The Small World of the Mack Pack

Valentine and Easter 2010

2010-07-09T12:02:00.004-06:00

We had a blast sharing our Valentine traditions with Brad and Kendall and their two sweetie kids this year! Scott and I figure that it is really fun right now in our lives to include our kids in our Valentines Day traditions! We keep it simple and family friendly... I order a heart shape pizza from Papa Murphy's, and while its cooking the kids make valentine cards for each other, and I set up the table to have an elegant candle-light pizza dinner. The kids love that I sprinkle valentine candies, like confetti, all over the table! Its SO fun, every year!

Kendall made the DELICIOUS Valentine's dessert! Flourless Chocolate Cloud Cake, with fresh-made Raspberry syrup! SO YUM!

* * * * * * *

Easter was SO fun as well! We all got new mits and baseballs in our Easter baskets! The kids also LOVED dressing up in their Easter clothes for brunch at G&G Mack's!

We LOVE the tradition of Easter Brunch as Scott's parent's home every year! We endulge in huge Belgium waffles, delicious fruit bowl and pudding dip, and Grandma Mack's famous sausage and egg casserole... I am usually not a fan of sausage, but her casserole is SO delicious! I look forward to it twice a year, Christmas and Easter! We also played some catch with our new mits and had a GREAT Easter egg Hunt! SO much fun!!!

Updating 2009 ... Enjoy the Highlights!

2010-04-03T16:42:00.000-06:00

... Ah! It has been way tooooo long since I have posted about my amazing family! (Thanks for the little reminder, Tami, that I need to get posting!)

Here are a few pictures and stories to highlight the rest of 2009 ...

We had such a fun summer! Got to be with cousins Elli and Delaney, go with friends and bbq up the canyon, face paintings at McDonalds... are a few pictured here. Hana's green hair is from her Crazy Hair day during the Rock Climbing camp she did! What a blast!

***

As for Amy... I took a job teaching at the private school where Hana has attended pre-school and Kindergarten, Children's Christian School. I teach the Jr. High class, 6th-8th grade. I LOVE it! My kiddos get to be with me all day... Hana in 1st grade and Conrad in preschool. What a blessing!

This collage of pictures is titled "Od to Scott's Baby!" Scott's truck was rear-ended extremely hard while he was stopped at a red light during 4:00 traffic. Sadly, it totaled his truck. We took some goodbye pictures of it before we left it at the junk lot. Sad day for Scottie :(

For Conrad's 4th birthday I did a Mario Brothers theme... as you can see the RAD cake I made! :o) So to add to the jumping action of the Mario brothers, we rented a bounce house... and it happened to be on the ONLY day it rained in September! :( Lame! SO we had a house full of people... friends and family, and wet, freezing kids running in and out as they bounced in the bounce house. As you can see in the pic, the kids are soaked out there, but having a blast!

As always.... GO UTES! Scott and I had fun at all the home games, and took the kids to a couple! Our favorite time together was when Scott and I went to the Oregon game. It was a fun get-away for the two of us!

For Hana's 7th birthday... we had a Pet Shop theme... once again... as you can tell with my RAD cake! :0) Since Hana's birthday is in December we can't do outside parties, so we took a few of her friends to Hollywood Connection... an indoor place with rides and mini golf. They had a blast! Then on her actual birthday we had more family and friends over! Good times!

The next few pictures are highlights of Christmas! I loved being at Nana McKinnon's this year on Christmas Eve.... she is a lot of fun! ;) We were able to spend a little time at G&G Holt's too.

Christmas morning is the BEST with kids! I love it! The pic of Conrad is him, so quietly, sitting waiting patiencely to open his gifts at G&G Mack's house... I think he was shutting down from overload.... it was funny.

Aaaah. St. George family! Silly silly! Love you!

It was a GREAT year of 2009! Happy New Year ... 2010!

"Goin' Country" with Cami and Zach...

2009-08-13T12:09:00.012-06:00

Here is a pic of Zach (black hat), Cami, Hana, Conrad and a couple cast members that perform in the show. (Virginia trip August 6-11, 2009)

We got to visit Cami and Zach in Virginia! It was a blast! Below are a couple links to videos I put on YouTube of their show "Goin' Country!" It was so fun - Scott, I and the kids never got sick of watching them sing and perform! They make it so fun and Cami and Zach each had their moments of changing things up a bit to make it fun. Zach also played lead guitar in the band for Kinetix show - he is amazing on the guitar!

We also had some REALLY GREAT hangout time with them! We LOVED it!!!

Click the links below to see the videos on YouTube...

---- Cami and Zach performing in their Goin' Country show (on Youtube)

---- Cami singing "Survivor" by Reba (on Youtube)

Pioneer Day!

2009-07-25T20:43:00.005-06:00

Hurray for Pioneer Day!

Things you do when you get away in Park City for two nights...

Chill in the condo, and make treats
Enjoy the pool and hot tub
Learn to swim under the water on own (Hana did it!!!)
Mozy at a local Farmer's Market, and get a new belt (Scott will model it)
Find a local party and participate in all the fun free stuff...
...face painting, fried chicken and corn, music, Utah's heritage.
Ride the Alpine Slide! Good times!

Check out the video of us going on the Alpine Slide!

One of the BEST days ever!!!

2009-07-19T23:01:00.004-06:00

Scott and I have really been wanting to take the kids on a really great hike up in Uintahs (our most favorite place to be!). So we decided on a hike that was about 2 or so miles with little lakes on the way, so as not to get bored. We would end up at the Clyde Lake, relax and fish and eat lunch, & maybe mozy over to Three Divide Lakes if we wanted before we headed back.

At Clyde Lake we relaxed and played for a couple hours. The kids found a fun little pond they named "The Little Mack's Lake" and played in their "clubhouse" right by it. Then Scott and I decided, from looking at the map, it would be fun to cut across and bush-wack to another trail to head back. It was SO beautiful!

We also LOVED teaching the kids about what we LOVE ... being in the mountains, hiking, and going into parts of the mountains that not too many people go. It was one of my BEST days!!!

The hike ended up being 6 miles long, total! And our kids walked to WHOLE way! We just can't stop being so amazed and so proud of wonderful kiddos!!!

Here are just a few of the amazing views we had as we hiked! WOW!
Can you spot Zephyr in this one above?

I figured it out!!!

2009-07-03T01:16:00.000-06:00

For SO long I couldn't figure out why I could click on some of my collage pics I posted and I could see them bigger, and others I couldn't. Well, I figured out that when I export them directly from the collage pic after I create it in Picasa, it will enlarge if clicked on. If I export it from my pic library on Picasa it can't enlarge if clicked on. YEAH! I figured it out! (this post is for you Beck ;)

June June June

2009-06-30T10:30:00.005-06:00

What a FUN June we had. As I continue to play "catch up" with this blog, here are the highlights...

The following collage of pics is pretty funny! We went camping with our friends, Jason and Heidi Sterzer and their kids, and Neils and Natalie Griffith and their kids up at Smith-Morehouse in the west part of the Uintah Mtns. We all have kids the same age! There were 8 little kids running around all under the age of 6 years old! So FUN! We fished and explored and had great campfire time!

This is Hana watching Jason gut a fish! Hilarious!!! (Abby was laughing so hard, I think because of Hana's reaction! :)

Next, the week before Father's day, Brad called us one evening and said "Hey, we're comin' up tomorrow! I have to work up in SLC and I'm bringin the fam!" What a great surprise! Here are some cuties and a fun cake Kendall and I were inspired to make!

The cake is all of our faces in each of our families on the cute frosting tree! (We had just watched Cake Boss! I LOVE that show! Buddy is my idol!)

June 21st: Father's Day!

I made a cake for Scott, RC, and Terry (G-pa Mack) and we enjoyed it after dinner at the Mack residence! It was a delicious made from scratch, chocolate cake, cream cheese frosting, and dark chocolate gonache in the middle and on the top! YUM!

The next weekend, Saturday June 27th, the kids participated in a one mile children's race called the Mountair Mile. It is a local race one guy and his neighborhood started to benefit The Sharing Place. --Kids helping kids! My kids LOVE it because it is just long enough to challenge them and short enough to be FUN! They rode their scooters and then they run in the last 1/8 of a mile. It was fun. My bakery Ar Mel's sponsored all the treats! The cakes and cookies were a hit!

The next day, June 28th, we took the fam on a little evening hike up by Brighton Ski Resort! It was beautiful! We tried to go to Lake Mary, but it was straight up hill, so we just made it 1/2 mile short, to a swampy lake called Dog lake. A good warm up for the kids. haha

I LOVE my cute family!!!

Hana and her 2 Kindergarten Graduations!

2009-06-10T10:12:00.001-06:00

We sure LOVE our Hana!!!

As an effort to transition Hana from her wonderful preschool at a K-8 private school to (free)public school we had her go to Kindergarten at both places (one morning session, one afternoon session - busy girl). At first we had a very logical reason why we did this - - - I can't seem to remember it, but none-the-less it was a well rounding experience for Hana and us all. We met some great friends in the process and Hana learned A LOT! Now at the end of it all Hana will not be attending public school - she will stay on at the private school! Hurray!

Here are pics from her two, very different and great Kindergarten Graduations...

Mrs. Amber Carolan was her K teacher at Children's Christian School. Hana's friends there are Kelly (who just moved to Ohio - we will miss her), Jade, Kailey, Landon, Matthew, Christian, Adrianna, and a few more, can't remember their names.

Mrs. Godfrey was her K teacher at Arcadia Elem. Hana's BEST friend ever is Kimberly Maximo! We are so happy they are such great friends and we are so happy to be such Great friends with Kimmy's family! We LOVE the Maximo's! Scott just likes saying their last name, with a profound and loud voice. haha!

More from May 2009... How could I have forgotten!

2009-06-02T23:40:00.000-06:00

Wow! I am posting these pictures and trying to figure out how we fit all this in in the month of May! It sure was a fun time...

Here are pics from a couple more May Happenings...

The weekend of May 16th me and my girlfriends from High School got together - Finally! It had been almost 5 years since we had been all together, and for a whole weekend! It was SO much fun! We stayed at my girlfriend, Jayci's house in Cedar City. We hiked one of the days, stayed up really late and talked, giggled, were really loud, and laughed and laughed! It was SOOO much fun!

I sure love you girls!!!!

Me, Tenille, Jayci, Lori, Lisa, Alisha

There are 6 of us! I am SO happy we are still so close!!!!

Below are some fun pics of us in St. George for Memorial weekend...

There was a pretty intense DS Mario Kart game going on! Also, fun hangin out with my great, growing family!!! (May 24th)

Also in May - the last weekend May 28th- we went camping with Scott's fam up at Smith-Morehouse campground for one night. Good times. We loved it so much we went back the following weekend for 3 nights with our good friends - Scott's H.S. buddies and their fun families!

In the pic: RC holding Ellie, Scott, Hana holding Delaynie, G-ma and G-pa Mack!

2009-05-31T22:06:00.005-06:00

The month of May...eventful and very busy...

Boutiques

Injuries

Weddings

Surprises

Trips

Birthdays

Mother's Day

Memorial Day

Here are the highlights . . .

May 1st and 2nd, I had the opportunity to set up a table at Tom and Lucy's ArtShoppe Mother's Day Boutique and sell some baked items from Ar Mel's, my bakery. It was fun! I sold out of everything, made many people smile and nod as they savored the samples, and made some fun friends!

The following week Hana jammed her thumb at school, while playing. She had a hard time writing for a few days. You can see how she has a hard time straightening her right thumb. :) Sweetie!

May 7th - 9th: Scott (and my mom) surprised me with a belated, yet strategically planned, birthday present. Scott secretly planned a trip to San Francisco, CA. for the weekend. However, because I did not know about all of this, and to make everything even more exciting, I had planned to make my cousin's wedding cake for her Utah reception. When Scott found this out, he had to decide how to still keep the trip a secret, and let me know that I couldn't do the wedding cake. Well . . . long story short, Scott hinted enuf that my weekend was taken, beginning with a Friday night date. So planets aligned that Friday, May 8th and I was still able to make the cake and get it delivered to the reception with the help of my wonderful Grandma Holt, make and deliver a Mother's Day cookie cake to a bakery customer, and get home in time for our date at 6:00pm. So as I drove home, after the deliveries, around 5:30pm I was talking to my mom on the phone and telling her how everything just fell into place with the wedding cake, and whatever Scott's surprise was. She chatted and laughed with me, we hung up, a few minutes later I pulled in the drive way, and as I got out of the car, my mom and my bro's and sis pulled in behind me! WHAT!? Scott came walking out the front door and said, "Well, do you want me to tell you where we're going or just what you should pack?"

What a surprise! My mom had been driving up and was in the SL Valley when I was talking to her about the wedding cake, etc. She had come up to watch our kiddos while Scott took me on the surprise trip to San Fran! What a blast! I think I was still in shock most of the trip. It was so fun!!!

Cousin Virginia's wedding cake (reception 2)

Cookie Cake

Below are a few pictures of the FUN we had in San Fran!!! It worked out perfect to be a GREAT Mother's Day weekend as well!!!

We also got to celebrate Scott's mom's birthday on May 17th! Happy 60th Karen!!!

Next... I got a phone call at work one Thursday evening. Scott was on the other end, with crying in the back ground, he reported that Conrad fell off the tent trailer when he and Hana were playing on it (off limits) and fell on his face and is not moving his arm so they were headed to Insta Care. So, I left work and met them at Insta Care. Poor little Conrad, as you can tell from the pictures, had a bloody, swollen nose, really fat lip, and a little bit of a scare. His arm was fine, no broken bones, and no stitches needed.

