Concert Time

My wonderful husband and beautiful daughters got me the best Mother's Day and Birthday Present any aging 40 something could ask for.

A chance to feel 20 again!

On Mothers day I got the gift of 2 tickets to NKOTBSB

(also known as New Kids On the Block/Back Street Boys).

So this last Friday, July 8th, Doug and I set off for a weekend in Seattle

(my Birthday Weekend)
to attend the concert in the Tacoma Dome.


Not only did my wonderful husband drive me to Seattle,
but he took me out to dinner, spent time shopping with me,
and lasted the whole concert by my side,
while I (and thousands of other women) screamed and yelled our hearts out!
What a show!
It was almost 3 hours of standing on my feet
singing and dancing along with the New Kids.



I have to admit that I loved the New Kids when I was in my early 20's.
(Well actually I still do - especially Donnie Wahlberg!)
When you saw them on TV back in the day you always saw them surrounded by tweens and teens and then there was me the 20 something who also was cheering them on.
Not that I ever got to see them live, not until this last weekend.

I also have to admit that listening to the Backstreet Boys made me feel old.
They were one of the boy bands that Courtney liked when she was a tween/teen.
I didn't know all of their songs, just the ones I remember from Courtney's CD's.

But I did know all of the New Kids Songs and who are we kidding,
that was who I was there to see.


It was a once in a lifetime for me.
I can't believe I was so close to the New Kids!



I just have to tell my family
THANKS so very much for a wonderful Mother's Day and Birthday Gift
it was one of the BEST!!!!

Summer!

Well it is that time of year again. The sun is out and it is finally starting to warm up. The family trips are just around the corner, and time is moving faster then it does all the rest of the year (with the exception of Christmas time when time moves at warp speed again). I have such grand ideas of all the wonderful projects that I want to get done around the house and I am off work for 6 weeks and only one of those weeks has passed by so far. I have gotten one project under my belt and am feeling pretty good about it. Now I just need to finish those last little things to be able to mark the project as complete, and then off to the next.

I have watched my 2 oldest, beautiful daughters turn another year older and wish like crazy that they were still babies and not growing up and becoming so independent.

Courtney is now 20, and living on her own. She works daily and we see very little of her and miss her a ton, but that is what children are supposed to do. Grow up and move away, and become grown ups in the real world. I would much rather she was here with me being my daughter and letting me be her mommy, but that stage has been gone for a long while.

Makenzie is now 15, and is going to be gone this summer in Utah for 3 weeks. I already miss her and she hasn't even left yet. She will be attending a ballet summer dance intensive for 2 weeks at BYU and then attending EFY at the University of Utah. Then when she comes home she will start drivers ed (yes she will be on the road behind the wheel of a car soon). I have another year of being her taxi and I will get to be the passenger most of that time, then she will be driving on her own and needing me a little bit less.

How strange it is to get to this stage in life....I remember when summers seemed to drag on and all that I wanted was to get back to school and grow up! Now I often times wish that I could go back and start again, but this time with the knowledge that I have now. I would enjoy the slow moving pace of my life and enjoy every minute of being bored and not having anything to do.

I do still love the way things are now, fast paced and always having something to do, watching my girls grow and change and experience life changing events with them. But I do try to make them relax and enjoy the slow, boring days when they have nothing to do! For they are gone to soon!!!

Enjoy!!

It is very hard to write a blog when you feel that you have nothing to write about. I read all of your blogs and I am so impressed with what amazing people I know. You are all always making something or doing something or watching you little ones grow and change each day.

I just don't feel that I have that much to share. I am going to start looking at my days differently and find things that I can share with you and with my family when someday they want to look back. My days are filled with more than I think and I am going to try to change and start sharing some of these things, I need to do this for me and for my family.

So wish me luck!

Natalie - Desert Hills Middle School Treasurer!

Well today was election day at school for Natalie. She had made it through the first round of primary elections and now had to get up in front of the 6th and 7th grade students and give a speech. She was competing against 2 other students, both boys, and one of them was out of school at a band concert so he didn't have to give a speech. Doug went and watched her and said she did a good job (but she wasn't quite as animated as she was when she practiced for us & she needed to be a little louder). She seems to be very excited to be the school treasurer!!



She is our first child who has showed any interest in student government. When she started school she ran for class representative, which meant getting up in front of her class and giving a speech as to why she would be good to represent the class. Unfortunately she didn't win that election, but she wasn't too disappointed. I was so surprised when she came home a month ago and said "Mom I'm going to run for ASB Treasurer".



I am so happy for her, and I hope she enjoys this experience!!!!

No more Soda

For those of you who know me, you might be very, very surprised to find out that I am no longer drinking soda of any kind. I gave up my Pepsi the middle of January, and have not had any soda (no fizzy drinks of any kind) since that day! Now, I have been drinking soda, most often Pepsi, since before I can remember. I would often open a soda with the start of each new day, sometimes this meant 5:00am. It was not unusual to see me with a giant 44oz soda at anytime of the day morning, afternoon or night. I have tried to stop drinking this wonderful beverage before, but found that it was just not in the cards for me. Why then have I decided to make this very traumatic change in my life - not really sure - I guess the older I get the wiser I get and if you think about it, it can't be good for you! I also have watched my girls get more and more like me with this bad, bad habit, and if I am no longer drinking it, it won't be in the house for them to drink, and they can't follow in my footsteps. Now have a banned this wonderful, sweet, terrific drink from my girls, NO! They can still have it when we go out to dinner or at other peoples homes, just not at our home because that would not be fair to mom.

Now after the years and years that I have been drinking this, and the times that I have tried to stop (not many by the way) you may ask, so how is it going? was it hard? did you go through terrible withdrawals? Well, it was not hard this time, I didn't get the terrible headaches that I had before, but it is still very hard not to want a soda!!!! Traveling is a little difficult what with no 44 by my side. Movies are not really the same without popcorn because who wants popcorn without a nice cold soda to wash it down? There are certain meals that just aren't the same due to the soda ban that I have placed on myself, and I do have those days where all I really want is a soda, and nothing else will quench the thirst, but so far I have made it through those long, long days.

We have one can of Pepsi out in the fridge, Doug calls it my epi-pen, he told the girls that if they come home someday and find mom passed out on the floor to quick open the Pepsi and make her drink, then all will be ok. Thank goodness it hasn't had to be used yet, keep your fingers crossed that I can keep my life a Soda Free zone!

lets get started

I have decided that I will try my hand at blogging, not really sure why. We shall see if it lasts and if I decide to share or not. So here goes nothing.