if they wont take em... I shook it off and we hit the counter. I asked the cashier if she'd like the coupons first. It didnt matter so I loaded my goods onto the counter and tore off the last few coupons I didnt get to cutting. My total was up there for sure... 240.49 was the totatl. then I entered my prefered savings number and the numbers were going down. It was like gamblings but obviously the opposite way. I wanted it low..... Then she added all the coupons and it kept going down. My out of pocket cost was 106.39. I saved 134.10! INSANE! PLUS the little coupon machine started kicking out 5 dollars off your next purchase and those totaled up to 60 bucks, but thats not all! I didnt notice at first but at the bottom it said you have earned .25 cents off per gallon of gas, up to 20 gallons. Total SCORE! There is an Albertsons gas station right by my house so guess who will be paying less than 1.50 for gas next time, ME! I was so excited. Even though there was a TON of stuff I wanted that I needed Newspaper coupons for, I still made out.

Here are some pictures of my winnings! (and I know... that IS a ton of hamburger helper, but guess who wont need some soon...)

And these are the golden tickets!

I am so glad I did this. It really did help light a fire under my butt. Too often I don't go shopping at the grocery stores because I can save with bulk buying, but really bulk buy is limited... and "who wants to be eating chimini-changas all year? not me."

Oh and did I meantion 2 of the Progresso soups were not only FREE but I made .20 off of them?

Helllooooo out there!

2009-01-08T08:51:00.000-08:00

Wow!! I can't believe I've put this off for over a month. Of course holidays are busy busy and when you find a moment to yourself the last thing you think of is your blog.
So this will be quick and I will post pictures of it all this weekend, I hope.

Thanksgiving was an adventure. It was my first time away from my family and I admit I got a bit homesick. I guess I never thought it would affect me but Im glad I got to see how others celebrate Thanksgiving. Bottom line it was GREAT food. We hung out in AZ for 3 whole days. It was nice to not have to turn back for hom on the 2nd day.

December was VERY eventful. We had the girls cookie exchange a whole 13 dozen = 156 cookies plus the rolls still in my freezer. I think Im just cookied out. Its always fun to see the different shapes and decorations.
We had our family progressive dinner which went by quick. This year was the first time my house was included. As small as it was we fit everyone in there. I served EXTREMELY hot Snow Flake cocoa... I guess the on LOW for 2 hours would have been fine.... hahah I paniced at the time frame and turned that sucker on high. I think I left a lasting impression on the adult tongues. meaning burnt! Sorry! But once is cooled down it was a huge hit.
The Gifford Family Christmas Dinner/Theatre was held at mom's this year. The kids acted out the nativity story and I got the roll of the ANGEL with the angelic voice. hahah I love that we are still carrying on traditions from our childhood. I hope that my kids will be able to participate in them one day. Last year my aunt had her kids make a video. She called each of us and gave us a line from a holiday song. Last year was Up on the house top. This year we did two, I saw mommy kissing santa claus, and The Christmas song. Its so fun to see everyones different ideas of how to act out everything. One of ours was "everybody knows a turkey..." so I entered A. Turkey on my cell phone and took a picture of it. Clever huh? There were some other funny ones and some cute ones. Christmas Day we woke up and for someone who says he doesnt like christmas or the holidays, he sure is fast to get to those presents! We opened presents from each other and then hung out for a bit played games. I was lookin to whopp some butt on XBOX live cause I know some kids got games for christmas that they havent played. haha Then we dressed and went to Ihop. We went last year and this year we dubbed it a tradition until we have another mouth to feed. Then we went over to mom's house for all day snacking and hanging out. we wateched Wall-e a few times, played Rock Band, and I made a watch that's pretty rad. I think we got home about 10 pm and I believe we just crashed. It was a draining week and month.
New years... isnt new years. Its weird. Usually you get way excited about staying up... but seems these days 9pm feels like midnight. I called Little Caesars abotu 4pm and placed an early order for 7. Boy am I glad I did. That place had the longest line when I got there! But I walked in and then right out with our stuff. We headed to Kevin and Tiffany's house to eat and hang out. tiffany made some rad jalapeno poppers which were like Fire but still good. The fire came 40 seconds after it hit your tongue. My niece Crystal was there too and she came home with us to spend the night and hang out. We hung out a bit and then the boys fell asleep pretty much so us 4 (Maeve too) watch a poor version of Twilight. It ended about 15 minutes before midnight. We went in and woke up the guys to go to Shelly's house. by the time we walked out the door we had 2 minutes. As we walked into Shelly's house her tv showed 30 seconds. so we ran out back to see the fireworks and wow... how lame. Fireworks havent been fireworks since we did those 4th of July shows at the stadium here. Where the bombs felt so close you always ducked a little from the sparks, which were far away, but they were so huge and you could feel them pounding on your chest. the closest thing I've seen since then was over the lake/river in Washington. The rich people were shooting off HUGE bombs from their lovely lake side homes and we sat on the other side enjoying a free show.
But new years was good. It was fun to spend it with Kevin, Tiff, Maeve, Crystal, Shelly and Adam and their sleeping kids.

Oh and in the middle of this all, I had my first Pampered Chef show! I was sooo nervous but I did ok. I'm so glad I had my sisters there and I had a much better turn out than I planned for. I look forward to doing more shows and getting a better feel of the system. (HINT HINT)

Like I said it's been a while and Im sorry for the long post. but hey... its done now.

Rain thoughts twice...

2008-11-26T11:23:00.000-08:00

Be safe out there in the rain. I had to see this poor old dude hugging a pole.

oh and here are my new glasses. Sorry I know I look like a turtle, but its hard to take a serious picture.