It was really sweet... After we left Insta Care, Hana and Scott went to get popsicles and Conrad and I went home. As we went in the house Conrad said with his 3-year-old, fat-lip voice, "I think its best if I go take a rest now, in my bed." Also, when I was taking the pictures, on his own w/o any suggestion, he put his fingers by his mouth and lifted his lip a little so I could take a better picture of his lip. Cutie!

Finally, Memorial Day weekend - we headed to St. George! It was the first time we had been back down there since Christmas! It was fun to see Mom's new house and be with my fam. (pictures to come).

Hana's School Talent Show

2009-04-25T09:19:00.008-06:00

April 24, 2009: Hana participated with her Kindergarten class, in their school talent show. They sang a song called "Colors of the Rainbow" and did the sign language as they sang. So adorable! (watch part of it on the video below)

Waiting for their turn on stage!

Conrad gave his sister some flowers for doing such a wonderful show!!!

Easter Weekend ...

2009-04-12T22:31:00.002-06:00

April 11th: Saturday morning we had a blast with 2 Easter Egg Hunts!! The first one was the typical candy dash at the park and the second was an egg dash at the local elementary school. Good times!!!

April 12th: Happy Easter! On Sunday we headed over the G&G Mack's for a DELICIOUS Brunch and FUN- Filled Easter Egg Hunt in the backyard! We love being with our family on Easter!

Hana, Conrad, Elyse and Delaney. FUN cousins!!!

Easter Traditions: Well, since we did not go to St. George and G-ma Holt was not having a gathering at her house, we didn't have anyone to rely on to parttake in my family's tradition and we were really craving our favorite Passey/Holt family traditional Easter dessert . . . Easter Lily's! YUM.

So I called my mom, got the recipe, and made my first-ever batch of Easter Lily's for my little family that evening. And of course, they turned out GREAT!

started by my mom...we love to top these tasty treats with fresh strawberries!

Spring Break! With Hana in Disneyland...

2009-04-11T22:12:00.000-06:00

I surprised Hana one morning, during her Spring Recess from school (Easter Break), and we went to Disneyland and the Beach!!! What a BLAST!!!

So I packed a backpack the night before . . . got a cheap hotel room for one night and a great deal on a car. . . set up a tender for Conrad . . . woke up early, dropped Conrad off, and told Hana "Just go with this kiddo. I will explain more in a little while." We already had been to the airport very early dropping Scott off to work (parking and one car in lot at a time stuff), so Hana was curious why her and I were at the airport getting on the bus from the employee prkg lot. So while on the bus she looks at me and asks, "Mom, what are we doing here?" So I say, "Well, Hana, what would you say if we went to Disneyland right now?" Her eyes, with confusion and excitement lit up, and she knodded her head enthusiastically. "Well, that is exactly where we are going! Just you and just me are getting on a plane and going to Disneyland!!! What do you think of that?" She was thrilled ... her head, I could tell, was spinning ... she had a lot of questions through out the next couple hours, as we were in the airport and on the plane. It was kinda funny . . . I think she was in shock . . . there seemed to be SO much emotion that it overwhelmed her so there appeared to be no emotion. For the first part of the plane ride she just sat quietly. She slowly started to loosen up and realize what was going on.

Ultimately we had a BLAST together!!!

Here are a few pics that show our girl fun!!! . . .

We rode several rides, went on Tom Sawyer's Island (if they call it that still), had lunch and then headed for Toon Town!

Hana and I pretended that we lived in Toon Town (Hana's fabulous idea of course!). We called all the rest of Disneyland "Down Town." It was so much fun! We visited all our friends in toon town ... Goofy, Donald, Mickey, Minnie. We checked our mail and went to the local market to purchase some nescesities. ;) For a while we were staying with Goofy, then we decided that it would be good to stay with Minnie, and then the final decision was that it would be best to stay with Mickey in his house and visit Minnie. So that is what we pretended most of our day in DL.

Around dinner time we headed "Down Town" and went out to dinner at the Carnation Cafe - YUM. Then watched the parade "Down Town" and took a drive "Down Town" - Autopia. It was great!

Then we headed back home (Toon Town) to be with our friends and walk through Mickey and Minnie's house over and over, just to make sure it felt like we lived there. ;)

We pushed a LATE night and Hana was asleep long before we got to our hotel. It felt good to rest and sleep. We hung out the next morning in our hotel for while. Then headed for the BEACH!!! It was over cast, yet still very fun!!! We build the map of Disneyland "according to Hana" with sand. It was cool. Then we collected tons of creature filled, tiny shells -- they were cool!

This is definitely in my TOP 5 favorite trips EVER!!! I sure love you Hana-bear! Thanks for helping me remember how to have REAL "KID" FUN!!!

Amy's big 30th Birthday Bash ... Decade Do-Over!!!

2009-03-28T23:21:00.001-06:00

I turned 30 this year!!! I decided that this is an age I am old enough and responsible enough to have a big BASH!!! Becky helped me think of the theme and we had a blast with some of my best friends and my crazy family!!!

Brad and Kendall got me a WONDERFUL cake!!! It meant so much to me!!! I loved it!!! There were SO many candles!!! :)

I didn't get pictures of everyone's but we had some fabulous costumes --- from so many different decades!!!! What a blast! Every gave great individual presentations as I judged the costumes! haha! I so loved the crazy, fun spirit of the group and the whole night! We had some great prizes for the costume contest winners!!! Becky and Michael tied for 1st place - however everyone's were SO unique and SO cool and individual that there really wasn't a BEST one because they were all SOOOO Great!!! It was just a lot of great fun!!!

The games were hilarious!!! Becks did a great job with them (thanks Becks)! Everyone had such a blast and some great laughs!!! We played a fun game the revealed some pretty hilarious things about people! I laugh just thinking about it!!!! haha

Thanks for making my break-in to my 30th year so memorable!!! Love you all!!! (And for those who couldn't come -- I missed you) Thanks for your continually love and friendship!!!

Team Glauser, Part Deux: The Disneyland Experience! March 19 - 23, 2009

2009-03-24T13:20:00.001-06:00

We arrived early so just the four of us went to Disneyland while the rest of the Glausers made their way, by car, to CA.

That night Scott, me and our kiddos picked up Cami from the airport (she flew ALL day from the east coast) and only my mom and us were in on the secret! We surprised the rest of the family that night with our sister Cami!!! Brad and Kendall did not see her until they joined us in line for Submarines w/Nemo the next day in the park- what a surprise to see Cam in line with us!

Such a surprise for everyone!!! Us Glausers LOVE the surprises!

Speaking of surprises ... Scott and I worked it the weekend before to make matching shirts for the Glauser Team! Then when they arrived the first night we surprised them with shirts (at the same time Cami walked in the room to surprise them) SO FUN!!!

Saturday - Brad and Scott M. went to watch the Utah B-Ball game at the ESPN Zone, while we went on Autopia and other rides! I have to admit, I still got it goin' on - I was able to flirt with the guy at the Autopia Fastpass line and get our whole family through the Fastpass line! Thats right! haha! Good times!
Sue and Jared and their two cute boys also surprised us and drove up from their Catalina home and joined us in Disneyland that day too!!! Such a FUN party with the fam!!!

They went with us to the beach the next day too!!!

We hit the beach on Saturday! What fun, relaxing and COLDY day! I love my silly family!!!

Scott and I got to have some fun time with Hana sinking in the beach sand and looking for sea shells and sand dollars! There is some cool stuff on the beach this early in the Spring!

Saturday night our little family went to Downtown Disney and ate, shopped a little, danced to the music! Our kiddos were exhausted . . . Conrad feel asleep as I was giving him a piggy back to the car and then Hana fell asleep on the way to the hotel! Big day!

On Sunday we hit Disneyland for a while, then we headed over to California Adventure! We rocked it on the new Toy Story ride! SO FUN! Its definitely my favorite ride in CA Adventure - and in my top 3 favorites out of the whole Disneyland Resort!!! Good times!!!

These four cuties sure had fun together!

Our little family of four had one more day in Disneyland! We hit it hard this whole weekend! We can't get enough!!!

Resolutions? . . . or Intentions? . . .

2009-01-12T23:36:00.007-07:00

. . . I have both!

I resolve to . . . take the STEPS I need to take to complete my goals, and to trust the flow of life!

-- I have realized that I have great ideas and goals, but I have a hard time starting and following through consistantly with the steps to make it happen. The person who does that, is now in the past!!!

I intend to . . . to be better at calling people back, keep up on my work, laugh more, get on the floor with my kids more, perhaps get on the floor with my hubby more ;) (hee hee), be more relaxed about a messy house, call my friends on their birthdays, clean my bathtub more often (um, nah!), find the best sales at Old Navy, shop at Walmart less, eat more blueberries, eat more sushi, and bake cookies for more people . . . I also intend to add to this list! :)

We see each other through . . .

2009-01-10T11:36:00.004-07:00

My friend emailed this link to me and as she said "it stuck me" too!!!

It came at the perfect time - and helped me see that I am not alone in my experiences and struggles and it helped me remember ALL my wonderful family members and friends, the love I have for them and the love I feel from them.

I love you all -- may we all see each other through life and remember to THANK, GIVE, LOVE!

It's a 5 minute video - take some time to watch it . . .

(It is mostly about women - but it is for men too -- for all of us!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_4qwVLqt9Q

Ginger bread house

2008-12-30T09:23:00.001-07:00

Fun making their Ginger Bread House!!! We've loved doing this for the past 3 years. The pre-packaged kit is so fun and easy for the kids to do - especially now they are getting older.

Silly kids havin' fun! They had some fun ideas to make some silly poses for the camera . . .

... presentation of the house

... exxagerated presentation of house... haha... these guys thought of these poses all on their own! so funny!

... curious...

... shhh... sneaky sneaky... sneaking a piece of candy from the house... haha

Cute kiddos!

Wishing "U" Happy Holidays

2008-12-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

We hope EVERYONE has Wonderful Holidays!!

May the New Year bring all you hope and desire!

May bliss fill your hearts and homes!

We LOVE YOU ALL!

Christmas Day 2008!

2008-12-25T10:06:00.002-07:00

Ready to open presents . . . wearing their cozy pj's they opened Christmas Eve! Conrad in Thomas the Train pj's and Hana in High School Musical pj's!

Conrad, Hana, and their cousin Elli at G&G Mack's house for Christmas breakfast!

Delicious McKinnon family traditional Christmas breakfast! Every Christmas morning, since Scott was young, his mom, Karen, makes a delicious egg and sausage breakfast casserole! Yum - it is so good and flavorful - mmmm! Also for the past couple years since G& G got their waffle maker, they also make those yummy, large waffles! mmm mmm mmm!

Breakfast with Santa Dec. 20th, 2008

2008-12-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

For the past few years we have created a little tradition to do "Breakfast With Santa" with the McKinnon family!!! Good times! The kids love it! What could be more fun...

There is always a couple pre-teen girls doing face-painting for the kids...

Then the music starts playing and the jingle bells ring and Santa enters the room. He has the kids sit on the floor while he talks to them about Christmas. Then he has a few kids come up and help him with some songs. Some how my kids always seem to find their way up there - sometimes Santa calls on them, and sometimes they go up there even if he asked another kid to come... haha. Good times!

Then the kids get to sit on Santa's lap and take pictures and tell him what they want for Christmas. The kids also get to write a letter with the things they want for Christmas on it for Santa to keep. Then after about a week Santa sends the kids a letter thanking them for coming to breakfast and letting them know that he is working on their toys, which he names them specifically in the letter. Its pretty cool for the kids to get that letter. They get very excited!

Oh look at my kiddos! They are such cuties... I sure love them!!!

Happy 6th Birthday Hana-Bear!

2008-12-20T09:07:00.001-07:00

Hana turned 6 years old this year! Wow! I sure love that girl!

Hana had a little Birthday party with some of her friends! Below are her friends from school... left to right... (top) Kimberyly, Birthday Girl!, Kelli. (bottom) Hannah, & Sierra (twins, not sure which is which :)) and Conrad!

Kimberly (above with Hana and Conrad) is Hana's best buddy! They are always playing together at school! Hana tells me they play "kissy tag" with the boys at school. haha! Funny girls!

Disneyland - again? and Hana's 6th Birthday! Thurs. December 11th - Sun. December 14th . . .

2008-12-18T11:37:00.005-07:00

Yes! Its true! We went for Hana's birthday this time. Scott's parents came with us again! We all had a blast! We were also absolutely exhausted by the end of each day, and especially by the end of the trip!!!

We LOVE Disneyland at Christmas time!! It is decorated so BEAUTIFULLY! This is what the castle looked like at night! AMAZING!

Here are some fun family pictures of our 4 day trip! Enjoy . . .

Classic family castle picture

Hana had this idea about doing this in the picture! Cutie! (We're in Bugsland in CA Adventure)

Here is our beautiful Birthday Girl!!! She had a blast! We had to try a little bribing for her to come on some rides with us, but it didn't really work. She really hates rides with hills and some of the best ones have them -- such as, Pirates of the Carribean (yes the little ones at the first) and Splash Mountain. She never went on Splash Mountain, but on Friday night she fell asleep during the fireworks, so right after they were done, we snuck her with us on Pirates. She slept right through the hills, then woke up for the rest of it. It was perfect! :)

She did agree to go on the Matterhorn for some Cottoncandy. She ended up liking the ride and we went again during the trip. It was very cool to talk to her about how she overcame her fears and what she did if there was a hill. Maybe next time she will do Pirates without having to be asleep. ;) Her FAVORITE ride is Soarin' in CA Adventure.

