More Christmas Day 2008

Christmas Day 2008

Merry Christmas to all! Here are some fun pictures of us opening our presents...yes, there are pictures including the cat, Dotty and the newest addition to our little family, Piper. She was one of the gifts we gave our kids. You should have seen the look on their faces when they came in and saw all the gifts and then they heard Piper's welcoming bark. I guess you will see that look. It's captured somewhere in the two slide shows I've made up. I took over 200 pictures but I only used 100 so you it's not too overwhelming. Just a run down of what everybody got. Jonathan: Wall stickers, LOTS of candy (darn santa...aka me!) a new bike(from Santa), a Helmet (thanks Papa and Gigi) A new shirt (thanks Uncle Garrett, Aunt Krystal and Kamron)A Nerf Dart Gun (THANKS Grandma Lisa, Grandpa Craig and Uncle Marshall), A Hot Wheels car set (Thanks Joyce's Small World and Staff) and Pj's, Puzzles, Slippers, a stuffed Bear(thanks Great Grandma Lish), and a stuffed Dog that sings annoying Christmas Songs...again, that's me. Sabrina: A dog that sings and dances to annoying Christmas songs, A stuffed Piggy(thanks Great Grandma Lish) Play dough(thanks Joyces Small World and Staff) A new shirt (Thanks Aunt Krystal, Uncle Garrett and Kamron) A stuffed Kitty w/bag (thanks Grandma Lisa, Grandpa Craig and Uncle Marshall) A bike (from Santa), Wall stickers, Lots of candy, A Barbie helmet (thanks Papa and Gigi), Pj's and slippers. Now for family Gifts. Garrett, Krystal and Kamron got us a family movie and game night. It had two movies, The Italian Job and Over the Hedge, 2 containers of Hot Cocoa (Krystal know me well) LOTS and Lots of candy, Popcorn and a bowl to put it all in, the game Hungry Hippo (yay because Jonathan was just asking about it. Ours Mysteriously dissapeared ), and a super sweet soft blanket that is purple and matches our living room walls. You guys Rock. Thanks so much. That's the first game we opened and played. Michelle, Greg and their family bought us a movie, Horton Hears a Who, which we are watching right now. Thanks a ton and your gift is sitting here on my table but we can't get down from the mountain because of the snow. Our neighbors Rod and Kathleen brought us homemade fudge topping, 2 ornements, and hot chocolate. These guys are seriously the best. We are in the middle of the biggest snow storm in the History of Poky and they helped me shovel the walk and the drive. They've done this a couple times this winter already and a couple of times last year too. Love you guys! The Curzons brought over this yummy popcorn loaf that we are eating while watching Horton Hears a Who. Thanks guys and I need that recipe. We also got a family present that we all opened. We got a V-Motion with two controllers and the game Kung Foo Panda. It's such a cool toy. I don't have to worry about the kids playing video games because they have to get up and move around to play the games. It's great. The other part of our family gift is our new puppy, Piper. She is such a blessing and a sweet animal. She's only 9 weeks old and is a pound puppy. We adopted her a week ago today and she has been such a fun little animal to have. We aren't sure exactly what she is. They think that she is a schnauzer/lab cross but she is pretty small so I think she will take after the schnauzer. Yay! She loves to play in the snow. I thought it was going to be hard to potty train her because of it, but she loves to go outside and play in it. That doesn't mean she doesn't go potty outside. She does. She isn't going to be too difficult to teache her. The kids don't quite know what to think about her. She is just a puppy so she is really excitable and licks their faces. We will work on that. Ernie gave me some long wool socks because my feet are ALWAYS cold, a pair of flat brown fuzzy boots that I love and a book light and I gave Ernie a Engraveable Tie Tack, a man Bracelet, and a year pass to the shooting range. Anywho. Enjoy the pictures.

