ToO mUch FuN!!!

As most of you know I flew to Utah Sunday, Aug. 3rd to meet up with my parents, my aunt Wilma & my cousin Shelly from Texas! We had a great time! They flew in on Monday the 4th. That first night we all went over to my brother and sister in law's house and had a yummy BBQ in the back yard. Dirk got steaks at Costco and grilled them, Ellen made funeral potatoes & squash, we had fresh corn on the cob, watermelon, and cantaloupe. My mom and aunt made Texas sheet cake for dessert. I could just kick myself for not taking pics that night!!!

Then on Tues. we went to Beto's for breakfast, they have the best steak and egg burritos!

After we got our tummies full we went to Thanksgiving point to the 52 acre's of gardens. It was beautiful! I DID manage to get LOTS of pics there! Here are a few...

Wednesday we went to tour temple square... we thought it would be fun to ride "trax" on the way into SLC.

On Thursday we went up to Park City! We had SO much fun! We were going to ride the slide down but it was sprinkling and there was some lightening so it was shut down. But, since I had been up there they have put in several rides including a FUN "coaster" ride down the side of the mountain! Here we are... having a blast!!!

What goes up....

Must come down....

After a great time at Park City we went back to SLC and ate at... yep, you got it, Cafe Rio!!! Then to the Conference Center to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir practice...

On Friday we hung out at the cabin, went to mom's and then went to Sundance for a BBQ (well, the Texans had a hard time calling hamburgers with chips a BBQ... "Where's the brisket??!!!" LOL!!! We laughed about that one all night!) and watched "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

Wilma & Shelly, thank you for coming... it was TOO much FuN!!! I vote next year... a cruise!

Trip to Utah!

Well, I fly out EARLY tomorrow morning to go play!
I fly into SLC... my mom & dad will pick me up at the airport and then we will go to church (they have church in the afternoon). My aunt and cousin from Texas fly in on Monday!!! They have NEVER been to Utah! So... my question for you is... WHAT would you take them to see and do??? (They are not LDS) I am so excited!!! We will have tons of fun!

Breaking Dawn!!!

I know I am headed to Costco early Saturday morning to get MY copy of Breaking Dawn!!
But IF you JUST CAN'T WAIT... an exert leaked on the Internet! Go HERE to read NOW!!! (Part of this is FUNNY! Part of it totally annoys me... )

Okay, I HAVE to ask... do YOU hope Bella turns into a vampire or not??? Why or why not??!!! (They DO have to get married, dont ya think??!!!!)

Earthquake!!!

Oh my gosh, did you feel that??!!! I have lived in Cali for 22 years and I have felt MANY of earthquakes, but can I just tell you that was the LONGEST and HARDEST quake I have EVER felt... I am still swaying (NO JOKE!) I am home alone and I have to say this is the first time it was NOT fun!!! I freaked for a min... I could hear things falling! WHERE was the epicenter? HOLY COW! I had to stop and think (tough job for ME!) WHAT am I supposed to do during a quake??? Shoot... do I get under the desk? Do I get in the doorway? I CAN'T REMEMBER!!! WHAT am I supposed to do??!!! Should I go outside???!!! HELP.

Okay, it is over. I am fine. Relax, Shaila.

Seriously, I have NEVER felt one like that before! I am still shaking! I usually enjoy a quake... it has always been like a Disneyland ride. THIS ONE was NOT. I didn't think it was going to end.

Okay, I am fine. It is over.


UPDATE: No wonder I was shaking forEVER. Check THIS out!!! A 5.8 and then THREE 3.8 after shocks!!! YIKES! You can read about it HERE.

Funny, Funny, Pink Lady!

Like I said before, my sister in law, Jennifer came to visit! We had SO much fun!!! I just had to do a little post about this because it was SO. DANG. FUNNY.