Here is our Little Man! He has a thing for his Grandpa Mack lately. Its fun! Together they sang "Utah Man" pretty much the entire trip. If you can tell in the picture on the bottom left we happen to be in line right in front of some Zoobies who were on a roommate trip. Conrad saw them and said "I am a Utah Man sir! Cougar fans!" then he sang "Utah Man" for them. They of course thought he was adorable.

Conrad also LOVED the Cowgirl in red. We went to Santa's Reindeer Roundup and they sang songs with the kids, and he LOVED it. He wanted her to keep singing with him. So cute.

Have some Characters, Huh!? Yes we got pictures with TONS of the Disney Characters. It helps that we got to go to a Buffet Breakfast with Minnie and her friends. Anyways, above are all the ones we got pictures with. We actually only saw Mickey from a distance this time.

Good times!!!

Trimming the Tree . . .

2008-12-05T13:46:00.001-07:00

Good times putting up the Christmas decor! Here are the kids and Scott helping Hana with the final touch - - - the Angel!

Best Pals! . . . oh and Go UTES!

2008-11-28T00:08:00.000-07:00

SO this deserves its own post! Scotty Mack and Brad have become best buds these last several months! They talk on the phone at LEAST once a week about life, and football!

Brad went with Scott in Oct. to the Oregon-Utah (home) game! They had such a blast - of course because it ended up being one of the best games to be at! They leaped onto the field and slapped and hugged the UTE players after they won!!! PARTY!

So as many know the UTES are still 12-0 and are awaiting the details on their BCS Bowl invite!

And here are these Best Buddies in their matching Utah Conference Champions - Perfect Season shirts . . . hilarious!!!

Cuties

P.S. They were yelling GO UTES when I took this pic - even tho you can't hear that in pictures, it had to be authentic ;)

A time of Thanks, Food, and Family . . .

2008-11-27T23:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

What a FUN, DELICIOUS, AND THANKFUL day, and week, we had!!!

(above) Preping the delicious meal! It was a family affair! Also enjoying Mom's deliciously-popular homemade cheese ball with crackers as we prepped the meal and enjoyed the company of each other's craziness!

(above) And we finally get to eat! YUM! Here most of us are at the Thanksgiving meal table! Kendall's brother Aaron and his wife Sabrina were able to join us for the festivities! They were so FUN to have there!!! Also, Scottie's g-friend, Jocelyn joined us too! She's awesome! I LOVE having so many people together for holidays!

We sure missed ya Becks and Cam -- we heard your Thanksgivings were Fabulous too!!!

Pie Instructional with Mom!

2008-11-26T23:24:00.001-07:00

So in prep for Thanksgiving we had "Baking With Nan: Pie Making Course."

(Since Becks wasn't there to document for the blogging world, I took the liberty! Missed ya Beck!)

(above) Brad and Kendall were WAY into it! It was SO great! Mom is also VERY GOOD at making and baking pies! Masterful instruction, Masterful work! (we thought the Minute Tapioca (used in Apple pies) box was so old looking, so we took some "ad" style pics -- funny) I also love the pic of Michael and Mom singing to the music as they create!

Also notice the pie dough after it is rolled out . . . it must have big beautiful swirls, of the shortening, so it will create the flakiness in the delicious crust!

(above) Here we are putting the apples in and learning the techniques of putting the pies together!

(above) Here are the different TOPS we each did for our pies! Brad chose to create a Laddis style, and Kendall chose to create the beautiful Traditional style! They were both so proud!

(above) Mike and I worked on this one together! Great team effort! Mike did the cutting out of the top crust and he shaped a beautiful APPLE shape to go atop our lovely pie! I buttered and did the edges of the crust! Good Times!

(above) And FINALLY the BEAUTIFUL finished pies! They turned out SOOOO amazing -- and very delicious! Mom did the pecan pie on her own after we did the apple pies! What a woman she is!

(above) This is a GREAT pic of the after math of the pie baking! Mom used the rest of the dought for the Pecan Pie!

SOOO FUN! Thanks Mom for the great instruction and good times! We all had a blast! Great memories!

childhood memories . . . my amazing family!!!

2008-11-15T21:47:00.003-07:00

Today at work (The Sharing Place) I met with a mom and her 6 children, the oldest child was 15. I couldn't help but have flash backs of my childhood as the oldest in my big, wonderful family!!!

I just couldn't help but think of my family. My mom was so similar to this woman, and the kids were so similar to me and my sibs.

I am so grateful for everything about my childhood. I couldn't have been raised by two more wonderful parents, who of course didn't have a manual for how to raise their kids, but they did an amazing job (and still do, Mom!). I remember so many fun times, so many learning experiences, and SO much family time and family outings. Even when I was in High School and into my friends, we still did a lot of family things all together.

I remember my Dad, and Mom too, were so huge on family time. Dad loved having his family all together and really vocalized and exemplified the importance of that.

Memories fill my head of:

- camping

- fishing

- hikes

- Saturday outings to explore Southern Utah

- Family night and the conducting and acknowledgements- "We'd like to welcome everyone out to Family Night! We'd especially like to acknowledge the presence of the most wonderful, most beautiful, most harmonious, most fantabulous, most superific (and whatever other wacky words came to mind) ___(?)___ Glauser!!!!!!!!!! And the person named would stand and do a silly bow (and we'd acknowledge a different family member each week - SOOO fun!)

- Sunday cookies and movies

- Random, yet perfect, family teaching and sharing moments

- Uno in the tent

- Picking Peas out of the garden in the Spring

- weeding the garden

- water fights

- hallering moments, followd by teaching and learning moments

- "Take the punishment!" (inside thing)

- Dad's bulldosing moments and Mom always there to replant (Dad learned to replant too, a little)

- The Narrows (the little ones) at Pioneer Park (I wonder if I still fit in those?)

- Easter morning and Thanksgiving with the Taylor's or the Garrett's

- Family trip to Laguna Beach!!!

- Disneyland (and meeting the Neff's there one time, when I was real young)

- Our blue Astro Van (and the surfing sticker on the back window that Bri Neff gave my Dad)

- Taking out the middle seat in the van and laying out blankets and pads for a long road trip (so seatbelt safe)

- Performing nights at home (random, never planned)-- Me and Brad's Aladdin performance, Michael inbetween ;), Becky and Scott (or Cami and Scott, or Cami and Michael?)) doing the Phantom of the Opera, Michael inbetween ;), Cami's dance moves, oh and Michael inbetween;), and Jeffery just laughing so hard and Sara just trying to think of something to perform, dance moves, poems, you name it --- And most hilariously Michael's random, yet awesome, raps and rhymes! Hilarious! (I sure miss those lately Mike! Really - I do! No jokin' this time!)

The list goes on and on! I hope others in my family can comment and add more to the list - ones I am forgetting or some of the endless ones I didn't list!

I love my family! Thank you for being perfect just the way you all are!!!!!!

Halloween!

2008-11-09T20:57:00.006-07:00

I LOVE Halloween - almost more than Christmas! I love dressing up and doing the whole dress-up and trick or treat thing with my kids!

(Above) Here we are with the McKinnon Family picking out pumpkins the weekend before Halloween and spending Halloween night with them! So FUN!

(Above) Here are some fun pics throughout our day of Halloween. The finished product after I made Conrad's Peter Pan costume (super easy - awesome!). I dressed up (middle top pic) as my supervisor at work (I am on the right - he is on the left) Hee Hee! How did I do? (My chest is not very large so I was able to pull off the "boy" look pretty well) :)

Then Scott and I took the kids to Discovery Gateway (Children's Museum) for some Halloween celebrations. The kids had a great time playing. Conrad won 1st place in the costume contest and was presented with a little plastic trophy by two guys dressed like the Ghostbusters! It was hilarious!

Then we spent a fun filled evening at G & G Mack's house eating pizza and trick o treating!!!

Here are a few more fun pics:

Hana's first Elementary School Halloween parade! Fun!

Conrad and I (Scott behind camera) waiting for Hana to walk through the gym with her class in the parade!

Two cutest kiddos ever! Hana as a "Pink Tink" and Conrad as Peter Pan! SO FUN!

Hobbies

2008-10-24T22:23:00.002-06:00

I am in the mood to bake! I did not bake this delicious dessert, but I want to make it. It is a peach cake. I am blogging about this because I feel like I have NO time to do little hobbies, such as baking. I just needed to comment about it - and make your mouths water when you see this picture. :)

Was it worth it?

2008-10-13T09:56:00.007-06:00

I got a fun cabinet and now have a little pantry! yay! So my house is older and does not have a pantry. I have been on the look out for some type of cabinet to put in my kitchen for added space . . . I finally found a GREAT deal at Shopko with a 3-day special . . . a $140 cabinet for $45. Sweet!

So the question is . . . Was it worth the drama of getting it? A maybe 1 hour excursion, turned into an all day ordeal . . . Its one of those situations where they only have 12 in stock, its an incredible deal and you don't realize the demand for the item. So I go to the store, buy the cabinet, they take too long getting it for me, Amy's bothered, cuz I have to leave to get Hana, they tell me they can't hold it for me, I get my $ back, take care of Hana, return an hour later to buy it, I found out they could've held it for me, Amy's grinding, they tell me they are out of them now, Amy's pissed, they call other stores and they are also out, Amy's very pissed, but composed, they finally find a store that has one, they hold it for me, I drive across town, finally get it, rush staight from there to drop Conrad off with Scott and rush to work.

Was it worth it! Well, I could've done with out the ins and outs, but am glad for the extra space and it was fun to set it up and organize it!

The funny part is the customer service lady told the guy at the store where they finally found one, "You better make sure that you hold it for her, because if she gets there and you don't have it, you are going to be sorry." Funny :) I was pretty mad :0 I guess.

Check out this Blog . . .

2008-10-05T18:02:00.006-06:00

I created an additional blog . . . for myself - and anyone who wishes to support it and view it!

Please visit it and tell others about it . . .

Click on this link, below, to get to it - you can also get to it by viewing my profile.
Healthy Body, Heal-Thy Body

Hana and Conrad - also as the Stars of HSM3 - Funny

2008-09-30T20:34:00.001-06:00

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Scott and Amy as the Lead Stars in HSM3 - see us in theatres Oct. 24th

2008-09-30T20:08:00.001-06:00

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When shocking news from a friend gives you a wake up call . . .

2008-09-28T10:37:00.012-06:00

How do you help, when you don't even know where to begin?

Scott has a friend he used to work with at SkyWest - his name is Aaron Shamy (Scott calls him Shamy). Scott has been climbing with him a couple times and they chat on the phone every once in a while. Anyway, Shamy called Scott the other day and gave him the news that his 3 year old little boy has a rare form of Lukemia and has been at Primary Children's for the last few weeks doing tests, and helping this little guy get through this. Wow, what do you do when you get that news -- and how it hits close to home, because our little Conrad is 3.

Everyday Scott checks the website Shamy has made for his boy. Each day Scott asks me, "What can we do? I want so bad to help, to do something, but what? How can I give?" Then he said to me yesterday, "All I can do it just send my love and positive energy to his boy, and to Shamy and his family!" Sometimes that is all we can do. God is good - God is love - there is perfection in His plan. It is interesting how we would give every material possession and our very own souls to help or save our children or a family member. The experience Shamy's family is having has seeped into our lives and awakened our spirits to a different perspective in life. To look within ourselves deeper. Maybe this is one reason things like this happen. And of course as humans, we have some need to find reasoning in all things - some way to make sense of it.

The updates on the website have let us know that Shamy's boy is doing a little better and working toward getting home. Check out the website if you wish - send your love and divine energy to his family with us! You can link from here to the site at Spiderman Fights Cancer.

Grandpa and Grandma Mack!

2008-09-27T13:58:00.004-06:00

Every Fall we seem to spend more and more quality time with Scott's parents! Terry and Karen -- Grandpa and Grandma Mack! Our staple is the U of U football games! GO UTES! They have season tickets on the front row, north-west side, 25 yard line - on the opposing teams side! We all love it of course - but I must admit my favorite part is yelling profanities(*wink wink*) at the opposing team players. Yes, I know it might not be sportsman-like, but how can you be when it is so easy to get in the player's heads.

Okay- enough of my excited rant. This post is about G&G Mack. . .

We have loved spending so much time with them. The kids have so much fun with them. We had such a blast with them in Disneyland and are looking forward to doing a trip like that again in December for Hana's birthday. Also, I personally LOVE being in the Mack family. Of course we have our differences, but who doesn't. That is what is so great - I have learned so much about myself, in loving these two wonderful people. There hearts are truly so generous and loving and I see that everytime we spend time with them. I love watching them with my kiddos as they play with them and show such love in the their actions with them. They truly give all they can and know to give to our kids and to Scott and I. I truly love them.

. . . Terry and Karen . . . Thank you for all the love you give to our little family, for the wonderfully fun times we have, and for the things I appreciate so much about you that I can't always explain in words. I love being a part of your family - what a blessing - and I love you two so much! Thank you!

Oh Oh - Wo is me . . . and my family . . .

2008-09-22T18:47:00.009-06:00

Scott and I realize we have it sooo hard! We are so busy traveling - it is just so hard sometimes! *wink, wink*

(Above pic) At the end of August Scott and I went with his parents to THE BIG HOUSE in Michigan to watch the Utes play the University of Michigan. Utah won of course! It was pretty exciting - a sea of yellow and dark blue, and a thick red strip at the top of the south side of the stadium. 12" x 12" space to sit - so knees, hips, and back are touching everyone around you. Once in a life time experience! Literally!