Christmas Day 2008

Decorating the House 08

A Gingerbread House and Homemade Card

Last night we made a gingerbread house for Family Home Evening. The kids were so excited! They could hardly hold still. The kids helped decorate (and eat) with the candy and then they asked if they could throw snowballs at each other. You can't tell but the little clumps of frosting in the little gingerbread boy and girls' hands are snowballs. The kids thought that would be fun. Also, here is the card that Jonathan made me in Kindergarten. I'm not going to lie, I cried when I got it. I never thought that I would ever get one. It's so precious to me and I will treasure it as long as I live and perhaps into the Eternities. More pictures to come of Christmas. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Decorating the Tree 08

Decorating the Tree

Finally! Here are some of the pictures from decorating our tree. My camera is holding out on me when it comes to the flash so the pictures are dark. They are still pretty cute though. The kids were so happy that it was finally time to get the ornaments out. Enjoy. I posted some other pictures of the tree during the day time in the Gingerbread slide show. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Light Parade 08

Thanksgiving 08

Oh boy! It's been so long since I've updated so here goes...Thanksgiving was awesome. This was my first Thanksgiving with Ernie and the kids. We got the kids early and that was nice. We drove up to Ernie's parents house that Thursday and spent the day with "papa and Gigi" We ate Turkey and stuffing and all the good things that go along with that. I made cranberry sauce and it was divine. Thanks aunt Kris for the recipe! It was late when we got home. The kids just fell asleep in the car and we had to carry them in. The next day aunt Jolene and all the kids came to Pocatello and watched the Christmas Light Parade. It was so much fun. Jonathan and Sabrina were so excited to see all their cousins. We went to Butterburrs for dinner and I'm sure the waitress was stressed at the sheer number of people who were there. 18 is a large number to serve. Our friends Michelle and Greg and their kids went to the parade and dinner with us. It was way nice seeing them too! On Saturday we were going to go up early to see everybody, but they decided to come back to Poky and shop. We spent a couple of hours at Mollinellies, that's where Ernie works. Then all of us, Me,the kids, Jolene, her two grandkids, Ralph, Idella, Duane, Robin and their two kids went shopping at Walmart. Wow there were a ton of us! After Walmart, all the men got sick of shopping and when they heard we were going to Head over Heels in the mall, they bailed on us...all except Jonathan that is...he's tough enough to handle a bunch of women in a shoe store! We finally made it home 4 pairs of shoes, 1 skirt and 1 shirt later. We had so much fun laughing and talking and watching the kids. We made dinner and it was so nummy! We let the kids stay up super late and they enjoyed playing games and watching movies and playing with their cousins and the dog. We almost got Duane to play Phase 10...almost but not quite. We were satisfied when he sat at the table and bs'd with us. Finally everybody settled down and went to sleep. Whew! It had been a long day. We spent the remainder of our Thanksgiving weekend visiting and of course, eating. We left late Sunday afternoon and we can't wait to see all of our cousins again soon. We missed my family. They were stuck in that awful town in Nebraska. Poor family. It was a good thing we sort of celebrated early when they were in town earlier November. It wasn't the quite the same as my younger brother Marshall was still in Nebraska working. We spent the evening eating yummy turkey and dressing that my momma made. She is such a wonderful cook. I made a cherry pie from scratch...ok, it was semi-homemade, but it still tasted good...well, that's what the boys said. I don't eat cherry pie or any other fruit pie for that matter. Anyway...It was nice to have most of my family there. I really miss Marshall and can't wait to see him again. Here are some pictures of the Light Parade and Thanksgiving. Sorry my Camera isn't so good when it's dark. I can't get the flash to work. So...enjoy!

ISU vs Weber State

Our neighbors Rod and Cathleen gave us 4 tickets to see the ISU/Weber game today. We've been planning our day for several weeks now. The kids were so excited when we told them! For those of you who know me, you know I LOATHE football, actually, I loathe just about every sport that is played with a ball, but I went along with it anyway. The look on Jonathan's face when we pulled out those tickets made it worth it. We got a couple of cute photos of the kids going wild when ISU scored and one of Jonathan waiving his arms wildly while they were trying to score. He was so funny to wach. It looks like we've got a little FB buff on our hands!

ISU Game 08

Destroying of the Great Pumpkins!