Time to travel, so let it rain!

2008-11-26T10:37:00.000-08:00

It seems every time is pours here, we are going out of town. Memorial Weekend it poured, we were in AZ, and to day we are headed to AZ and its pouring. Good Grief Charly Brown.

So we are headed to Arizona to spend our first Thanksgiving with his family. I haven't had a thanksgiving away from mine and I'm a little sad to be leaving, BUT this will be fun and I'll still eat like a cow. So really only the location will change. We are spending 4 nights and about 3.5 days. We are taking family pictures too. This will be fun to see my face in the picture, rather than pulling out microscope to see it. haha.

This year has been hard and fun, sucky and rad, hot and not so cold. Through all of our ups and downs there was never a time or moment when we didn't have each other to lean on, or family standing behind us pushing us along or helping us up. I am so grateful for a huge and extremely close family. Each and every member brings something different and special to the table. I am so grateful that I can ask for help from any member and recieve more than I asked.
I can't even say how lucky I am to have the in laws I have. My mother in law is just awesome. There is never a time that I talk to her and don't either smile or laugh. My father in law is very down to earth and smart. I love that he is someone my husband can call and ask for advice or call about cars and everyday stuff. My sibling in laws are just as crazy and awesome as the next. They are the younger siblings I've never had and I am glad that I have been able to be the sister in law that I always had growning up. The one to talk to the one who makes sense and understands. Not to toot my own horn but HONK HONK!
I love my ALL of family so much and I am truely Thankful for all of them, and the ones to come.
I am also thankful for my husband, he is my crutch.... more like wheelchair. Without him I'd be just digging in my rut. He is always supportive of me and my dreams and we are always able to talk to one another without a problem. He is truely amazing to me and I couldn't be more grateful.

I am very lucky to have the life and abilities that I have.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! Eat lots cause its winter and our bodies need some layers for hibernation!

English Toffee

2008-11-24T12:54:00.000-08:00

Ingredients
14 tablespoons (1 stick, plus 6 tablespoons) butter
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cold water
1/2 chopped pecans
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Dash salt
1 (6-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips or thin chocolate bars
Directions
Generously butter a cookie sheet.

Put butter, sugar, and water in a heavy pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Bring to a bubbling boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, about 10 minutes. Remove spoon from pan, and cook to a very brittle stage (300 degrees to 310 degrees F on a candy thermometer). Or, make a cold water test: candy will separate into hard, brittle threads when dropped in cold water(I TRIED THIS AND IT DIDN'T "THREAD" SO i COOKED IT UNTIL IT MOVED AS ONE... YOU WILL SEE. OR JUST USE CANDY THERM.) Remove from heat and add nuts(I GUESSED) to mixture. Add vanilla and salt. Pour onto prepared cookie sheet and spread to 1/4-inch thickness. Cool slightly, top with chocolate chips(DIDN'T MEASURE or chocolate bars, and spread as it melts. Cool completely and break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

I let it sit over night and then broke it with a butter knife. It's soooo stinkin good and it takes hardly any time AND I had all the ingredients.

Enjoy!

O Christmas tree.... you are naked

2008-11-23T20:35:00.000-08:00

This weekend was just another productive weekend. But first, Friday I got my pampered Chef kit in.... EARLY CHRISTMAS!!!! WEEEWWWW! ok... back to the schedules program. The laundry is done and ready to be packed or put away, our Christmas shopping is complete minus one person. Not to worry. My tree is up, but naked, the dishes are done, English toffee made, and my shopping list complete. WEW! Doesn't sound like much but throw in playing games, watching food network and visiting my dad and it takes a while to get it all done.
Saturday we "slept" in until about 8. We hung out and played games, ate breakfast. I downloaded my Pampered Chef Software. Wow I can tell it will help make life easier! About 11 we got dressed and went to my eye doctor to get my glasses adjusted, then over to the M&M sale at Ethel M. Not as great as I thought it would be. Then off to the mall! I heard Mervyns was going out of business so Eric and I took the opportunity to get him some church/dress/ shoes rather than wearing his old military dress shoes. I picked up some house slippers with the hard bottom so if I had to walk outside I could. I also got a new pair of socks. We picked up a few items for people on our list and headed to the rest. We hit about 3-4 more stores including the Wetzels Pretzels stand... mmmmm. Then across town to get stuck on the strip for another shop. Then we were done. On the way home we stopped my mom and dads house for my Tree. I wanted to get it up this weekend so we can enjoy it for the full month of December. We came home and I set the tree up. Instead of putting all together and then fluffing, I fluffed by the portion! so SMART! After hanging out we decided to go to bed. We put a movie on and Eric was out within 3 minutes. I of course stayed up. Some time during the night the power went out and reset everything! baaahhh! I was weird to wake up and see the clocks blinking. Well I rolled out of bed at 9? so much for church. :( Eric and I made breakfast together, Eggs with cheese and onions and then some bacon and toast. Mmmm it was good. I miss having breakfast with him. I cleaned up the house a bit and Eric did laundry. I put together a menu and shopping list for upcoming events; thanksgiving, cookie exchange, etc. Browsed food network and came across an English toffee that, 1 I had all ingredients, and 2, it was so easy!!! I debated on whether or not I should make it tonight. ehh why not. Let me tell you. It was so easy I made it twice! Eric couldn't keep his hands out of it! I barely had enough time to take a good picture of it. After all that the clean up was easy. I love my kitchen being clean. Maybe tomorrow I will go through it and pull out stuff we don't know we have.
All in all it was a great weekend. We are excited to get out of town and eat some awesome food with family. This will be my first Thanksgiving with my new family!