She wanted me to take her shopping and help her pick out some fun new clothes! Well, you don't have to twist my arm on that one! So, a shopping we did go! She bought a ton of new, cute, & fun things including a new HOT PINK purse and a darling pink rain coat!!! LOVED them both! Anyway, when we got home, she pulled out all the things and we started laughing our heads off! EVERYTHING was either black, white or HOT PINK!!! That was it. Black. White. Pink.

A loving parent...

As I prepared my SS lesson last night (yeah, last min, my fun SIL was in town) I thought of Alma giving his sons his last words of wisdom... What would I say to my children? He shared his conversion story. He bore his testimony. (Why is it important for children to hear their parents bear their testimonies? In what ways have your parents' testimonies influenced your life?) He praised them and encouraged them to keep up the good work. The tone of the message to each one is loving and fatherly...

And to his prodigal son... (Alma 39:7) "I would not dwell upon your crimes to harrow up your soul if it were not for your good." Alma's love for this son is clear as he carefully points another way, moving him toward the light. He does not disdain this boy or call him names. He does not confine Corianton into a position of hopelessness or paint him into a corner. We cannot see Alma telling his son that he is a wretch, an embarrassment. Instead, he calmly and forcefully tells the truth. Repent and do them no more. You knew better. Turn to the Lord with all your mind, might and strength. Acknowledge your faults. And then he speaks to him about the Savior... the atonement... the ONLY way back. Our Father with his tender mercies... loves us and provided a way! Alma taught in a calm manner and with great power, and Corianton does ultimately respond and repent.

Every child of God does not walk a straight path back to the kingdom of God, and blessed is the parent who will never, never, never give up. Parents are often given eyes to see the eternal nature and possibilities for their children, when all the current evidence and behavior screams the contrary. "You cannot fool me; I see you there. I see beyond your disguises and masks, and I know who you are," says the wise parent with a stewardship over a difficult child.

Randomness...

Tomorrow my darling sister in law, Jennifer, flies in!!! I am SO excited! What are we going to do this trip Jen??? Here is a fun pic from from another time she was here... yeah, no kidding, whose ever seen a shopping cart in a mall??? LOL Too fun! Good times! Jen, bring your biggest checkbook!

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I have a great blog that you guys should go check out! HERE it is.... My cute nephew (Jeff) is in China... he is an EXCELLENT writer! He needs to do this for a living although I am sure he would rather be a herpetologist! So, IF you have the time go read a few of his entertaining posts!!!

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Pray for Adam & Bryce!!! ♥♥♥

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Okay, so, yeah... on Sunday Pres. S came up to me just before Sac. Mtg. and said he would like to meet with Brad and I after the 3 hour block. LONG. THREE. HOURS.

So, we went into his office and he asked me to be the new Institute teacher!!!! YEP! I am REALLY excited!!!! But, a tad bit nervous too!!! I have worked with some of these kids in YW, girls camp, or taught them seminary over the past years so that part is fun!! I do know quite a few of them! We will be meeting on Tues. at 7 pm. We will be studying the New Testament!!! YEAH!!! ALL about our Savior and His teachings!!! Did I mention that I am excited??!!! I am headed out to get this book! Ya gotta love the Parry brothers!

READ Quick!!!!! Shaila doesn't know I posted this on her blog!!!!

Hello Dear readers, you may think you are reading a post by Shaila, but... I logged in for her and am posting this blog entry, so read fast before she deletes it! . You see I tagged her on my blog. It was a tag to describe yourself. Shaila has a ton of talents but she doesn't see herself like I do. She frets over talent nights. BIG TIME! I know her quite well... well enough to have her password to her blog, as well as her pin number to her checking account! Anyone wanna go shopping??? LOL She forgets I have been accused of having a photographic memory, boy wont she be surprised when she logs on!!!

So... I better type fast!

Six words to describe her...