Jonathan had a great idea the night we were carving pumpkins. The night after Halloween he wanted to smash them up. He couldn't decide how at first. He thought maybe throwing it, and then he thought cutting it up but in the end he used a hammer. In one of those pictures Ernie has one of his fingers holding it while Jonathan smashed the hammer down. He's pretty lucky it didn't get squished. Sabrina and daddy cut hers up with a freaking huge knife that made me extremely nervous. The knife is almost bigger than she is! I threw my pumpkin down on the ground and broke it. Poor thing. Ernie used the knife again and with one swoop split his in half right down the middle of the eye he carved. Gives new meaning to "Smashing Pumpkins!"

Smashing Pumpkins!

Playing with Silly String!

Yesterday Jonathan and Sabrina were so helpful. They cleaned their bedroom and helped put away all their toys in the living room. Then we went to run a couple of errands and they were so good doing that too! So, we decided that we were going to play with silly string. I don't think Sabrina really enjoyed it too much because Jonathan had a Spider man web shooter and she thought they were real spider webs. We explained that it was just silly string. Jonathan went CRAZY! He thought it was the best ever and got everyone and everything. So much fun!

Silly String!

Party Time!

Yesterday Jonathan had his kindergarten Halloween party and Ernie and I went to school to help out. It was so much fun! We helped kids make a spooky box and a ghost. Jonathan made a book and read it to his teacher, a spider hat and his snack was goblin lips made out of caramel, marshmallows, apples. He was a fearsome pirate but didn't master the Aaaarrrrgggghhh! Next year maybe. After their snack, they went on a costume parade to show all the school kids their costumes and then to the Library for reading time. After school was over we went to pick Sabrina up from kindergarten. Pictures from that party will come later. We went home, ate lunch, took a small nap and then got ready for Trick or Treat the Old Town Streets. So much fun. The kids got soooooo much candy! The next couple of weeks are going to be filled with SUGAR! After that we stopped off at our friends house for Hannah's Birthday party. She turned 1 and it was so exciting for her. She was dressed as a little pumpkin. Her mommie and daddy did such a great job. They had a ring toss with witches hats, pop bottle bowling, and pin the nose on the pumpkin. Then the kids' favorite was making a spider web. They got different colors of yarn and wove it in and over each kid making a spider web. A couple of girls got really excited and tangled themselves up really good. So much fun!

Jonathan's Kindergarten Halloween Party 08

Halloween Time!

So I finally took pictures of our decorations. I will put them on tomorrow sometime because I'm going to be taking a butt load of pictures tomorrow. We get to take the kids downtown to trick or treat and they are sooooooo excited to do that with us. We've been planning it for a while now. I guess tomorrow you will see. Hope all is well and we love you!

Pumpkin Patch!

Tag your it!

Tag!

5 years ago…

1. Living in Twin Falls, ID.
2. Working on the weekends only...oh the days!
3. I wanted to be a nurse, and a chef, and a singer.
4.Realized that I HATED school.
5.Jumped into a freezing cold lake fully clothed...brrrrrrr!

Things on my list for today-

1. Wash dishes.
2.Wash kitchen cabinets.
3. Re-organize the pantry.
4. Make dinner for the family.
5. Decorate the house for Halloween.

Snacks I enjoy-

1. Cheesecake.
2. Chocolate
3. Fresh Fruit
4. Coconut
5. Twix Candy bars.

Things I would do if I was a millionaire-
(I couldn't narrow it to just 5, sorry)

1.Put all of it into a couple of different banks and live off the interest accrued.
2. Pay tithing
3. Buy a nice house with a permanent housekeeper.
4. Buy my families houses with permanent housekeepers.
5. Set up trust funds for my kids for missions, college and marriage.
6. Clothes and shoes and a HUGE closet to put it all in.


Places I have lived:

1. Pocatello, Idaho
2. Twin Falls, Idaho
3. A really gross apartment up on the hill full of spiders.
4. A place on Washington.
5. My house.

Jobs I have had:

1. Kitchen help with an assisted living place.
2. Continental Bistro a long time ago.
3. Convergys...something I will never do again!
4. CSI as a math paper corrector...I liked my professor. He was nice.
5. PPets. I love it!

Tag:
Krystal and Stephanie

Wacky Upshaws

We were playing on our blog last night if you couldn't tell. It was lots of fun. We didn't get to decorate for Halloween yet because we just had too much fun playing outside AGAIN! Next week we will post a blog and pictures. Just wait. We have 14 pumpkins to decorate with. It's going to be great!

