Gilbert-Eschler LLC

Resolutions for 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:58:00 +0000

1. Keep heading for my goal BMI. This holiday season was not a problem till last week, I have lost a little bit of momentum {2 pounds.. yes.. end of the world!}, but between the gym, the Wii and Vic's support, should be back on track soon. 14 pounds to go to be in normal range!!!

2. Penny pinch. I have lofty travel plans coming up and we need to pay down/off the two credit cards we have so I can use them! We only have 5 more years of forced family vacations and I have some big plans! {Europe, a one on one trip with each of the girls for graduation, scout trips, ect..}

3. Be there. The girls school is getting harder, they need direction and more help now more than ever {even if they don't want it!}. They are my top priority. I also need to step up again when it comes to helping with family matters, I all but stopped doing this and now see it was a mistake, I need to get over my issues and get back on track with where I need to be.

4. Find balance. When I am not "Mom", I find I get lost on what it is I am supposed to do with myself. I need to find a way to be at peace with the choices and trade offs that we have made for me to be where I am needed most. Sirj has taken on so much to make sure this all works and at times its really hard that I feel like I have lost myself, my identity, my credit.. but I need to find a way to make peace with all of it.

5. Choose to be happy. This is one I think I do well, but it is an ongoing thing and everyday when I wake up I make choices.. this is one I want to make sure I keep.

Resolution Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:02:00 +0000

Looking back to the first of the year, here are the resolutions I had hoped for.. and where I eneded up.

1. Keep up on the projects. - The house has no less than 5 projects in the works. I need to take the time to see that they get done.. even if that means nagging! I have 4 more projects I want to do this year and they too will get started and finished in a timely manor.
Projects.. hahaha.. yeah.. we finished a few.. there are still some to finish, things out of my control and when my job ended in February, it put a stop to the projects I had planned, so maybe this year!
2. Write things down. - I am an avid list maker, but I have been slacking the past while. I need to be writing down gift ideas when I hear them, and craft projects when I see them. And if I have a gift stashed.. write down where I put it!
I did OK at this.. still room for improvement! I wish I could edit notes for my IPhone from the laptop. I do prefer to type on the laptop than on the little touch screen.

3. Be more honest and open. - As I started here with my last post.
Hahaha, I kinda stopped blogging. I have Face book to dump immediate thoughts and from that my blog has suffered. I also find that I no longer care if others know what I think or not.

4. Balance. - Continue to find the balance as a wife, mother, daughter, employee and volunteer.
I am doing OK at this. I still have spots that I feel overwhelmed and spots that I feel I should have a job and that I could be doing so much more. Its an ongoing thing.
5. Have fun. - I plan to say yes to more activities, and see more of our wonderful planet this year!"
Wow.. its been a great year! So much travel, so much time with family and friends. This one I think I nailed!

Merry Christmas!!

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:30:00 +0000

I hope you are spending the day with the ones you love,

in person or in thought!

Merry Christmas!!

We are parents of a teen

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:01:00 +0000

Holly shit. Did you look at these photos? Do you understand the fear we have? Dec 11, 1996 this wonderful, amazing, funny, smart, sarcastic, kind, and yes, beautiful {inside and out} young woman was born. Today she becomes a teenager and today I am feeling like we are on track and life is good, but there is reality that the worst is yet to come.

This past year has been such a roller coaster! At times terrifying for things we could have never imagined and other smooth and full of pride. This year I am trying to focus on her future and where she is heading instead of crying over what has past. Don't get me wrong, I have shed a tear or 10 over this, but I am excited for all her tomorrows and really loving who she is today and who she is becoming. Happy 13th Birthday baby girl.

Christmas Tea

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:08:00 +0000

For the last 4 years Laurel and I have held our mother/daughter Christmas Tea. This year was laid back and really nice. Here are some of the photos from our wonderful time together.
Laurel serving the worlds best hot co-co!
Laurels wonderful decor!
Food, food and more food! Mom and I cooked for many, many hours on Sunday to get ready for T1's gathering and this tea. We made 3 sandwiches, and 3 desserts. Laurel made 2 sandwiches and 3 desserts and each guest brought something to share.
I love getting to hang out with these guys!

