Calling all friends in the blogosphere...My darling friend Tonia, you know the glitter babe from Over the Tipsy Top Design, is giving one of my aprons away. You can go to her blog and enter...give a shout out on your blog and have 2 entries. She is picking and will announce on Friday. GO check her out. 
I really do like being domestic... and I really want to look like this while being domestic. I want the pose, the fabulous outfit, the hairdo, the jewelry AND the apron. I can feel the need to entertain coming on. It is one of my favorite things to do...throw a fabulous party. I think soon I will have a party. It sound fun! As for right now I need to take myself in all my ponytail and workout clothes glamour to the laundry room to get some work done. I really would like to be like June Cleaver! Does she really exist? I am going for Glamour... I've just got to get a few things done first!
Can anyone remember Miss Hannigan in Annie... well this summer I have taken a page out of her book and am working the kids in my house like they were rotten orphans...little pig droppings. Just kidding- but I do have a pretty good system for getting jobs done around my house. Because I am not a very organized person ( more like a fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl) I have to give credit where credit is due and tell you that I got this idea from Jackson's tutor and my life coach, mentor, inspiration and friend, Judy Wayment! My kids all have a job binder... On the front cover it has a chart of jobs they have to do every day... but sometimes when I say clean their version is a little different. That is why this system ROCKS!!! Instead of hollering " It better shine like the top of the Chrysler Building!" I have given them a step by step guide in how to do the job and then when I check it off I go by that very check list... Each day of the week has every job they do that day spelled out in the magic list. The beautiful thing is that these little jobs have to be done before the T.V. or X-Box is turned on, friends are called, or anything else is done. It takes the emotion out of it because if it takes 30 minutes or 4 hours it is totally up to them. I will say that for the first week it was crying and knashing of teeth, but as I stuck to it without emotion ( easier said than done) it got easier. Good luck and if you have any questions...just ask! It revolutionized my summer! I also showed Meg's book. Last summer she couldn't read so I did pictures. Give it a try... If I can do it ANYONE can! Your kids will hate it at first, but then they get used to it and it makes the world a better place.
.jpg)
Thank-you, Thank-you, Thank-you for the 100 comments I got and the people that entered my Domestic Diva Apron Giveaway... So many of you gave me a shout out and even came back to leave another comment...LOVED IT! I had so many people enter... I felt bad the chance to win went down with every lovely comment I got....SO.... I am giving two aprons away! I put all the names of the enterees (x's shout out and repeat comments) into a pot and drew one name.... and then I put all the names of my 10 top commenters in a pot and drew one of their names. So it does pay to be a repeater here! Thanks again for playing along! I just might do this again sometime... Come back to check it out!
There once was an old woman who lived in a shoe.... You know the rest of the rhyme! This past weekend was a little crazy- I had 11 kids at my house. Our great friends, The Kemps, were in town and they have 4 kids...my three kiddos, my nephew came to visit, and then my mom had to bring me the rest of the grandkids she was supposed to be tending, but due to the sad situation with the Petersen/Newbys she had to ditch. 11 children! I had an aunt that had 13 kids...whew! The really good thing was my trusty sister-wife, Kamari was here and we tag teamed the domestic resposibilities. I did not make her pull weeds...this time she had to help with child crowd control. We piligged the heckout of the weekend. 
We even took them out in public! In separate cars of course...nobody I know owns a 15 passenger van. We went to the movie and even braved Lagoon with 11 kids on a Saturday. CRAZY! It was a fun time... now I am off to the land of milk and honey to return the last 2 children, catch some rays, and have a great time with my sisters. 11 is a crazy amount of kids... It makes the five I've still got seem easy and my own three will be a breeze!