(Above pic) We also just returned a week ago from Disneyland AGAIN! We also took Scott's parents with us! We had a blast with them!!! Conrad turned 3 years old - so we went for his birthday! It was hilarious - he got right on the plane and the first thing out of his mouth to the Flight Attendants was "I'm da birthday boy!" Of course they ate that up and let him visit the captain in the front and announced his birthday over the intercom on the plane and had everyone on the plane sing 'happy birthday' to him. Really! It was awesome!

(Above pic) We were at the Parks on Conrad's birthday - so he wore the birthday pin and all the characters would say 'happy birthday' to him. Scott's parents took us to breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen and we had some great one-on-one time with a bunch of Disney characters. The highlight for Conrad was Peter Pan. He spent some very cool time with Conrad, talking about sword fighting and pirates. Conrad had a sword he showed Peter and Peter pulled out his little rubber dagger he carried in his belt(or maybe it was in his shoe?) and they discussed fighting pirates and flying. It was very cute! (** The pic with lipstick on his cheek, was a kiss from Cinderella)

Then we just got back from a weekend in St. George - spent a great weekend with Brad's fun little family and of course time with Grandma and some favorite younger aunt's and uncle's. The Boys spent the day watching College football - Utes WON! (I did hear something about the team down south, too - oh well we don't pay much attention to them anyway.) Michael was at Homecoming Day and Dance festivities, so we of course didn't see him - wow - he sure is growing up fast! He's becoming quite the suave, handsome guy! Crazy!

Well - don't mind us - but we need to go - perhaps to catch another flight - maybe to hop down to St. George again, or an adventurous weekend in Alaska, or perhaps a jaunt over to DL. (that would be Disneyland). Life is rough! *wink, wink*

Craving Alaska . . .

2008-09-18T19:22:00.002-06:00

Alaska gets in your blood and never leaves! Both Scott and I are craving Alaska! This is a beautiful image I found online. NO it is not Scott and I, but I wish it were!!! If it wasn't daylight 24/7 in the summer and night light 24/7 in the winter, I would move there in a heart beat!

No worries . . . She's got it handled. . . .

2008-09-12T17:53:00.003-06:00

. . . Hana started Kindergarten August 25th and September 2nd. She is in two Kindergarten programs - I can explain later why we decided that. She LOVES it!

First day at CCS (morning) Kindergarten

First Day at Arcadia Elementary (afternoon) Kindergarten.

August 25th she started her morning program at her old pre-school, which is a private K-8 school as well. September 2nd she started her afternoon program as well, which is at our neighborhood elementary school. She has made some fun friends at both classes and she gets so excited about her busy day. And Scott and I a wiping our brow's saying, "phew, this actually worked out better than we ever could have imagined!"

So the day goes as follows . . .

8am: wake up Hana (unless she wakes up earlier with excitement)

- breakfast and get ready

8:55am: drop her off at CCS Kindergarten

- watch her walk in like a woman all about business :)
11:59am: pick her up

- have a lunch ready for her to eat in the car

- talk about her morning at CCS as we drive

- arrive at Arcadia Elementary School and finish lunch in car

12:17pm: walk her to the flag pole at Arcadia

- kiss her goodbye
- watch her line up with excitement

12:20pm wave goodbye as she walks in to school with class

2:50pm meet Scott at work
- pick him up, and drive him to his car at the employee prkg lot

- give him a sleeping Conrad

- I head to work, Scott heads toward home

3:20pm Scott arrives at Arcadia to pick up Hana

- who is waiting with her class on the side of the school

Wow! Busy day! And Hana is loving it! It is so fun to watch her have it all together and be so excited. It helps comfort me during the times that I have little breakdowns wondering if we did the right thing. But it has, so far, proved to be great for our little Hana.

The inbetween time, while Hana is at school, is Mommy-Conrad time. I absolutely LOVE it! He seems to be the one having the hardest time - missing his Big Sis. He absolutely adores her. We have fun at home and going to storytimes at B&N and the Library.

Conrad is also working on potty training too! He's doing so great with it! I think he has it down. He loves his big boy underwear! :)

Blood Suckers!

2008-08-10T07:37:00.007-06:00

There seems to be an odd theme happening in my summer! I am surrounded by blood suckers! 3 blood suckers have been a part of my summer! 2 of them are NOT welcome . . . the 3rd . . . well, we all have good reason to be in love with this one . . .

Worst to Best . . .

1. . . . Headlice (Not welcome)
-- Hana had it! 2 outbreaks! AAHH! Its finally GONE! The best website for the correct info is -- headlice.org

2. . . . Mosquito (Not welcome)
-- We've had our summer share of bites - but not as bad as lice!

3. . . . Edward (Hello!)
---- the one I am in love with (along with millions of other woman and girls across the country) . . .

Oh my GOSH!!! I am dying! I didn't think I would be such a freak about this book - but Scott happened to get it for me as a little surprise when he saw it as Costco for 12.50. I was glad, but not super anxious to read it. (I was currently reviewing Twilight, to prep for the movie) Then I began and of course have been spending every spare minute reading it!!! I am nearing the end of Book 2! (slow reader) Going crazy and loving it at the same time!

Despite all the crazy things happening in the book, changes, crazy new views of the characters, etc., I am still loving Edward (tho, some things are bugging about his character this book)! I am also really liking the turn of events for Jacob. Ooooh! Still reading! We'll see what happens. I hear it gets even weirder - but Stephenie Meyer always has so much obvious forshadowing in this series that I am pretty sure what is going to happen, with some things anyway.

Summer Up Date . . . The Highlights!

2008-08-03T09:20:00.005-06:00

Alaska! So we start with Scott's Birthday Trip!!! Scott turned 30 on June 3rd this year. Scott and I went on a "Scott's 30th Birthday Trip" to Alaska June 5th-9th. Just the two of us! It was a BLAST! We fell in love with Alaska. We went to Anchorage and hiked around for a couple days, then we drove to the bottom of the Kinai Peninsula to Seward, a little port town surrounded by gigantic snow capped mountains (Amazing!!!) and took an 8 hour sea cruise and saw Killer Whales, Humpback Whales, Sea Lions, huge glaciers, and beautiful Alaska. Scott continually probes me now to see if we can move there permanently. I don't think I could handle the 24 hour day light in the summer and 24 hour night light in the winter, but it so amazingly beautiful.

(Scott also went on a second trip to Fairbanks, Alaska July 18th-20th - just a weekend trip- with 3 of his buddies from work. Now he wants to visit Juneau soon. We will go this winter to see the Northern Lights - - can't spell Aurora Borialisisisissis :))

After our trip to Alaska came the Wasatch Back Relay. GO INCREDIBLE HOLTS!!!

The Wasatch Back, June 20th-21st, just as the Hood to Coast Relay, proved to be an incredibly challenging, fun, bonding experience!!! I LOVED running it with my amazing husband (we will refer to him as "mah" :) thanks for the idea aunt Cath) Mah rocked the relay! He did so great! I loved watching him accomplish something so new and challenging for himself!!! What a man! I also loved being with my mom and sis, Becks, running it together. My mom drove our van. It was all so perfect! We had some challenges and major bumps in the road as a team, but we over came them, and if I wrote about them here, it would be too long for the readers digest version.

Next came camping with the Glauser Fam in PineValley, UT (just 45min. north of St. G.) over the 4th of July weekend.

We were all there except our fabulous sis, Cami. We sure missed you sis! We all came at different times. Brad and his kids, Mom, Sara, Jeff, and Mike were all there first, mah and I, with our kids, showed up on July 4th, Kendall came that night. The bonding moments mah and I had with Brad and Kendall that night were unexplainable - thanks guys ;). The next day Becky and Shane, and Scotty G. and Jocelyn (spell?) came. We all had a Great Glauser weekend together!!! Conrad and Landon, as you can see in the pictures were connected at the hip and BFF's the whole time.

Now finally - Mom, Becky, and I had the ultimate girls trip of the year!!! We went to Williamsburg, Virginia to see our very-missed, performing sister Cami!!!

July 23rd - 27th - We LOVED seeing our sis and her life on the East side of the US. The first day we took a long pit stop in Atlanta. The 3 of us thoroughly enjoyed the 12 hour stay in the ATL airport. ***The first day we were in VA, Thursday, all four of us went to D.C. and saw all the monuments and great American history. ***Friday we spent the day at Busch Gardens. Cam is performing there this summer. She has the most FUN show in the whole park!! The two guys and other girl she performs with are so fun and all 4 of them together were amazing! Of course, with out trying, Cami steals the show, but of course blended well with her cast. We saw all but one of her shows - yes we saw the same show 7 times, and NEVER got sick of it!!! They wanted to higher us as perminant cheering section for the show. :) We ran all over the park riding huge roller coasters, and seeing all Cam's friends in their shows too. Cam's "tots aws" boyfriend, Zach is in the picture above with the guitar. He is an AMAZING singer/musician and very cool person! He will be famous one day! (Becky has a link to his myspace page on her blog) We also had a blast listening to Zach play that night at Cheeseburger In Paradise. Cam's friends/fellow performers were there- we talked, laughed, danced. It was so fun!!!*** Then on Saturday, we went to Colonial Williamsburg in the morning - very historical - cool place. Then off to Busch Gardens again - playing and watching shows. *** We spent our final day, Sunday in the ATL airport again (we were flying standby). I ended up flying to Boise, ID and renting a car to get back to SLC in time for 7:30am work the next morning - mah flew and met me there and drove the car with me to SLC - he drove - I slept :). Mom and Becks ended up spending the night in the ATL airport and flew out Sunday morning to SLC and back to SGU that day.

Wow! What a crazy fun trip!!!

Quick finish . . . I have been working full-time with the YWCA kids in their summer camp program. I needed to higher a P/T nanny, who has been great with my kids at home. Conrad is best buddies with her little 2 1/2 year old girl. Now summer camp is over and I am back to by regular P/T schedule there. I had a good time, but am glad to be with my kids during the day again. Scott is still F/T at SkyWest and anxious for something new for himself and our family. . . who knows, maybe Alaska is our next move ;).

Disneyland!!! . . . annually . . .

2008-05-15T07:17:00.016-06:00

. . . what better way to do it!

So YES! we did it again. Scott and I decided we couldn't pass up this chance - so we got Disneyland Annual Passes again!!! Wooohooo! May 11th - Mother's Day was our kick off trip. We took the kids Sunday and Monday. It also happened to be the weekend that one of my funnest friends and her family were going. They have two kids our kids age - it was so much fun!

I do want to add a little blip about getting ready the night before (just so I can remember it all later). We were bathing the kids Saturday night before bed and Hana was complaining that her ear hurt. "Oh lovely!" I thought. What do you do with that info at 8:00 pm when you are leaving for Disneyland at 6:30 am the next morning. So we thought we would see how she was as the night went on. Of course she struggled with some pain as she tried to fall asleep, until I gave her children's IBUProfen. So in the morning we decided to take a later flight (11:30 - bummer) and take her to Insta Care. It was a good thing because she woke up that morning with Pink Eye too. Wow! Poor kid! And yes it turned out it was a very good decision to take the later flight because she did have an infected ear. So we got our prescriptions and headed off the DL. I am just glad we could take care of it and still go - it would've been a bummer to realize in Cali that we have to take her to the Emergency Room because we didn't take care of it at home. Anyway - interesting twist - I just thought I'd share.

So we didn't get into DL until about 3:00 pm, but we stayed 'til 11pm. Pretty full day anyway. Then we stayed on Monday until 3:00pm and left on a flight that night. Quick trip, but a GREAT kick off!

Enjoy some pictures:

It rained on Monday (that really misty kind of rain) - as we observe the wet ground, long sleeves and jackets. Scott and I didn't come prepared for cool or wet weather, but luckily I packed some jackets and pants for the kids.
Conrad wore his mouse ears the whole time! He cared for them and made sure he had them everywhere! Hilarious!

This picture explains it all - I think the kids got the most out of DL this trip! Exhausted!!!

Now all I can say is . . . when are we goin' back! :) . . . and who wants to meet us there?

Funny Kid Comments . . .

2008-04-29T11:09:00.005-06:00

Conrad's usual statement while we are driving in the car - he is referring to the vehicles in front of us at stop lights or just while driving:

"Hey mom! No fair! Dose tars (Those cars) are blocking our way!"

Hana's comment to Conrad today when he was pulling all the clothes out of her drawer while she was getting dressed (5 going on 20) :

"Oh, Conrad. You have just succeeded in ruining my drawer!"

Hilarious! I laughed so hard when I heard her say that!

Just thought I'd share the cuteness.

Comment approval? . . .

2008-04-29T10:51:00.002-06:00

Sorry about the comment approval thing. I set it up so that I have to approve each comment before it is posted, because there have been a couple comments in the past that I wish were not on my blog - also I recently had a couple random people I didn't know try to post a comment that was advertising something. So I was glad that I could reject those ones.

So if it takes me a couple days to get your comments published, I appologize. But I get really excited when I check my email or my blog and it says I have comments to publish. I like to read them and put them on the blog. Silly me. --- and thanks for commenting :)

spring craft time

2008-04-21T13:54:00.003-06:00

I can't remember what magazine these were in, but we figured them out and had a fun time! They are little Spring birdies.

First you get two sizes of styrofoam balls. Using tacky glue, wrap and glue any kind of yarn around them.