Supporter! If you are having a problem she is there in your corner cheering you on! She wont let you stay down for long!
Good Listener- Cant tell you how often I have counted on her for advise
EXCELLENT teacher! Did she tell you she got called to teach institute??
Gospel scholar-We have read and shared notes from all the standard works. She has great insights! I LOVE reading with her!
GREAT MOM! She had to be held back at a soccer game when her son got carded!
FUNNY!!
Decorator /Wedding planner Check out what she did for her sons weddings!
Oh and fashion coordinator. She is picking out my outfit when my son gets married, something about it REALLY is important that shoes match your outfit!
Tender hearted
Oh and the last one... TRUSTING... I mean she did give me her blog info!!!
I really could go on and on. But I better sign off before I get caught! SO, your assignment is make a comment on what talents you see in her!

Just curious...

.... as to the age and sex of your children! You do not have to give names if you dont feel comfortable... Here I will start...

I am a mother of 5 sons! AND, now, 2 daughters!

Derek, 25, married last March to Brittany! (BYUI)
Devin, 23, married last August to Diana! (BYUI)
Blake 21 (BYUI)
Dallin 17 (Sr.)
Chad 12 (7th grade)

BEACH: Playing, engagement pics & Dolphins!

We had lots of extended family in town this weekend! We had lots of fun! On Saturday we all went to the beach and played! We had a great time! Here are a few pics of the kids playing... Chad and a few of his cousins!

When the kids got tired Abby took them back to my house and Karen and I took some engagement pics for my niece and her fiance. Well, I call her my niece, because her mom (MY cousin) and I are SO close, she is like the sister I never had! Here is one of the shots of them that I got. There were lots of great ones, it will be interesting to see which ones they choose to use!

BUT the MOST exciting part (sorry kids) was just as we were getting ready to leave... WE SAW A POD OF DOLPHINS!!!!! IT was so awesome!!! They were swimming north... I was so tempted to follow them and keep taking pics!!!

Mom's can brag!

Dallin took AP Psychology last year and he opted to take the AP exam. We got the exam score back last week while we were on vacation. Jodi posted her sons score and I thought what a great idea, so I am copying... thanks for the idea Jodi! I mean, we DO need to compliment our children, right? GREAT JOB, Dallin!!!

For those who might not know... an AP class is a college prep class. At the end of the year you can take the exam at the end of the year for college credit. It is scored 1-5 with 5 being the highest. Dallin scored a 5! Yep, a 5!!! WAY TO GO DAL PAL! We are all so proud of you and your academic excellence! You are a stud! Keep up the good work!

It's 5:00 Somewhere...

I have had several of my friends tell me that I need to post a picture of my clock wall. So, here it is....

How did this come to be you might ask? I have a sickness... I LOVE clocks! THERE. I admitted it. That is the first step, right??!!!

One day I was looking through a magazine and there was a picture of a clock wall! No way! I. ABOUT. DIED. (Did I mention that I LOVE clocks???) So, the obsession began.... Wait. It had already began but I just didn't know what to do about it. Now I did! And, so, the clock wall began! My sickness for EVERYONE to SEE!

Then, we had enrichment night here. One of the sisters in our ward (that I really look up to) said to me, "Wow, Shaila, I am so surprised that you like clocks so much, time is such a mortal thing." uh, wow... uh... I didn't know what to say!!! I laid in bed that night and thought and thought about how mortal I was!!! HAHAHA!!! Yep, that is me, MORTAL! Does that mean I am worldly? Does that mean I am not spiritual? What did that mean??!!!

So... I have a friend that does vinyl lettering... and I had her do the letters, "I need Thee every hour" GET IT??!!! okay, so now I am mortal AND spiritual!!! LOL....

GREAT NEWS!!!

We got GREAT news today!!! Brad just got home from Vegas a bit ago, he had gone so he could be with Bryce when they extracted the bone marrow this morning. The Dr. said that the results from the Body Scans were back and there is NO other cancer in his body!!! ONLY the tumor in his colon!!! NOTHING ELSE!!! So, he said, that means that the bone marrow should be clear too! He would not tell him for sure yet, but he said it looks like it will only be stage 1!!! YEAH!!! GREAT NEWS!!! He has large B cell non Hodgkin's Lymphoma... probably only stage 1!!! WE ARE SO SO SO HAPPY! THIS IS GREAT NEWS!!!!