Biker dude!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Unicorn

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Wow are they limber

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Halloween

Tonight we are going to decorate for Halloween. The kids are super excited. We will take pictures and then post them for you on here. Hope all is well and we love you all!

Snow!

This is a little video clip but it's not very good. I accidentally zoomed in when I hit the record button so you can't see them very well.

Snow!

It's begining to look alot like Christmas!

Snow this early? Can you believe it? I sure can. I told Ernie two weeks ago, after that cold spell we had, that we were going to have snow before Halloween. I should've bet him something. I would have won. The kids were so excited when they woke up this morning to snow. We just had to go outside right that minute to play in it. We didn't. We had to get their snow gear and then eat lunch with daddy THEN we could play in the snow. I guess that wasn't fast enough. They had so much fun outside. Our yard was one solid blanket of snow. As you can tell from the pictures, they soon had little trails from running through it. Snow men were attempted and snow angels made. Oh how much fun! BRRRRRR!!!!!!

First snow of the year!

Picnic Time

So it's become a bit of a tradition to have a picnic with daddy every Saturday. We make a lunch and take it to work and sit in the back room of Molinellies and eat. Usually not alot of eating gets done. Jonathan and Sabrina are usually busy looking around. By the end of lunch Ernie has food hand prints on his shirt and pants from all the hugging. It's a fun tradition and we are thankful to Uncle Lance and Aunt Julie and all the other people who work there who let us come and picnic!

Picnic with daddy!

Disco Diva

So I saw this on my friend Steffanie's blog and I just had to have it. It is sooooooo freaking funny and easy to do. Have fun watching it and then have even more fun making one for yourself! I just watched it again and I think if Ernie made any of those hip wiggling moves he just might break a hip or two. Hee hee hee!

Our Disco Days

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

My fluffy wuff kins and I :)

1)What are your first names?
Ernie and Brooke

2) How long have you been together?
Almost a year.



3) Do you have any children together?
He has two and I've "adopted" them.



4)Do you have any pets?
A cat named Dotty.



5) Did you go to the same school?
Nope.


6) Are you from the same hometown?
Nope. He's from Missouri and I'm from Idaho.



7) Do you live in the same town now?
We even live in the same house and sleep in the same bed.


8) Who is the smartest?
He thinks he's smart. Heeheehee. He's pretty smart.


9) Who is the most sensitive?
Me


10) Where is the first place you went to eat as a couple?
Applebees I think.




11) Do you wear matching clothes?
Nope. He doesn't have the best sense of style. Sorry honey.



12) Where is the furthest you have traveled as a couple?
Utah. That's so sad.



14) Who has the craziest ex[es]?
BY FAR he does.



15) Who has the worst temper?
Both of us.



16) Who does the cooking?
Me but he is soooo much better.



17) Who's more social?
Me.



18) Who is the neat freak?
Neither one of us. We don't like living in mess so we keep our house pretty clean. I am a little OCD about the bathroom though.


19) Who is the most affectionate?
Both of us are except in public. No PDA's here.



20) Who is the most stubborn?
He is.



21) Who hogs the bed?
Me. He constantly is having to tell me to scoot over.


22) Who wakes up earlier?
I do. He doesn't fall asleep until late.


23) Who said "I Love You" first?
I did.



25) How did you spend your 1st year anniversary?
We haven't had a first anniversary yet. I wonder if he will be creative on our first date anniversary.




26) Who has the bigger family?
Me.



27) Do you give/get flowers often?
Nope. Not a big fan really.




28) How do you spend the holidays?
With family.



29) Do you think you will ever get married?
It's been almost 7 months now

Bri's Birthday Party

Here they are, the long awaited pictures from Sabrina's 4th Birthday party. It was fun. Our friends Tim and Heather and their girls, Lilly and Loren and our parents, Ralph and Idella came to celebrate with us. It was so much fun. She wanted a big pink cake, so I got her the Barbie Fairytopia cake. It had a little toy on it and she loved it. You should have seen the huge grin on her face while we were singing to her. She asked for princess stuff so that's what we got her. She got a Cinderella crown, a princess puzzle and princess/polly pockets. She wants to be a princess for Halloween at our house so the crown was perfect. I can't believe how big she is getting! She is so tall and turning into such a beauty. She is just 4!! Stay young! I can tell when she gets older she is going to be a heartbreaker. I hope her daddy is ready for that. I'm sure not!