Stick them together with a toothpick.
Make feet out of pipe cleaner. It was cute - Conrad was very delicate with it as he helped push in the feet and wings. Hana was all about business and doing the next thing to get the project complete. :)
Stick feathers in for the wings. You'll need to poke a hole with a toothpick and then slide in the feathers. Cut a little diamond for the beak and glue it on. Then use colored pins and stick them thru the head for the eyes. And enjoy.
The kids had fun helping me and picking out the colors they wanted and such. Good times!

Some tips: - that are helpful if you decide to try it: I would say if you are doing this with anyone younger than 8 years old, you (the adult) will probably be doing most of it. It would be a great one to do in an activity with 8 - 12 year olds - older than that, the craft would be a little juvenile for them. Or you could have older kids, like teens, teach the younger kids. Also if the kids are old enuf and can use a hot-glue gun it would be easier and faster.

My Little Conrad & Shapes in the Clouds . . .

2008-04-09T16:38:00.004-06:00

My little boy is hilarious and so dang smart!!! So I need to share this little story that happened today:

Conrad and I had just got out of the car and were heading to the front door to go in our house. I had just given him a couple gummy bears in the car and he ate them. As we were walking toward the door he was pointing at the clouds with his sword he carried.

Conrad said, "Yook, yike my tandy! Yike my tandy!" (Look, like my candy!) (note: all "L" sounds are "Y" sounds)

Me, "Where is candy?"

Conrad, "Der mom der!"

Me, "That big cloud or the tree?"

Conrad, "Da cyoud, yike da tandy in my tummy!"

Me, "Oh, the cloud looks like your candy? It looks like a bear?"

Conrad, "Yah mom, yike a bear! Yike my tandy bear in my tummy!"

Then we proceeded to look at the cloud.

I was amazed!!! He found a shape in the clouds all by himself! We have never tried to show him shapes in the clouds before. He is such a smarty! I love that kid! He is 2 1/2! I am amazed! I don't think Hana understood that stuff until just over a year ago or less. Wow! Both my kids amaze me every day, multiple times!!! I sure love 'em!

Yes, major catching up below . . .

2008-04-01T19:03:00.002-06:00

. . . I just struggle with putting my pictures on the computer right away. I will get better at uploading them from my camera. I just get lazy, and yes I know it is very fast and easy to do. Anyway - enjoy, if you will. :)

The Best Weekend - in a long time!

2008-04-01T10:14:00.007-06:00

We finally got our Easter Lilly fix!!! (an Easter dessert Tradition, passed down through my Grandma Holt's family) We took the kids down to St. G. this last weekend. It was my 29th birthday on Thurs, March 27th - and my mom suggested that we make Easter Lilly's instead of b-day cake. Everyone was cool with that. In our family, when my mom makes them, we LOVE adding freshly cut strawberry's with them. YUM!

We had a combined Family Birthday Bash that night!!! - for Brad, Kendall, me, and Sara. The 3 of us have March B-days and Sara's is April 4th. So we combined the party since we were all there (Except our wonderful Cami, of course. We missed you - we LOVE you!!!). Oh - and we also had a chocolate cake.

Then on Friday, we stole Landon for a few hours and played with the 3 kids at the park and then went to McDonald's. Then we played at G-ma's house. That night our kids slept over at Brad and Kendall's and played with their cousins. SO fun! Then the kids slept at G-ma's house Saturday night.
Cute kids at McDonald's!!

The above consisted of only Thursday night and Friday day. The rest of the weekend was what made it the BEST!!! Scott and I had been planning a weekend together - so while the kids were with the rest of the family - we took a couple days and went hiking in Zion and were reminded of how FUN it is to be together and do what we love to do together - hike and be in God's creations. We hiked Angel's Landing Saturday (cool, hard hike), saw Fool's Gold movie (on the IMAX), good flick, and ate at Oscar's that night (the best restaurant there). We went cheap Saturday night and slept in the car. Half way through the night, I moved outside to have more room, which gave Scott more room in the car. The night was beautiful - cool desert air and tons of stars. It was a fun little adventure. Then we woke up, had bagels and hot beverages for breakfast and hiked Hidden Canyon. It was a gorgeous hike!!! Good times!!! We also had good, light-hearted, un-interrupted adult conversation! Nice! We needed a rekindling of romance and just good, adventurous, and relaxing FUN together! The BEST!!!

Big THANKS to my mom for being SO willing to just watch our kids overnight without hesitation!!! You do such fun, creative things with them! Also, Big THANKS to Brad and Kendall for offering (almost begging :) ) to take our kids overnight Friday! You all ROCK!!! It is really nice to know that it is a FUN thing for you guys and not a burden - we really appreciate it!!! It made our trip that much better! Thank you!

Easter Sunday - March 23rd

2008-03-31T22:40:00.000-06:00

Easter Morning the Easter Bunny hid the kids baskets. They had a blast hunting for them.
Of course we looked forward to spending the rest of the morning at Scott's parents, G&G McKinnon's. We ate a delicious brunch, with G-ma Mack's yummy breakfast casserole (I will post the recipe later) and big homemade Belgian Waffles. YUM! Scott's sister Kim, her hubby R.C. and their daughter Ellie were also there. Kim is expecting their 2nd, and they just found out it is a girl!! So Fun!!!
Then the kids hunted for the treats and hard-boiled eggs that G&G hid in their backyard! It was so fun to watch the kids get so egg-cited about finding them!!! That is what makes holidays fun again - having your kids enjoy it!
Here are the grandkids with G&G Mack. Fun Fun grandparents!!!

Hana was our little teacher this year about why we have Easter and the resurrection of Christ. Over the weekend she shared little facts she learned in school and then as I was tucking her in Saturday night, her and I talked a little more about it. To backtrack, at Christmas her and I spent a long time looking at the huge pictures of Christ at the Temple Square visitors center - and she reminded me of that experience and the picture we saw of Jesus on the cross and of the cave with the big round rock. I love to share with her the knowledge I have about Christ, but it is more fun for me to hear what she knows and the questions she has.

Easter Saturday - March 22nd

2008-03-31T22:09:00.000-06:00

We love Easter Saturday because of the Easter egg (candy) Hunt! This year Hana had to transition to the older group (5-8 year olds), so Dad helped her in that age group! Scott said that the older kids just smoked the younger ones. Dad held the basket while Hana picked up the candy.
And Mom stayed with Conrad in the 4 year-old and younger group. There was some pretty greedy parents in that section. But Conrad got a good amount of treats -- He loved picking it all up and then we walked around to look for a few left overs, which he loved finding. Here are the kids with their loot - mouth's already sweetened with a piece of candy.
Then we went to visit Scott's Grandparents, Grandpa Hank and Grandma Beth. The kids love their house and they are fun to visit. They gave the kids Easter outfits. Hana is already wearing her dress in the pic. G-ma Beth played catch with Conrad with a baloon. And the kids snacked on the treats and cookies G&G always have. Fun Fun!!
And last, but not least, we colored eggs that night. SOOO fun!!! The kids loved it this year! It was so fun this year having the kids be old enough to really get into the festivities and eager to do more!!!

Happy- Late St. Patrick's Day!!!

2008-03-18T23:15:00.000-06:00

I absolutely LOVE St. Patrick's Day!!! I am not sure why, but it is such a fun holiday. I love whereing Green and pinching those who don't (not really, but its fun to pretend that I will). It was funny, I told Hana about the pinching thing, and all she did when Scott got home was pinch him until he put green on.

Hardly anyone remembers it. Maybe I, as well as the rest of my family, remember it and celebrate it because it is also my Fantastic brother Brad's birthday. He turned 27 this year!! Happy Birthday Bro.!!!
The kids and I had a fun time celebrating this great holiday by making Irish Brown Bread, or Irish Soda Bread. It was very fun for Hana to squish and stir with her hands.
It is very easy to make!!! Its also fun to make ANY time!!! It is healthy too!!!

Irish Brown Bread (Recipe):

2 1/4 C. whole wheat flour

2 1/4 C. all purpose flour (white)

1 1/2 C. rolled oats

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

2 1/2 C buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk you can add 1 Tbl. of vinegar to each Cup of regular milk you need, stir and let it sit for a few minutes- I never have buttermilk so I always do this in recipes - thanks for that trick mom!!)

-- Preheat oven 400 degrees. Combine all the dry ingredients and mix. Then add 1 1/2 cups buttermilk and stir til blended pretty well. Then add the rest of the buttermilk and stir it up. (I let Hana pour in the most of the ingredients and stir it the whole time. Then at the end I mixed the last little bits to make it even)

It is very stick dough. You plop it and shape it in a ball (no bread pan needed) on a baking stone or pan. NO RISING NEEDED - yah hoo! Then using a big knife to score a deep X in the top, widening it with the sides of the blade as you cut.

Then bake it for about 45 - 50 minutes at 400 degrees. Check it at 40 min. When it is golden brown it is done.

It makes a crusty dense loaf - about 7 or 8 inches wide. Enjoy!

So easy! And as you can see Hana loved it. My whole family thought it was delish.

7 Layer Dip!!! Yuuuummm!!!

2008-03-09T22:56:00.003-06:00

This is one of my favorite appetizers. First of all I love anything delicious that one can dip chips into. I also love Mexican food that has been Americanized! Authentic Mexican food is also very delicious! So I thought I would post this picture of this evenly spread dip on this chip I so endulgingly enjoyed after I took the picture. People everywhere know how to make delicious 7 layer dip (Although the kind with taco seasoning in the dip somewhere, in my opinion over powers the rest of the topping flavors and makes it too much to bare sometimes, yuck- not to say that I won't eat it though if it is there, :))

* * *

However my favorite is the kind I grew up on - the kind my wonderful mama made so often.

Here is the ever so delicious recipe and instructions on how to make it just right - as I remember it how my mom taught me . . . with one or two adjustments.

* * *

First have all your 7 layers purchased and ready to layer in the pan (cookie sheet for big groups, 13x9 for medium size groups, and 8x8 for your family of 2 to 5 people. - Some like to put tin foil in the bottom first for easy clean-up, yet I have experienced biting into a small chuck of tinfoil after dipping, so be careful when you dip.)

Listed in the order that they are layered in the pan first to last (bottom layer to top layer):

-Refried Beans (I like Vegetarian)

-Guacamole (my mom used to always smash her own avocados, which is delicious if you can find them at a good price. Otherwise I just buy a container of premade Guac.)

-Sour Cream (I buy the Fat Free "Daisy" brand - it tastes just as good)

-Shredded Cheese

-Tomatoes

-Olives

-Diced Green Onions

* * *

Now a few tips:

Spread the Refried Beans, Guac, and Sour Cream pretty evenly the same - I have tasted some where the Refried Beans are too thick or one of the other ones and it doesn't taste as delicious or evenly flavored. My mom taught me to spread the Refried Beans pretty thin where you can still see some of the pan a little bit on a few parts, because you never have as much Guac or S.C. to even out the Beans if you spread them thick.

Then sprinkle the other toppings on. It ends of being so colorful and fabulous. Enjoy!

Our Fun Fun Winter is melting away. . .

2008-02-28T12:55:00.000-07:00

The snow is melting and the sun is warming the earth - only light jackets needed lately. However, we sure had fun in the snow while it was here. The pile next to our driveway became larger and larger as the season went on, shoveling and shoveling and shoveling. So Hana and I went outside and she assisted me in making a fun snow fort (she patted the snow down inside the fort - she was an awesome helper).
We brought the kids little chairs out to sit in it and play for a little while. Conrad was sleeping when we made it, so he was very surprised when he came outside. The roof is made from some extra window screens we had lying around. (Note Conrad's pink hand-me-down snow pants from Hana - who actually got them as a hand-me-down from Sara - good times :))

It was a very good winter this year. Beautiful, fresh snow every week, and sometimes every other day. Tuff to drive in all the time, but way better than the previous years with no snow for a weeks and a smoggy inversion settling in the valley. We had many blue skies this winter, awesome. And now - I love the warm sun and the bright beginnings of spring.

Misunderstandings . . .

2008-02-28T11:57:00.001-07:00

Life is full of them. I, for one have realized that I learn more and more about myself with every misunderstanding. I thank God each moment of each day for learning experiences!

I also wanted to say that if there have been any misunderstandings in any of my blogs - I would like to whole-heartedly clarify that I never had any intensions of offending anyone or tarnishing any individuality of any person. I love you all and appreciate that I can share part of my life with you through this blog. Thank you for also sharing a bit of yourselves with me through the comments you add. I love it and appreciate it.

TYF

Never mind . . .

2008-02-27T17:55:00.003-07:00

. . . about my mom getting married.

Sorry I didn't post this sooner - for those who keep commenting on the previous post.- oops.

She broke it off . . . as of Monday, Feb. 25th. I am not sure what more to say about it. I guess I wanted to make this post so that anyone reading the previous post would not be mislead and think she is still engaged. Details about it can really only be shared by my mom herself.

- if any family members or friends are wondering what happened with it - you are welcome to call my mom :) she is totally comfortable with sharing (I asked her about posting this before I did it). Although if some don't feel totally comfortable calling or asking her, I am willing to give you some simple details about it - please call me though - I don't know if I really want to blog about it - ya know :)

love y'all . . . Thank you so much for all the support and reassurance from all those who commented on the previous post . . . and thanks for all the love and support everyone has shown and continue to show in my mom and family members lives.

Is the rumor true . . .?

2008-02-23T08:00:00.010-07:00

A few people have called me, asking if the rumor is true - and yes it is. My mom is getting married - to a nice man named Jeff Shmuts (I think that is how his last name is spelled - pronounced "Smoots"). Last I heard they were thinking of May 10th - this year of course - so tentatively mark your calendars. I am not sure if it will be a small or large wedding - but it sounds like it will be in someone's backyard.