I had a hot date tonight!

2008-11-22T00:28:00.000-08:00

A while back my mom had given us some movie tickets. Good for all shows at any time. RAD! since movies are up to 10.50 a person, we havent gone in a very long time. Before work was over we decided via text to go out. We went to chili's and then to the movies. It was nice to be able to do that. AND since we live in Vegas as we walked out of the movie, we each played a penny machine with a dollar. Eric lost his and I was down to .19 the I won 1.35 and Eric told me to cash out. psh.. I hit that sucker again and lost a little then I hit it again and gain it back and then some. So I cashed out then... $1.84! WEW Big Spenda! So I kept my dollar and Eric lost .16 He'll have to do extra chores for that! hahaha. On our way home we stopped at my moms and I picked up my pampered chef kit. Holy Christmas! I'm loading the program onto my computer as we speak, well as I type. I'm very excited to get started.

Tonight was a very good way to end the work week. Now we relax for a semi crazy day tomorrow.

Maintain THIS!

2008-11-21T16:48:00.001-08:00

I’ve been doing a rather radical job at maintaining my job, life, kitchen, and weight. Go me! This weekend I clean the crap out of my kitchen and through out the week I have done dishes right after I use them. Eric has even been super great and he’s been doing his too. Keep in mind he used to have a hard time even rinsing the darn things after using them. But we have both been doing well. Over the weekend we did our grocery shopping at Costco. 50 bucks under budget! Don’t know how we pulled that off but we did. Even had dinner at Costco too. Saturday was a LAZY day a well deserved and needed lazy day. Eric has been working OT for the past month or so. It has been wonderful on the bank account, but not so wonderful for sleeping, his back/body, and my schedule. I used to get up with him and make him breakfast but 2:30 am is too early for me. He’s been working long days, coming home working out and then he does what ever is needed (relaxing, helping my parents, or whatever) I’m very lucky to have husband who loves my family. He has been over to my parents a few times this week helping my dad with the kitchen remodel. It makes me happy that he does that without being asked. We got up early and just hung out. I attempted home made wheat thins. And was successful! Well not that last batch I forgot about… whoops but those are mysteriously all gone now too. So looks like we will be saving money with those for snacks!
So another eventful week has come and gone. I think Eric and I saw each other maybe one and a half nights all together. So sad!
Monday I had my first Pampered Chef meeting. When I walked in I was asked to pick a product up off the table and then sell it as we made this meal. I shocked myself and my director. Did better than expected. Of course it was a 2 quart batter bowl (classic batter bowl) and that’s like selling money to someone. I love those things. I learned a lot about the company and products and I’m still very excited to get moving. I ordered my consultant kit, and I get a crap load of neat stuff. Everything I need to start my business.

Tuesday is MAN Tuesday. This really hasn’t happened for a few weeks. Eric looks forward to it. He gets together with my brother and a childhood friend of mine and my brothers and they work on their cars or random projects and no wives. This week Man Tuesday was held at my mom’s house. She needed some stuff moved out of the way so she could get her ceilings scraped. No more popcorn! So my brother and Eric went over there and worked for a few hours. I came home and made dinner for us and we just hung out. Eric also went and picked up my glasses for me and I CAN SEE! They are hard to get used to, always something on your face and then your nose hurts… maybe because my left ear is lower than my right. Who knows?
Wednesday I was invited to a coupon class by my sister. I had heard about it but nothing more. Its very eye opening and VERY smart! I’m going to try the tips and tricks and see how it works out. Right now we spend 200 a month on groceries at Costco. But it’s the same ole same ole. I’m ready to try this and get some different food in my kitchen! I miss making the chicken and potatoes meal and different things. I’ll let you know how it works out!
Thursday after work Eric went to my sister’s children’s school to be a hero. They had a literacy night and they had celeb impersonators come in and they said these are our super stars on TV and in the movies. Then they had Eric (NAVY) my brother (Army) and some others (Firefighter, Police Officer) come in and they said these are our real superstars or heros. Then I guess everyone walked around and they could come up to them and talk. Eric was a real sport for doing that. I know it’s not his favorite thing to do. He had to shave off his side burns he had been working on.  After we went to my brother’s house and hung out for a little bit and then we crossed the street to my sisters and had some dinosaur nuggets for dinner. Eric has fun eating them.
Tonight I think we are going to use our free movie tickets and actually go se a movie. Maybe I’ll take my big purse and take some snacks!

Pampered WHAAAAT?!?!