Sabrinas 4th Birthday

A little about Ernie

1. What is his name? Ernest Dale Upshaw
2. Who eats more? By far Ernie does. He gets angry at me when I don't eat.
3. Who said, "I love you" first? Me.
4. Who is taller? Ernie. I'm short.
5. Who is smarter? Me...or Ernie...I think we are both pretty smart.
6. Who is more sensitive? I am .
7. Who does the laundry? Since we both hate it equally, we do it together.
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Ernie. I love the left.
9. Who pays the bills?Both of us.
10. Who cooks more? I do.
11. Who is more stubborn? Paging Ernie!
12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? ME!!!
13. Who has more siblings?I do.
14. Who wears the pants in the relationship? We are partners so we both do. No, that's not wishful thinking.
15. What do you like to do together? Go out on dates, go for drives, take walks, and watch tv.
16. Who eats more sweets? Both of us. Can you say brownies?
17. Guilty Pleasures? Guns, Computer/video games, kids, brownies....
18. How did you meet? We first met when he started working at Mollinellies Jewlers. He was still married at that time. Our first date was in October of 08 after his divorce was finalized.
19. Who asked whom out first? Ernie did.
20. Who kissed who first? Ernie did. It was such a shock.
21. Who proposed? Ernie did. It was again such a shock to both of us. At first I didn't understand what he was asking. I made him say it again. Later Ernie confessed that he didn't know he was doing it until he said the words.
22. His best features and qualities? How much he loves the kids, his eyes and hands and how he is so patient with everything that is going on.

Bri's Birthday

We didn't get to celebrate Sabrina's birthday on the 21st of September because she was with her mother. We gave her the option of celebrating it early or after she gets back. She decided after so...We are celebrating it tonight with family and friends. We will take pictures and post them either tonight or tomorrow.

My Autobiography

Your Autobiography

Part 1: The Birth of You:

Were you a planned baby?: Kinda but no. My parents wanted a baby but mom was still on the pill.

Were you the first?: yes

Who was present at your birth?: Both my grandma's my momma...heeheehee and my daddy.

Were your parents married when you were born?: For over a year.

What is your birthdate?: April 19, 1981

Part 2: The Family

How would you describe your family?: disFUNctional...lol

Are your parents married? For 28 years now.

Siblings or an only child?: 3 younger brothers.

If you have siblings are you oldest, middle, or youngest?: Oldest

What are your siblings names and ages?: Garrett 26, Morgan 23, Marshall 18

Which parent do you get along with best?: both, but I know my mom better than I know my dad

What do you fight about?: Nothing really.

Do you have step parents?: Nope.

Part 3: The Friends

Do you have more than one best friend?: Yes. My husband Ernie and Lindsy.

Who are your best friends?: See above answer.

What do you like to do when you are together?: Me and Lindsy do icecream and french fries and Ernie and I have "family home evening" HAhahahaha!

Do you share the same interests?: Yes

Which friend can you tell anything to?: Both of them

Part 4: Your Personality

How high/low is your self esteem?: Average, whatever that means

Are you an extrovert or an introvert?: A little of both. I keep a lot of things in, but I'll speak out if I really need to.

Are you happy?: Yes. I have the best family in the world and friends to go along with it.

Do you live life to the fullest?: For me, yes.

Part 5: Appearance

Are you comfortable with the way you look?: I wish I weighed a million pounds less...ok just 30 then.

Do you have any piercings besides your ears?: Nope.

Describe your hair: Light brown. All natural.

What make-up do you wear?: Some foundation, Mascara and lip gloss. If I'm going somewhere fancy then I wear more.

How do you dress?: jeans and a nice shirt.

Part 6: The Past

Were you a strange child?: Sure I was. I really haven't change either.

What did you use to love that you no longer do?: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Barbie, Beef Ravioli, New Kids on the Block...

Do you have the same friends?: Lindsy is the only one that I regularly talk to. Some of my friends from high school still stay in touch every once in a while.