(Beware - if you don't want to know how I really feel about all this - please don't keep reading :))

Initial reactions:

- surprised (but not)
- excited and very happy (for my mom - we all knew she would not or could not be "alone" for too long - she is still young - and now we know she's still got it goin' on.)
- nervous or questioning (for how it would affect my younger siblings)
- anticipation (to get to know him and his family)
- curiousity (Hmmm . . . what will this be like?)

-Wow - 3 Jeff's in the family (Mom's brother, my brother, and now her husband) - (we teased that Becky and Cami are only aloud to marry a Brad or a Michael now- since I married a Scott. :))

A few Initial questions (I have asked - and addressed with mom):

- Have you (mom) even told Dad's family you are dating? (they are all informed now :))

-How soon are they planning on getting married?

- How does his (Jeff) family feel about it? (that is a continual question)

- Who is this guy? (I have only met him once)

- How will this affect us all? (his family, our family, etc)

- Where is Jeff and his family at with the fact that we don't practice their religion? (This is always a big question for most people - and the fact of the matter is, that it matters to people (like myself). Spirituality is important to many people in religious settings and non-religious settings.)

Current thoughts, questions, and feelings: ( have shared all these with my mom)
Wow! I am not sure how much I should share of these things - I may keep it simple for now.

- How much of my mom will we be losing to this new family? (some may be shocked that I and others in my family have this question - but it is a real feeling and thought - perhaps the same question comes up for his kids about Jeff.)

- Why do they have to rush things so quickly? (there are a lot of people involved here)

- When I comment to friends or family that I feel Mom and Jeff are moving a little too fast, a couple people have said "Well, you and Scott were only engaged a couple months" or they give other examples of other people and when they first got married (at age 20 or so) I feel like that is a very unrelated, and perhaps dumb response to my concern. And I have two responses for it:
-- 1- It was our or those people's 1st marriage in their early 20's (we only had us to worry about.)
-- 2 - They have 13 children, spouses, and grandchildren to blend into the family along with their marriage, with life long history's of relationships and traditions (small and big) with each other and with our parents, alive and deceased. (it won't hurt anyone to wait for a few to several more months to help everyone perhaps get to know each other, make it a little more smooth - I am excited to blend traditions and relationships, but lets make it a happy experience, all around.)

- I also find it funny when I share any frustrations with people who have never experienced a divorce, or remarriage, or blending families, etc. - they totally shut down, or try to change the subject to a conversation with a more happy topic. Why does it always have to be bunnies and flowers with everyone? (okay - not everyone, I guess just some people)

- I am so glad I have my brother Brad to talk to!!! (we keep it real ;) - thanks bro.)

(I better end on a lighter note - for the bunnies and flowers kind of people - sure love ya!)

- I still am very excited for my mom and I am looking forward to meeting Jeff's kids. I think we are a fun family and it sounds like they are too. So, I know it will work out in it own time - and who knows maybe we eventually won't be able to live without each other.

TYF!

Catching up - Part 2. . . Oct/Nov '07

2008-02-19T09:52:00.003-07:00

Fun masks the kids designed and colored!! Superhero power!
Here are my cuties at Halloween! Hana's recycled Bear costume for Conrad - he loved growling like a Bear! Of course Hana as Princess Snow White - she insisted that we cut her hair short like that so she looked more like Snow White (I was cool with that!) We had a blast trick o treating with them. Hana loved it and Conrad (Mr. Independent) carried and dragged his bucket of candy from house to house and refused to let anyone help him with it or even carry him. It was hilarious!
Two Superheros and their favorite blankets as super-capes, harnessing their Superhero Powers! Total concentration! :)

Catching up - Part 1. . .

2008-02-11T20:31:00.000-07:00

On Dec. 16th 2007 Hana turned 5!
She had an "Under the Sea" Party the day before. She also wanted fish for her birthday - so she was so thrilled when she got them. She got 2 fish. She named them Rose and Goldie. They are still alive - which is amazing - and they are kind of fun to have! I can't believe I have a five-year-old! Wow - time flies! She sure is fun to have in our family. She is my little teacher - full of wisdom and spunk!

We also had Breakfast with Santa the day before her birthday as well. Conrad got to be Rudolph on Santa's lap as he and the kids sang the song "Rudolph ..." It was hilarious- as seen in the picture below. He sat so still while that flashing red nose was on his face. :) The kids got balloon shapes and their face painted - of course time to tell their Christmas wishes to Santa - and a delicious breakfast. We were there with Scott's family. It sure was fun!!!

It is what it is . . . and to me it is amazing!

2008-02-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

2/3/06 Two years gone . . . a life time full of memories!
I love you! I miss you!

Thank you, Dad, for all you taught me, showed me, and helped open my eyes to. I am who I am today partial because of you. The combined harmony you and mom brought to our family and your combined teachings and love created our Glauser Masterpiece.

. . . and now . . . The first chapter of our New Family book is now being written with excitement, wonder, joy and pure love!!! (Thank you, Dad, for some assistance with it) I cannot find words to express, but my heart is full with the knowing that this new book will also be a Masterpiece. A new combined harmony is now being created! It is beautiful. I welcome it with open arms. What an amazing gift and adventure. Thank you Jeff S. :) , for bringing this new love to Mom. Thank you for being willing to share your heart and your family with ours. I am so excited and look forward to it all!!!

T.y., F!!!

Our 6th Anniversary! Wow!

2008-02-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

Saturday, February 2nd, was our 6 year wedding Anniversary! I can't believe it has been 6 years. It sure has been a mind blowing experience. I love my life! It really ROCKS!

Scott and I decided to take the kids to Classic Fun Center that day. Hana and Conrad both got scooters for Christmas and they have been practicing up and down our 10 ft long hall way for the last month. So both kids had a blast having a whole skating rink to ride on. (At CFC they let kids ride their scooter or skate, cool huh!) Scott and I had a blast watching them. Hana got faster and faster. Conrad had a couple wipe outs before he got the hang of it. Imagine Hana in her own little world going around the rink and Conrad trying to keep up with her - if he lost sight of her he would stop right in the middle while kids were wizzing by him, then if he saw her he would try to drag his scooter over to her, he then would give up and leave his scooter in the middle of the rink and run after her. It was hilarious. About an hour into in I rented some skates and skated with the kids. It was great!! I made the mistake of pushing Conrad around while he just stood on his scooter - this of course led to him not wanting to do it on his own after that. Oh well - it was fun!

Don't get the wrong idea - Scott and I did have quite a bit of time later with out the kids. Scott's fabulous parents took the kids overnight and we picked them up the next day and stayed at their house to watch the Super Bowl.

Saturday evening Scott and I went to Starbucks and had some delicious drinks and wonderful, uninterrupted adult conversation. Then off to dinner at Tepanyaki restaurant!! IT WAS FABULOUS! The next day(yesterday) we went grocery shopping (without kids - nice) and had another cup 'o joe together. It was great.

A New Year! So it has begun. . . . Wooo! Hooo!

2008-01-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

aaaaaah . . . just breath in the newness and freshness of it!!! And Hurray! January is here!!! I guess it has been here for a couple weeks. Anyway, it has been great so far. No Inversion! Snowing every few days, and some sun in between has been great!

We had a wonderful Christmas with our kids!! Christmas morning and spending time with just our little family of four (and Zephyr) were my absolute favorite parts. It was the most relaxing and fun, with the least stress involved. Don't get me wrong, I liked seeing other family and such, but I have to say, being with just my hubby and kids will always be my most joyful of times.

Scott is still working at Skywest airlines as a Ramp Supervisor. ( just to give all a heads up - his flight benefits have changed and we do not get buddy passes anymore from Skywest.) He says all the time that he is ready for a change. He has had a longtime desire to get on with the Highway Patrol one day. He is looking at getting into the Police Acadamy this Spring or Summer. I am excited for him and his goals. I am still working at The Sharing Place: A Grief Support Program for Children and their Families; running a Support Group there and doing family interviews. I also work at the YWCA as an Activities Specialist. The teens and kids there teach me something new everyday. Hana is in her final year of Pre-school, with the big K starting in the Fall. She is a very social girl and is EXTREMELY attentive in all things. It is cool to watch her mind work. Conrad is a fun, loving, crazy little man. He brings joy, and playfulness into our home. It is wonderful.

Luckily we were all pretty healthy through the holidays. Then January came and Conrad got a little eye infection, but we nipped it in the bud real quick, so he is fine. As for mommy, I was blessed enough to get Strep Throat this weekend. It totally took me out! It came on Sunday, and yesterday I felt like my body had been slammed against a brick wall. Its no fun being a mommy while your sick. Thankfully it was Scott's day off yesterday and he and the kids had a very fun filled day. They went to Cabela's; did a little shopping for dad. Then they went to the Living Aquarium in Sandy, McDonald's for an late lunch and the pet shop to look at the animals. What a fun day! Meanwhile, mommy was drowsy on Lortab, and in bed all day. aaaaaah. Fun for all! ;)

(I will post pictures soon)

I think mostly Scott and I are excited for what this year has to offer us. Abundance in all things . . .

Merry Christmas to All !!! From the McKinnons!

2007-12-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope your holidays are merry and bright!!! This is our holiday message from our family to all of you . . .

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1313779629

Turn up the volume on your computer and go to the link/website above! If is doesn't work, just copy and paste it into your address bar. It may take a minute or so to load, but be patient, it is worth it! We hope it brings some smiles, or laughs into your holiday season!

Pass the Cheer!

2007-12-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

The picture of this cup makes it kind of hard to read - so this is what it says:

"Pass the Cheer . . . A good way to pass the cheer when you are on the road is to pay the toll for the car behind you. Do this and you might start to look at stop lights as holiday lights instead. Red means stop and be thankful for a moment. Green means go out and do nice things."

Aaaaaahhh! Starbucks. The home of delicious hot holiday beverages. I hope we can all take some time to "Pass the Cheer" this holiday season, and even all year long. Here is my story about how the cheer was first pass to me. . .

When I was in Indiana a couple weekends ago, my friend and I stopped at their local Starbucks drive thru. My friend Tamara was in front of me in her car. I ordered and pulled up to the window. The woman at the window said "The person in front of you paid for part of your order, so you now owe $1.56." I thought, oh that was nice of Tamara, but then the woman continued. She said, "We have something we do called Pass the Cheer. You are welcome to pay the $1.56, or pay a little more and pass the cheer for the next person behind you." I thought, "This is pretty cool." So I handed the woman $4 and told her to put whatever is left toward the order behind me.

I wonder how long the cheer was passed that day. (Hopefully there wasn't a scrooge who stopped the cheer - that's got to be some bad carma ;o) The cup above was the one I got that day at Starbucks, so I thought I would share the thought and experience. I hope we all have the chance to "Pass the Cheer" sometime.

I love you all!!! Pass the Cheer and Have a wonderful holiday season!

Visiting friends is always fun . . .

2007-12-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

I got to visit my fun friend

and her family in Indiana this weekend. Tamara and Jimmy lived here in Utah for about 1 year, from July 2006 to June 2007, and we became fast friends with them. (They now live in Indiana)Hana and their daughter Kyla were best friends instantly. Kyla was born 9 days before Hana, so they loved having their b-days so close together. James is about 10 or 11 months younger than Conrad. As you can see from the picture above they loved playing together (when James was feeling good - he was sick when we were there) Of course we planned the trip to come over Kyla's 5th birthday (picture of Hana and Kyla, above, is at her party).

Now these pictures above and to the left side are of the fabulous experience it was, and continually is, traveling with just me and my two kiddles. As you can see my loony son must be restrained in unique ways, or he would be lost by now in some other state. Hana, as I have said before in other blogs, is a seasoned, and very well behaved traveler. Of course she has her moments, when she is bored or tired, but don't we all.

Anyway, it was a good trip. I am now getting ready to have Hana's birthday party (she turns 5 this Sunday, Dec. 16th). Wow, December is way too busy. I need to take a few of the extra things off my plate next year. :)

My teacher, Hana! I sure love ya . . .

2007-12-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

This picture is Hana's first day back to preschool in Oct. this year.

I am finally blogging after a 2 month break - not on purpose.

I wanted to blog today about my sweet daughter, Hana. I am amazed at how quickly she is growing up. I find my self wanting to stop it somehow. She now is tall enough to reach things on top of our microwave, which is on out counter. I know that does not sound so great, but it is just a conformation that she is growing fast. Just yesterday she could bearly reach the light switch - ya know?

Scott and I also decided that we know how to do this parent thing with 2 year olds, because we've done it before. However, Hana is turning 5 in less than two weeks and we don't know how to raise a 5 year old. AH! Sometimes we feel like we are in over our head. :)

I have also recently taken on another parttime job, working at the YWCA, with kids and teens. I leave for work right after Scott gets home in the afternoon. I am still really enjoying it, but it has been a big change for our family.

Hana has said to me a couple times that she wishes everything was back the way it was before. She first explained that a couple of her preschool teachers are different, and she wished that they were the same again. Then she wanted her bedroom back the way it used to be (when we had the bunk bed set up and Conrad's crib up ) - we now have the bunk bed separated and the kids sleep in each of the beds. Then the final heart breaker for me was when she said "And I just want our family back the way it was, too. Mom, it sure is hard having so many changes." Well, there goes a little piece of her childhood, toddling out the door. Oh Man! What do you do? Yes, I have to agree with Hana, it is very hard watching changes happen - especially with my kids.