When my phone rang Friday morning at 6:50 a.m. I thought it was just my mom being up since 4 a.m. and thinking it was okay to call the world... I was so wrong. She called to tell me that our dear family friend, Chelsi Petersen, was killed in a car wreck in Provo Canyon. My heart broke! This is a girl that I can remember the day she was born...have so many GREAT Lake Powell memories and feel just like family to her whole entire family. I left the family mortuary business so I don't want my blog to turn into the mortuary, obituary pages...but this is such a sad thing! She was so talented and beautiful and her family is the absolute BEST. Besides being beautiful on the outside she was just as beautiful on the inside. I am so sad for the Newby/ Petersen family. She was a track star for BYU. This is an article about her in the Deseret News and here is a link of photos and a KSL story. She was a darling girl and will so be missed. My darling cousin, Missy Glendenning, has set up a blog for Chelsi...so if you knew her- log on and let her family know what she meant to you. Here it is!
Happy Birthday Jackson! Today is my middle son's big day and I am going to celebrate him in blogland... YEAH JACKS! He is my most curious, intense, funny, sometimes really goofy, kind-hearted, orange lovin', athletic, handsome, SMART, Extraordinary 11 year old! 
Here are the things I am thankful for this week:
1. I am so thankful for my son, Jackson. Today is his birthday and I am so lucky to be his mom! He is such a great kid- so energetic and full of life ( sometimes not such a great thing) but he is a sweety and such a kind, tender heart. He is a good friend- the last little while has been a little tough as he is trying to find another BFF and mourn the loss of his little buddy! He is a trooper and a social butterfly so it shouldn't be too hard. He is my best tender and treats his sister so good ( She actaully owns him...he'll do anything for her). Jacks is such a special little boy- I know that sometimes he feels like he is stuck in the middle of this crazy family. Today is his day so as soon as he wakes up I am going to totally devote myself to him...(so I guess no more blogging for me today).
2. Summer Vacation? Enough said...
3. 79 comments! Yeah! I am so glad that my giveaway idea actaully got some of you blurkers out into the light of day. I am actaully going to give 2 aprons away because I am so appreciative and "THANKFUL" that you all played along. I just hope I can write things that you will want to read and comment on so I can keep some of you for free.
.jpg)
Thank-you for all the great comments... See? Your love is for sale! I can't wait to pick someone to win the apron...heck if I keep getting so many comments, I might just have to give 2 aprons away! I have loved loved loved today...so many comments and then going to see your blogs- no laundry done here today. Hopefully I have met some new friends that will come back for free...
Okay... so it worked a little to beg for comments- now I am going to blatantly buy your love- I am not above bribery! I am going to try to beat some blurkers out of the bushes with a little June Cleaver enticement... I am going to give away an apron to one commenter! I love aprons, I love making aprons, I love blogging, and I love getting comments... mix together and you have a 
No more homework, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks...YEAH! The kids countdown is over...SCHOOL IS OUT! I can remember the last day of school being the BEST! In grade school the teachers would use slave labor and make us clean their rooms...then in middle school we would think we were so cool going over to Dixie Frozen Yogurt for the end of school celebration. High school was the ultimate...signing yearbooks and checkin out and scheming the summer "scam"! AHHHH... those were the days. Even as a teacher I loved the last day of school...FREEDOM! Now days... I am having a plethora of emotion...glad that there will be no more homework or projects, the kids won't have to be rushed in the morning, and no big schedule. On the other hand there will be no schedule and routine and approx. 80 days of bliss. BLISS? YIKES! I am off to the pharmacy to get a party pack of those "mother's little helpers" that this state is so famous for...
Last month my friend had a birthday and I made her an apron... It is an inside joke that these aprons are best worn alone... so I wrote a little rhyme to get that point across. Aprons are such fun gifts to give and to get. A few people read it and wanted a copy so... here it is. Feel free to borrow it for a girlfriend's birthday or an upcoming bridal shower.
I am going to engage in some shameless self promotion and post some photos of my newest aprons. I love making them... mixing the fabrics. I think it is a creative outlet and one more thing I can do besides laundry. There really is no pattern and I really don't know how to sew...so I just kind of flog along and try to get it done... The pink one is for my darling friend, Whitley, the cupcake baking extraordinaire and the zebra one is for...ummmm- well me. Sorry there are no snappy fashion models and you can't see the fabric very well... The green one is cherries, zebra, and swirly black. The pink one is tulle, pink cheetch, polka dots and a little stripe. So here they are the reason for the bags under my eyes. ( I didn't go to bed until 2 a.m.)