Tomorrow he goes in to talk to the surgeon and schedule the surgery to put the "shunt" in to administer the chemo. Then on Friday they go in for a class about chemo. Hopefully they will put the shunt in soon! The Dr. said after the shunt is in they will give him a couple of days for the swelling to go down and then they will start the chemo. He said as soon as they start the chemo the tumor will start to shrink and the pain will subside!!! So, get ready Jose, you will soon be shrunk down to NOTHING!!! GONE! You will no longer exist! ...BYE BYE!

Yeah, Bryce, we are doing the HAPPY DANCE over here!!!

And, of course, we are very grateful that our prayers were answered!!!

Cancer, the Golith we fight...

Victor L. Brown in the Nov. 1974 Ensign said, "Remember that every David has a Goliath to defeat, and every Goliath can be defeated. He may not be a bully who fights with fists or sword or gun. he may not be flesh and blood. He may not be nine feel tall; he may not be armor protected, but everyone has their Goliaths. And everyone has their sling, and everyone has access to the brook with its smooth stones.

About 16 years ago we lost Brad's mother to cancer. She was a wonderful selfless woman who always thought of others. She was a wonder example to me and to many others of how to live a Christ like life. I hope that I can be like her one day.

About 2.5 years ago we lost Brad's brother to cancer. He too was a very giving and loving man. He was the best home teacher I ever knew. One cool thing about Barry was he ALWAYS spoke Spanish to his children, NEVER English. He served his mission to Mexico. His children have that wonderful gift to remember him... another language.

Here is a picture of Barry standing at our back door...

Last Monday we found out that Brad's youngest brother was diagnosed with cancer. He has a tumor about the size of a lemon. He named the tumor Jose. We do not have much info as of now... he had a full body scan on Friday and tomorrow they are drawing bone marrow biopsy. Brad has gone to Vegas to be with him for that. He will have a shunt put in to receive the Chemo. We do not know what stage it is yet... we are praying that they caught it early. Please remember him (and his family) in your prayers.

Here is a picture of Bryce

My son Dallin just came in and I was reading about Goliath and he said, "Do you want to know my new favorite scripture?" And of course I did... It is John 16:33. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. Thank you Dallin, now I will go to bed.

No one is home....

We have gone to take Dallin to EFY (Provo) and then on up to Idaho (Willow Flats) the next week for our family reunion.

No one is home, leave a message after the beep.....

BEEEEEEP.....

Icing on the cake!

I got home from girls camp yesterday. It was the BEST year ever!!! We had the BEST YCL's this year! CUTE, FUN, SWEET girls! Thank you, girls, I love you all!!!

I think I told you before our theme this year was ARK (as in Noah's... It stood for "Acts of Random Kindness"). The icing on the cake ~ one of the girls brought her guitar to camp... with the altitude and heat/coldness... during the day the (not sure what it is called) piece down by the "hole" that holds the strings broke off! It was SO sad. She was so so so bummed out!!! One of the girls in her cabin told her mom that she would like to give her HER guitar. She had one gotten one for her Bday about a year and a half earlier and never learned to played it. So she called her bishop and he brought it up on Thurs. and she gave it to the YW that night. It was soooooooooo tender! Tears were shed... very, very sweet. It truly was exactly what the theme was... an act of random service! The young lady played it during dinner that night... I wish I would have gotten a picture of that but I didn't have my camera with me, darn it!

Here are some fun random pictures from girls camp...

All dressed up and waiting on the buses of girls
In the lodge... waiting to find out which A frame they are in!

Noah! (skit)

Ready for the party! (We were the Flamingo's, hence the hot pink EVERYTHING!)

Skit... Grandma's in the cellar!

