Honey and Hotstuff

Sculptor Slaps and State Fairs

2011-10-12T18:29:00.000-07:00

I married an artist ya'll!

(Read that and weep!! )

And this year, Hotstuff competed in two art competitons. The first is the Helper Arts festival's sculptor slap. (Don't know where Helper is? Google it- it's on your way to Moab) and the other is the Utah State fair.

So Hotstuff took Georgia, our bearded dragon, to the sculptor slap and decided to make her a model. Here is what he did:

The second competition he did was for the Utah State fair and this is the piece he took:

Hotstuff took 4th place (Amature div.) and won $15!!!

I am proud of my Hotstuff and the awesome talent that he has.

I know... your jealous but what can I say?? I have one awesome Hotstuff!

Sculpture Slap!

2011-08-22T15:49:00.000-07:00

Cash, Diamonds and Harry Connick Jr.

2011-07-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

For the last few years, when my birthday rolls around I ask for three things.

CASH DIAMONDS and HARRY CONNICK jr.

This year I got all three.

At work, we do birthday exchange. Each of puts $15 into the birthday pot and we pick a name randomly of another employee that we are in charge of celebrating their birthday. We plan their birthday lunch, decorate their desk and get them a gift.

My boss had picked my name for the year and at the begining of the month asked me what I wanted. I told my boss, that I was accepting gifts in the form of cash, diamonds and Harry Connick Jr. I also requested that she make her famous lemon.

Earlier this week, her huband was admitted to the hospital for some complications with this health. I told her not to worry about my birthday because she had a lot on her plate.

Thursday, on my birthday day I came into work. We have two doors to our office; a back door (for doctors) and a front door (used more for the public). As I approached the back door I noticed a sign. When I got up to the sign, on it was a picture of Harry Connick jr. with: It's Honeys Birthday today! When you see her wish her a Happy Birthday. On the front door of our office was another sign with Harry Connick Jr. on it with the same message.

At my desk, my boss had put a happy birthday sign and below was another picture of Harry saying Happy Birthday. I had one more Harry picture with more birthday wishes of: I wish I could be here in person to wish you a happy birthday. In total, I ended up with for different pictures of Harry.

On my desk, were small diamonds. They weren't real but they are the kind that are used for embellishing scrapbook pages. She had also gotten me a few other small gifts and a card. When I had opened it up, inside was some cash.

She had also made me her famous lemon cake. As I mentioned, her husband had been in the hospital and she also had her family coming in from out of town for the Fourth of July weekend. Her plate was incredibly full, she still managed to celebrate me. I couldn't ask for a better boss... and that mean more to me than cash, diamonds or Harry Connick Jr.

"Dear Honey,

I know that this isn't the kind of diamonds you would like or the amount of money- nor could I get you Harry Connick Jr but I hope you have a wonderful birthday.

~CW"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

She's HOME!

2011-05-02T14:40:00.000-07:00

After 18 (and a half) months, serving a mission for the LDS Church (for more info go to lds.org) my baby sister returned home. She packed away all of her belongings, taking only what she needed and spent the last year and a half preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in the California Arcadia mission (East LA area).

She was sent on a spanish speaking mission and ended up learning and speaking 5 different languages. Spanish, Korean, Armenian, Samoan and English!!

She returned home to all of us last week!!! It is so good to have her home. Even my Momma C, came all the way from Seattle to be here for her.

Me, Momma C and Sister AwesomeSauce

Sister AwesomeSauce and her best friend CJ

CJ and her main man JP!

Me and My Momma C

Me and Sister AwesomeSauce

When she finally got off the plane!!!

Just in case you have missed a few things

2011-03-26T20:29:00.001-07:00

I am a busy mom of two and blogging has fallen to the bottom of my to do list. Just in case you have missed a few things here is what we have been up to and even the new addition..... In Feburary, Hotstuff and I headed up to Seattle to see my Mom and Dad for a five day with no kids!!! We had a lot of fun and one of my favorite highlight from our trip is I got to see my brother!!! Ty took the train into Seattle and I got to spend the day with him. He lives in the great Northwest and we don't get to see each other very often. My sweet little boy had his first seizure about a week and a half ago. He has cortical dysplasia (meaning the left side of his brain did not develop properly) and as a result he is high risk for seizures. This was his first seizure and so far there has been no effects from it. The seizure was a response to the stress that his body was under. He had something that he was fighting and had not been feeling well and had a fever off and on for a couple of days. It wasn't a violent seizure, in fact it was very quiet and he just zoned out. I took in him into the doctors and he had an EEG done earlier this week. He had to be sleep deprived so both he and I took a five hour nap later that day.

For her birthday, Miss May received art supplies and she loves to draw! Of course, she draws and paints pretty much the same thing over and over but practice makes perfect! She is doing great in school and is a great reader.

Last year, we purchased Flower as an Easter present for the kids. Needless to say Flower has become a proper fat Rat!

Meet Georgia

Hotstuff informed me this afternoon that we have a new addition to our family. Georgia is a three year old Leucistic Bearded Dragon. We are all very excited to have Georgia join our family.

Lucky #7

2011-02-06T17:00:00.001-08:00

Miss May came into our lives 21 minutes after midnight, to be born on the 1st of February; Super Bowl Sunday. I was induced the on the 31st of January and with every confidence in the world, I would not be having this baby in February. She took her sweet time getting here but she made her entrance, on her own terms and has been doing so for the last 7 years.
This last week Miss May celebrated her 7th birthday. I took the day off and we girls had our day.
We went to Starbucks and started the day with yummy Vanilla Bean Creme, (it taste like homemade ice cream!), then went to Ogden and we got our hair done. Lunch was a pretzel from Pretzel Maker. With a quick stop at Ikea, she picked out a birthday present of crayons, colored pencils, water colors makers and paper. She is becoming the little artist! We had a yummy dinner at home, Crabby patties (which is really chicken patties). Later in the week, to keep the celebration going we went bowling. Her Grandma J and Papa Chuck, plus her Granny all joined in on the fun!

A very Happy 7th Birthday to Miss May!
The bowling alley gave Miss May an old bowling pin and signed it for her.

We all then took turns to sign it for her.

Bubba Jones got two strikes that night!!!

Our birthday girl!

Cookies and Creme Pie for her birthday!

She is growing up too fast!

Lost and Seek, Hide and Found

2011-01-24T14:39:00.000-08:00

Forty years ago, Nana sat down and recorded my Grandfathers family history. Since then, all of our family records have sat there incomplete. In my last post I told all of you about my Great Great Grandmother, Mary Jane Neirocker.
This is whom I feel impressed to chase. I mean the woman is dead! She shouldn't be that hard to catch! Right?!?! WRONG!!!

New Years Eve 2010- The daunting task of microfiche awaited me in the large metal drawers at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Knowing my task was something that I couldn't torture my children with, I found someone tall, dark and handsome AKA Hotstuff to help. I was suprised at his reply when I asked if he wanted to join me and help look through census records.

"You know, that actually sounds like fun!" was his reply. (I couldn't help but wonder what mickey had been slipped to him to get him to want to do this. I really wanna know, you know for future use for fun things like doing dishes, cleaning toilets and any other household chores).

Fun!! Microfiche, fun?? Well, who was I to complain? I had help. So once again we bundled up the kids, packed some snacks, the laptop (entertainment for the kids) and off we went to the Family History Library.

I set up two Microfiche machines (one for me and one for Hotstuff) and once again searched the 1905 Census for Mary Jane. Over three hours we looked and couldn't find anything. Finally, Hotstuff got motion sickness, the kids were starving and I was ready to cry. I couldn't find her and that was all I wanted to do.

Well, I thought, it's New Years Eve. I am in downtown Salt Lake, I should just enjoy my evening and their names will be there for next time.

We cleaned up, bundled up and headed to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for some yummy food at the Nauvoo Cafe. Since it was New Years Eve, the LDS church had all sort of New Years Eve Festivites on Temple Square. We entered the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and passed through the Family Search Center. I noticed they had activities for kids and thought to make sure to pass through here on our way out. I wanted to help my children understand what I was doing and why I was doing it.

We enjoyed our yummy sandwiches at the Nauvoo Cafe then headed out. Passing by the Family Search Center, we stopped to let the kids play and explore. I still could not get my Great Great Grandmother out of my head. I was bound and determined to find her.

I walked over to the computers and ask a sweet little old lady for some help. We sat down and played around on the computer. Even she was baffeld at why I couldn't find her. After about 20 minutes of playing around on different sites.... I FOUND HER!!!!!!!!

I found my Great Great Grandmother Mary B. Hoehn on TWO seperate census records. I discovered that she had immigrated about 1850 and at one time she had a niece that lived with her named Laura Kramer who was a stenographer. I also discovered that she and her parents were from Switzerland.

For the last 40 years, her name has been lost amongst the thousands upon thousand of names stored amongst our Nations records. Even Hotstuff couldn't understand how one woman could be so hard to find ( I mean, he had no trouble finding me!). Why would she exist in one place and not any other?

My family has met some huge brick walls in trying to find out our ancestory. So I totally hit the Geneological Jackpot. ( It's the only kinda lottery Utah has!).

Now that I have started I can see a path of where to go. I have laced up my running shoes and with my inhaler in hand, I am off chasing the path that has been made for me.

Genealogist collect dead people

2010-12-28T15:35:00.000-08:00

As you've guessed it, I am LDS (or mormon). Family is a huge part of our religion; our families that we have now, families that we will have one day and families that we have come from. To find out why, go to: www.lds.org for more information.

During the summer, we kids (my brother, sister, and I) were happily shipped off to Utah for the summer. We would spend up to and over a month with our Grammy (our paternal grandmother) and our Oma and Opa (our great grandparents). The three of us spent our summers riding bikes, going to the pool, playing with cousins and walking barefoot every where in the hot desert sun. Of all those summer vacation days spent playing, what I am now cherishing the very most is going to the family history library and looking at old records. Even when I moved to Utah to go to school, Grammy and I promptly headed to the Family History Library to research old records from Denmark. Though I know no Danish and speak very little German we managed quite well. Even as a kid and when I moved back, we would spend hours looking at Microfiche. I wonder how may people know what Microfiche is!

In this world of iAnything, mac, laptops, computers, cell phones, the Internet and everything electronic that feeds information and keeps me connected to my world, the possibilities can seem endless. You can Google just about anything and get over a million hits, Apple probably "has an App for that" and WebMD's answer for everything that ails you is Cancer. You can do something incredibly stupid and you become a hit on Youtube. If you are really lucky Auto Tune will make you a one hit wonder.