Was there anything in your past that was traumatizing?: Just the long stint at the hospital.

Part 7: The Future

What is your ambition?: To be a mother.

Are you scared of growing old?: Yes but no at the same time.

Do you want to get married?: Not really. I'm already married.

Part 8: The Outdoors

Do you prefer indoors or outdoors?: It really depends on the weather.

What is your favorite season?: Fall weather.


Do you like walking in the rain?: love the rain... its the best

Part 9: Food

Are you a vegetarian?: No. I love beef!

What is your favorite fruit?: Strawberries.

What food makes you want to gag?: Head.

What is your favorite dessert?: Creme Brulee. It's so yummy and I love to make it.

What is your favorite restaurant?: Anything with meat.

Are you a fussy eater?: Yes I know what I like and what I don't

Part 10: Relationships and Love

Are you single or taken?: Taken

If taken who is the lucky guy/girl?: Ernie, my husband.

Do you think love is the best feeling in the world?: Love is a beautiful thing.

Do you believe in love at first sight?: Nope.


Part 11: Experiences

What was one of your greatest experiences?: My marriage to Ernie in the Temple.

What was one of your worst?: Dying in the hospital.

Have you ever done drugs?: Nope.

Have you ever thought you were going to die?: Yep. I was dying in the hospital.

Have you ever suffered from depression?: Not really.

Sweet words.

Sabrina wants to start calling me mommie. It's the sweetest thing. She asked if that was ok. Of course it is ok with me. I'm her mommie too!

Kindergarten

I can't believe that Jonathan starts kindergarten on Monday. It's so weird. It seems like just yesterday they were calling me over to eat cold spaghetti and meet them.

Graduation 08 photos

Jonathan's preschool Graduation

My little 5 year old just graduated preschool. It's kinda weird! He goes to Small World and they are so wonderful with the kids. For graduation the kids put on a skit, Wendy Wonka and then sang and danced to 10 songs including Jonathan's favorite Bad to the Bone and Sabrina dancing to the Chicken dance. It was so precious. I hope you enjoy all the pictures. I took over 175 so I edited them down considerably.

Family pictures summer 08

Family pictures!

Oh yay! They are finally here. I'm so excited to show you. Our friend Jordon Hoffman took our pictures and she made it so easy for us. The kids loved her and were so good during the hour it took. We went to two different locations. Ross park zoo and a little place behind Hot hair. Thanks to the lady who owns the salon, we found this little jewel of spot for pictures. If you need any type of pictures, I suggest you call Jordon. She's great. Here is her website just incase.

http://www.jhofmanphotography.com

Hope you all enjoy!

Pocatello Zoofari photos

The zoofari experience

Today we went to the zoofari. For those of you who don't know, that's the ice cream fest at the zoo at Ross Park. The kids had been looking forward to it all week long. It's a good cause. The money goes toward the zoo. We got there and the music was blasting. There were so many people. And a TON of ice cream. Pretty much every flavor you could imagine and as much as you wanted. We walked around looking at all the animals. Jonathan made a new friend and they were running everywhere looking at everything. Pretty much it was the best $20.00 spent this weekend. We went with Uncle Garrett, Aunt Krystal and Kamron. It was his first zoo experience and as you can see he was so wildly fascinated that he slept through the entire thing. I guess that's ok as he's only a few weeks old.

Comming soon to a blog near you...

COMMING SOON...

Pictures of our family. Our good friend Jordon Hoffman from J Hoffman Photography (http://www.jhofmanphotography.com) took our family pictures. She's an awesome photographer and a long time friend so naturally our choice was to ask her. She made things so easy and comfortable for all of us. Thanks Jordo! We love you!

AND...

The Pocatello Zoofari experience. Our family as well as Lindsy, Jamie, Kurt, and Eve's family will be joining us for a fun filled night of zoo animals and icecream. Hmmmm....wonder if I can get Michelle and Greg to bum along with us?

AND...

Jonathan's baseball pictures. We've got several pictures from grandma Lisa and then his team pics. As soon as mom sends me the pictures, I'll put them up. HINT HINT MOM!


ALSO...

I got bored the other day and decided to redo our blog. I put everything in the order that it happened. Hope you enjoy it.