2008-11-15T09:48:00.000-08:00

What a week! What a freaking crazy week! I'm so glad it is Saturday! SO this week has been filled with excitement, let downs, and new adventures! So much stuff, I can't really remember Monday and Tuesday! I know I filled out a few part time job apps, but thats about it. Wednesday was the new adventure starter. I went grocery shopping on my lunch break, so worry I store the cold stuff in the fridge at work. But I mostly picked up Food Staples. Rice, Beans, Wheat Flour, etc... I always forget to buy those so when I do I make sure to stock up. So while at work I was talking about Pampered Chef with my co-worker. She said something how she want another apple wedger and I just flat out want it all! So as I'm going home my mom calls me and asks if she told me about a Pampered Chef show at 6:30 that night. So of course I went, knowing I couldn't buy anything really it was fun to be there. The consultant was HILARIOUS! She had everyone cracking up, even my niece Maeve! Well as the lady was doing a demonstration, I kept thinking wow I could do this. I could do it part time, make my own schedule and learn more in the kitchen! As we filled out the small questionnaire cards with our names and emails, I marked Maybe on hosting a show and being a consultant. When she asked me what maybe meant, I said open for ideas. So I booked a show for the 10th, and went home thinking about the gig. I texted my two sisters and asked what they thought and I got a great response from both. Eric was happy about it, one I will love doing it, two brings in some money, and of course he'll benefit from me testing recipes. Well I emailed the Consultant and wrote her a short story of why I want to do it. She called and asked, let me ask you one thing, Do you want to start now and do your own show. uhhh... I don't even know anything.... that's what went through my head. BUT HELLO?!?! I've invited all my friends and family, who better to start off with? Random people won't critique me, but family sure will!! SO I thought about it and said sure Ill do my own party. I told my mom and she was happy for me. I guess I never thought I'd get 100% positive response from everyone. I am so grateful to have a husband and a family who will support me. Makes you feel warm and fuzzy don't it? Wow!
Thursday night was BUNCO!!! wooooo! LOVE bunco! Our group is very diversee but we all get along and most usually have soemthing interesting to say. This month was at Diane Shorts house, she had fall table cloths and fall hershey kisses, ok so they were just wrapped pretty but i love those. She made this super good pasta with salad and garlic bread. and her dessert, oh wow... It was like a giant cookie with peanut butter, caramel, peanuts, and apples. It was Amazing! Well at the end of the night we tally up points and prizes are awarded! Guess who won? ME! I won for most points after losing most buncos to Tiffany, but hey I still won something. I got a cool Cherry Cobbler mix with a Bunco ornament. Diane is so smart! SMRT.
Friday night we went to our friends Kellee and Nicole's for dinner. We had some rad steak, potatoes, corn on the cob, peas, and home made mac n cheese. sooo good. I brought cherries jubilee cheesecake, but i think it took too long to cool so everyone had smores over their fire pit. Those were way good too! I may or may not have had two of them. We have a fun night just hanging out talking and laughing. It's nice to have good friends like that. We both came home and crashed. I woke up about 6:30 and just couldn't sleep, so I lain on our couch with the porch door opened and laid in the cool air. It was nice. I love winter and fall and winter. and sometimes spring.
So this was our crazy week. Monday and Tuesday I know I wasn't home.... but I really don't remember where I went. Isn't that terrible?

Thanks Tiff, Needed it.

2008-11-08T17:03:00.000-08:00

8 Things

8 TV Shows
1. The Office

2. Dexter

3. Desperate Housewives

4. Paula Dean's Party

5. Paula Dean's Home Cookin

6. Good Eats

7. Family Guy

8. and... this is hard cause we only get a few channels in... Madtv

8 Restaurants

1. Macayos, a must for every great childhood

2. Chipotle

3. Taco Bell

4. In-n-Out

5. Dal' Italia

6. Fridays

7. Little Caesars... I know...

8. Momma Egbert's Diner

8 Things I Did Yesterday

1. Worked

2. Drove

3. Had yet another battle with the co-workers about me not going to lunch with them

4. Pooped

5. Played my Sims

6. Made dinner... Twice this week...

7. Did the dished right after dinner... wow I'm getting good at this dish battle

8. Laid my pretty little head down next to sleeping Eric's. and laid there.

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To

1. Maybe a house

2. Seeing

3. Trip to Arizona

4. Playing my new game tonight

5. Less Debt

6. Losing more weight

7. Eric switching jobs...

8. The Holidays

8 Things on My Wish List

1. House

2. A Wii (right there with ya Tiff!)

3. Gettin my hurr did (getting my hair done)

4. a new jacket cause Eric won't let me wear the 3 year old sleeveless one... well half sleeved one.

5. Being a 10 again

6. Painted walls (comes with new house)

7. Prescription glasses

8. A good amount of money. "one dollar Bob"

8 People I Get to Tag

1. You

2. The person who sat three rows behind me in church

3. That one guys

4. That's what she said

5. Liz

6. Robin

7. Santa

8. Turkey

I can see you!!

2008-11-08T16:28:00.000-08:00

Well not yet! So after having insurance once again... I finally set up an eye exam. I was always able to see pretty dang well, but of course as time goes by and I stare more and more into the depths of the screen of my work computer, and ones at home. My vision has become a bit messed up. Doc says it's not too bad, but glasses will be and every day thing. yay? So I had Eric take me this morning. I havent had my eyes dilated in along time so I wasn't about to try and drive with them like that. Smart thinking. let me tell you. Home Doc put the yellow crap in... and it burned, then he put some other crap and more crap! I had about 4 tissues in my hands for wiping. well the yellow crap made my eyes a bit dry and it crusted in the corners... mmmm. Then he sent me into the lobby where it was all windows. a bit bright if you ask me. Then I tried on about 30 pairs of glasses. I found some cute ones.... CONVERSE! Not only can your feet have class, but your eyes too! haha pretty cute huh? The brown ones were too orangey.... and the red ones had pink... and she didn't have a picture of the olive ones. I may have gotten those to match my car and soon beach cruiser... haha. But Eric liked em and I thought they were Neatloaf. So after 670.00 worth of spending... thank goodness for insurance we only paid 90! They handed me these "old people" looking things and said ok bye glasses will be back in a week. As we are going home, Eric finds it mighty hilarious that I can't see. Everything is blurry.. well not the 2.43 gas price at the Chevron! Wowza! He called me Ray (Charles) and Stevie all the way home and even into the house. Punk. Man I am glad Im not THAT blind. That gave me a head ache. So I laid down for a bit and I guess while I did, Eric was jumping balconies and helping neighbors break into houses. haha. What a good guy right? Oh and he also insisted on taking pictures of my eyes. He said they look like sad puppy eyes. I have yet to see the pictures.