But in this incredible age of information I am always amazed at the amount of information found not on the Internet but on Microfilm.

About 40 years ago my Nana (my mothers maternal Grandmother) did her genealogy. It was something that even with out the Internet she was able to do. When she got as far as she could most of her records and her husbands records date back the 1500's. While Nana worked on her genealogy, she also started on my (maternal) grandfathers records. Nana had traced her family history back to the 1500's but my grandfathers family was a very different story.

My grandfather was born and raised in Rochester, Monroe, New York. He was the youngest of 5. He had a sister named Betty, who later married a man name Davis becoming Betty Davis (well not thee Betty Davis but she is my Betty Davis). When he was 17, he had a falling out with his parents then did what every normal 17 year old does when he has a falling out with his folks. He joined the Coast Guard and at 17 fought in WWII. After the war and when he was finally old enough, he joined the Air Force. He was stationed at Hill Air Force Base in Clearfield, Utah where he met my grandmother and they fell in love. The rest is a love story for the ages; more or less a scandalous one, but that is story for later.

My great-grandfather was also born and raised in Rochester, Monroe, New York; the youngest of 7 children. He later moved to Arizona and where he died in 1975.

My great-great-grandfather is where the line ends. He was born in Baden, Germany in 1827 and later immigrated to the United States. My great-great-grandmother was born in Switzerland in 1847 and also later immigrated to the United States. With a 20 year difference between them
when she was 20 and he 40 (about) 1857 they married and had 7 children together. He died in 1907 in Rochester at the age of 80. My great-great-grandmother died in 1934 at the age of 87.

In the age of information, I am able to look on the Internet and find out exactly where my great-great-grandfather is buried. Apparently, he was also catholic. But my great-great-grandmother is a complete mystery. One assumes, I could just plug her name into google and TA-DAAA! there she is buried next to her husband or found on some cemetery registry but I cannot find her anywhere!! This is who I am chasing.

So Monday, the kids and I bundled up, packed a lunch and headed up the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. When we got there, I headed to the second floor and immediatly to the help desk. A retired gentlemand who was now serving an LDS mission to the Family History Libray and a younger ( I am gonna say 19 years old) missionary helped me get started. Of course, I was thinking that I would find everything magically on the computer but to my dismay I was going to have to search microfiche for the answer. Both the older and younger missionary were suprised when I told them that I knew about microfiche and how to use the machine to view the records.

I was given 4 index numbers to the microfiche for the 1905 Rochester, Monroe, New York census. Another young missionary guided me through the large metal rows of drawers containing countless rolls of microfiche. As I walked down the metal row, I was in awe at the amount of information I was surrounded by. I felt so small and very insignificant. Contained in those drawers were the names of real people who once lived and experienced life.

All I could say was: " Look at all these dead people!"

The young elder just laughed and said: "Oh! I just got the chilies! You think this is a lot? You need to check out the vaults at Granite Mountain!"
( The LDS church stores 35 BILLION images of genealogical information in 2.4 Millions rolls of microfilm in Granite vault carved out of the mountain just outside of SLC)

I took my microfiche, set up at a machine, loaded up, turned on the light and page by page I began to make my way through the 1905 census. For three hours I stared at the pages displayed upon to white board, slowly turning each page by hand. Needless to say, I secretly wished my kids where old enough so that I could put them through the same microfiche toture that I went through as a kid and the same toture that I was now reliving. Once you have spent time researching on microfiche, nothing will ever bore you again.

Though I did not find my family (yet!), I was able to see a small glimpse of life of 1905 in Rochester, Monroe, New York. Their names are still hidden waiting to be found.

Finding my family won't change who I am but it can tell me where I come from and who I belong to. It can tell me about the lives of those who came before me and how they experienced their lives. Mostly, I am creating my own kinships with those who paved the way for me. Genealogy is a hobby and genealogist collect dead people. Looks like I have started a new collection.

OOOOOOO, You're my best friend!

2010-12-26T11:51:00.000-08:00

Gotta love that song that the amazing Freddie Mercury once belted out:

You're my best Friend!

Ooo, you make me live.

Whenever this world is cruel to me

You help me forgive

Ooo, your making me live

You're first one when things turn out bad

You know I'll never be lonely
You're my only one

and I love

The things that you do

You're my best Friend

I have this very best friend named Bullfrog. There is probably some picture of the two of us from our school days in some memory box of mine stored out in my garage somewhere and that is where it probably should stay. We have known each other for a very long time. To tell you how long we have been friends and without revealing our ages... any child born in the year we met received their drivers license this year. Ya! We have known each other that long.

From the time we met in the 7th grade until we graduated high school, we talked twice on the phone. Kinda weird, huh?? But we saw each other every day at school. What's even weirder, my best friend wore a dress to school every single day! I saw her in pants twice! from the time we met in middle school until we graduated high school. It wasn't until we were in our 20's when I attended her wedding did I really see her wearing "normal" clothes. Bullfrog had... well, her parents were Bapstist and very strange.

We both had many of the same hopes, dreams and aspirations for when we grew up. We both suffered heart break and happiness together. She was there when my parents divorced and she was with me when my mom died. I was there when she had troubles at home, when her birth father came back and I was there when she married the love of her life. We had babies at the same time, six weeks apart. Bullfrog is 25 days older. She and my sister share the same birthday. Her step-daughter, who has the same name as my sister and I share the same birthday.

After high school and for a years after we've communicated mostly by email, facebook and phone. For the last couple of years we have only been able to communicate only by chat on Yahoo! or Facebook. Bullfrogs hubby is in the military and they live overseas. Acording to Google maps, in order to get where she lives one must jet ski across the Pacific ocean to get there. ( That is the honest to goodness truth! Some places in the world you'll need a row boat to cross the ocean.)

For Christmas this year, Hotstuff invested in a new laptop for the family. With this new fabulous toy comes a web cam and microphone. Hotstuff's brudder lives overseas also and communication doesn't come easy. In the last two years the only way we have been able to talk to "Mr. Teacher" and his family has been through Skype on some other family members computer. Skype, which is completly free, has been amazing. We have been able to talk and see our family who live over a world away. The second thing that Hotstuff did with the new laptop was set up a Skype account.

So last night as I was writing an email to my sister, Bullfrog dinged me on chat. The next thing I knew I was on Skype calling her. For the first time in years, I was able to have a face to face (via webcam) conversation with my best friend. I was able to met her girls in web cam person. We talked for over two hours!

I lived in Germany as a small child. I remember that talking with family in the states was very hard, far and very few in between conversations. I remember the envelopes with the blue and red stripes on the sides that were used to send letters oveseas. My mother would fly home every couple of years to see family and phone calls were made about twice a year because of the cost.

I think about all of the service men and women throughout the centuries. How there letters and communications we so rare and precious. The time that it took for the families to recieve them and the chances of the letters and packages ever making it to the soldiers would be a miracle for some. Even those who are bravely serving our country now, technology has changed communication so drastically that many are able to see their families webcam to webcam.

I started out by telling you about my best friend and have ended up talking about techonology. As a result of such wonders I am able to keep in touch with my best friend of forever and see her family and she can see mine. We are able to watch our children grow before our computer eyes.

I imagine a time when friends and family wrote letters by hand and sent packages covered in brown butcher paper. A response to those greetings took days and even months. Now we can recieve a response within seconds. With and without such wonders, my best friend would always be my best friend but now she can be closer than ever. Even on the other side of the world.

Oooooooo, your my best friend!

Christmas with a BANG!

2010-12-21T16:37:00.001-08:00

My Christmas started off with a bang! more like a crunch, screech, scream and explode; all neatly gifted wrapped with a $500 deductible.

About two weeks ago I was in a car accident. I start work at 7 in the morning so when I go in, it is dark. I left my house and got the end of my road and stopped at the stop sign. It was raining, cold and dark. I knew to not only look for cars but to also look for lights from cars. I was going to cross the intersection and stopped at the the stop sign I looked to see if I could go. I was clear in one direction and further down the road I saw another car and his lights but I did not see the car in front of him or his lights. I thought it was safe to cross and as I went through the intersection, I was broadsided.

My airbags exploded and my entire body was jarred. The man who hit me was taking his kids school. Luckily, no one was hurt.

It was my fault and I felt so very stupid for the rest of the day. Two weeks later, I have my moments where I still feel stupid. The most embarassing part of all of this was the man who hit me... we both attend the same church!!! It is one thing to get into an accident with a total stranger.... you never have to face them once the ordeal is over but with some one you know!!!! I have to face this man every single Sunday!

After the accident, Mr. M (the gentleman in the other car) was very upset. Understandibly! But after a few minutes, he calmed down. Mr. M explained to me that he had just had a conversation with his son that Mondays aren't really a bad thing. They actually can be good. Then with a small smile on his face, Mr. M said: "Thanks for helping me teach him that lesson."

I felt very blessed later. Even though this accident had occured, Mr. M was kind. He never showed any anger, he never raised his voice and while I was waiting for Hotstuff to come get me, Mr. M's aunt had arrived to help him. The three of us sat in her Tahoe with the heater on full blast, while I waited for Hotstuff. Mr. M even called me later that day to see how I was doing! He also let me know that the kids were still okay.

I have now been driving Moby (our big white van) for the last two weeks while my G6 is in the shop getting repaired, (it should be done this week!!!!! yaaa!). I have struggled with driving it. It's not hard to drive and there are no problems with me or the van. So I posed the question on Facebook: "Is it possible to keep my "Hot Mom" status and still drive my van? or did that totally get crushed along with the passenger door on my G6?"

After two weeks, I am still wondering but no matter what I am driving.... ya I am still a Hot MOM!!

Our Family 2010

2010-11-29T16:08:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the mad photog skills of one Miss Shanna Ormand, we were able to have our family pictures done! Our last ones were done when Bubba Jones was 3 months old....yep it was time for new ones! These are my three favorites!

Pumpkins and Munchkins

2010-10-29T19:22:00.000-07:00

Bubba Jones and his preschool class had their first field trip this year. As a tradition, the first field trip is to the pumpkin patch. Due to rain and snow, we all froze and stomped through the mud... well, the parents did as we watched our munchkins play. The kids played on the playgrounds, saw lots of different farm animals, sang Halloween songs and each child got to take home their very own pumpkin!

"Check out my Pumpkin Mom!"

Warty Pumpkins? Guess the Toad got into the garden!

Capturing his good side... and being ignored all at the same time!

Just Clowing around!