The last night of camp all the bishop, the YW presidents and all their spouses come up and we have a special night including dinner, program, and testimony meeting. The YCL2's all sing the 3 white dresses song... they all wear white tops and a skirt... this is a few of the YCL2's just before the program.

Saying good bye... here come the buses!

What a great year it was!!!

Snakes, oh my!

My son, Devin, has always been into herping (searching for reptiles or amphibians). You can look at his and his cute wive’s blog to see (Dev & Di). Anyway, I guess the tradition goes on… now my younger son enjoys it too. Everyone in our ward is aware of their knowledge in this field. ~Funny side note, one Sunday the bishop was motioning for Dallin to come up to the stand… he needed him to get a SNAKE OUT OF THE CHAPEL! LOL, it was up by the Sacrament table! ~ So, anyway, yesterday Dallin got a phone call from a family in our ward that lives out on the hill by our house. They thought that they had spied a rattlesnake and wanted him to come get it! He went straight over there and found that it was a gopher snake. Gopher snakes are known to imitate a rattlesnake, they can make their head flat, etc… anyway, here is a pic of the gopher snake he caught.

Here are a few pics of Dallin and Katie with the rosy boa...

Tagged!

So, my cute southern friend, Merrianne tagged me! This time the tag is to post a picture of my Motherboard... so, here ya go! This is where I sit and write the posts for my blog!














So, now I tag Diana, Brittany, Brieanne, Lindsay, Allie, Jodi, Jessica, Gina, Ann, Pam, Debby and anyone else that wants to!!!

Girls Camp PraNks anyone??!!! °Ü°

I have been working on all the stuff for girls camp. I am excited, I love girls camp! We (stake leaders) are going up on Saturday to take up a LOT of the decorations and craft stuff up so we won't have to haul so much up on Monday. Then ALL the leadership goes up on Monday and the bus of campers will be arriving on Tues morning! We cut camp short a day this year to due to the Dance Festival so we will all be coming home Fri morning. Our theme this year is "ARK" (as in Noah's) ARK stands for Acts of Random Service!

Now that all the work for camp is mostly out of the way, I have been trying to come up with some fun little PraNks for camp... I remember one year we tied a string to the screen of the leadership cabin and would get behind the bushes and pull on the string... it scared the girls in the cabin to death! FUN! SO... any fun suggestions for this year???

Here are a few pics from Super Saturday...

Shauna (head director), me & Michelle (we are the Flamingo's!)

Time for a commercial break…

Okay, I have to share a few products that I love once again!

#1 - I found a great PILLOW!

We went to Vegas for a wedding a few weeks ago and we stayed with my sister in law. When it was time to go to bed, I laid my little ole head down and fell in love! (not with my hubby, silly, I am already in love with HIM) The pillows that Lori had on the bed!!! Man. Awesome. So, I went home and ordered one and I am now sharing the secret to a good nights sleep with you! I ordered it on line at Sam's club. You might be able to find it else where... here is the info: http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=359982

#2 - Foundation!

I have several friends that use that new powder stuff and they look lovely so I bought some and used it for a couple of weeks but... it got powder EVERYWHERE! AND, I was just not sold on it. So, I am back to my FAVORITE! It is cheap too, yeah! Well, NOT cheap but cheaper that that expensive stuff! It is Revlon ColorStay! Love it! I looked it up on line for you and found out that there are SEVERAL ColorStay products... here is the one I love. http://www.revlon.com/ProductCatalog/ProductDetails.aspx?CategoryID=1&SubCategoryID=3&ProductID=16

AND BTW, I also love the powder.

#3 - Tan Legs!

Okay, this one is TOP SECRET! SSSHHHHH!!!!! I mean... I want all my friends and family to think that my "tan legs" are all NAT-U-RAL, if ya know what I mean. SO, you CANT tell!!! °Ü° Here it is!

Hawaiian Tropic Island Radiance Self Tanner.

So... how about under comments YOU share some of YOUR Favorite things!