The week of Thing 1

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:49:00 +0000

T1 is going to be 13 sooner than I want to admit. Saturday night we took T1 and her BFF to the mall, for her gift she was given a $100 bill and we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Then we followed the two of them around the mall for hours, till they were both out of money.
Sunday we had a family dinner. She didn't want a party and said I could do what ever I wanted.. so I did.
This took only hours to spend.. with it, she got jewelry, pants, a shirt and lip gloss.
I decided to take advantage of the "do what you want" and did a low key theme of "Thing 1".. seamed like the right thing to do. Isn't this cute!!! I spent hours cooking.. all her favorite treats. We did sushi {thank you Alese}, pin wheels {thank you Laurel}, Beef and Broccoli and Orange Chicken {thank you Panda}, pizza {thank you pizza hut} and Rice Krispies.. all the desserts were made from cereal.. her favorite food!
My loose interpretation of a Thing 1 center piece.
So simple and sooooo cute!!
The birthday girl and her entourage.

No cake.. just a cup of ice cream with sparkler candles.. it was fun. She got a new bed and night stand from Grandma and Grumpa, we bit the bullet and moved her rooms like she wanted. All this and her birthday isn't till Friday. Spoiled Brat!! {but so damn cute!!}

Festival of Trees

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:20:00 +0000

I love going each year, even though I get a kink in my neck from looking right the whole time, and there are always to many people, the scones are amazing and alone worth the trip! Here are a couple of my favorites.

Loosin' it!

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:09:00 +0000

Since late March (for me, early for Sirj) we have made a decision to change. Neither of us were unhappy but we both knew that long term being overweight was going to cause nothing but problems. Sirj was concerned about becoming diabetic and he started this whole mess. We got the iPhone app "Lose it!", it was a free download, pretty simple to use. You tell it some stuff about yourself, pick a realistic goal and tell it how many pounds a week you want to loose, then you document everything you eat and all exercise you do.
At first I complained about being a calorie counter, but I did it. I also got serious about going to the gym on a regular schedule. Over the summer it was easy, gym before the kids got up, farmers market every weekend, loads of fresh veggies and yummy foods. Then school started and its harder to find all the veggies I like, I crave heavy, winter type foods and more effort to get up every morning to get to the gym, but I do it. I do 2 miles on the treadmill and starting last week 30 minutes of weights.
In the past 8 months I have lost 41 pounds, its a little more than a pound a week, but I feel really good about how the weight is coming off. I am still overweight according to BMI, but only 15 more pounds I will be at the high end of normal and that is my goal! The weight training is to help me feel less "lumpy", I have been a size 16/18 for a long time.. I need to get things smooth again! Once I hit my goal, I am going to keep working on being healthy, this is exciting and for once I want to go clothes shopping. I am holding off on clothes, with 15 more to go, I think I get down 1 more size.. a 10.. that would be cool! hehe
What is working.. first and foremost the accountability of the app. I can see where I am everyday, and yes, its gotten harder.. I started out with something like 1800 calories a day, I am at 1500 now, to get more I have to exercise more and weighing less means I don't burn as many calories as I used to.. so I work harder.. gesh.. its like chasing my tail some days. Don't get me wrong, I am not giving up anything, I am just making changes to what choices I make.. healthier breads, water and milk to drink, fish at least once a week, fat free or low calorie dairy, wheat pastas and flour, fake sugar in daily use (not baking), not having the sweets around the house all the time.. still getting them when I want them, but its a trip to get them and I know I really want it. Again, I am NOT giving up anything, I have bad days (Famous Dave's for dinner) but overall the week averages out and its all good, I don't beat myself up.
The bonus to all of this is having the girls see both of us making better choices, walking, exercising, eating better foods, eating out WAY less. I hope this will start a life a good for them and they don't wait so long to have to do this for themselves.
Ohhh and Sirj.. he's lost about 60 pounds.. needs all new clothes, his wedding ring doesn't fit and he looks great. This is a life change, and so far its been good. Its also great we spar off each other for motivation. I think once I get "smooth" and hit my goal.. I will reward myself with a new tattoo.. hmmmm.... just maybe