I know that blurking is a fun thing to do... I did it for a long time before I came out into the light. I also know that it feels weird to make a comment on someone's blog that you do not know... I still feel it. But I want to know who you are. I have had 3500+ hits on my blog and only 314 comments. I know that some of you are a little comment nervous...but please if you are stopping by say hi...don't just look in the windows. My goal is to flush out 5-10 people that have blurked at least 2-3 times and haven't left comments. My mom ran into someone the other day that I kindof know and they told her that they liked to read my blog... that was fun to hear ( in fact it made my day) but I would like to know who and when they are reading. Help a girl out! LEAVE A COMMENT!
Playing along with Tiburon... I will post my favorite drink! In doing so I am afraid I will be asked to move fro this Diet Coke drinking state. My name is Amy and I drink Diet PEPSI! Yes...it is the nectur of the Gods! I used to be a straight up Pepsi drinker and then used Vanilla Diet Pepsi to take me to the diet side...BTW- My mom has been a diet soda drinker since before I was born (TAB- Diet Coke) and I said I would NEVER drink diet! In my 30's I proved never say never...I began drinking diet soda AND I got a mini-van. I now have an SUV, but am fully enslaved to Diet Pepsi as long as it is extra cold in the can or fountain with lots of ice.
Last Friday we had the girls day out to Dear Lizzy... We took the 3 little friends and had such a fun time. We bought necklaces, and fun things and had a fabulous lunch. Meg, Olivia, and Alexa all ordered Dizzy Lizzys and thought they looked so glam! It is so funny that we moved from Boise when Meg was only 3 and yet she still loves Olivia- they have such a fun bond. We ate, shopped, laughed, and had a great time. Girlfriends are so important...no matter what age.
Well... it happened! Meggie lost her first tooth and we were visited by the tooth fairy, my boys call "HIM" the molenator. My baby is losing her teeth. She was so excited to get the goods from the Tooth Fairy...She can't figure out why we say she got 2 bucks...when it was 1 dollar bill and 4 quarters. What a cutie...she already has a space between her front top teeth...now her bottom matches.
What an emotional day! Yesterday was Ty's funeral...what a surreal experience. His mom, Rebekah, spoke and did a fantastic job. She is amazing and has been so strong. I know she has crazy, sad days ahead for a long time...but her message was that instead of dwell on what she is going to miss...she is going to cherish and be thankful for all that she had. She also said that we all needed to learn from the way Ty lived not by the way he died. Everyone truly believes it was an accident and that he really didn't understand what he was doing. His mom said that she KNOWS that he was just as surprised to end up on the other side as she was that he was there. I did the display for the mortuary and he was such a darling boy, larger than life! I am putting some photos of him and a photo of the display. So many people have reached out, e-mailed, and I know thought about his constantly since they heard. This was a terrible thing, but I believe the healing will begin!
Mindi has done it again! I don't really know why I am posting this because I don't think I have any readers who don't go to her blog to get their daily laugh fix, but maybe my grandma doesn't know about her yet... International Male III has made it's way to Mindi's blog. It my most favorite of all her hilarity ( I think I just made that word up). I am linking it here so you can have a good laugh. LOVE IT!
Wednesday night will go down in our history as one of the saddest ever! Jackson's little friend, Ty, sadly took his own life. I know that I 10 year old probably didn't really think that it would end... that he would really die. I got a call at 10:30 saying that he was at the hospital and that it didn't look good. Sadly at 2:00 a.m. Thursday morning he died. His mom called me at 6:15 and that is a phone call I never want to have again and I hope you never have it either. Telling Jackson his very best friend was dead was the worst thing I have ever done. Explaining how and trying to talk about why was horrific. Jacks is taking it okay, but I am sure we will have more emotion as time goes on. Ty was the most darling, happy, polite, responsible, kind, sweet little boy on Earth and he will totally be missed! Jackson was so lucky to have 3 of his 10 years- what a darling friend and what a darling family. This is something that has rocked our family and I am sure we will feel this pain for a long time. I am so sad for his mom... she is the cutest- spunky little lady! She is a good mom and a great person. I know this is a sad and terrible post- a huge reason I haven't written anything for the past few days. A weekend that was suppossed to be such a blast was just crushed by this sad news. Pray for the Kammeyer/Smith family. My darling friend, Tonia, didn't even know this family and she has given them a "The Quilter Girl" lap quilt...she just thought Rebekah ( Ty's mom) would need to be wrapped in love. SO DARLING...People are so good.