At the McKees petting zoo! Photos

The petting zoo

On Saturday we went to the petting zoo. Jonathan and Sabrina were so excited. They got to see their friends Paige, Leah, and Tanner and I got to see my friends Lindsy and Eve. It was a great afternoon. We were there for about an hour and we enjoyed petting the animals and talking. The kids were wild and crazy with excitement. Jonathan was so exuberant over the ducks. He kept saying "hey, look what I found!" It was pretty cute. After the petting zoo we decided to go get lunch and have a "picnic" at daddy's work. It was a great afternoon.

American Idol Frenzy photos

American Idol part II

I tried out for American Idol!! I have wanted to do so for a couple of years and I did it. What an experience. I'm not going to say I'll ever do it again, but it was an experience. We left Poky at 11:00 pm on Monday Night. We got to our hotel around 2:30 am and a half hour later we were dead asleep. My alarm woke us up at 4:15 but my cousin was already up. We'd only slept for an hour and a half. I was so tired but so charged at the same time. We had to be in line as close to 5 am as possible. We walked the 3 blocks to the Energy Solutions Arena (formerly known as the Delta Center) It was dark outside but there were hundreds of people already up and about. When we got to the arena it was crazy! SOOOOO many people. We waited in line until 8 am and they finally let us inside. We did camera work for a couple of hours and then learned a couple of songs. It's pretty great being surrounded by so many talented people. They started auditions around 10:30 am. I knew it would be several hours before it was going to be my turn. There were at least 1,000 people there. Perhaps more. It was hard to pay attention because it there was so much energy in the room. It wasn't loud even though there was singing going on all around us. Everybody practicing their individual songs. It only got loud when we were doing the camera work and they asked us to scream. And then the host came in a people went crazy. One girl yelled out at a quite moment, " I want your babies!" they got that recorded and so we had to start all over again. It finally became my turn around 2:30pm. They had it set up that one section at a time would go. Doesn't seem like a lot but when each section had a couple hundred people auditioning it ended up taking a long time. You auditioned 4 people at a time to a couple of producers. When it was your turn you would step forward, sing for 20 to30 seconds or whenever the producer would put their hand up to stop you and then you would step back and let the other people in your group sing. The producers would discuss privately and then your fate would be decided. If they didn't like you, you would go to the left and your wrist band would be cut off and you would exit the building. If you were chosen, you were given a sticker with a number on it and a "golden ticket" and you exited on the right. Of course I didn't make it. There were so many people in my section alone that were amazing. They thanked my entire table for auditioning. They said I had a beautiful voice but just not what they were looking for. I'm ok with that. I didn't go expecting or even hoping that I would walk to the next audition. I did it so that I could say I did it. Would I do it again? Probably not. Going there I realized that my dreams have changed since I got married. I still love to sing and will continue doing it until I no longer can. I've got a great voice and I'm not going to waste it but I'm not going to waste my marriage or my family. They are my dream now.

American Idol part I

So, I randomly decided to try out for American Idol. I still haven't picked a song yet but I'm leaning toward an Avril song or one from Sarah Evans. I need three songs so I guess I could do one from each of them and choose another song. Hmmmm. A couple of years ago I was going to try out when they were in Seattle Washington but unseen events made it impossible. I know that there is little chance that I will make it but I think it will be fun. After all, how many people can say they tried out? Plus this is my last year to be able to do this. Once you turn 28 you are too old. So, wish me luck!

4th of July photos

4th of July with the kids.

We didn't get to spend the 4th with the kids, so on the 5th is when we really celebrated. We picked them up early and went to Ernie's parents home where we spent the day with their cousins. After they left we went fishing at Hawkins Reservoir. The kids were so excited. We went to pick up some new fishing gear earlier that morning and they could hardly keep their hands off it all day long. I picked up a fishing license for myself and made a discovery. I HATE to fish! My personal mantra is: Fish are our friends, not food. I did, however, love to watch the kids fishing with their father and grandfather. It was a blast just watching them throw out a line, wait three seconds and then ask their daddy if they could reel it in. Then the entire process would start over again. I don't think Ernie got much fishing done. I lasted about 20 minutes and then I was done. I will keep going if only to capture more moments on my camera.

Slip "n" Slide! Photos