Giving Thanks.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:53:00 +0000

Thanksgiving caught me off guard. I mean I have watched the calendar, but still.. it's Thanksgiving!! Wow.. here is a list of 36 things, one for each wonderful year of my life, I am thankful for. {and please understand my husband, kids and family are a give in!}
1 Airplanes
2 White Chocolate Mocha Lattés, light, no whip
3 IPhone Apps
4 Girl Scouts
5 Cats purring
6 Johnny Depp
7 Time spent with family especially on vacations
8 A cute dog that lets me dress her
9 Target Superstore
10 DVR
11 Starting the 10th year of being with man I love.
12 The voice of a friend {Dauhhhling}
13 Facebook
14 My mom and dads 37 year marriage
15 Being trusted by teachers to teach their classes, at two different schools even!
16 Cameras
17 Marzetti, Balsamic Vinaigrette, Light salad dressing
18 Lady Fitness
19 A steady income
20 The ability to laugh more than cry, when parenting
21 Family meals
22 The feeling a good song leaves you with
23 The crisp feeling of autumn
24 That 'smell' of spring
25 Uncontrolled genuine laughter
26 How powerful a hug is
27 The visibly lived in home we have
28 The joy and heartache of being a mom for 13 years
29 See’s chocolates
30 The smell of my husbands cologne
31 Two working, safe cars
32 Sleeping in
33 Scrapbooking, sharing great memories with great friends
34 Reconnecting with old friends, that happen to be family too.
35 Dishwashers
36 New found will-power

Death is all around us.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:48:00 +0000

So it's that time of year again for the 6th grade Egyptian project. Now, some of you may recall last years project, that took over 22 hours and 3000 popsicle sticks. This year, T2 was much more realistic. She did her report on death masks, and made one that is reminiscent of King Tut's death mask and a little bit Queen Nefertiti statue. It still took 6 hours, but I think it turned out great!!
Gold paint clean up.
Before the details.

After the details. Ohh, and yes the left eye is missing, total accident, when the clay dried, it was not attached to any of the pieces around it and fell in the eye whole of the mask.

Ohh yea.. dead on! I mean from clay, a .50 Halloween mask, gold spray paint and some free handing.. I think she looks 300 points good!

Haloween 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:28:00 +0000

I love Halloween! I love getting to dress up and go out as anyone or anything I want. This year I don't feel like I got into it as much as I like, but I've been busy. Here is our holiday in photos:

This is my first place winning pumpkin that I made for the Elementary School staff pumpkin contest. They were donated and the kids that voted for it, one of them got to take it home.

These are Tori as Tinker Bell.. so damn cute!!! We took her Howl-O-Ween at Pets Mart and let her see that other dogs are treated just as weird as she is.

T1 and myself at her dad's ward Trunk or Treat. I think T1 is a well dressed dead teen, but I am not really sure.

Sirj and I. He was a "dark scary guy" and his main goal for the night was to scare kids.. he is so good at it! I just put on some stuff.. together I think it all looked kinda cute.

T2 was an adorable sprite.. the colors were so her.. really a perfect costume for her!

My mom's pumpkin.

T2's pumpkin.

T1's pumpkin.. OK.. so we have a rule that when picking pumpkins, you have to be able to carry it.. so she got the biggest pumpkin she could carry. We got it home and found it had a scratch.. the next day that scratch was filled with white fungus, inside it was nasty, black and gooey (hence the gloves and nasty face). She cut out as much of goo as she could, covered the whole gauze and band aides and called it done. I think they look alike.

T2.. here in last years Halloween costume. She volunteered at a Princess Tea party for scouts, and the older girls were encouraged to dress up.. she ate it up, EVERYONE commented on her dress.. she really loves getting to help and work with others.

T1 before school on Friday. The Jr high PTSA did a stomp after school and all the kids were allowed to dress up for the costume contest. She went threw many different ideas before ending with a dead nerd.

Ohhh, you noticed Sirj and I didn't do pumpkins? Yeah.. he wasn't in the mood to do his and I tried twice to do mine and killed it both times. I need to invest in better tools! Halloween this year was our year with the girls. I don't see this being an on going issue for much longer.. T1 has maybe 1 more year of Trick or Treating, T2 maybe 2. T1 went with friends and that was always the plan, T2 told me "I'd like to just go with my friends, but if you want to come you can". I let them both go with friends, they texted every 30-60 min and let me know where they were.