So after a fun day of not seeing. I am headed to Cory's hoWse where the party is bumpin. ;) I look forward to playing our new game that we bought weeks ago.

Oh P.S. To those who left comments. I am sorry. I wasn't being rude, I didn't know I had them. I saw them Yesterday (Friday) and I was like oh look... Love! So I played with my settings and I will now be able to get emails telling me whats up. Then I will respond.

Who will it be?

2008-11-04T15:21:00.001-08:00

This Last weekend, Eric and I were looking to relax. Hahaha He got a call from Kevin and helped him out with some patio blinds. That is one of the great things about family living so close. Always around and willing to help. I am so glad Eric and Kevin have a good relationship. That was always important to me growing up. I love seeing them run off and try to get into trouble. I think responsibility kicks in before they cause any real damage though. So Eric helped him all day pretty much. I think, I mean I KNOW there was playing too.
I went with my mother to a wedding of an old friend I grew up with. It was a pretty wedding and the dress was amazing! It sprinkled a little but not enough to worry about.

I got home and Eric and I went straight to bed. We set our alarms for 6:45 and I woke up at 6:34 according to Erics clock. Well I laid in bed waiting for the alarm. and at 6:48 (Erics clock) I realized my alarm didn't go off. So I check my phone and what do you know, it's 5:48. SWEET!!! Day light savings!!! I love fall and the extra hour. Pus it is easier to get up in the morning. now if only it could last.
So we got up and got ready at a good steady pace. We went to my brothers ward for his church meeting. He was blessing his baby. IT was fun to have almost the whole family there. We were just missing our Utah residents. Kevin gave a great blessing and Maeve looked so stinkin cute in her blessing dress. After wards we went to the "after party" as my nephew put it and we had lunch at their house and hung out. We planned our cookie exchange and progressive dinner. Sometimes it bothers me to hear people wanting to change how we do traditions. I often wonder if it hurts my mom to hear those suggestions too. Mom loves having her family around and loves having her own family traditions. but... another year was saved. I THINK I am looking forward to cramming 30+ people into my little home. It'll just be long enough to have hot chocolate and scat!
So it's just now 7:10... Election booth are closed.... I'm almost sick to my stomach thinking the worst could happen. I guess we just need to pray for the best and if the worst happens, then Pray for some strength, courage, and patience and keep in mind... 4 more years.

To buy or not to buy?

2008-11-04T14:41:00.000-08:00

This is the house we are looking at. Nothing is final and we are in the VERY beginning stages of even thinking about buying. But it's constantly on my mind now and we are praying about it. So if it's meant to be... it will be ours.

The link thingy wasn't working so cut and paste
http://realestate.aol.com/resale-homes/109__Elm_St-Henderson-NV-89015/1.nvglvaor_862946

October has come and gone!

2008-11-04T09:12:00.000-08:00

WEW! Can we say freakin busy?! One day I will be able to post sooner than 2 weeks after an event! Haha. Maybe not. Procrastination is something I’m working on. I’ll let you know how it goes when I get around to it. ;)

SO November… Voting day. Hope you all went out and made the RIGHT choice. I went early. If you haven’t done it, get off your butt!!!

October was so much fun. October was so busy. October is over and I am thankful for that!
We started off the month with decorating… or I should say I decorated and Eric threw spiders in the webs. Eric and I had a couple over for dinner. A guy I went to high school with who had just graduated from Metro Academy. So we had him over so Eric could pick his brain. It was nice because he had just gone through it all. At the end I felt more at ease with this idea/move. I believe it will be a good one for Eric, us and our future. Now just finding the time and guts to make that move. *sigh* This was a Friday. Saturday Eric and I got up to go take my brothers family pictures. They got all ready and then it rained. And was windy. We opted for Sonic and Tiffany and I went out to Mohlers to help Sarah with her hair. Honestly I was there for support. A friend had it in her mind that I could really do that… I am sure I could but, lack of confidence. Just another something I am working on. I am sooooo grateful I asked her to go. May have been a mess. So after we headed to Tiffany’s house and the guys had gone shooting with the other brothers and family. We got to their house about the same time. Tiff and I headed out for some shopping and Kohls differs SOOOO much from one side of town to the other. I often spend my lunch in the Kohls near work and usually I just browse. But because of winter and my successful diet, I found and felt I needed some new pants. So at lunch I tried on a pair. Memorized brand and size color and even the cheesy belt they throw in. Well that night with Tiff they had every other size but the one I needed. (Positive thinking… yay I’m average again!) So I talked myself into the darker pair. I was frustrated so I grabbed the size I needed and bought em. Back at Tiffany’s and Kevin’s.. Those suckers were like 3 sizes too small!!! Same brand same size but apparently color affects the size. Haha. So I HAD to wait until Monday I took those to the other Kohls and got my jeans. Now the hard part is trying to get me to take them off to wash them. Kidding.

Well the next day, Sunday, we had a family birthday party. Usually hosted at moms but due to the non existent kitchen we moved to Cory’s. It was a potluck and thanks to Wells Fargo rewards and some extra gift card moolla from the wedding we had bought an air popper from Bed Bath and Beyond. FINALLY!
I love air popped popcorn so much. Well I thought it would be fun to bring that. So we did. It was questioned by some in laws and siblings but oh well I thought it was great and their kids loved it. Plus I have tons of kernels left over and that has become my new snack.