Don't get me wrong, I am very excited for my kids to continue experiencing life. What a great adventure! But ya know - I also hope I can be there for them the way that is need for them to have the fullest life possible. I guess it is a daily "giving up." This is where I put my hands in the air and say "I give it all to you, Father. Show me the way and Thy will be done! I give it up! It is Yours - knowing I will be shown my role in this beautiful life!"

I have also realized how individual my sweet children are. I mean in the sense that they are separate from me and each other. They are not mine. They only belong to themselves and the God or Goddess that they are. They are their own people living their own life experience. It is hard to explain from my true perspective, and everyone will have their own interpretations of what I am explaining. All I can say is that I am so glad I am their "mom" right now. I "know" these people or Spirits who have joined in on this particular life adventure. We are friends and they have gifts they have brought with them. It sure is a beautiful thing remembering that.

Airplane travel as a way of life . . .

2007-10-05T11:52:00.000-06:00

Above: Hana is ready to fly! Hana is definitely a seasoned flyer. It is hilarious as she walks down the halls of the airports wheeling her little bag behind her. She walks like a little woman with a purpose. Scott says she looks like a little business woman.

Hana has been flying since she was about 1 month old. I remember the first time we flew to St George with her. She was tiny and we surprised my parents and fam with a little trip to St. G. I had called Brad, or maybe it was Becky, to come pick us up at the airport in St. G. We walked into my family's house. My dad was sitting on the couch - just in view of the front door - and he saw us walk in. His face lit up and he haulered to my mom in the kitchen, "We got a baby here!" Everyone was so surprised and excited. Good memory!

Above: Scott and Hana, as we get off of the small 30 passenger EMB 120 prop airplane we fly on to St. G. - Look at her :), all about business. :) It was a little rainy and cold that day we arrived back into SLC from sunny St. G. We didn't have jackets, and were wearing tanks and shorts.

Below: We put on our jackets as soon as we got our bags. Burrr. Here are the kids riding on the bus back to our truck, to go home. Conrad is getting pretty good at knowing what to do in an airport as well. Their favorite is putting their own belongings in the bin to be scanned when going through the security check point. Especially Conrad. He thinks he is so big. He has to take off his own shoes and put them in the bin by himself. :) Funny kid. They also love it if they have the puffers on the metal detectors. Funny. I just love 'em.

For those of you who don't know - Scott has worked with SkyWest Airlines since before we got married. He has been a Ramp Supervisor for the last 5 years, or so. It is pretty much a way of life now, for us to travel by airplane. It is very convenient for me that SkyWest is based out of St. G. so there are several flights a day that go there. Scott sees my uncle Harv every once in a while as he flies through. He also works with Jodee Hazon (spelling?). She is an aunt on the other side of the fam of some of my fun Glauser cousins, Steve's family (Tam's sister). Jodee keeps us informed sometimes with some of the Glauser happenings and updates, since we are so out of it most of the time. Funny. Oh well, we'll get on the ball soon.

Anyway, it is an awesome benefit to fly for free. Although, we have traveled quite a bit lately and are taking a little break - for a couple weeks anyway. ;) I am excited to fly once again to St. G. in a couple weeks to stay with my family for the weekend. Oct 20th. All the boys are going on a hunting trip, so all us girls and the kids get to hang out. Everyone is welcome to join us. It will be fun!!! It is beautiful weather in St. G. in October! Anyway, we will be there. ;)

ALOHA Maui!!! A little dream come true!!! Sept. 17th - 20th

2007-09-21T21:23:00.001-06:00

Wow! MAUI!!! What a cool place!! This is a huge lava field in Makena, near Kihei, Maui -where we stayed!

This is Hana and I at the Makena lava beach. The little drive there was a skinny road surrounded on both sides with an enormous lava field - amazing - with the old volcano in the back ground (the above top picture).

Well - we finally did it!!! We went to Maui!!! What a beautiful, fun, relaxing, little dream of a vacation!! About a 1 1/2 weeks before we left, Scott found a condo, thru his buddy's timeshare. Scott had time off anyway for this week and we were trying to find somewhere to fly. So what better place than Maui!! We were so excited when it all worked out!!!

Conrad and I over looking the pier, with all the whaling and some tourist boats! Near the Maui Ocean Center. Cute kid!

We arrived on Monday night. Then stayed until Thursday night. On Thursday we went to the Maui Ocean Center! The most amazing, extremely large aquarium we have ever seen. It was a very fun place for the kids. We learned a lot about all the animals in the ocean. In their huge Open Ocean section of the aquarium we saw five different types of sharks, two kinds of sting rays, and tons of huge and colorful fish, all swimming together. The kids loved it - Scott and I loved it! Then there was a tunnel where all those sea animals would swim over us! It was amazing!

We took the great advice of my uncle Brian Neff and went to the Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant, in Lahaina, on Wednesday night. It was a very cool place. Good burgers! Great atmosphere! We all loved the great live music. We also sat upstairs next to the balcony as you can see and it was additional, perfect entertainment for the kids to look over and see all the people, cars, and bikes. As Brian said - Lahaina definitely is like the Park City of Maui. We did a little souvenir shopping. It had a great time! But the restaurant was the highlight that night!

Chaka! Scott and Hana hangin out, playin around in the ocean. On Tuesday we went to the beach right across the street from our condo. It was a great one for the kids. The waves were not too big and they loved the water and the sand. Fun fun day - light sunburns, but not too bad. It was pretty funny - there was a smaller wave that took Hana out. She tumbled as we watched with surprise, as all we saw was her little bum and legs do a summersault in the wave. She popped up and just stared at us - no tears :). All we could do was laugh and give her high fives for how awesome she handled the wave. She laughed and thought it was pretty funny. She was pretty proud of herself too. Feeewww! (wipe the brow) She handled it a lot better than we thought! (Although this was not the last time this happened -read further)

The kids with the "tootas" - sea turtles - at the Maui Ocean Center - they were so cool to see. The kids loved them.

We had a fabulous time! We realized that activities with the kids were limited, also because it was such a short trip - so we spent most of our time different beaches.

The story of Big Beach . . . This was a cool beach - maybe for older kids :) ! Tuesday afternoon we went to Big Beach - and upon arriving, we realized why it was called Big Beach! It was a pretty big beach, but also the waves, as they curled, were about 10 feet high and every once in a while there was one about 15 or so feet high. Wow! It was a little scary for the kids - so Scott and I did a little body surfing on and off while the kids played on the beach. Conrad came in with me for a few minutes - it took some persuasion to get Hana to come out with us. Finally she came in with Scott - holding on very tight. We were enjoying the large waves - out just past the point where they were breaking. Suddenly Scott looked at me and pointed out to the ocean and said "Um, Amy!" I looked out and saw a huge wave suddenly upon us with no way of avoiding it. I said "Wo! Okay, hold on!" I embraced Conrad with his head a little above my head (mean while Scott was just a couple feet more toward the shore- and he said all he was thinking was "Please don't break on us!") So the wave came and I did my best to keep our head above water. We made it - it splashed our faces quite a bit. But it did curl right on Hana and Scott. I turned and they were gone. A half second later Scott pops up without Hana. He looked at me and scrambled for only a few seconds to find her as the wave went back out. Suddenly Hana stands up on the sand, popping her head out of the water. With a very disoriented, surprised look on her face. I instantly grabbed her and was holding her and Conrad. Scott came up quick and grabbed her from me. By that time the waves had pushed us more onto the shore. Hana's hair was tossled - again no tears. We just went for the positive approach again. "Wo! Hana that was awesome! You did great! You just popped right up! You okay? (double checking) You did exactly what you were supposed to! Good job!" She again was shocked, but proud of herself. For the rest of the trip she talked about how awesome her tumble in the ocean was, and also added that she never wanted to do that again. :) We then continued to just look for seashells on the shore at that beach. ;)

We also rented snorkle gear and went to a very cool beach with great reefs right off the shore. Scott and I took turns all day, snorkeling. We also rented a boogie board with a window in it and took Conrad out on it. He was able to see a couple fish too. Unfortunately, do to the experience that day before, Hana did not join us in the ocean for the rest of the trip. But that is okay. We all had a great time though.

After an incredible vacation and great memories, it was time to go - took the red eye flight- last night (Thurs night). The kids slept the entire flight home! It was great! Yet Scott and I didn't sleep too well! So we are tired and now going to bed - so that is our great Maui vacation in a nut shell!! Love you all!

Football Season! What is the deal?

2007-09-15T11:36:00.000-06:00

Okay so football season - Ute football season - has begun!!! As you can tell we are big fans in our house!!! Yet I am asking myself that same question again!!! What is the deal with men - or my husband - and football? And I am honestly curious! Okay, so besides the obvious male aggressiveness displayed amongst the fans of the game - as well as being a part of something big . . . a fan club? Well in any case, it is an "Event" that lasts for 5 months +.

Scott was extremely siked for Conrad's 2 year olds birthday (Sept. 14th) - yesterday! We decided to have a Utah theme. Scott said - "I love planning a kid's birthday when they're not old enough to care what the theme is!" It was fun. I made a Ute symbol cake and decorated the house with black and red steamers and white and red balloons. Conrad's favorite part was the "boons" - balloons. We were excited to have Scott's family join us for some "pidat" - pizza - and cake and ice cream.

It was really fun making the cake! I love decorating cakes - it is a little secret passion of mine, that I have been able to slowly develop - thanks to the early instruction from my mama, when I was a teenager. Someday I will take a course and decorate cakes as a side gig for weddings, birthdays, and such. (Just a little dream of mine).

Here is Conrad trying to blow out the cake! What a funny kid! He would do a small blow, without blowing the candle out, and then stand back with his arms folded with a face of confidence! Hilarious!

Soooo, back to the football season . . . I have decided that I must accept the fact that I lose a large part of my husband September through January, every year. What is the deal? I love my wonderful husband with all my heart - well it goes way beyond even that - and I do know that College Football, well I should say UofU Football has been a part of him since he was a kid. Yet, it still baffles me every year, the intense conversations that occur between Scott and other football lovers. Most of the conversations I see usually happen between Scott and his dad, or friendly banter with Uncle Jordan ;) a BYU lover. Sometimes I think Scott hates the Cougars more that he loves the Utes - or maybe its the BYU fans he dislikes. Yet, my hubby has a lot of emotion and passion for the Utes game and in the past has been viewed as possibly on the verge of, dare I say, unhealthy? He is getting better - a little less attached, you could say. It's actually sort of funny - all the hoop-la! Hee hee!

Yes, and now the kids are being brought up in this tradition :) - with mom's semi-failed attempts to delude the intensity of it. Scott has now taught our kids to "love the Utes and hate the Cougars." Aunt Marie did point out to me that "hate" is a very strong word for a 4 1/2 year old to use - which I completely agree, and have yet to discuss this with my wonderful hubby. Aside from that thought, the recent cheers and chants heard in my house lately (mostly on game day) go something like this:

Scott: "Who do we love!!?"

Hana: "The Utes!"

Scott: "Yeah! And who do we hate!!?"

Hana: "The Cougars!"

Scott: "Yeah!!!"

Followed by high-fives and more chants of "Go Utes! Go Utes!"

It is pretty funny to see dainty Hana get into it so much!

And can you just guess how much Scott loves that? He also loves it now that Conrad is saying "Oots!" (Utes). He points to the new Utes poster Scott put up and says "Oots!" Cutie!
Fun Fun!!! Football season - game days- the spirit of it all! It is pretty fun! Yet - I am sure, reading this, you can sense the conflict I have about it! It is really fun, the first couple months, and then there is a point in the season that it starts to get a little long! ;)

So I still ask - laughing and shaking my head with question - What is the deal?

HTC! Me Hulk! Me Running! Me had FUN!

2007-08-31T08:46:00.000-06:00

Wooo! Hooo! Hood to Coast Relay! What a fun and intense race! It was quite an experience! The best part was bonding as a team! Look at these cool pics! We had a crazy blast together! That group pic is our whole team! Wooo - I love them! We were the Incredible Holt's (my mom's maiden name, it was most all my mom's side of the family on the the team). The Hulk was our mascot.

The 197 mile race started at Mount Hood (OR). Van 1 started us off at 8:00 am Friday, Aug. 24th. We had two vans - I was in Van 2 - we split the team in half as we all ran different sections of the race. We each ran three different times. I ran section #9, which was the longest distance out of all the sections. My first Leg was 6.8 miles, which I started at about 3:30 pm. It was on a paved trail the whole time which was nice. My second Leg was 5.0 miles, which I started at about 2:30 am. This was easy, yet annoying. The whole run was on a decline, so it made it very easy, but the entire run was on a gravel road and all the vans from the other teams were passing us runners, which made it very dusty. I had a paper painters mask, which helped, but also felt restricting. But it was the Leg that I ran the very fastest - 8.55 min mile. COOL! The third and final Leg for me, was 7.8 miles. I was pretty nervous leading up to it, because after running 11.8 miles and having my longest Leg last, I was not sure how my body would do. But, it turned out great! I kept a steady pace and ran the whole Leg, along the beautiful country of Oregon. I ran it in 8 minutes less than I anticipated. My leg muscles were pretty tight after, but not too much limping.

Then we all waited at the finish line while Marie - my aunt, and our awesome team cpt., ran the last Leg to finish our relay! We finished at about 5:30 pm Saturday. Then we all joined her for a run across the finish line! It was so damn fun! I hope I get to do it again some day soon. The race ended at Seaside Beach, where booths were set up and lots of free stuff. It was great to be with all the team at the end! Truly - such an emotional bonding experience!