A great year, but even so.. all the decorations where down and put away but 9:30 am. Looking forward to family for Thanksgiving.

School...

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:57:00 +0000

Today was my first sub job at the Jr High. I admit, I was pretty worried, but it turned out great. The class was gym and a great introduction to Jr high. The 9th graders were a little mouthy, but I have noticed that any age older than my own kids I struggle at first to deal with. So I am sure over time this too will get easier. I decided to open myself up to the Jr high and the High school to be more available for jobs. With the economy a lot more people have signed up to sub and the online jobs are gone fast.. so getting "in" with the teachers and the school administrators makes getting jobs a little easier. It doesn't pay much, but its nice to have a full day and I get to see first hand the kids environment and who they are hanging out with. I have also found that I get a much better prospective with the girls and where they are. T1 doesn't seem quite so mouthy or moody when I see that every kid her age acts the same way.
Today is also the last day of first quarter. T1 (from what has been updated as of right now) did fantastic.. we might have to buy sushi! She set a goal for all A's, we hope for all A's, but even more that she is really trying, she has adjusted to Jr high well, and I couldn't be more proud of her! T2.. she is doing great, I am hearing that she loves math and she has never said that before.. the new 6th grade teacher is making a great difference for her. I wish I could explain more about her grades, but I HATE (and I don't use that word lightly) the new grading system. They are now getting numbers 1-4 and it correlates with the standardized testing.. So if she does a writing assignment.. it is put under many areas like: clear point, following instructions, spelling and maybe one or two more areas.. if she bombs.. she could bomb in all the areas.. there is not just a grade. They changed to this so the teachers, staff, school, and district could see if the testing took place about where the kids would be. Well.. guess what.. I don't care about the districts scores, I want to know where my kid is.. give me a grade!!! So... honestly.. I really don't get where she is, but I know she is a good kid, who doesn't try as hard as she could, because she doesn't really care to and she likes to talk. This leaves us in a weird spot and I don't know how to reward her this year. But we will work it out.
Lets see.. what else. I got my school photo.. cuz' I am a teacher and all.. hehe.. I don't like it! I dislike head shots, maybe I will post it later. Ohh, I put in a pumpkin for the staff contest and I won first place.. yeah for me! I love feeling part of the team, I like working at the schools and getting to spend so much time with kids.. esp mine! I feel like I am finally good at mob control at the elementary and now I have a new challenge to learn the Jr high.. I like goal setting.

Life is good.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:59:00 +0000

Happy Anniversary my love!

Our wedding part 5 of 5

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:20:00 +0000

Our reception was fun. I mean with that fantastic food how could it not?!? We did some photo's right after the reception. Rose Sachs Gardens is beautiful and has a stairway up to a waterfall where we did some family photos right after the ceremony. Then we did family photos and the one of Sirj and his mom is just cute!

Some of the photos that I used for this were taken by Blaine, Sirj's best bud, he sent me a photo book after the wedding, it was the first time I had seen something like that and it just made me cry.
The sock issue. Sirj wore white socks to the wedding and didn't grab black ones.. Jeff to the rescue and traded socks.. Sirj now has black Sponge Bob socks and he wears them with great pride and memory of our wedding day and what an amazing friend Jeff is.
What can I say.. he just makes me happy.. I am honestly one of the luckiest girls on the planet!
Our exit, flowers and bubbles.
Our flowers were beautiful and smelled amazing. I still have my bouquet and a lot of the flowers Laurel took home and shared with her neighbors.
I didn't have attendants, but my life would not be the same without these folks. Kim, Mom and Laurel keep me sane.. then and now. A couple of days before the wedding I gathered these ladies and my Mother in Law and had them all to tea at the Grand America to say thank you. I gave them each a Christmas ornament and we enjoyed a lovely afternoon together.
My loving parents.
The girls (esp T2) was not happy about us leaving for 9 days.
Sirj surprised us at the house on the way to the wedding with a Limo.. the girls thought it was the coolest thing EVER!
My hansom dad giving us our first toast.
Everyone who shared our wedding day with us. It was perfect!
After the wedding we went to The Hotel Monaco, had dinner at the Melting Pot and the next morning flew to Disneyland. The following day we had lunch at our little Italian restaurant in Venice (C&O Trattoria) then flew first class to the Big Island of Hawaii for 7 days. Ohh yeah.. our honeymoon was scheduled to be the Grand Cayman Island.. but hurricane Ivan had other plans.. 10 days before the wedding we had to find a new place to go. It's so great we don't melt down over change. Kind of a good base for a marriage huh.
Our take aways were a CD that we made, and leaf shaped chocolates in cute little boxes at each place setting.