Friday the 18th… THE dinner of the month. I hosted my FIRST actual dinner party with more than one other couple. Infact I had 4 couples all together! Eric and I got up went and bought all our food, came home cleaned and relaxed, set up the table and place settings. And Eric started cooking around 2:30.
He made his grandma’s beef stroganoff , and DAMN it was soooo good. I am proud to say my husband cooks! AND it was only appropriate that we used the dutch oven his grand mother gave us. I’ll admit at first I was scared of the thing, like what if it broke, etc… but since then it’s been used as a common pot. I love it!
I was making Pumpkin soup and my mom had slipped out of town before I got her recipe, and while standing at Costco wondering what to do (Eric was off testing food/eating his pre lunch) These pre made soup things caught my eye. Oh and looky here they had pumpkin Bisque!!! I bought two packs of those and dumped those suckers in my crock pot.
Looks like I made it ALL day and it was so good. Tiffany and Kevin brought cookies, Rachel and Ben brought cup cakes with Black frosting… those were fun to watch others eat, and Kellee and Nicole brought a crap load of food from Nicole’s birthday the night before (which we went to). We ate, talked, carved pumpkins, and made caramel apples. So good!
Once everyone left, we put away food and went to bed! It was a long day for us but worth it! I’m going to see if he’ll make more this month.

On the 26th we did a Zombie Walk. IT was world Zombie day. Basically you dress up like azombie and walk with others like zombies. It's quite hilarious. So we did that and were done sooner than we thought... so we walked Fremont street. IT took us THREE hours from one side to the other and back. It was so much fun though. We messed with people, crept up on them, walked at them as they took pictures. Took pictures of them taking pictures of us... etc... Fun fun!

The 29th was Kevin’s birthday, Eric and I wanted to go to dinner… then so did Sister Shelly. In the end we had 15 people. Kevin only knew about 6 I believe. But he was surprised to see Eric and me sitting at a huge table! It was fun.

Halloween, Originally we were both going to be Zombies again. My face didn't like that idea at all. The make up and fake skin from the Walk made me break out worse than a teen hitting puberty!
It was terrible. So as I lay in bed at 4:30 in the AM on Halloween I ran every piece of clothing through my head and thoguh what could I be..... Rosie the Riveter!! Tiffany was that last year and I thought... how freakin easy. So I grabbed my red bandana and went to walmart. The one by our house didnt have a single pair of overalls. so I called my dad and asked him if he had some. You never realize how tall your dad is until you try to stretch out in his coveralls. Unfortunately I couldn't stretch far enough. So I drover towards work and hit the walmart over there. BINGO! The only pair without a size... and I tried them on and sure nuff they fit. Probably the best costume to work in. Keeps you warm, and its comfy. After work I did Eric's make up and they we headed to mom's for DOUGHNUTS... mmmmm those are my absolute favorite thing about halloween! The family gathered slowly and somewhere through it all we wrote on the walls of the kitchen. Don't worry they will be covered soon. After some Chili and noodle salad and doughnuts of course, Eric and I headed to our friends Kellee and Nicole's for a party. They had more food and were just hanging otu talking. IT was fun. WE stayed until about midnight... and dang... we were tired. Came home, washed out faces and crawled into bed. October was officially over. sad face.

Our first year together!

2008-10-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

So the first year of being newly weds is over. I once heard you are a newly wed until you have kids... haha it'll still be a while. This year has been fun, I mean come on shoving two BIG personalities, habits, ticks, short comings, and all around lives into one home, forcing them to "live with it", It's fun. It seems you know a person inside and out and all about them, but then live with them for a year and you realize... you know them only a little. I've had fun getting to know Eric a lot more. I'm sure I've been a party too. ;) I love being with my family and being around them. Sometimes I can't get enough! Not only that but now I have two which is even better than only one! I love going to Arizona. Its like a small vacation each time. Heck going anywhere more than an hour from here is vacation. haha. We've had fun camping and traveling back and fourth to utah, vegas, phoenix, and back again. haha. We are thinking about a Washington trip next year maybe about Feb or march. It's still hard to believe a year has passed and yet its hard to believe it's only been a year.

For our celebration we went to the Melting Pot (of course) It's become tradition. We went there on our almost one year dating before Eric was deployed, and 2 days after our wedding for our pretend honeymoon. Needless to say it was still good. After dinner we went to Madame Tusseaudes Wax museum. It was freaky. I have a fear of masked things coming after me and or things being still and then moving. Im going to guess that the knight at the excalibur when I was 5 scared me too much. Some of the statues were so real looking you had to tap them to make sure. Somewhere towards the end we come across this "SCREAM" area. There is a dude with frizzed hair just standing. I didn't know who it was I figured it was a horror show character. So of course after seeing Eric be up close and nothing happening, I move up to see if I can tell who it is. That effer moved! Scared the shit out of me! Oh man I felt like my heart was going to throw up. It was funny to see other people jump though. As we walked into the next room, I said aloud "if anyone moves, I will punch you" No one moved. I think it was because they were all fake. It was still fun though. So after walking about a mile to get to our car we got in and it was time for bed. I wore some heels and I awarded myself with 4 blisters! (Thanks Christy now I know why you gave them to me for free!)
I can't imagine not having met Eric and missing out on all of the fun time and the bad times, and the akward times. Its been the best. I know right now we are both hoping our lives would move a little faster, but we still live in the moment or moments that we can get. I know one day we will both look back and wish we could lives these moments just one more time.

I will post more pictures tomorrow. I wrote this on our/My new laptop. We are still setting it up so pictures will have to be passed along by a flash drive for now.

It's a Pupdate! Get it?