I loved seeing our other team mates from Van 1 and hugging them and cheering eachother on, at the Van exchanges. My greatest experience was on my runs, knowing that my team in my van would be waiting for me with water or what ever I needed along the run! I loved seeing them as I approached different points of the run. Each of the other people had their spouse their running on the team, and their to take care of them. Yet it was so touching for me to have almost everyone in my van each time, there waiting to cheer me on, and get water or gatorade or a towel to me. I want to thank each one of them for showing their love in such a perfect way. It was tough not having Scott there (not that he didn't want to be), but my team was there and it was perfect!

SO GREAT! I am so glad we did it! I love my team!

Lasting memories of camp! SO FUN!

2007-08-31T08:15:00.000-06:00

This is a picture of Jeff crossing the monkey bridge he helped make up at Camp!
Jeff had a lot of fun at one of our staff party's the week he stayed with us at Camp!
This is our beautiful lake! We loved taking a row boat out together and fishing! (w/o Zephyr :) )
We loved our cabin! It was built in 1930, very rustic, little one room, with a tiny loft! No plumbing or water to it and no electricity. Its like sleeping in a big wooden tent. The way it looks on the outside, with the big logs, is exactly how it looks on the inside with a wood, deck-like, floor. It's very cool. We laid pieces of carpet down to make it more comfy.

AAHHHH!

2007-08-18T20:08:00.000-06:00

Can my life get more insane? We are finally back from camp. . . But now I am off to see my family in St. George before Cami leaves for school and then off the run the Hood to Coast relay this next weekend. AHHH! Well, I will post more pics later. Love you all.

One more week! We've had a blast!

2007-08-12T09:59:00.000-06:00

We have one more week to play at Camp Steiner! It has been quite an incredible, crazy summer! Scott and I have mixed feelings about it. It was very hard and busy a lot of the time. However, we absolutely loved being in the amazing beauty of those mountains. It has been so fun staying in our little one room, authentically-rustic cabin. Hana, Conrad, and Zephyr have their beds set up on the main floor and Scott and I have a little bed up in the small loft. Scott has only intensified his passion for fly fishing, as he has been able to go out in a row boat and fish 2-3 times a week. The kids and I love going out the in the boat with him every once in a while. When ever Scott catches a fish he lets the kids touch it, then he releases it. Then each time, Conrad spins around to me and says, "Mo! Mommy! Mo" as he also does the sign for "more" with his hands over and over again. He loves the fishy's. Hana has been Miss Independent. This is her 3rd summer up there and she knows her way around like it is our second home - which I guess it is. She lets me know where she will be and reminds me matter of fact "I have to follow the buddy system to be safe, Mom."

I decided to participate in the Polar Bear plunge this week. The Polar Bear plunge takes place at 7 am every morning. You have to jump into the freezing cold lake, and holding the scout sign, repeat one of the scouting promises, such as the Oath, Law, Motto, or Slogan. It is different each day. Then the Aquatics Director throws tennis balls out for us to swim out and retreive (yes, like a dog). Speaking of dog, Zephyr likes to do the plunge with me as well. Its fun. So each morning this week I did it and when I return next week I get a cool Steiner mug as the prize for doing it each day. Silly, but a fun memory.

Jeff, my bro, is here playing with the kids. He is spinning both kids around on our broken computer chair. Hana is saying "Hey mom look at us!" and Conrad is repeating "Us! Us! Us!" Man, they are such cuties!
Jeff joined us at camp this week. This was his first experience at a scout camp. It was really his first experience with the Boy Scout program. He absolutely loved it. He completed 6 merit badges and he will complete his 7th as soon as he completes his other wood carving project. He got to learn cool lashings and knots, shoot a bow and arrow, shoot rifles and clean them, and map and compass stuff. He also got to do lots of fishing. Also, a little black bear decided to hang out around our camp all week. Jeff saw it climbing on the boulders by the lake while he was fishing on Thursday. Scott was so jealous. Scott wanted to see the bear so bad, but seemed to always miss it by just a couple minutes. Anyway, it was a blast having Jeff up there with us. It was cool to see him accomplish and learn so many cool things. We are going to see if we can find a really good, exemplary(spelling?) troop in St. G to get him hooked up with.

So that is a quick up date. I will include some pictures as soon as I can.

Dislocated Parts to Honorary Members . . .

2007-07-20T10:47:00.000-06:00

This last week at camp was so crazy!- in a good way! It started out feeling like it was going to be a rough week. However, it ended up being surprisingly, very cool!!!

Monday is the day when all the scout troops arrive - although, this week a large troop of 32 boys and about 20 leaders arrived with their Semi-truck on Saturday (troop 411 - I will mention them later, so this is why I give these details). This was also the weekend that Marie and Jordan, Matt and Lucy came and stayed with us in our little cabin. It was so fun having them there. We started out with a yummy lunch and then decided to take a couple row boats out on the lake. We played some cards into the early evening and then decided to go for a little hike and have a late dinner, since we pigged out on treats and snacks (As it should be when you are camping). So, on the way to our cabin to get ready, Scott and I took Conrad's hands and did the 1,2,3 swing and right away he began to cry. But it was one of those cries that says, "Ouch, that hurt and I don't know how to respond to that." So I picked him up and he usually cuddles and stops crying, but he kept a painful wimper going. Well, as Mom, I could of course tell right away that this pain he felt was not going to go away in a few minutes. We took him into the cabin and he did not want me to put him down. He held his right arm close to his body. I tried moving it around a little to check if it was broken. He didn't scream in pain, it was more of an uncomfortable-pain. We figured something was dislocated. He also could not even grip his binky with that hand, but he could with his other hand. So, we decided I needed to take him to SLC that night and get it checked out. I left right away, bummed to leave the fam and the LeBaron's, but of course I needed to help my poor little son. About 30 minutes away from camp, when I finally got cell phone service, I called Insta Care and told them Conrad may have a dislocated shoulder or elbow. The lady told me, "Oh you have to take him to Primary Children's ER for that." I said "What! Why! Can I please talk to a doctor or nurse!" I was very frustrated that he may have to go to ER, only because I could tell is wasn't that bad. But, after talking to the nurse, she said to come in and check it out. I guess if it was the shoulder, because if his age, they'd have to knock him out to set it in, but if it is an elbow, it is easy to set back in.

So, to cut to the ending, it was a dislocated elbow, and about 3 minutes after the very sweet doctor set it in, Conrad was using his arm as usual and pretty much forgot about what had happened.

(Needless to say, it was a not-so-fun drive down to SLC (1 hr, 30 min). Conrad fell asleep for 1/2 of it, but when he woke up it was a rude awakening for him to be reminded of his arm. Anyway, it all worked out and he is fine. We stayed at our house in SLC that night and got up early the next morning and drove back to camp.)

We had a very FUN day playing in the lake with the Lebaron's, when we got back. Jordan funkified his knee climbing back onto the dock from the lake, which I hope is better now. We played on the water trampoline, and I have to say that Marie wimped out on doing a trick off the trampoline, but it was pretty cold water. ;) Anyway, we are sooo glad they came and would love it if anyone else wants to come hang out with us up there.

Oh also, while I was in SLC with Conrad, I got a msg that my cousin Corey was in town. I called him the next morning on the way back, we chatted for a bit, and later that day he showed up at our camp and hung out with us, after the LeBaron's left. It was so fun to see him for a few hours.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

So to get back to our week with the scouts there. . . On Monday while all the scout troops were checking in, two troops showed up that were suppose to be there last week. This started out my craziness, because it is my job to deal with stuff like this. Basically after lots of confusion we got it all worked out and they turned out to be pretty cool troops.

But the really fun part for me and Scott was hanging out with that huge troop I mentioned earlier, troop 411. I was there camp commissioner, so to basically make sure they were taken care of (I was also working with a few other troops too). I visited them a few times a day to share in their fun and to make sure they had all they needed. Scott and the kids joined me a few times as well. Scott also instructed several of the boys in 411 to get the climbing merit badge. It was fun because they were an incredible example of how a scout troop should really be ran. If you are familiar with the scouting program you will know what I am talking about as I explain their troop. They had about 5 or 6 scout patrols, and 3 leader patrols. Each morning they had their own flag ceremony and patrol report, yell and cheer time. They call it Gilwell, named after the field where the scouts had flag ceremony at the very first scout camp on Brownsea Island, in England. Anyway, they were a great and fun example for all scouts.

On Thursday night they invited us to dinner and asked us to join them in their closing flag ceremony for the evening. During the ceremony they asked our little family to come to the front and gave us troop gifts and invited us to be honorary members of their troop. They explained that they would usually do it Saturday morning, but since we were leaving early, they did the ceremony with us that night. They also explained that each summer camp they attend the boys in the troop choose a couple staff members who exemplify true scouting values and share the same excitement for scouting as their troop. The Scout Master said that by unanimous vote, they chose Scott and I as those people, to be Honorary members. We were truly honored and so surprised. It was a very cool, fun experience.

That is our week - yes a long read, but worth it - thanks for reading.

Splash Splash!

2007-07-15T08:06:00.000-06:00

We gave up trying to keep the kids out of the puddles after a huge rain/hail storm. They got soaked, and had a blast! Although Conrad was quite shocked when he face-planted it as he ran through a huge puddle!! This was also hilarious!

Fun on the Lake

2007-07-15T07:52:00.000-06:00

These pictures are hilarious!!! Conrad was mad because I wouldn't let him lean over and side to touch the water - later I did when I held onto him, but I just had to post these pictures of him crying. It also made him more mad when I started taking pictures of him crying. Yes, we are entertained by are son's drama! :) After a few minutes were all having fun! I was just fun rowing around the lake.

2007-07-15T07:42:00.000-06:00

Jealous? Hee Hee! Instead of TV we get to view our beautiful sunsets each night. They are especially beautiful after a good rain storm. Isn't Conrad a cutie?! I also have to admit that he is also a little hellian up there. Man, its tough chasing that kid around. He's a fast one, that little stinker!! If I wasn't watching, he would run straight into the lake. He did fall in once - off the dock - into a very shallow part, so he didn't get all the way in, but he was soaked. He was quite shocked. :)

Finally a little Update

2007-07-15T07:29:00.000-06:00

Finally a little update. We have been having a great time at BSA camp. The kids love it. These pictures were taken at the table in Scott's High Adventure teaching area. The kids are sitting in left-over boxes from the Trading Post (the store) - pretending to sit in thrones - Hana said that she was the Queen and Conrad was the King. We are with some fellow camp staff members in the other picture.

Also, Scott's mom and dad came to visit us on July 4th. It was fun having them there and showing them around!!!

I finally did it . . .

2007-06-18T16:40:00.000-06:00

So my fab sister, Becky, who know's what is "all the rage, in Europe!" ;) was urging me to set up a blog about my simply wonderful little family!! So I did!! Here it is - I hope you enjoy!!!

Our World - Up and Coming

2007-06-18T16:22:00.001-06:00

We are going to SCOUT CAMP again this summer!!! We decided this will be our last hoo-rah for a long time. The above pictures are from last summer and we are very excited to have another summer of this adventure. Scott will be the High Adventure Director again, which means he is incharge of climbing, rapelling, hiking, and fishing programs for the scouts that attend camp. I will be working as the Head Commissioner, which is having fun with the scouts, working with the Junior staff we have and making sure the scouts are getting all they can out of camp. The kids will be my assistants :). In between all that, we will enjoy the beautiful wilderness while we hike, fish, climb, canoe and play!!!

A Piece Of Amy's World

2007-06-18T15:50:00.001-06:00

Wow! I don't know what it is, but everything decided to happen in May and June!! Busy and Fun!!! Don't I look spiffy in my scout uniform? The Scouters I am with were my instructors and course-mates at a training I attended. They were awesome!! For a week I had to attend National Camping School for the Boy Scouts of America where I was trained according to the National BSA Standards to do my job at camp, effectively and properly. It was intense and really FUN!!! Scott attended last year to become certified as a Climbing Instructor for BSA. The cert. lasts for 5 years.

Next I went on a fabulous 4 day cruise with my two awesome girlfriends. It is our 10 year H.S. reunion, so we decided to go on a cruise together and bag the reunion. It took about two years of planning. We went for 4 days to KeyWest, FL. and Cozumel, MX. What a blast!!!

A Piece Of Scott's World

2007-06-18T15:36:00.000-06:00

Scott has been the most wonderful husband in the world as I have went off to scout camp training and on my cruise! He spent some great time with the kids, as Mr. Mom, when I was gone. He has also been working hard at SkyWest so we can fly to St. George and other exotic places for free.

He has been preparing for scout camp as well, making sure all the requirements are met to run a safe and fun High Adventure program for the scouts at camp. He will be working pretty heavily on the cliffs with the scouts, climbing and rapelling. Lucky!!!

A Piece of the Kid's World

2007-06-18T15:12:00.000-06:00

Here is fun Aunt Sara dressing up with Hana and Conrad!!! Me and the kids have traveled to St. George the last two weekends to hang with my family. The weekend of June 8th was the see Cami in her fabulous dance performance as one of the lead dancers. The weekend of the June 15th was to see Brad and Kendall's brand new baby girl, Kailyn, born on June 13th - on Jeff's 12th birthday!! Marie and Jordan (my mom's sister and her husband) were there with their kids!! We loved hanging out with them too.

Our Dog - Zephyr

2007-06-18T14:54:00.001-06:00

Isn't she beautiful! She is the best dog! She is She will also be joining us when we go to Scout camp this summer!

2007-03-26T08:34:00.000-06:00