Our wedding part 4 of 5

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:10:00 +0000

The food.. oh my. Our food was the best! Have Party Will Travel of Murray catered our wedding and when we sat down to plan our food, she was so open to us planning the food we wanted.. so we did!
A veggie tray, baked brie, gyoza, chocolate dip with yummies and the best part.. carmel apples. Oh yeah and a beer/wine open bar.

Our cake.. it was amazing. Two of the tiers were German chocolate and one was raspberry swirl. The big chucks of mosaic chocolate on the outside were so yummy.. and one year later.. it tasted just as good as at the wedding. (Thank you mostly to Barb who wrapped it so very well!) There was also no smashing of cake, we were both very gentle and polite. We also did get sit down and eat the food at our wedding, I know so many that don't, and our food was good!

One day I want to call them and order our menu again just to have it. They were so great, they made a to go box for us to take. We had chocolate covered, carmel apples that we took to Hawaii with us!

Our Wedding part 3 of 5

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:53:00 +0000

Our ceremony. The foundation of our relationship is parallel with a lot of the teachings from The Prophet. We had a close friend read "On Love", then Allison (our officiant) read "On Marriage" and Sirj and I read "On Children". Oh yeah.. Sirj purposed to me at the end of the isle. How could a girl say no? (in the dress and all). Continuing with the plan that the wedding was all about our new family, we didn't have an attendants, the girls gave me away and we did a sand ceremony. It was so perfect. The weather was mid 70's, the sky was blue, the trees were colorful, our guests were who we really wanted there.

YES!!!
Sirj is green, T1 is pink, T2 is turquoise, and I am purple. Still individuals, but never to be separated again.. Family. We had the vase at the sign in table (thank you Laurel) a glass etching pen and had everyone sign the vase as they came in. We also had candy corn and candy pumpkins in a glass pumpkin jar at the table.. the kids spent a lot of time down there eating the candy. My copy of The Prophet, Sirj gave me for our first Christmas. Here you can also see our rings (a little). Sirj's is a TeNo, stainless steel with a tension setting .10 diamond. I never asked what size his finger was, I only knew what his right hand ring finger was.. because we did rings without each other I ordered his (not available in Utah) to big. And five years later he's smaller and his ring barley stays on! My ring is a Natalie K white gold Victorian style with etchings and diamond down the sides, eternity designs on the top and bottom and a .85 round diamond in the middle. I had showed him what I liked, but he did the rest on his own.. and then hid it in my car trunk.

"Give me, a kiss to build a dream on..."

Aren't they cute!!

Sirj walked down the isle to "Love me Tender", I walked down the isle to "When you wish upon a star" and we ended with "A kiss to build a dream on". We both wrote our vows. Sirj's was short and perfect, mine took me months and used a lot of words. Both were so perfect for our day.

Ohhh.. you noticed the girls are in different dresses than the photos.. yeah.. that was fun! After our outdoor photos I had all of our dresses cleaned.. the girls came back looking like they had the chicken pox.. so I re died them and that didn't work.. so the week before the wedding I went out alone looking for anything in the girls sizes that were in the right colors. I bought everything, took them over to the girls (at their dads) and they each choose the dress they liked the best. It ended up fine.

Our Wedding part 2 of 5

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:32:00 +0000

We wanted our wedding to be about more than us. Sirj and I knew that we choose to be together and that the girls were along for the ride. Don't get me wrong, they loved Sirj and he was a perfect fit for us but we wanted our wedding to show we were becoming a family. In stead of a lot of the traditional things we did our own thing. I didn't want an engagement ring and I didn't get one or a proposal.. (not yet). We did family portraits before the wedding and here are my favorites.
Isn't he handsome!
She was 6.. first grade.. and so cute!
I loved the play with the light.

Our family.

My dress was perfect for me. It was the only one I wanted, I knew when I saw the image on the model it was ment to be mine.