2008-09-19T22:31:00.000-07:00

Puppies are doing well They are learning a lot! Like no potty on the floor, Poop is for outside, and daddy doesn't like chewed shoes. well the shoe thing is a work in progress. They are fun! We have taken them swimming once and they weren't too sure. They would sit on the step and try to talk to us and fall in.

They can swim though! Now each time Eric showers they push their way into the shower and just stand under the water and just hang out and relax. They love shower time. The cats are used to them but still don't put up with squat! That's OK cause they came first. As it turns out Greasy is MY dog and Marlyn is Eric's. Same for the cats.

Each animal that we named warmed up to the opposite person. Its funny but sad. Eric had his heart broken by Greasy but turns out shes a bit more timid than we all thought. She has a tough shell but is a softy inside.

She has just learned that if she tries extra hard she can jump up on the couch! She loves to cuddle with momma(me) and watch tv or lay on my feet while I cook. She's my baby. And Marlyn loves her daddy.

She will follow him just about anywhere and she loves to play with him. They are doing great and we will be bringing them to visit in November!!!! Love ya all!

PULL!!!

2008-09-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

Every Labor day weekend we have a huge family reunion. This is my Grandpa's family on my mothers side. Each year one of the original kids' family host the reunion. We all pay due to up keep our property but we rotate who is in charge of planning and events. This year we had a western theme and each family was to come up with a camp name. We were Shed's herd. My grandpa's name is Sheldon and his siblings called him Shed. So we were cows basically. We all got black and white bandannas that we wore around camp. Saturday is the day for events. Starting at 8am Utah time/7am Vegas time we have a skeet shooting contest. It is my favorite! I started when I was 14.

My first time shooting a shot gun and I got fourth among some seriously red neck ladies haha. Then my 2nd year I won 2nd place and the rest is history ladies and gents! Since 2003 I have been #1. Its fun to hear everyone cheer you on and say She's a sharp shooter and ask Eric how it feels to know your wife is a better shot... His reply "Great! That just means if someone breaks in at night I don't have to get up!" hahaha I was followed by my sister Shelly for Second and sister in law for 3rd in the womens. My niece/mini me got 1st place in young womens! That's my girl! It was a lot of fun. Meanwhile the kids were doing races and games up at our pavilion. I haven't been to those since 2000. :) Saturday night we have a talent night. There didn't seem to be many plays like normal. One of my mom's uncles had passed away about 2 weeks before the reunion. I was heart broken. He was always happy and made you feel good. All of his grand kids got up and sang his favorite song, "Waltzing Matilda" It was neat. Our family did a dance to a song called cows. We wore top had and had canes. It was a crack up

trying to fit us all on there. Then after Eric went to shoot his potato gun that he made and I stayed up and watched people dancing. We took the puppies with us. They absolutely loved it! We let them run free and they were good to stay by our camp and everything. Some of the kids enjoys letting them sleep on their laps and the young babies loved when they would lick their fingers through the cage... or bite them in a few cases. They slept in the car each night because it was tooooo cold for them just in the tent. The first night I was freezing! Sunday morning we have Cowboy church which is just family sharing time. They tell old stories and everyone is stary eyes just listening. Then later we have a huge lunch with every one a few hundred. our family did salads and I made a pasta salad. After lunch Eric and I packed up and headed down the mountain. We took the scenic

route to save 15 or 20 bucks in Zion. You have to pay to go through a tunnel. So we drove down through Colorado City and gandered the Polygamist! They sure are interesting people. We stopped and watered the dogs a few times. They sure do have some serious energy! Once we were home we slowly unpacked and rested. Monday we both had off and we played lazy alllll day. IT was nice for a change. I look forward to this same thing every year and I hope Eric will too. He's a little bitter the old farts wouldn't let him shoot his gun. haha He'll soon learn they are just old.

Call it Puppy Love!

2008-09-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

So after taking Chief to the dog park we wanted to wait a while until we got another dog. But since we heard that Eric's mom's dog was Prego we decided we would be taking one of those. What better way to obtain a dog right? Not only that but we can start from the beginning. Poor Chief was just too retarded and messed up in the head. So we went down to Arizona to visit and get a puppy. The drive went smooth until we couldn't find Amanda's new house so we roomed at Eric's parents. Once we saw those puppies oh man! My heart was melting! There were 3 there and we only wanted one. Then we wanted two but I had the hardest time choosing which I wanted.
I asked a friend of ours if they wanted one and they said yes! so of course they were getting the runt/sweetheart/cuddle bug.
While we were down there I was able to break away and go see my friend Danielle. I hadn't seen her since our wedding. She and I met in Tempe at Red Robin and probably sat there for about 2 hours just talking. IT was good to catch up with her. After that we walked around a few stores and then walked over by the theater where we saw.... VADER!!!!! and Storm Troopers! It was funny. They were there for a children's charity. Due to the misters that were running and making the humid weather even worse... the pictures sucked. but here you go!

Sunday morning we met up with Eric's friend Lindsay and her boyfriend for breakfast at Mimi's Cafe. It was sooo good. They had the biggest muffins I've ever seen!!!! oh and it was a fabulous party in my mouth!

Before we were ready to leave we gave all three puppies a bath. They weren't too sure about it but they managed to survive.

After bath time and good byes we packed up the pups and headed to their new home... Ours. We stopped every once in a while for potty breaks and once at a park that said no dog...

They weren't dogs they were puppies! We grabbed some food to eat while we were there and wouldn't you know there was a Whataburger right next to the park!