Courage

2010-10-12T15:52:00.000-07:00

cour·age [ kúr ij ]
noun
Definition:

quality of being brave: the ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear or being deflected from a chosen course of action

4 Reasons to LOVE Fall

2010-09-22T12:59:00.000-07:00

Sept. 22, 2006

Sept. 22, 2007

3.
August 2008

4.

Sept. 22, 2009

Happy 4th Birthday Bubba Jones!

Punishable by death!

2010-09-20T10:57:00.000-07:00

It is a fact that BYU and Utah fans are not the best of friends. Now, I am a PAC-10 girl. So for me the BYU-Utah rivalry doens't mean much but having married into a family of BYU and Utah fans, I am somehow caught in the middle. (but now that Utah has become part of the PAC-12 things are just a little different!)
This weekend Hotstuff and I took the kids, along with Granny and Great Grandpa C to the Utah Musuem of Fine Arts at the University of Utah. We loaded into Great Grandpa C's van and headed towards the musuem. Now, Hotstuff's grandpa (Great Grandpa C) taught at BYU for 23 years and while driving toward the U, Hotstuff noticed the great big Y parking sticker on the windshield.
"Um, guys do you think we are going to be okay with this sticker on the windshield?" Hotstuff asked. We all agreed the we should be okay but to be on the look out for trouble. We attended the musuem (which was great by the way! it's a must go and see!!! plus it's free!) and afterwards went into Salt Lake and had dinner.
On our way out of town, the best way to get to the freeway is to head back through the campus and hit the freeway from there. As we are passing through campus, Bubba Jones from his back seat starts chanting (and very loudly I might add!):

"BYU! BYU! BYU! "

We quickly hushed him up and nearly made it out with out lives!

(For all of my BYU friends and family- I ask for you forgiveness in wandering into enemy territory.)

(For all of my Utah friends and family- I ask for your forgiveness in that my son used such fowl language on your beloved campus. GO UTES!)

Take me out to the ball game!

2010-09-20T10:32:00.000-07:00

My Father in-law loves baseball!! My son loves just about any sport!! and both have birthdays in September. So I treated the two birthday boys to a Salt Lake Bee's Baseball game with seats for the 10th row directly behind home plate. You could hear the ball smack against the catcher's mitt! One player hit the ball and split his bat. They played the Reno Ace's and SLAUGHTERED THEM! 11-4

It's not a real Baseball game with out a hot dog!

Bubba Jones with Grandma J and Papa

Papa got out his scorecard and Bubba Jones did too!

Novelty ice cream bowl that doubles as a really small helmet!

Our Trip

2010-09-20T10:02:00.000-07:00

Back in July, Miss May and I took a 10 Day Mother Daughter Great Northwest High Flyin Grand Adventure! We flew to Oregon and spent a few days there. I attended my 10 year High School reunion (GO REBS!), we went to the Portland Zoo with my brother, we spent time with good family friends and went to the coast. We then drove to Seattle and spent time with my family there. Out of the almost 400 pictures I took, here are a few of my favorites.

Snoqulamie Falls, Wa.

Me and my brudder, Z.

My "MOM", "DAD" and Little Brudders, Z, L, D and H.

Point Wilson Lighthouse near Port Towsend, Wa.

Seattle Washington LDS Temple

Sculpture by Dennis Smith at the Seattle Temple

Pike Place Market, Seattle, Wa.

Space Needle, Seattle

Inside Pike Place Market (one of my most favorite places in the world!)

My Mary and Me!

(This is what happens when you let your 6 year old play with the camera!)

Portland Oregon LDS Temple

Miss May and I at the Portland Temple

Miss May

Miss May and Handsome J- waiting to be seated at MO's

Me and my sisters best friend C-JO

Washington Park, Portland, Or.

Miss May and My brother Uncle T- riding the train at the Portland Zoo.

Gone...

2010-07-15T15:44:00.000-07:00

Miss May and I are headed out. Tomorrow Morning we start our:

10 DAY MOTHER DAUGHTER GREAT NORTHWEST HIGH FLYIN GRAND ADVENTURE!!!

We are spending 10 days in Oregon and Washington.... see all of you soon!

Can you handle the truth?

2010-06-24T12:10:00.001-07:00

Three months ago, I bought some new bras and YES! they have inserts in them. Yesterday morning, while getting dressed for work, I was talking with Miss May. As I am putting my bra on Miss May asks:
"Mom, why do you wear those things everyday day?"
"What things, honey?" I replied.
"Those things in your bra!"
"You mean my inserts?"
"Yes."
"Well, sweetie, I ain't gonna lie to you. It's because they make my boobs look good!" I answered.
Miss May raised one eyebrow, not knowing what to think.
"It's okay. You will understand when you are older."
I looked over to see Hotstuff smiling while shaking his head.

That my friends is the honest to goodness truth.

Count Down

2010-06-21T19:54:00.000-07:00

T minus 25 days until

Honey and Miss May's 10 Day Mother Daughter Great Northwest Huge High Flying Grand Adventure.....

Miss may in June

2010-06-17T16:18:00.000-07:00

Miss May got a hold of the camera and started taking pictures of herself. So here it is...

Miss May In June

Honey & Hotstuff Forever!

2010-06-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary

8 years later!

I love you more today than yesterday... but not as much as tomorrow!

C+C= True Love

2010-06-06T14:16:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this with everyone I know!!! This is a story done in the newspaper about my Aunt C (of CCC) who had a stroke a few years back. This is an incredible story with the most incredible blessings! Hope you enjoy the story and share it with everyone you know!

Divorced couple to remarry after finding love again after ex-wife had stroke Standard-Examiner – Ogden, Layton, Brigham, Weber, Davis, Top of Utah News

April

2010-05-31T12:45:00.000-07:00

I KNOW!!! I am so sorry! I haven't posted anything for almost two months now! So to catch all of you up here is the month of April!

*may will soon follow!

The Begining of April; Miss May, Bubba Jones and I all went to the Dinosaur museum. We spent the day together just playing! We went to luch at JCW's and then played at the museum!

The dinosaur exhibits are pretty cool! They kids had lots of fun and were amazed at the real size of dinosaurs! They look so much more adorable and smaller on TV!

DUM DUM... DUM DUM... DUM DUM DUM DUM.... DUM DUM

There was also a hands on exhibit that the kids loved! It was a water trough were the kids built dams, created banks and islands and played in the sand! Big mess but lots of fun! For some reason Bubba Jones didn't like the feel of the wet sand.

The HIGHLIGHT of the month of April for me! To make a very long and complicated story very short and simple: I have this wonderful Aunt, Uncle and cousin that I have not seen in almost 7 years! Through facebook, I was able to get in contact with CCC again! We met at the Gateway and had lunch and let the kids play at the planaterium for a while! I felt like I had a piece/peace of my family back! It was an answer to many spoken and unspoken prayers!

And it's official! C and C are going to get sealed in the temple!!!!

(For more information go to http://www.lds.org/temples/purpose/0,11298,1897-1,00.html)

Speaking of Temples!.....

Adam and Jessica got hitched!!! Long time Family Friends, The Cox/Ward family, came to play and celebrate! Laurie and Calvin are wonderful family friends whose son Adam married his sweetheart, Jessica in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple. It was a great time to see old friends and wonderful faces of so many!

Seville and her wonderful face!

Carissa and Jaiden! Carissa (my sisters best friend!) is one of the most patient moms I know! She is my Hero! when it comes to patients with kids! (yes it was Jaidens nap time!)

Adam and Jessica! The happy couple!

Easter finally arrives! And we ended up with TWO! count them TWO! Easter parties. Easter saturday, I had to work but Hotstuff took Miss May and Bubba Jones over to Granny's house. Easter sunday, all of us went to Papa and Grandmas house. The kids got to hunt eggs in the basement (second year in a row... because the weather has always been to icky outside).

Strategically placed Easter Eggs! Can you find all three??

FINALLY, to finish off the month of April:

It is official! As of April, Bubba Jones is potty trained!!!!!!!!!!!! For the first time in 6 years, we no longer have to buy diapers nor do we in the forsee able future!!

Meet Flower!

2010-03-30T19:20:00.001-07:00

We have a new addition to our family! She is a baby Dumbo Rat. She has black on top and a white belly, her tail has a band of white at the top and the tip is white. The kids are in love! Hotstuff and I thought it was time to help the kids learn more about responsibility (just don't tell our manager!)
So her she is! Our Flower!

Bubba Jones trying to hold her!

Checking out Hotstuff!

Miss May holding her for the first time!

Randomness

2010-03-09T15:56:00.000-08:00

Just stopping by to post a few pics of the random things created in our lives! Bubba Jones and Miss May built this Monster.... inside is the lego man.
Hotstuff with his younger Brain House (who flew home from Germany for a couple of Days) and Lil' Brudder and Granny(aka Hotstuff's MOM).

Standing like Deacons!

(Dang I'm Cute! If I don't say so myself!)

I LOVE MY HOTSTUFF!

No Words Needed

2010-02-27T14:30:00.000-08:00

Beverly "Granny" Chamberlain

Thank you for a beautiful life.

We love you.

Camp out with the croup!

2010-02-07T13:33:00.000-08:00

Last month both Miss May and Bubba Jones had the croup! (Fun for me!) There is not much you can do for the croup except treat the symptoms. So I got a cheap $20 tent from Wal-mart and I finally invested in my own humidifier. I set up the tent, placed Miss May, Bubba Jones and the humdifier inside. The tent was set up in the living room and later moved to the bedroom at night. Who knew being sick was so much fun!! (notice the puke bucket redily available)

(The purpose of the tent was to humidify a smaller area allowing a greater concentration of humdity allowing the croup to break up faster.)..... (in case you were wondering)

(Not much room for anything else!)

Six things to do when you turn 6

2010-02-02T15:59:00.000-08:00

1. Look absolutley FAB-U-LOUS!

2. Eat donuts for Breakfast!

3. Get a manicure!

3. Have lunch at one of your favorite places!

(McDonalds)

4. Watch a movie instantly online from Netflix! (The Swan Princess)

5. Ride your new bike!

6. Have a very Happy Birthday!

From the life of my (ALMOST) 6 year old

2010-01-12T17:21:00.000-08:00

"Mom, I saw Cal today at school! And when we saw each other we gave one another a great big hug and we even sat down next to each other on the carpet during reading time. I just love that boy. I think I am going to marry him." Miss May told me excitedly
"But I thought you were going to marry Dal?" I asked.
"No, Bo won't let me."