Watch out there is going to be an explosion of pink, glitter, and everything girl! Our dear friends, Crystal and Olivia, are leaving their baseball playin' boys home in Idaho and flying down for an all out girls weekend! Our families were neighbors in Boise... she had 3 boys and I had 2...perfect! Great Friends! We both got pregnant and were due 2 days apart... we both wanted a girl sooooo bad...I went 4 weeks early and she went 2... so our girls are two weeks apart and have loved each other since birth. They are the best little lunch dates in history...they've been going since they were born! Now we moved when they were just three, but we've kept in touch and they still love to play together and have such a good time. Livi is in a dance competition on Saturday, but until then we are going to party! We are hooking up with Tonia and her little girl Alexa for a little glitter fest, going shopping, eating fun lunches and just going to laugh and love each other! Crystal and I have felt sad that our girls don't have sisters, so we have made a pact that Meg and Livi will always remain friends and be a sister to each other. Can't wait for the fun to start!
Now... I don't want to be a Debbie Downer, but as I read my past posts... it seems to be a little cheezy and really unrealistic. I am totally sifting everything in my life and blogging only the happy- June Cleaver stuff. My friend, Collette, and I were laughing about how we couldn't post a Thankful Thursday last week because we were both having nervous breakdowns. Don't get me wrong- I am for the most part a happy person with a pretty good life, but sometimes... I just gotta vent! Here it is...Ticked-Off Tuesday! As Tiburon would say, " feel free to play along"...I am going to vent for a minute, and I am going ot limit myself to 5 things...Here we go!
1- #$%#&^@- I am pretty darn mad that I have been working my "A" off at Boot Camp and not much "A" has been worked off. I went to a party the other night and there was this TWIG that was snarfing eveything she could see- love that she's still wearing a size 2-NOT!!! I kept watching to see if she went to the bathroom to barf it back up, but no dice...she stayed in the room way longer than it takes to digest food. I want to be one of those people that can eat ANYTHING and be little. Crap!
2- !#%**#@- I hate laundry! Why do my little lovelies bring up a full hamper JUST when I get the laundry done? THey change clothes faster than those tricksters that impressed the heck out of "The Hoff" on America's gpt Talent. I am going to start making my little piggies do their own laundry so they know how bad I hate it! My laundry room is the pit of my life! I want one that looks like the homeshow...all perfect and clean and tons of storage...Oh yeah... I could have a prinstine laundry room if it wasn't for all that laundry!
3- &#%$*- Let's now talk about the weather. Any of you living in the South end of this state need not listen ( and it warms my heart that you all are going to be jealous of our weather soon enough) I am so sick of this warm/ cold thing that is going on... I don't have enough closet space to house all four seasons at once! To think that it 3 weeks it will be summer vacation- I'm still waiting for Spring Break.
4- %%#!*@- I just met with one of Mitch's teachers and she was soooooo weird! I have pretty high expectations for Middle /High school teachers...I was one for 10 years. She didn't even look me in the eye and she babbled on in Greek...well that is what it sounded like to me. I left her room not knowing one thing more than I did when I arrived. I don't know how to help Mitch succeed in that class and I am going to be more understanding when he comes home and says he doesn't know what is going on in that class. I don't think the teacher even does!
