Welcome to the world little one!!!

I would like to introduce you to one of the newest members of the world.

This is Kora Belle, the new daughter of Natalie and Nick and sweet little sister of Benjamin. Kora came into the world on February 25th at 5:05 pm. She weighed in at 6 lbs and is 18 1/2 inches long.

Kora is also the granddaughter of one of my dearest friends, Kim and Grandpa Mark. She is the niece of Mark, Ariel and McKenna. I am convinced that she was named after me and Grandma has assured me that I will be Auntie Jenibelle! She is a tiny little girl and so cute!!

Kora Belle's mom Natalie was one of my favorite young women ever. She is kind and sweet and oh, so talented!! Nat is a very gifted artist, musician and a wonderful writer. One day she hopes to publish a childrens' book. Natalie is such a stud that she was posting pictures and e-mailing 4 hours after Kora's birth. Oh the beauty of an epidural!

Congratulations Natalie, Nick and Big brother Benji! Love you Nat and I am so proud of you!!!

To paint or not to paint?

I hate to wax Shakespearean over paint...but it is a huge decision. This is my living room. It is green, a khaki-ish green, maybe shades of olivey. It is a huge room with 21 foot ceilings. The room has a plant shelf on the one long side and gorgeous moldings all over. I painted it about 8-9 years ago and I have loved it. In fact, when our downstairs flooded (bad washer line, bad flood, good new flooring for the entire downstairs!!! woohoo!!!!) I went and bought paint and ended up painting it exactly the same. BUT, I think it is time to update. So what do you think? What color should I go? It is painted 13 feet up, has a chair rail and the top is just builder white. I am not getting new couches anytime soon, they are comfy and in great shape. I am getting new pillows. The pine hutch isn't going anywhere either, it was the first piece of furniture we bought when Byron graduated from Dental school. It has little Rachel teeth marks in it as she grew and learned to stand and pull her self up. (she didn't walk until she was 6! This and a bookshelf are VERY sentimental...) I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE red. My family room and the rest of the house is a camel color with red stuff and black accents.

Okay, all you mega talented young women....I want your opinions! Be honest, I can take it. The pool table isn't going anywhere either. I inherited from my Dad, it's really a puzzle table, buffet table, laundry table etc..... Post pictures of your houses so I can get good ideas. Let's create!!

Potpourri

A little bit of Random thoughts:

First of all, the big "campout" ...they also showed movies all night on the side of the tent.
...they pee'd in the great outdoors, ( aka: the backyard) Maria didn't know!
...they were going to hike on Saturday, across the street to get
donuts from Safeway, but it started to sprinkle.
I don't know why, but this campout cracks me up big time~!

Ring! Ring! Ring.....
"Hello?"
"Is your mom there?"
"I am the mom..."
"Oh yeah...listen.... you need blogger intervention right away!"
"what????? What am I doing wrong?"
"I need to come over and teach you how to do all these things, are you available tonight?"

Clearly, this was an emergency. And now, thanks to the marvelous tutelage of CeliaFae, guru of all bloggers, I can add links, have a stat counter and can do a couple of other things that I would have NEVER figured out on my own. So now I owe her and Celia, I understand the magnitude of the debt and you WILL be duly rewarded.

LOVE/HATE Relationship:

I love my husband....he hates blogging.
Byron hates blogging, he says it's MySpace for women. He may have a point there, a teenie tiny point, but a point nonetheless.
So.....in front of the world I hearby swear that I will use my edit button.
* I will not post anything that would humiliate or horrify my family
* I will not make crude or suggestive comments (I am making this promise after I commented on Paige's Christina Aguilera post....)
* I will remember that this is the WORLD WIDE web and is available for public consumption and will behave accordingly.
* I will remember that I am an adult, not a dingy 16 year old, therefore I will not post suggestive and or inappropriate pictures of myself doing things I wouldn't want my mother to see.
* I will not become addicted...I will not become addicted....I will not become addicted.

AND FINALLY....
When I look in the mirror I see this....




not this.........


(my son gasped and said "Mom! You're not going to put a picture of you in your bathing suit!!??!!!
Uh no. Even I have a little bit of self respect. But thanks for caring Jeff.)


Last night we went out to dinner with our cruisin' friends Tom & Vicki. Afterwards we to their house and put videos on of our Mediterranean cruise, I had a major reality check. I have been blue ever since.

So I will not be blogging for a while, I need to spend my time on line looking for a tape worm. I'll let you know when I find it.

Roughing it

Today was a red letter day for Scotty. This evening at approximately 5:30 my little eaglette left his nest in pursuit of his first flight into the wonderful world of Boy Scout Camping. After tonight he will officially be a "Tenderfoot". (Which might I say is right up there with Bishop Bears eat Beats; sorry...inside joke!)