The Air I Breathe

2009-12-28T18:52:00.001-08:00

For the last year, I have experienced recurring infections in my lungs. Each one progressively worse than the last. Finally in November, exactly one year after my first infection, I was able to see a specialist. I was referred to a wonderful pulmonologist, Dr. Dixie Harris, who is has been an incredible blessing. She diagnosed me with Asthma and it was totally and completely out of control. She also said that I had acid reflux (great!). I felt a great sense of relief when I learned what plagued my body. My next step was to get it under control.

I was not ready for what came next. To get my asthma under control, Dr. Harris, turned me into a walking pharmacy. I had two separate inhalers, an oral medication to help clear out my lungs and an antacid. She wanted to see me back in two weeks.

Two weeks passed and the only thing that changed was my weight. I had gained 12 pounds in two weeks!!!! My breathing had not changed, I was still having chest pains and the antacid she had put me on was too much for my stomach to handle. Because of the weight I had gained, none of my pants fit me. I even ripped my fat pants!!!!( At work no less!) I went to buy a new pair and the sweet sales clerk helped me find some pants and was honest with me when she said that I should go up a size because they would look better. I was grateful for the honesty but a part of me (and that part of every woman) wanted the sales clerk to lie and tell me go down a size.

When I went to see Dr. Harris for my two week follow up..... well, she was just as plagued as I was. Nothing had changed except my weight. Dr. Harris at that time withdrew her diagnosis of asthma. Our next step was a chest CT, a Bronchoscopy and also a Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD). I do get frequent heart burn and stomach aches which can cause problems with breathing. Plus, I eat tums like candy (I ain't gettin osteoporosis, that's for sure!). All of this led Dr. Harris to the acid reflux diagnosis and the need for an EGD. With the bronchoscope she wanted rule out an infection in my lungs that did not respond to antibiotics.

On December 1st, I went in for both procedures. Both procedures went well and Dr. Harris also did a lung biopsy. Before I went in for the EGD, I began to reevaluate my stomach problems. In my brief meeting with Dr. Wynn Hemmert, the gastroenterologist, before my EGD he suggested that I see my regular physician about my gallbladder.

Both procedures came back NORMAL!

In the last year, I have had 1 MRI, 3 CT's, one EKG, 6 Chest X-rays, two ultrasounds and I cannot begin to count the number of times my blood has been drawn and tested. Just about $10,000 in medical bills later, all (except my chest X-Rays) have come back normal!

I started to blog about how I felt: For the second time in 6 weeks, I returned to the gym tonight. My body remembered the routine, my feet could move, my legs could jump and my arms could press. My hips could still move to music in Zumba as we did the Calypso. I could still laugh at myself. Each moment reburnt back into my body. But my lungs.... nothing remembered. I am twentymufflemuffle years old and I have been diagnosed with asthma.

I could handle the diagnosis of asthma. At least I knew but when I was facing an unknown diagnosis I did not know how to handle that. I broke down on the phone with Hotstuff one day. I am twentymufflemuffle years old and I felt like I was falling apart. I felt like I was fighting a battle that I could win and no matter how hard I fought, I was still losing. Then my wonderful husband quietly reminded me: "At least you are still fighting."

I had to wait almost three weeks for my follow up visit with my pulmonologist. So while I waited, I went to see my regular doc about my gallbladder. NORMAL test results! I was praying at this point for an abnormal test result. But then something changed.... I had an asthma attack.

Saturday, December 19th; I was coming home from Ogden, driving south on I-15 on a Red Air Day and I couldn't breath. I had my rescue inhaler but that did not work. I took myself into the urgent care for help. I thought maybe a breathing treatment would help. I had Miss May with me and 20 minutes into the treatment I almost passed out. My brave little girl went to get the doctor for help. I had to put on my fake mommy face and lie to her but she did a big thing for such a little girl.

The urgent care doctor sent me to the hospital for a CT angiogram. While I was waiting for the CT tech to come get me, I had a gallbladder attack. Dr. Shelton, one of the ER doc's that I am friends with, came by and I asked for help. The pain I was going through at that time is comparable to child birth; if not a close second. They did the CT angiogram, took some blood and gave me some pain killers. Everything came back (in Dr. Sheltons words) "disgustingly normal." He was confused as to what was wrong. I was sent home very drugged!

Monday, December 21st; I was still not feeling well, still having chest pain and I couldn't get the air in. The only reasons I was at work were: 1. I had not PTO left and 2. I did not have a fever. I walked over to my pulmonologist office which is just across the hall from my office to talk with the nurse, Rachel. I needed help, I was in pain and couldn't breath. Rachel walked me over to the ER. I saw a great (looking! might I just add) doctor, Dr. Leblanc. My diagnosis was abdominal pain. Dr. Leblanc felt my problems were caused by my gallbladder. He scheduled me for a HIDA scan the next day. This was the Monday I was to follow up with my pulmonologist. I missed the appointment but Dr. Harris knew of me being in the ER and told me that I could just be squeezed in the next day.

Tuesday, December 22nd; at 6:30 am, I went in for my HIDA scan. I saw Dr. Harris at 1 o'clock. She had the results of my HIDA scan... it was my gallbladder! The ejection fraction was 28%; meaning my gallbladder wasn't functioning correctly and I had gallbladder disease. The pain and problems my gallbladder were causing in my body were also causing some of the problems with my lungs. I couldn't get the air in fully because of the pain and discomfort from my gallbladder caused my lungs when I tried to do so. My pain did not manifest itself in my abdomen but in my chest, confusing many of us as to the nature of my chest pain/problems. Dr. Harris called the on-call surgeon during my appointment and he told me to go over to his office at three. Dr. Harris gave me a final diagnosis of Asthma, told me she didn't want to see me back for another six months and kindly kicked me out of her office!
I saw Dr. Peugh at three o'clock. I talked with him for a few minutes and before he had even met me he had me scheduled for surgery the next day.

Wednesday, December 23rd; I became the proud parent of a bouncing baby gallbladder!

Christmas Day, I took my first full deep breath filling my lungs completely with out any pain for the first time in 13 months. I found myself lying in the HIDA scan machine that Tuesday morning saying a new prayer. I no longer prayed for an abnormal test or the answer of what was wrong with me.... I prayed to be healed. I told my loving Father in Heaven I have the faith that he could he heal me and I ask to be healed.

The joy I felt that Christmas Day as I took in that wonderful breath is a testimony of the power of prayer. It is a testimony of my Heavenly Father, who knows what is best. He knows of what I need in my life to make me better and stronger. It is a testimony of his love. It is a testimony that when we have faith, we can be healed. That is the Air I breathe.

Vampire for Christmas

2009-12-09T18:39:00.001-08:00

Bubba Jones has informed us that he wants to be a Vampire for Christmas. A Vampire? For Christmas? Yep! you read that right! Bubba Jones wants to be a vampire for Christmas. How that will be managed is still a mystery!
The other night Hotstuff was helping Bubba Jones with getting ready for bed. He asked Hotstuff to do his hair- like a vampire! Like a vampire?? While Hotstuff was giving Bubba Jones "Vampire Hair", apparently he was doing it wrong.
I asked, "What kind of Vampire hair do you want? Edward hair? Count Dracula?"
When I picked him up from the fabulous Mrs. K's house he informed me that he had vampire hair.

I can see the resemblance! Can't you?

Updates!

2009-11-15T14:53:00.000-08:00

I didn't realize how busy my life really was until I saw when I made my last post. I just don't make time to sit and blog once a week. So here are just a few pictures of what been happening....

This is what Hotstuff has been working on lately. This was taken about a month ago. This piece is still a work in progress and he has made a ton of progress!

Miss May and Bubba Jones started gymnastics in September. I know the qualities of these pictures are not the greatest ( the lighting is funny from where I was sitting)but I will get better ones up later. Miss May is on the uneven bars and Bubba Jones is on the balance beam.

She's finally gone! My baby sister went into the MTC on Oct. 7th. She has been there almost 6 weeks and is doing great! Here is a small excerpt from her last letter:

"I told my companion that I don't know what to write that was funny from this week and she reminded of plenty of things and said that it is probably because all the funny things are becoming a normal thing for us. But right after we were talking about it, the best thing happened. I had my offical first "woops" with Spanish. I decided to speak only spanish one day. An elder came into the room I told him in Spanish, "You have a nice tie," but when his face turned red and everyone in the class started to laugh I realized I probably said something wrong. And indeed I had!! What I actually said was, "You have a nice body." I was horrified when I realized what I said but when the elder realized that is not what I meant we were all able to laugh it off--ackwardly. Now it is a pretty big joke in the district."

We met with her just before she went into the MTC and had lunch at Jason's Deli (yummm!).

So that's not all! But it's a start...

Conversations with a three year old

2009-10-13T19:14:00.001-07:00

I took the dripping wet little boy out of the bath. I began to towel dry him off with an old peach colored towel. His little teeth chattering away. It is small battle of drying him off; he goes one way, while the towel moves the other. As I rub his little head dry, I can see the waves growing back through. He looks at me with his big green eyes and smiles.
"Thanks, Mom," he tells me.
"For what, honey?" I ask.
"For me."

Bubba Jones

2009-10-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

*My many apologies that this post is way over due!

The night before Bubba Jones was born, there was the most incredible thunder storm I had ever heard or witnessed. The thunder was so loud and so low that it awoke not only us but it set off all of the car alarms in the neighborhood. It kept an anxiuous mother to be (again), awake most of the night. I listened to the beautiful sounds of Gods blessings. The weather was miserable the enitre day that he was born. It even snow that September 22nd. The day of his birth was not only the first day of fall but it was also the start of Rosh Hashanah and the anniversary of Joseph Smith recieving the Gold Plate from Moroni. I can't help but think that the storm was Heaven was of ushering in the birth of my son.
We just celebrated his 3rd birthday. He is a testimony of miracles. He is a joy to our lives and we would not be complete without him.

Born at the Right time

By Paul Simon

Down among the reeds and rushes

A baby boy was found

His eyes as clear as centuries

His silky hair was brown

Never been lonely

Never been lied to

Never had to scuffle in fear

Nothing denied to

Born at the instant

The church bells chime

And the whole world whispering

Born at the right time

....

Too many people on the bus from the airport

Too many holes in the crust of the earth

The planet groans

Every time it registers another birth

....

Born at the instant

The church bells chime

And the whole world whispering

Born at the right time

Best Friends

2009-09-05T11:48:00.001-07:00

They know us inside and out. Our deepest fears and wildest dreams; our best moments, our worst and all of our secrets. They know our likes and dislikes. We talk only to them about certain things. We divulge the out entire truths and we never lie. They read us and know what to do. They give space or hold us close when we need it. They love us despite our faults and we love them for making us better people. These are our Best Friends.