5- $%&*@- Manic Morning... I have got to be to the zoo... a nail appointment...a special luncheon for my marathon running friends ( no... I AM SOOOO NOT A RUNNER, I am their athletic supporter) and baseball games all before 4:30...Not to mention that they are on one end of the valley to the other end of the next valley! Calgon...take me away! Gotta run...so I'll stop griping until next time...ADIOS 
Can you even grasp how darling and creative and thoughtful this is? She has taken a regular old Sonic cup and absolutely beDAZZELED it! It even has my initial on it and lots of glitter and even some cheetah ribbon. It is even reusable...so I can cruise down to the Chevron drive-thru and get a Diet Pepsi in style. She is so amazing! Her house is as fabulous as her disposible cups. She is just sooooo over the top! And she is even nice to boot- Hate her! Just Kidding...really love her!
1. Mitch- My first little baby! He is so handsome and smart. Mitch has a great sense of humor! He is funny, and friendly and kind. All of his little cousins love him and he is especially sweet to Meg ( when he is not teasing). He is such a leader and his social life is ever increasing... he is now a teenager and so cool. I can't believe he is getting so big!
Tib- This one is for you! I didn't have blue hair, but I too used a bottle of hairspray a week. This is a drill team photo-...go Jetettes and Dixie High School! It looks like I've got a wonkey eye...I don't think I do. Gotta love the big permed hair! and the nasty sun-in brassy color! I am waiting for big hair to make its comback so I can be super cool- I've got a lot of hair and a need to rat!
Tiburon has thrown a fun idea out into the blogosphere and I decided to play along... In honor of mother's day I am joining in on showing a favorite photo of my mom. I have two... the first one is at my mom and dad's wedding reception. I love the beehive on her and the buzz on him. They both look about 12. The next one was just taken last November... LOVE IT! It shows that a lot of years and hairstyles have gone by, but they are still so cute!
Happy Birthday to my darling friend, Tasha! She is not only my friend...she was my kid's awesome babysitter while I was in Mexico. She is the big 2-7 and we had so much fun celebrating her day! One thing I love about Tasha is that she loves everyone to know it is her birthday and all the celebration is about her! This might make her sound bossy and bratty...but the greatest thing is- She is SO not bossy and bratty...just loves her birthday! I love it because I love my birthday too! The party was at the cutest place...Dear Lizzie! We shopped, and laughed, and ate , and had such a great girlfriend day. I was first friends with her mom and I am so glad that she and her sister are my friends too. Tasha is such a sweetheart! She has the best husband and the cutest baby, Ruby. She is a great mom! She is so funny, and kind, and fun, and responsible... and the list goes on and on! Happy Birthday Tash! 
Here is a photo of my man, Meg, and my brand new HOG! This is the scooter that I won...yes you heard me right- WON! We were out shopping for a new car and they had a drawing to win this sweet ride... My man was laughing at me because I was hell bent on entering. It was destiny- for a few months later they called and told me I was the lucky winner! When I was 16 I had a convertible Cabriolet, but all I really wanted was a scooter. All my dreams have been fulfilled! When I told my family that I had won my brother kept calling my cell phone and leaving moped monologues from Dumb and Dumber on my voicemail. Wea re planning on going to Sturgis this next summer and for Father's day Caylor is getting a pair of leather chaps and a T-shirt that says "If you can read this... my Biotch fell off" I can wait to join the Hell's Angels and get a fire tattoo and a leather halter. This Bad-A bike is going to be a turning point in my life! 
Miracles do happen! I actaully pulled off the shower. Hip Hip Hooray! It is over and it was a fabulous time. We had good friends, good food, and lots of fun! I need to be better about taking photos, because as you can see... I only took 3 and 2 of them look almost the same. I need to go to photo 101...or just have my blogging buddy Kami give me a few pointers. Kylee is a darling girl and will be a beautiul bride. Meggie had a blast opening the door and playing hostess with the mostess. I love to throw a party, but I am tired and ready for bed. Good night!
1. Tasha and Luke- I was so overcome with gratitude for them last week that I forgot to mention how thankful I am for my great babysitters. Luke and Tasha and their little baby, Ruby tended my kids and house while Caylor and I were in Mexico. The kids had so much fun... movies, bowling, a constant party! They took good care of them, and it was so great to come home because my house was SPOTLESS! Thanks! You guys are the BEST!