I am now going to take you on a pictorial of the Pursuit of Tenderfoot, Brentwood Style.
(remember all wackiness starts here)

1. The ominous sky.


2. The campground....Dave & Maria's backyard. A giant circus tent. This is known as a cave in Brentwood. Set up in case of inclement weather . See picture #1.














#3. This is the forest where the tents are set up. These boys could teach the girls' camp ladies a
thing or two about rain coverings!

4. Cocoa Motion Machines. Not one, not two, but three of them. And the electricity to run them. This is roughing it in the worst kind of way, they forgot the marshmallows. Life is tough, hope they manage.



5. Here are really tough Dads, Scott and Sterling, bundled up against the elements. The weather gets really rough here in California. They look exhausted don't they? Oh wait, the workers from the event company set up the circus tent. Guess hauling all that gear from the driveway to the backyard wore them out. Poor babies.


6. Here are our newest Boy Scouts. Notice they are in their shirts, enjoying the balmy 55 degree weather. Refer to #5, particularly the guy in the beanie and REI -30 degree jacket. That cave sure looks cozy! Wow! Matching tables and chairs!! Now THAT's classy camping. Wonder if they are making centerpieces out of pinecones and needles? Forgot, no trees in this forest.



7. Here is the fire pit, oops! CAMPFIRE, where all the foil packet dinners are going to be cooked. Just in case Maria has the microwave ready. 15 feet away.
Being in touch with their feminine sides, Weston and Randy both got the memo on exactly what to wear. Matchy-matchy!



8. Tomorrow morning I will gas up the car, put treats and drinks in the car in preparation for the 10 minute drive out to the campsite. There, I will pick up my warm, clean little tenderfoot. No pitch for me to stress about, no bugbites, no racoon stories, and very little effort on his part. Ladies, you might want to move here, Scouting is a breeze, and convenient too.



P.S. In all fairness...there were frogs making frog noises. Ahh, the great outdoors.

Not Quite Needing Bloggers Anonmymous...

62%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

A little note from work

I have the BEST job in the world!! I work at the local high school in the discipline office. If I have to work (which I do...cause of my husbands health) this is the perfect place for me. I love my job. All day long I see naughty kids, they are a little humble by the time they get here. It's funny the stuff that they do, sometimes I'll ask them..."do you want to call your parents or do you want me to?" They get a sick look. Sometimes the drunk kids throw up, I don't like that too much, well, not at all.

One time we had a kid that was stinkin' drunk and was practically delirious. The police officer told him he was going to search his backpack. The kid said "no...do you have the authority to do that?" Mark, our school resource officer said..."well, Travis, I do have the gun." It's such a fun job, I could tell you stories of my last four years. Wait till the warm weather comes and I will have dress code stories and pictures. They are priceless!

These two lovely ladies are my Student Aides, Shivani and McKenzie. They are adorable and I just love them to pieces. They love my blog and wanted to be highlighted SO HERE THEY ARE!!! They figured out how to make flowers out of post-its... Aren't they clever and creative?I think I need to keep them busier. They also did the bulletin board in the back.

They get to do all kinds of fun stuff like running passes all over campus, stuffing envelopes, making copies, making me laugh, looking good and trying to figure out how to get over to the other building to see another TA named Matt who is really, really cute, huh Kenzie?

So make their day and leave them a comment. They really are adorable and I am lucky to have them. Love you Shivani & Kenzie!!!

PS. Lauren, they have graciously offered to be your flower girls should you decide to get hitched some day. Nice.

Answered prayers

When did this little girl

turn into this big girl?

And now... who is this young woman?

I blinked and she grew up. Did I appreciate every moment? Does she know how very special she is? Did I teach her enough?

I had one of those moments today where you just want to sit and cry with joy.
I think this boy has stolen my girl's heart. I hope he knows how lucky he is to have her give her heart to him, that doesn't come easy for her. I hope I taught her how to be her own person and not lose herself while she is learning to love another.

Today after the devotional she went up to the temple and did baptisms, they can only do 3 at a time. I would have probably thought that wasn't worth the effort of going...but she did. She reads her scriptures every day, loves the religion classes she takes. She goes to FHE even when it's lame. She has found a young man to date that is a worthy priesthood holder and who treats her with absolute respect.

Today I was at work when Lolo called me and told me about the temple. I thought about her life, she gave us a run for our money for a couple of years in high school! I worried and hung on to her for dear life. I prayed and prayed and hung on even harder. She didn't like me much at all. I made her go to BYU-I, I literally MADE her, including packing her car. I can safely say she didn't like me at all!

And then today; I hung up with tears starting down my cheeks. My co-worker looked at me shocked and ran over, "are you okay? what happened?" I knew she wouldn't understand so I just nodded, "yes"

The thoughts I had were so simple, and such a comfort..."she's going to be fine. Thank you Heavenly Father, she's going to be just fine."