Milestones & Miracles

2009-08-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

What an incredible day for my children!

Miss May

Today was Miss May's first day of Kindergarten. Due to another appointment, I was unable to take her to school. But I dropped her off at a friends home, (one of her classmates). First day of school! Cute curly hair and an adorable outfit. What more could a girl ask for???? How about losing her first tooth!
YA!!!!! Miss May lost her first tooth tonight.

That's right!Miss May lost her first tooth tonight! My baby girl is growing up way to fast. When I was kid the going rate for a tooth was a quarter. Hotstuff and I figure with inflation, her one tooth is gonna cost us $5!

* She had her princess crown on the brave.

Bubba Jones

Today was his annual visit with his neurologist. Bubba Jones has cortical dysplasia; the left side of his brain did not develop properly. So, the two of us made our way up to Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, to see Dr. Colin Van Orman. Yesterday, when I was telling him that we were going to the doctors he told me that he did not want to go and that he was mad. I asked why he was mad and he told me: " because I want to stay with my girlfriend!"

When we arrived at the hospital, Bubba Jones began to cry. He was scared about going in. The last time we went to PCMC, he went for an MRI and had to be sedated, intravenously. Without a doubt he doesn't have the fondest memories of PCMC. Before we got out of the van, the two of us said a prayer to help him have peace. Afterwards, he had no problems!

Dr. Van Orman was running on schedule and we were called back to his office. The prognosis: Dr. Van Orman said he is doing better than he ever imagined that he would! Once he turns 5 he will no longer be high risk for seizures! What a huge relief!!!!! Our next appointment will not be until he is 5 or 6.

This little boy is an incredible testimony of the power of Miracles.

*Bubba Jones throwing a penny into the water at PCMC

When in Portland...

2009-08-25T15:51:00.000-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Portland

Portland,Oregon the city of Roses, Rip City, Bridgetown; the greenest city in the United States and the 2nd greenest in the world. Home to Mount St. Helens. Incorporated in 1851, Portland got its name in a coin toss. Seriously!! Asa Lovejoy and Francis W. Pettygrove, the founding fathers wanted to name their town after their beloved hometown. Lovejoy was from Boston, Massachusetts and Pettygrove was from Portland, Maine. Pettygrove won and I had the opportunity to visit the beautiful city of Portland for a couple of hours. I flew into Portland for a vacation and after I got done at the airport I was to meet my brother for lunch in downtown Portland at Sushi Land. *yummmmy sushi!

I received directions to where I needed to go and found myself in the wrong end of town.

I have been to Portland maybe twice in my entire life.... a couple of school trips that constituted the bus driver driving into Portland, I got off the bus and got right back on. But in getting lost I learned a few things that everyone should know:

*Roses from the Portland Oregon LDS Temple

1. Get a map! Even though your directions may be simple, you will still need to see it visually to understand. I-405 wraps itself around the city and you might think as I did that you are on the wrong road but due to the lack of signage saying: Honey, 3 more miles until you reach the Morrison Bridge! I did not even drive far enough to get to my exit. Get a map and use it!

2. Traffic: I found myself doing 55 miles an hour on the interstate!!!! I called Hotstuff screaming because I had to drive so slowly. Here in Utah, 55 is not an acceptable speed limit. 75 is the acceptable speed limit!!!!!! Whatever you do: do not go through a yellow light. To Oregonians, yellow means stop. To Utahns, it means haul your ass before you get stopped at the red light! Oh, and sometimes you can't make a right on red! Oops!

3. Know your Simpson's and your Alphabet:

Matt Groening, the creator of the Simpson's, is from Portland. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Groening)
Many of the characters from the Simpson's, are named after streets in Portland. I had the pleasure of driving on Burnside (Mr. Burns) and crossing Flanders Street(Ned Flanders- hey diddleyho neighborino!). Numbers run east to west and names run alphabetically north to south.

4. Parks and Bridges: Portland is famous for it's parks. There is a park that runs almost the entire length of the city and in fact the worlds smallest park resides in the middle of a street. There are also 12 bridges in Portland crossing over the Willamette River.

5. You must pay for parking!!!!: I found a good parking spot just outside the restaurant where we ate. I saw the signs for time allowed for parking. Mine was 90 minutes. I saw a small kiosk a few feet away from my car but had no idea what it was for. After I had already been in the restaurant for about an hour, my brother and I left. While my brother smoked his cigarette, I stood by my car and talked to him.
"Did you pay for parking?" he asks.
"Did I need to pay for parking?" I asked in return, naive to the need to pay for parking. My brother laughs at me.
"Come with me," he tells me. We walk down to the kiosk and he pays $.80 for a half hour with his debit card so that I can park for a few more minutes. Come to find out that if you do not pay for parking or if your ticket runs out it is a $40 ticket!

So there you have it! Honey's guide to Portland! OH! and FYI- the ghetto is on the northeast side of town.

A little something to make you laugh!

2009-08-04T19:18:00.000-07:00

Requiem for a Gym... Part 3

2009-07-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

The heat has reached triple digits here in the good ol' state of Utah! I am so ready to move to Alaska. But tonight, I came home and changed out of my work clothes and into my gym clothes. I didn't bother to put my shirt on (due to the heat) but I did have my sport bra on. I made dinner and settled my family before I headed off to the gym to lose the now 20 pounds I want to lose. While at dinner Bubba Jones turns to me and says:
"You go gym?"
"Yes, I am going to the gym."
"You take your belly?" he asks.
"Yes, I take my belly," I replied trying not to laugh or be offended. Then my dear sweet Hotstuff pipes up and says:
"Your supposed to leave it there."
(OUCH!!!!!)
"I am trying to leave it there! It just won't stay there!" I yelled.

Called to Serve

2009-07-20T19:16:00.003-07:00

My dear sweet baby sister has been called to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the California Arcadia (spanish speaking) mission. Which is located in East Los Angeles. (AHHHHHH!!!!!) She will be gone for 18 months (sniff sniff)!!!! She recieved her letter on Wednesday July 16th and did not open it until July 19th! Due to the large number of people she would have to tell; she called everyone over to Aunt Cindy and Uncle Paul's house to open her letter with all her friends and family. She had 35 people there!!!!!!!!!

Brittney opening her letter- me in front with two cell phones on speaker, one for my brother and the other family in Washington.

Brittney and her letter!

Me!

Bubba Jones, Miss May and Brittney

For more information go to: www.lds.org

One and ONLY

2009-07-17T18:01:00.000-07:00

WANTED: ONE CAR KEY

When Hotstuff and I bought our G6, it only came with 1 key. The cost of a new key was $50! This is a special kind of key that has a computer chip in it that has to be programmed to the car. We had just bought a new car and did not have the extra cash for a new key. So we said we would come back later and get a new key made. It's not like we could go to Wal-mart and get a key made for $5, this is an extra special key and the cost was a bit much. It's seemed we never thought about getting an extra made because of the cost.

Sunday was the last time we saw our key. Hotstuff went to the car and rolled up the windows and got stuff from the trunk. That was the last they were ever seen. We have torn the house apart and cleaned it in search of the keys. We are going on day 4 with no key to drive the car. We still have the keys to our van and have been driving Moby (it's a big white van- hence the name.) But alas, Naked Harry (our car) sits in the suns and bakes begging to be driven.

The only solution, other than finding the key, is to have the car towed in to a dealership and have the key made and programmed to the car at the dealership.

Prayers have been said, house torn apart and cleaned, the most unlikely of places looked and still nothing. Time is running out and we are in need of a key.

REWARD: $1 Million dollars and an ice cream

Tax dollars hard at work

2009-07-08T15:35:00.001-07:00

(Note: This post is regarding Michael Jackson and his funeral service)

Michael Jackson was laid to rest yesterday. While walking through the ICU and many other parts of the hospital where I work, ALL televisions were turned to CNN to watch coverage of the funeral. By the end of the day, I was glad to be home. I wanted to sit and veg for a minute in front of the good ol' boob tube but when I turned it on I was bombarded with nothing but Micheal Jackson.
I was disgusted at all the media attention towards him and his funeral. I was repulsed at the way they were treating and viewing his children. But none of this bothered more than the fact that Jackson's funeral cost the tax payers of California $4 MILLION!!!!!!!
Yes! you read that right $4 Million that could have gone to fund education, programs to help those in need and other programs that needed the extra funding. Instead, their tax dollars paid for something else. This, is tax dollars hard at work.

Precious Memories

2009-07-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

Hey Hotstuff,
Do you remember that time when we were dirt poor, living in an apartment that was falling apart? You know which one I am talking about. The one where the carpet was thirty years old, the mold that was growing under the linoleum and on the ceiling in the bathroom. Do you rememeber the time when the air conditioner broke and you got in trouble by the managment for fixing it? I had an infection in my lungs and it took the managment over a week to come fix it. Or that one time where our neighbors swamp cooler was leaking water. He had to turn the water off and we no air conditioning. AT ALL!!! When our swamp cooler finally worked it made this knocking sound or that really loud squeaky sound because of the missing bearing on one side. In the evening times it would get unbearable hot because the sun would shine directly into our house with nothing to block the sun. Or how every winter our furnace broke down and our kids ran through the house freezing and all I did was bake to try and bring in some heat. When we got it to work, we had to make the house as hot as possible because the heater would die in the early afternoon. We would have to wait a few hours before it would finally work again. By then, the heat was all gone.
OH! and don't forget the bath tub! No matter how much bleach was used or how hard we scrubbed it was always gray. Nasty hard water stains... and who could forget the closet doors! They could never stay on. Do you remember the spaghetti sauce that was waxed into the floor that took three years to come out? Or the crazy phone lines in the living room?
For some reason, we always had the worst solicitors coming around.... even with a NO SOLICITING sign. Remember that one guy who called you nasty names?
Yeah, today was a good day!
love ya, Honey

4th of July Weekend

2009-07-05T12:46:00.001-07:00

Here a few pictures from our 4th of July Weekend....

A Tribute to the King of Pop

2009-06-25T21:51:00.000-07:00

I was in the bank today when I heard that Micheal Jackson passed away. My thoughts are with his many fans in their time of grief. Cause I'm talking 'bout the man in mirror! Billie Jean was not his lover, but if you wanted to be his baby- it didn't matter if you were black or white. He just wanted to heal the world and make it a better place... for you, me and the entire human race. Making a better place for you and me.... do remember the time??? He was bad! Bad! you know it! and the whole world has to answer right now! Who's bad? The smooth criminal! He wants to rock with you! (all night)! you knocked him off his feet! and always remember: You got to be starting something and Don't stop till you get enough!