My dress is a Maggie Sottero named Grace Marie, in light gold satin with diamond white lace. I ordered satin and lace from the factory to match my dress to have the dresses made for the girls, they picked the color and the length, Aunt Kim made their jewelry.

Before braces in second grade, 7 years old.

It's been a long time since I have looked at these photos. I am amazed at how small the girls look. Five years to us seams so short, but half a lifetime to those two adorable angels. We did our photos at Thanksgiving Point, we had to sneak in because they were closed for the night. This was also the second day we tried to do photos, weather did not want to work with us, but the second try came out great! I love my photos our photographer was amazing!

Our wedding part 1 of 5

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:13:00 +0000

I was not blogging back when Sirj and I got married, and I thought sharing our wedding was a wonderful build up for our fifth year anniversary. We are in Australia right now, celebrating. I have pre-set for five entries to post each day leading up to our anniversary. I hope you enjoy them. This was our wedding invitation. Sirj and I had dated four years before "agreeing" to get married. The invitations were so very us.. non traditional and just cute. When we decided on a fall wedding the colors just kind of fell into place. Red's, brown's, and orange's. Ohh, and this was the second print of the invites, the first ones said Saturday, not Sunday. As I am sure of all weddings, we had our share of issues.
Sirj was rather helpful with the wedding. If I asked and he had an opinion he gave it to me, we very much planned the wedding together. We decided when to get married on July 4. I kept asking if it was official and he kept telling me no, yet he started telling people, so I waited two weeks, and then started telling people, with less then 3 months I had to get busy!

Party, Party, Party

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:40:00 +0000

The last weekend we had before school started we went to the Eden Balloon Festival.. It was cold, we all dressed poorly and the kids wined most of the time. Next year.. no kids, packing a grown up lunch with cheese and wine.. cant wait!

School started last Monday.. it was a rough day. It was also my birthday.

6 years earlier I had taken T2 for her first day of Kindergarten.. it was my 30th birthday. For my 36th birthday, I got to take T1 to Jr High for her first day of 7th grade. She was scared but excited. I hope this is a good year, Jr high was not a good friend of mine! T2 is at the top of her game, I am looking forward a good year with her and enjoying the simpleness of our last year of elementary. Sirj tried really hard to make it a great birthday for me, we did lunch, wondered the Gateway, did a yummy family dinner at Biaggi's. The girls got me a fantastic Cookie Monster computer bag and my darling husband got me the Tiffany onyx toggle bracelet I have been drooling over and Laurel sent me flowers, they were bright and just what I needed on a happy/crappy/overly emotional day. Scary isn't she!

Saturday we celebrated my mom's birthday .. we scrapbooked all day.. doesn't she look excited??

Sunday as part of the ongoing birthday fun we went to the zoo. Look at how cute this little guy is.. I love our zoo.. they have a lot of babies right now (elephant, snow leopard, tigers, monkeys too). Today is my mom's birthday proper.. I know she is not happy about the digits that now show as her age, but I am damn happy to have her here to share it.. and hope to see many more decades pass her by!

Love.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 04:27:00 +0000

I am so in love with this dress! Its from Black/White.. I mean even the name of the store screams I should shop there. I found the dress in Ohio and was shocked that I got into a dress 4 sizes smaller than the last shopping trip I went on. (yeah for me.. 25 pounds less.. but more to go!) It is show awards season.. I love it.. it's almost my birthday.. BUT I don't want to spend a ton on a dress that I hope wont fit soon.. so I will be good... but isn't it pretty?!?!?

Camping

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 20:59:00 +0000

So, I am not a big outdoorsy kinda person. I like camping with Girl Scouts because the tents are already set up and they provide food and entertainment. Over the past couple of years Sirj and I have tried to go camping at least once a year and honestly we suck at it. We forget important stuff every time, no matter how much we add to the list from the mistakes me made the year before (like foil). Ohh well. This year we booked for two nights.. TWO.. I was a little worried, but willing to try. We left Tori home hoping we would get to play in the water up at Willard Bay (where we camped), but the weather was not so great. We spent the first hour blowing up the queen size air mattress.. yeah.. we blew it up. He loves me that much! We ate yummy food, Sirj obsessed over fire, I finished a book, he kicked my butt in Toss Up, and we hung out. The first night was rainy and both nights were cold, but.. I had a good time and slept great.. and it helps I have my own personal heater to snuggle with!
We have a six man tent.. with the mattress.. it might fit 4, but it was good sleep :)
Killer ninja bunny. They had a plan.. this was the cute one.. small and bunny like, there were two more.. bigger, that while we watched this cute little guy, were coming up from behind .. we found them out before they had a chance to fulfill their plan.. but we were watching them closely the rest of the trip.