Eric was in heaven and even had to chat it up with the guy in the drive through. It was cute seeing him get excited over a burger joint! But I get teary eyed when it comes to laser tag so I can understand. We let the pups play for about an hour and then back into the crate. Once we got home we ran inside, peed and then headed for, at the time Olive/Lily's new home. Our friends loved her and thought she was just cute. she even cuddled right up with them. We sat and visited a while and then took our girls home. We got home and set up the puppy mansion for them and even gave them a blanket so cuddle up with. The next Day work was hard! I wanted nothing more to go home and play with the puppies! But as I was walking out the door to go home from work I got a call. It was our friend. She said her husband goes back to work and she can't handle the dog by herself. .... seriously? She offered to keep her until a new family was found but I thought it would be best to keep her with her sisters. No point in letting her lag in the learning and why should she be with people who can't love her. So I went and got back our sweetheart. It was nice to have her back. We were selling some stuff on craigslist and one lady came to pick up something and she asked about the dogs. She was interested in my Marlyn!!!! No way! Well I was still unsure of who to keep and Eric offered her Marlyn. Turns out she couldn't take her anyway. So after about 2 weeks or so we were desperate to get her a home and a family. We both knew from past pets, cough chief cough cough it is hard on a puppy to be passed around. So we sucked it up and put her on craigslist. I got many bites but all I was a little iffy about. Until I got one. Her name was Lisa and her email gave me a calm feeling. So we arranged for her to come pick her up. When she did we knew she needed and would love our sweetheart as much as we would. She was a little homely looking but very kind. She lives close and we showed her where the dog park was. We live right across the street from it. It has to be my favorite place/past time. I felt good about it and she emailed me several times thanking me and letting me know how she was doing. She named her Beanie cause of her coloring. We are glad to have the puppies and even when training gets hard we still love them!

Egbert family get together

2008-09-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

Since our family is "skipping" the Egbert reunion this year, some of us decided to hang out at the cabin anyways. No plans, no schedule to follow, just relax and do what you please. It was nice to do as we pleased. Eric and I slept in my mom's trailer since she was in the cabin. That was fun. Usually the cabin is filled with crying children randomly during the night and full force in the morning. I mostly played card games and hung out while Eric took my nephews, Evan and Joe, on a hike down into that canyon/Cliff you saw from the post before. They were gone for about 4 hours. They were able to play in the creek and shoot off some rounds haha At that time my sister in law and brother Pauline and Chris were at the top watching them. Aaron once again caught a craw dad and My niece Jenna played mother with it. When it was time to go she and her dad had to put it back.

Obviously he didn't get the "don't take morning pictures" memo

Me holding Baby Deonna and talking to my dad

A mock picture for a friend

Eric on his rock!

Evan, Eric and Joe

"I can has Cheez burger?"

Jenna putting her friend back in the lake

There he goes!

Extra pictures from the July 11th reunion

2008-09-01T11:35:00.000-07:00

Looking from our cabin down towards the cliff

Diana by the cliff

Eric and I

Eric by the cliff, wondering if he made it in the picture

Family Reunion July 11th - 13th

2008-09-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

So this summer we have been in and out of town just about every other week. We first went to a family reunion on my mothers side of the family. It was nice. We rode four wheelers and face painted and played in hail storms, well Eric did. He had a bunch of kids on the ranger and had gone down to a near by lake. While they were down there a huge storm came in and it brought hail. Eric played hero and brought them all back in one piece. I think EVERY kid was soaked and crying. After dropping off all the kids he had to go back to get my brother Aaron who was fishing on the lake and had gone back out to get his crawdad traps. He only caught one! haha.

Eric getting ready to leave town

Diana's face painting skills

Eric's face... painting.... skills hahaha

Brandon eating Cheetos

Sheldon waking up from his nap

Diana and Sheldon

Eric getting ready to take kids on "that" ride

Sheldon and I riding around

Driving to the cabin to get Eric some warms

Shelly keep dry... inside and helping with the auction

Gordon the dog got soaked in the rain

Aaron and Eric digging through the candy after the storm

Eric the gate man

Shelly eating dinner... but look closer and you get...

Puppy loves fishes cause they so delicious

Staying warm in mom's camper

Eric and I with puppy labs

Sheldon loves the puppies

Adam getting down on some Wii Rockband

We had fun and it was nice to get out of town

Keeping in touch?

2008-08-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

We are starting this so people can keep tabs on us. haha Mainly Eric's family. We will TRY and post each week with different events or just random updates here and there.
It is finally August... guess what FALL is coming. I think Eric is sick of me telling him that, but it is my favorite season by far. July was a crazy and hectic month for us but it was fun. On the 3rd of July we went to a 4th of July celebration. It was put on by the LDS church and it was put together very well. My sister(Myrinda) and sister in law(Anya) both sang in the choir and my niece (Crystal) played in the orchestra. It was very breath taking and tear jerking. Eric dressed in his Dress whites mm mm, Love a man in uniform ;) I forgot to get a stinking picture of us. I had made my skirt and outfit and all. It was fun. Afterwards we went to a park and watched some fireworks with the Egbert clan. and then ventured across Las Vegas to our home.

On the 4th we headed to East Las Vegas to my Aunt's house to watch fireworks from her property. I dont think either of us saw them since Eric was out front lighting things on fire and I was back talking with friends and family. It was good food and good times.

This was the table of grub. Sorry for the blur. We did invest in a new camera.

Us and our friends Rachel and Ben (my niece Deonna with Rachel)

Eric, Kevin, Ben and Cory playing with about 15 sparklers each and a torch.

Momma Egbert holding nephew Brandon and Pappa Egbert sleeping(he's a pro)

4th of July was fun. It's not what it used to be but we do what we can.