Rest in Peace Michael Jackson!

New bling....

2009-06-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

So I was in the mood to do something scandolous and so not like me.... I was having a mid-life crisis. So for my 27th birthday, I pierced my nose.

Well Shut my Mouth!

2009-06-19T15:57:00.001-07:00

Around 10 am this morning, I needed my caffeine!! So as apart of my morning ritual, I head down to the Pink Shop for a very large, bubbly, caffeine and sugar loaded soda. When I arrived there, I saw a very adorable little boy and a dad sitting at the counter. I knew the gentlemen was a dad because of the pink "dad" bracelet he wore. This is a security protocal in most hospitals to insure the safety of the newborn (and to make sure you don't go home with the wrong baby or someone else takes your baby.) The dad did not look much older than me and the little boy that was sitting with him was no more than 4 years old.

I got my soda and went to the cashier to pay for my drink. I know how exciting a brand new baby can be so I turned to the boy and asked:

"Do you have a new little brother or new little sister?"

The dad pops up and said: "Neither. This is my brother in law!"

"Well shut my mouth!" was all I could say.

(The picture above is Bubba Jones on the day he was born.)

7 year Itch

2009-06-09T16:35:00.000-07:00

(This picture is 3 years old but I still love it)

All the good men in the world are one of three things: taken, gay or dead! That is all there is to it. I happened to find one that wasn't any of those and had enough sense to marry him. This Sunday, Hotstuff and I will celebrate our 7th Anniversary. We met and 6 weeks later were engaged. We got married in the Manti Temple in Manti, Utah three months after (we knew each other for a total of 5 months before we got married). Now seven years later, I would be lost without my best friend and better half.

I love you incredibly much! Happy Anniversary Hotstuff! love, Honey

My little Casanova

2009-06-05T16:05:00.000-07:00

When I picked up the kids from the fabulous Misses K's house today, both of them were slow to come to the door. Apparently, Miss May was outside and Bubba Jones (who is 2.5) was downstairs playing with his GIRLFRIEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, you read that right, girlfriend! When you ask him if she is his girlfriend; he tells you: My C, My girlfriend. You ask C and she will tell you that Bubba Jones is her boyfriend. Miss May told us that one of the kids called C a crybaby; then Bubba Jones tells all of us (in defense of her honor): My Crybaby!

This is a boy seriously in love!

June Bug

2009-06-02T15:37:00.001-07:00

I know that I am not the most faithful everyday blogger but I got the bug today to blog and so far I have got nothing. It's June and summer is on it's way. I am excited to see what the summer will bring. We have had storms over the last couple of days and they are supposed to last all week. I love thunder and lighting! The rain helps the horrible allergies that we all suffer from. June is an incredibly busy month for our family. Hotstuff and I will celebrate our anniversary, there is Father's Day and my birthday- all within two weeks! I am ready to be warm again and enjoy my summer vacation. It's official I have been bitten by the June Bug.

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-26T15:42:00.001-07:00

Happy Memorial Day!!! I love three day weekends..... here is ours in pictures! Saturday I totally scored at Old Navy, Flip Flops on sale for $1!! Later we had an "Indoors Outdoors Luxury Barbeque with Finger Buffet" and Monday we took the kids to the swimming pool. Here is our weekend, all in pictures!Miss May and her best Friend Rylee...

Hotstuff and Bubba Jones....

Sherie! Love that tongue!

Spryntlynn... what a cutie!

Hugs and Kisses from Miss May!

Karen, Jana and Boots...

All of the kids playing outside....

Jana in deep thought..... "hmmm, should I have more of that wonderful potatoe salad that Honey makes??? Yes I should!"

Yes, ladies and gentleman that is me in a swimming suit.... I know! the nightmares you will have, my deepest apologies.

Hotstuff and Bubba Jones getting ready to take the plunge!

Miss May! My little fishy! Glub Glub!

For some reason this was the only picture I could get of her smiling!

Ladies and gentleman.... I present to you..... BUBBA JONES!

I liked this picture of Hotstuff that I had to share it with the world.

Pleasant Moments

2009-05-23T16:12:00.001-07:00

I was driving home today from the grocery store when I was struck by a pleasant moment. As a treat, I bought my favorite root beer : Henry Weinhards. What's unique about this wonderful and expensive root beer is that it comes in a glass bottle.

When my family lived in Germany, we had our soda delivered to us. Back then soda still came in glass bottles. Every two weeks a blonde haired gentleman would make his rounds on the base. I still remember this kind German who came by with a smile and our soda. He picked up our crates of empty glass bottles and delivered full bottles of Fanta and Pepsi. My parents knew little german and taught us to say hello and goodbye. I loved when the soda man came by!! We were able to use our german that we learned. Though it was not perfect, he would giggle and help us to say our words correctly. Then on his way he went until two weeks later when he came by again with more glass bottles of Fanta and Pepsi.

Miss May graduates from Preschool!

2009-05-16T19:03:00.001-07:00

My baby girl graduated from preschool last night! In a very fun program, the kids recited different nursery rhymes and songs they had learned. Miss May was the Little Old Lady who swallowed a fly. Miss Janae, her teacher, sang the song while different kids placed the animals in her "stomach". They all graduated with honors. Congradualtions Miss May! (Pictures are in reverse order)

For all Mothers

2009-05-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

For all the wonderful and beautiful women I know..

Happy Mothers Day!

Love, all of us

The Great Minds of this world want to know...

2009-05-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

Who determined that there is 60 seconds in 1 minute? 60 minutes to 1 hour? 24 hours to 1 day and that 7 days equals 1 week? 52 weeks in a year and 365/6 days to the year?

Baby Sister graduates!

2009-05-04T12:22:00.000-07:00

My baby sister graduated from Weber State University last Friday with her Bachelors degree. My brother and her best friend flew in for the occasion. Brit- we are so proud of you! You totally rock!

On a Lighter note

2009-04-25T11:18:00.000-07:00

After my much drawn out therapy session that I posted for all to see (I am of course talking about my last blog: SWAT), Hotstuff thought my post to be a little grim. So here I am reminding myself and letting all of you know of the good things in life!
* We put an offer in on a house!!!!! it's a 4 bedroom, 2.5 baths, 2660 square feet, sitting on .24 acres and was built in 1929. Its not too far from where we live (4.5 blocks east and 3 block north). And what everyone might ask is the asking price for this house??? $139k!!!!!!!! Can you believe it? Probably not but we made an offer on the house this week and since it is a short sale we have no idea when we will hear back from the seller. We need lots of fingers crossed and prayers.
* I have to publicly thank Mrs. Erin Summerill for pushing me the other night at step class. She kicked my butt!!! Thanks Erin, I needed that.
* Its SPRING!!! The flowers are blooming, the allergies are raging and I am wearing flip flops! Yes, you heard right! Flip Flops! We took the kids to the park the other night and chased them through the field. I love my family!
* Miss May and I went to the movies last night and saw "Hannah Montana, the movie". Hello, my name is Honey and I am a 26 year old Hannah Montana/ Miley Cyrus fan. Love her music! I enjoyed spending time with Miss May. I like taking my daughter to the movies.
* I lost 2.6 pounds this week!!!!!!!!!
* I went to Costco the other night. I haven't been in months and it felt good to restock my shelves.
* After a much needed change, I am getting my hair done today.... I will post my new do for you later.

That was my week... how was yours??

SWAT

2009-04-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

In 1991, a man entered the Alta View Hospital in Sandy, Utah and took hostages in an attempt to kill his wife's doctor (for more info go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alta_View_Hospital). This resulted in the death of one nurse. Some of the hostages developed Stockholm Syndrome and testified on his behalf. Alta View Hospital is apart of Intermountain Heath Care; the same company I now work for. In 1998, a student entered Thurston High School and opened fired in the schools cafeteria, killing 2 and injuring 25 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurston_high_school_shooting). Thurston High School was only 45 minutes south of where I lived. Our football team played theirs in a state play off game. One year later, two students enter Columbine High School and begin to massacre their fellow students. I remember hearing that the two students targeted some students for their belief in God. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre).
Today, our hospital in conjunction with the city police department, an active shooter/disaster drill took place. The things learned from the hostage situation at Alta View has become a vital tool for Intermountain Health Care in dealing with such situations. This drill was to help the American Fork Hospital and the American Fork Police Department learn those vital tools.
We were told of what to expect and to continue working. They kept the drill to the administration offices (where I happen to work), so they would not bother the patients or disrupt patient care. We were made aware that shots of blanks would be fired. Announcements were made and patients were informed. A security officer made a special announcement in the gift shop while I was getting something to drink. He informed us this was a drill, explained what would happen and told us not to rush the gun man. I returned to my office, safe and out of the way.
I was working in a room of the department that is secure ( you cannot enter unless you have badge access), when I heard some one yelling and a gun fire. There is a small window on the door and I saw the "shooter" swiftly walking towards the administrators office yelling. He was carrying an assault rifle. I was startled more by the yelling then the gun firing. I looked out the window and saw the shell casing of the blank that was shot lying on the ground. Two of my coworkers joined me in the room and the three of us stood there as morbid bystanders, laughing, talking and giggling about the current situation. When suddenly, we heard the SWAT team yell: "Get down! Get down, Now!"
My two co-workers turned around and booked it for the door. I have to say I was laughing HYSTERICALLY as these two women scrambled to get out of the way. We all laughed about what happened but then watched from a safer distance. I watched through the door window for a few minutes as the SWAT team tried to move in with their very big and scary looking guns.
I was already a half day behind in my work and didn't have anymore time to gawk and be a morbid bystander anymore so I went back to work. Later, I had to go back into the room and saw as a couple of SWAT members removed a "wounded hostage". No more than a 15 minutes after the "shooter" entered the building, our department was evacuated. We walked outside the hospital and enjoyed a few minutes of sunshine. We were told that we could reenter our office but when we got to the outside door, through the door window we saw the SWAT team still there with guns drawn. We couldn't get back in.
Forty-five minutes after we had evacuated, we were finally able to return to work and everything went back to normal. The worst part of all of this: I went from being a half day behind in work to almost a full day!
During the entire drill, I knew it was a drill and was never scared but more frustrated that I couldn't work. When all of it was over, I reflected upon all that I had seen and had been apart of and not just the things that happened today. I was never in harms way, I had been well informed and I had even laughed about what had been going on. But all of this began to affect me deeply. It was all pretend but the reality of it all sunk in very deeply.
I reflected upon my own beliefs and character. I wondered: how would I really have reacted if this was real? Would I have helped my co-workers or been a coward? Could I or would I be able to develop Stockholm Syndrome? I thought of the "shooter", how would I feel about them? How do I treat others? Will I stand and say: "Yes, I believe in God." ?
With out a doubt in my mind, I know that I will stand and say: "Yes, I believe in God!" but I don't know how to honestly answer some of the other questions I had. Right now, I can't get the "shooter" out of my head. I can still hear him yelling and the gun firing. I know that will go away.
Today, I had the incredible opportunity today to witness a SWAT exercise, gain some vital tools for work and reflect on my beliefs and character.