Perfectly roasted marshmallows.

Our tent.. and we set it up all by ourselves.

Half-birthday celebration.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 03:32:00 +0000

Each year for about 6 years now, Laurel and I plan a silly day to celebrate that we had winter babies and don't get to plan fun, sun filled birthday parties. This year we did a Luau theme and took the kids to Cowabunga Bay in Draper. Not the best party we have done, but the kids really did enjoy the water park.. for a little while. We did lunch before heading down, with sandwiches, pineapple, tiki punch and macaroon cookies. For their silly gift I brought some stuff back from Maui, that sadly all melted. I think they had fun anyway :)

Roy Days

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:01:00 +0000

Roy Days is my favorite summer activity. I love that our little city has a day that is all ours. We do a parade just to highlight our community and our kids accomplishments, we have a carnival and fireworks. The fireworks are sent up from the park one street over from us, so having a BBQ with our nearest and dearest, then free entertainment just makes sense. Not only did we have a BBQ, but so did 5 of our neighbors.. all in a row. It was great to see all of us out enjoying our own little holiday.
We started out at the parade. T1 was with her Cheer squad and T2 with her softball team. Then home to clean and prep for the BBQ. I made sangria for the first time.. it was yummy. Around 7 many of our friends came over to celebrate with us. The food was great, the company was entertaining and the fireworks were nice. After the fireworks the group got smaller, and there were 4 families with mostly teenage kids.. Alese and I decided we needed to embarrass the kids by dancing and much to our surprise, they joined us. We sang really loud, danced and laughed.. it was a great night! I think my neighbors have seen a new side of me.

Ivin and Sirj.. arn't they cute?Force.. undefeted.. tri-city champoins!
And her.. T1.. our little cheerleader.

Our Nest

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:24:00 +0000

So I mentioned back in October that we had been working on some stuff in the house. Well, since that time the house has been a mess of one way or another. Now, there are still little things that need to be done, and one big thing to get the main level of the house finished, but its done enough I can now share what we have been doing. Dinning room before with the ugly carpet and wallpaper. The dinning room now.. New baseboard, new curtains, no wallpaper. There will never be wallpaper in this home again! It was two weeks of hell to get off!

Ok, this is extreme, but its the only before photo I could find of the kitchen. St. Patrick's day.. the little green men trashed the kitchen.. but stay focused... look how messy above the cabinets look.

The kitchen with the new, cuter than appliances, on top of the cabinets. It just looks cleaner.

We also added a curtain above the sink.

The boring room. AKA.. the kids computer room/library. See.. I did finally get them each their own PC, its worked out very nice.

Another shot of the boring room.

My desk.. cat included.

Our fire place before the paint or the mantel.

Our spiffy new mantel that my dad built us, along with Sirj's TV and the new equipment holder he put together last night.

The next big project is to get rid of the carpet on the first floor and replace it with bamboo hard wood flooring. So.. (hint, hint.. mom/dad) that is what I really want for my birthday :)

Then on to the basement.. hopefully to be done as our family Christmas gift.

Jackson Hole, WY

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 06:59:00 +0000

Yes, my life is a whirlwind of travel. This week I got the pleasure of taking my Girl Scout Troop to Jackson Hole. Out of the 7 years I have been with these girls, this was by far the greatest activity we have done. The girls sold an amazing amount of cookies and raised every dime to pay for this. I had a blast and was really proud of how all the girls got along.
All of us, under the (disturbing) antler arch (one of 4 in their town square).
T2 with Speckles the lama.
T1, being.. T1.
Troop 100's leaders. I am proud to have these two ladies beside me.. the troop could not and would not work with out them!
The girls and I after the white water ride down Snake River. It was a lot of fun!