Requiem for a Gym... part 2.5

2009-04-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

Warning:

DO NOT MIX

One cream cheese ooey gooey delicious brownie

WITH

One step aerobics class

May cause:

Upset stomach

diarreah

nausea

vomiting

light headedness/dizziness

Death (or praying for it)

Heart Burn

Spontaneous Combustion

NOT FOR:

Women who are pregnant, nursing or planning to become pregnant, have the capacity to become pregnant, have ever know anyone who has been pregnant or thought about being pregnant and no I am not pregnant, nursing or planning on becoming pregnant but I do have the capacity, have thought about it and know lots of pregnant ladies (well, three that come to mind immedialty.)

Talk to you doctor to see if this is right for you but I really doubt it!!!!
Even without an outbreak it may be possible to spread brownies to others.

For one Turkish Teacher

2009-04-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

In an effort to please my (wanna be ex-patriot and) wonderful brother in law... I am blogging. But what to blog about?? Hmmmmm?? I wonder what would statisfy his thirst for the blogging knowledge that goes on the Honey and Hotstuff lair of love. So here goes......

sorry, chauncey baby I got nothing!

This Month Visiting Teaching Message

2009-04-09T16:57:00.000-07:00

Little Wild Horse weekend.....

2009-04-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

Dear Dave and Colleen,
This is where I took your son for the day! Don't worry he is still alive!
Love, Honey

2009-03-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Mom said What?!?!?!?!?!

This Total Freak OUT Moment brought to you by:

Miss May and Bubba Jones

Requiem for a Gym... part 2

2009-03-12T19:46:00.000-07:00

So the battle continues to lose 15 pounds. So far I have lost nothing! but never the less I am not giving up! I am still (when I feel like it) counting points for weight watchers and working out at the gym (when I get the energy). I have a goal and I will reach it!!!!
As I press forward to being skinny, I learned a few more things at the gym the other night.

1. Locker Rooms: Whether they are at Gold's Gym, your local rec center, your high school or even your middle school; THEY ALL SMELL THE SAME!!! Why is that?? I walked into the locker room to use the potty and though it was clean, I wanted to run screaming from the horrible memories of gym class that came flooding back.

2. Smile and Laugh: If you don't laugh at yourself or smile when you are working out, you do not get anywhere. If you can't enjoy what you are doing you will never like what you are doing. Working out is serious business.

3. Men and Yoga: the verdict is still out on that one. They just aren't as graceful as women.

4. Never be afraid to ask for help. Example (of a really embarrassing moment): I went to do squats with the free weights. One problem! I couldn't lift the bar off of the hook. It was up too high and I was too short. I looked around and not wanting to hurt myself by lifting the bar off of the hook, I see a couple of high school boys lifting weights. With my head held high I walked over and asked them to lift the bar down a notch for me. Kindly and without laughing at the veritcal challenges that I face, they lowered the bar. I squatted 135 pounds. Thanks guys!

Just for funsies!

2009-03-08T12:15:00.000-07:00

1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random”or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RandomThe first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Quotations Page and select "random quotations"or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7daysThird picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.

Thanks Shanna for the fun!! My Band totally rocks!!!

Working mom....

2009-03-05T13:11:00.000-08:00

The thought that has been on my mind lately, (besides how this nation has already gone to heck in a handbasket, (socialism here we are!!!)) is being a working mom. Don't get me wrong; I love my kids, I love my family, I love what I do and where I work, but finding a balance is tough. I talked with Miss May last night, about me working. She told me that she doesn't like that I work but she is not mad at me. But the dis/comfort in all of this is at 5 years old, she understands why.
I am not going to work to pay off the RV or the ATV's or the SUV or any extra "Neccesities"; as they have become. I am not going to work to pay for a life that we can't afford that includes the mansion on the hill with "the mercedes, sauna and room for a pony" (anyone who watches British Comedies will totally get that).
I am going to work to pay for health/ dental insurance for my family, to pay the rent and utilities and to pay for groceries and clothing. I find that I am a better mother and wife when I work. The biggest reason I work is: to make up the difference that Hotstuff cannot.

"God loves us. He is watching us. He wants us to succeed. We will know some day that He has not left one thing undone for the eternal welfare of each of us. If we only knew it, heavenly hosts are pulling for us—friends in heaven that we cannot now remember who yearn for our victory. This is our day to show what we can do—what life and sacrifice we can daily, hourly, instantly make for God. If we give our all, we will get His all from the greatest of all."
(Ezra Taft Benson, “Jesus Christ—Gifts and Expectations,” Ensign, Dec 1988, 2)

"We have not failed until we quit trying." Marvin J. Ashton

"When Fear knocked at the door, Faith answered and said: "No one is here." Unknown

Okay, I know! I'm getting preachy! Sorry! But the point I am trying to make is that my working outside my home is not in vain. It is a sacrifice I have chosen to make. My balance will come in time as long as I keep going. So why do I feel like I owe the entire world an apology for not being a stay at home mom?

Requiem for a Gym...

2009-02-17T17:55:00.000-08:00

Like the 6 billion other people in the world, I am sucker! I made New Years resolutions.

1. Stop Smoking- Done! I am not a smoker anyhow. I never set the bar to high for myself that way I know that I can't fail!

2. Save More money- which I will start doing next month. I think I said that last month... but most defintely next month... I did however see a cute pair of shoes on sales at Nordstrom's. That is considered saving... right?

3. Lose weight.

So I got the ball rolling last summer on the whole losing weight thing when I joined weight watchers. Well, that has taken me only so far. I have discovered that I can maintain my weight really well but not at the weight that I want to be. I still have 15 pounds to go. The next step was to join a gym and that is what I did. I join our local rec center and began "to work out" and discovered a few things.

1. I have gotten my butt kicked, I laughed my butt off and I have walked my butt off. So somebody please explain to me: WHY DO I STILL HAVE THIS MASSIVE BUTT???????? For crying out loud, I mean, I am sitting on king sized pillows for a derrière.
2. God is the coolest artist I have ever seen!!!! It is amazing the different body types there are out there. The different ways our bodies take shape is brilliant. There is a uniqueness to all of us. As I made this discovery, it reminded me of a " The Far Side comic". See below:
I figure my big problem is; that while God was creating me, he had some extra clay left over. Waste not, want not; as our parent told us.... so he slaped it on my toosh!

3. Hey, Twiggy! Yeah, you know who I am talkin to!!! Do the rest of us a favor and eat a brownie or a hot fudge sundae! Please, you ain't helpin my self esteem much.

So that is what I have discovered so far.... if I learn anymore, I will make sure to pass it along.
~honey

The Funniest Bathroom Adventure EVER!

2009-02-08T18:04:00.000-08:00

Our little family had the oppurtunity to visit the open house of the Draper Utah Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What an amazing, beautiful and peaceful place to be... but that is not the point of this wonderful adventure. The open house of the temple was so incredibly organized. We met at a near by church and when you arrived at the church you watched a short video and then you boarded a bus to go through the temple (this was all done in groups). After the tour, we returned to the church where we parked and I had to use the bathroom! My bladder was about to explode, the trip home was 20 minutes and I was not going to have an accident. The weather had worsened, so the rain was coming down harder and the wind was blowing faster than a couple hours before. Miss May was with me and the two of us were running to the doors of the church. Before you get to the doors of the church you have to go down the stairs and when I hit the bottom of the stairs the wind hit is just right and blew my skirt into my face!!!!!
When I entered the church, I ran into a women that I had seen earlier and who looked strangley familar. I stopped and told her that she looked incredibly familar and I knew her from somewhere. Long story short, she and I knew each other from Oregon where we both grew up. We went to different high schools, graduated the same year, were in the same LDS stake and went to girls camp with one another. I was also friends with one of her cousins!!!
After I finished talking with this wonderful long lost friend (of sorts) I went into the bathroom. While I was in the stall, I heard a women talking to her daughter. The daughter could not have been more than 3 or 4 years old and was in the stall with her mom. There conversation happens as follows:
"We have got to hurry honey. Because after we are done, we are going to get on the bus to go to the temple," said the mom.
"Is that some kind of joke?" asked the daughter quite seriously!
"No, honey that is not a joke," the mother says calmly. "We are really getting on the bus to go up to the temple."
"That is funniest joke I have ever heard!" the daughter remarked quite seriously again.
I finished in the bathroom and went to the van. I got in the van and shared my adventure with Hotstuff and started laughing. I dont' think I have ever had an adventure to the bathroom that left me laughing.
So there you have it: the funniest Bathroom adventure Ever!!!

Miss May turns 5! and no "wardrobe malfunctions"

2009-02-03T18:01:00.000-08:00

So my baby girl turned 5 on Feb.1st- Super bowl Sunday. I was orginally due on the 25th of January. I remember one of Hotstuff's cousin in-laws (and yes that is a real word) jokingly told me that I would have her on super bowl sunday. I prayed that I wouldn't and with the help of my doctor I was induced on Jan. 31st. I was sure that I was going to have her that day.

16 1/2 hours of labor, 2 epidurals, one narcotic and one blessing later, she came. 21 minutes after midnight, I brought my baby girl into this world (with a whole lot of help from the other side). That day for us was marked by Miss May joining us- for the rest of you.... That was the Super bowl that Janet Jackson had the famous "wardrobe malfunction."

So we celebrated with a family party. Chicken Fettucine Alfredo (made from scratch) was served. I will forever be grateful for this incredible blessing and miracle in my life. She rescued me from my grief. She brings laughter and patience.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

~honey

Bravest Boy EVER!!

2009-02-02T16:47:00.000-08:00

The other day I had to take Miss May to the doctors. She was a very little girl with a very BIG cold. While I was there I asked the doc about a few extras that I had been slacking on.... like immunizations for Bubba Jones. (I am so getting the worst mother of the year award!)
"Sure, no problem! We can do what is needs today and you come back in six months for the last shot," the doctor tells me. Now my doctor is a chicken..... he doesn't give the kids their shots, he makes the nurses do it. So, the nurse comes in with the tray and I lay Bubba Jones on the table and pull his pants down.
"Okay honey," she says. "This is just a little poke."
She cleans his leg... gives him the shot and... NOTHING!!!!!
NOT a cry, whimper, or tears! NOTHING!!!
I stand him back up, pull up his pants and he walks away as if nothing happened.
So any of you out there know a braver little boy.... let me know.
~honey

What new with us!

2009-01-25T18:50:00.000-08:00

Hola!
I am not the best a blogging every day- so here is the update on our family.

Bubba Jones- what can I say? he is getting too big! He is starting to put more than two words together and making choppy sentences. He just got a pair of Spiderman shoes that are three sizes to big and that is all he wants to wear. Let's face it- it's spiderman!

Miss May- her 5th birthday is super bowl sunday. I am feeling really old right now!!! She is doing so well in preschool. She writes her own name! She knows her colors, letters, shapes and numbers and is in the early stages of learning to read. She amazes me every day.

Hotstuff- He is the love of my life! Starting in February he will be starting a part time second job learning to be an electrician. A friend of his, from work, husband has his own electrician business and needs help. So he has offered Hotstuff a position and if he likes it he will help Hotstuff get an apprenticeship.

Honey- I am surviving this horrible winter weather. I currently work at LDS hospital in Salt Lake City, a 40 mile one way commute. I haven't seen my family in months but good news! I have a new job! I am transfering to American Fork Hospital-2 miles down the road. I got a raise, better and more hours; plus I get to be home with my family again. No more commutes that take 3 hours because of bad weather. YEAH!!!!

So that is the newest from Honey and Hotstuff. What's new with you???
~honey

JINXED

2008-12-29T20:05:00.001-08:00

For Christmas we bought a Wii. If you have never played one- you better! It is so much fun.
On Christmas day, during quiet time, Hotstuff and I are playing Wii bowling and I am totally kicking his trash. Miss May was having a hard time staying in quiet time and in my mom voice, I tell her to go back to quiet time.
"You'll never win, Mommy!" she screams from her bedroom door. She then proceeds to slam her door behind her. After that, I totally sucked at EVERYTHING!! That will teach me to be the parent.

Christmas Cards

2008-12-16T19:05:00.001-08:00

My deepest apologies to each and everyone of you who did not get a Christmas card from us this year. Which means all of you! Every year I send out close to 75 cards- Hotstuff had no idea that I sent out that many and almost plotzed when I told him that I sent out that many every year.
So from our family to yours- we hope that you have a wonderful Christmas season and my the new year bring you great happiness.
Love, Honey, Hotstuff, Miss May and Bubba Jones

2008-12-16T19:04:00.000-08:00

So.... what's new with you??

Giving Thanks

2008-11-27T13:10:00.000-08:00

Life is really scary right now! My grandmother is a child of the Great Depression and I have always been grateful that I have lived in a somewhat economically stable time. Now I wonder what the economy like will be for my children. Will they be children of a great depression?
Everything has become about money and the bottom line. Even my favorite radio DJ lost his job because of the economy! Those usual worries in life have grown tenfold. Our ways of thinking have changed. We now face challenges that we once thought to be the worst case scenerio; they now become have reality.
I will admit that for about two days last week, my prayers to God were angry ones. Then a good friend of ours reminded me to remember to be grateful. I then remembered a talk given in church one day about gratitude. I was given the challenge to give a prayer in which I did nothing but give thanks to God about anything and everything. I was also challenged to give more thanks in my daily prayers. I found that my prayers changed drastically! and so did my relationship with God, my family and friends.
After my angry prayers, I apologized to God for taking it out everything on him and began to give thanks. I started listing off things that I was grateful for. I did this while I was driving to work, while I was working out, while I was eating my lunch and anytime that I had a spare moment to list off things that I am grateful for.
Though I am still facing reality, my needs have become smaller because I already have so much. I still worry about our needs but I know I am not without. The atmosphere of my day changed. My attitude changed and I could tell a difference in my interaction with others was kinder.
So this Thanksgiving, try listing off the things that you are grateful for and don't just do it today! Do it everyday! The hardships will be there but they will become lighter when you remember to give thanks.
I am thankful for you.... my friends and my family; old and new. For all that you are and all that you do, I thank you.
I am thankful for Hotstuff! for his laughter, his love and his patience with me.
I am thankful for Miss May.... thank you for rescuing me from my grief.
I am thankful for Bubba Jones... thank you for rescuing me from myself.
I am thankful for my parents... for the lessons they taught me.
I am thankful for Granny Chamberlain, Papa and Grandma Palmer... thanks for your love, support and patience.
I am thankful for all of my siblings; Hotstuff's siblings and step-siblings are included in that.
I am thankful for a home, a car that works, a good job, health insurance, the change in my pocket, the money in the bank [when we have money =) ], the food I have in my kitchen, heat and a/c, running water that is hot and cold, indoor plumbing! and though our carpet is over 30 years old atleast it is not a dirt floor!
I am thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
I am thankful for the life I have and the country that I live in. For the freedoms given to me by those who have fought and still fight to insure that I have those rights.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
~Honey

Pneumonia and the new car

2008-11-11T19:39:00.000-08:00

It snowed last wednesday and I couldn't get to work. So I called in and told them I couldn't make it in. Besides that I was having the most incredible chest pains. I was not feeling 100% and thought that I just had a chest cold but then something felt off. So I skipped work and call my doctors office. I go in and talk with the doctor for a few minutes and he suggest getting a chest x-ray. Sure!! No problem! It's only the second time this year I have had a chest x-ray! (the first time it showed that I had pluerasy- an infection in my lungs). I get the chest x-ray done and when the films are ready the doctor goes over them with me.
"You see this side of you lung? you see how clear the lines are? and you see the other side of your lungs and how they are all fuzzy?" he says to me.
"Well, you've got pneumonia!"
PNUEMONIA!!!! I am flabbergasted! and yes that is a real word. Thank goodness for PTO. I took the rest of the week off and stayed home. I felt well enough to work but I decided to take it easy and not aggravate my lungs. Hotstuff hates when his lungs get aggravated! It's just so aggravating he says.
So while I am home with pneumonia.... our wonderful car that Hotstuff and I have had since we
were first married had hit old age. It was 9 years old with 147k miles on it. It got to the point where we were starting to put more money into it than what it was worth. Solution: new car. We went in to just check out our options and ended up driving home a silver 2008 Pontiac G6 with only 21650 miles on it. It's like riding in a space ship that get's 30 miles per gallon. We got the best deal on it!! Many dealerships are trying to stay in business that they are almost giving away their cars. They gave us for a trade-in $2,000 more than what our car was worth and knocked $7000 off the asking price. It is a buyers market!
That was my week.... how was yours?
~honey

"Carve-nival"

2008-11-07T18:06:00.000-08:00

As a family tradition, every year we hold the Palmer Family "Carve-nival". We hold it the saturday before Halloween. We generally just have family but this year we extended it to some friends. We get together, carve pumpkins and enjoy dinner. This year I served white chilli. YUMMMMM! This is a family tradition that was started on Miss May's first halloween.

For halloween, Miss May dressed up a tinkerbell and Bubba Jones went as a dog. We hope that all of you had a very Happy Halloween!

~honey

True Crime!

2008-10-17T18:40:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I was getting ready for work when Miss May decided to explore the fridge. She was in rummaging around when I asked her what she was doing. She quickly (and with great guilt) slammed the fridge door and said "Nothing!"
"It's okay, you can tell me what you were doing in there. I won't be mad," I told her.
So lets back up a moment... the night before Hotstuff called me to tell me that Miss May had gotten into my candy stash. She had only opened the candy but did not eat. (Sort of like Clinton... I never inhaled!) So Hotstuff moved my stash to a secret location... now back to the story...
"Um, mom, you and dad ate your candy last night. AND YOU DID NOT CHECK ON ME IN BED LAST NIGHT!" she said very disgusted with me.
So if you ever return to the scene of the crime be prepared with a rousing change of subject.
~Honey

The Miracle of Ants Marching

2008-10-17T17:44:00.000-07:00

... As mentioned many times, I have set up this blog spot to help myself, family and friends keep intouch with us better. So I have made two post in the last almost three weeks! Sorry. Right now there is really not much new to report to the world. Out lives are much the same: we get up, go our many ways, Miss May has preschool three times a week, we come home, spend a couple hours together go to bed and get up the next morning to start all over again. It reminds me of the song by the Dave Matthews Band "Ants Marching".

He wakes up in the morning

Does his teeth, bite to eat and he's rolling

Never changes a thing.

The week ends the week begins,

...Take these chances,

Place them in a box until a Quieter time,

Lights down you up and die

...No words exchange no time to exchange and

All the little ants are marching

Red and black antennae waving

They all do it the same

They all do it the same way

Yeah, it is alot like ants marching. Same routine and it has become very very easy to fall into that routine. I have been waiting for some incredible to tell all of you to show how wonderful and exciting our lives our. But in truth, there is not a whole lot exciting going on but our lives! Our lives, no matter how routine they are; are a wonderful miracle. Which brings me to my next song!

Days of Miracles and Wonders by Paul Simon (who might I add is a very small man!)

These are the days of miracle and wonder

This is the long distance call

The way the camera follows us in slo-mo

The way we look to us all

The way we look to a distant constellation

Thats dying in a corner of the sky

These are the days of miracle and wonder

And dont cry baby, dont cry

Dont cry

So I hope I have not dissapointed or bored anyone with my crazy lyrics or lack of excitement and funny stories. But in the words of Miss May: "And that's just how it's done!"

~Honey

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-06T18:23:00.000-07:00

Miss May had her very first field trip today. She and her preschool class went to a local nursery to visit the pumpkin patch. She and her class had a blast.... I was worn out from just watching them run in circles. The local nursery every fall has fall activities, a pumkin patch and a corn maze. The nursery also has a playground and animals: bunnies, birds of various natures and goats. With the rain storm that passed through this weekend it was a little muddy but the kids still had a fun. I also discovered that Miss May is the tallest in her class! As a special treat her teacher got each of the kids a pumpkin to take home.

I really enjoyed President Thomas S. Monson's address in conference on Sunday morning. He spoke about enjoying the precious time that we have with our children. Time does go way to fast.

~Honey

Brand new blogger

2008-10-03T21:31:00.001-07:00

I am not a blogger! but with so many friends and families out there it is too hard to keep in touch! So this is the way to go for us! Enjoy!