The Book of Me -2011 Prolouge

Kay slumped down into her cozy computer chair with a sigh of relief. The kids were in bed and the house was quiet. This was her favorite time of day. Her two beautiful yet rambunctious children took so much out of her each day. Kay loved them with all of her heart... but sometimes she felt so lost in her duties as a mother and wife.

Kay enjoyed the quiet as she reflected on the events of the day. It had been a good day overall. Much better than yesterday at least. Things were always harder when her husband Lewis was out of town on a business trip. The morning had dawned with hope and ambition. Though most of the ambition was lost when she snuggled down into her blankets to get some much desired sleep-in time. Her sweet daughter Page was off track from school. Page was seven and in second grade at the public school close by. Kay liked the track system for the most part. Mostly she enjoyed the three glorious weeks of sleeping in.

This particular morning she had been woken by her 4 year old son Scott. He was a prince for sure. Sweet and adorable in every way. He had pulled her out of bed with sweet pleading for breakfast. After getting him a bowl of yogurt and a Pop Tart she had dove back into her still warm sheets for just a moment more of slumber. Page would be up soon, but would take care of her own breakfast. Kay loved that Page was becoming so self sufficient.

Back in the warmth of her covers Kay let her mind roll over the schedule for the day ahead of her. Laundry needed to be done, the kitchen was an utter mess, the basement needed to be cleaned, the list went on. One thing on the list seemed to catch on her mind, her blog. It had been so long since she had blogged. She new many family members had asked when she was going to up-date it. She had started the new year with such high ambitions to get back to her blog, but the other night when she had tried to post.... the page was empty. She could think of no interesting way to say all that was on her mind. It had always seemed so static and boring to her. Suddenly a thought came to her. Write your life as a story.

What a completely insane idea, she laughed to herself. Write my own life as a story... how weird would that be!? What would I do, rename all the people in my life? Pour out my innermost thoughts as I shared my mundane life and its highlighted moments of humor and joy? But then something changed. Suddenly the idea didn't seem so strange anymore. Her innermost thoughts recorded through the eyes of someone else, someone who wouldn't be so shy to share them. Before she knew it her mind began to write her story. Paragraphs flowed out onto imaginary paper, people and places gained new names, and her bloggers block seemed like days of the past.

But would it work? What if readers find it boring and un-engaging? What if writing it for real was much harder than letting my mind race through the stories? She had never been a writer or even considered the possibility of being an author of any kind. The idea scared her. No. She decided at last. She wouldn't do such a crazy thing. It was time to start the day and put this nonsense to bed where it belonged as she no longer did.

Still here she sat, typing away at her computer when the day was finished. The idea had not left Kay's mind all day. The events of the day had all been mentally transcribed into her imaginary book. The Book of Me, she laughed quietly to herself. What a crazy idea. But as the day drew to a close she found herself drawn to her blog. She wanted to type, to write, to let her thoughts and feelings out. She was excited as her fingers flew across the key board telling the sorted story of crazy idea. It just might work, she thought to herself. It just might work.

August 13th

Yep.... August. I know, I know, I know.... it is October. But this post is about August 13th 2010. My little girls 7th birthday!

I haven't been in the blog-o sphere lately. I am having a hard time finding the balance between wanting to post anything, and trying to post everything!

For this post I will keep it simple.

Amalyssa LOVES her birthday partys. It is a creative passion we share. This year the theme we came up with was 'cruise to Paris' Believe it or not most of the creative genius behind this was Amalyssa. She came up with the outlandish ideas and I honed them down and made them reality.

The basics of the party - guests came 'on board' the cruise ship. We gave them a passport book to draw a picture of themself in. After all the guest's arrived we 'set sail' for Paris. During this time we played little party filler games. When we came in to port the guests all got an Eiffel Tower stamped in their passports and we able to walk down the gangplank (stairs) to Paris. The basement was decked out as 'The Pink Poodle Cafe'. Here we had a light lunch of fruit, cheese and crackers (very French!) and chicken salad sandwiches. The punch was complete with a lemon slice! After lunch we enjoyed opening presents around the 6 foot Eiffel Tower, which was followed by cake and ice cream. Upon departure each guest was given a picture of them next to the Eiffel tower to glue in their passports. As the ship traveled back to the USA all the guests got to play with Amalyssa's new toys.

I think the party was a major hit. I was surprised by how much the kids latched onto the theme and took off with their imaginations. I myself was quite pleased with the decorations. I hesitate to post the pictures because the lighting in our basement is ATROCIOUS!!! Picture them not so puke colored and gross ok!

All the party guest's in Paris!

The Decorations

The party Princess by the Eiffel Tower
(Thanks to Angie for cutting this out! It was the center of attention!)

The Cupcake Tower
Which almost gave me an aneurysm, but in the end came together fabulous!

Is it time?

I suppose it is..... Time to update this moldy ol' blog!!! This summer has just about killed me, that or turning 30... or maybe it is the 'severe anxiety' I have been diagnosed with. Well which ever one or maybe (just maybe) a combination of all three have kept me away from my blog. Hopefully now that school is back in and 'the birthday week' is over I can get back into a routine and catch this silly blog up! For tonight I just have a few quick pict's for ya!

First up lets go back in time..... back in time to July (wasn't that SO long ago!) Before my big NYC trip I got to take a very special trip back to Idaho! Here in SLC I have a very good friend! My friend's name is Angie. It just so happens that the Lord brought us together in the YW presidency.... but we share so much more than that. We have truly become friends on a deeper level than simply 'serving together'. Anywho, Angie is taking her daughter (who turns 8 next month) to as many Temples as she can. Before the craze of summer hit Angie asked if we could take a trip to Idaho together to see the Idaho Falls and Twin Falls Temple. While the 'free room and board' was possibly the motivation for asking us to accompany her, I think it ended up being such an enjoyable trip for both of us! It was so fun to take her to see 'my Temple' and also to see the new visitors center. The Temples were of course beautiful and sharing my home town and all my memories and favorite spots was really a great experience.


As much as I LOVED seeing the temples I have to say that my FAVORITE moment of this trip was taking Angie's kids to McKee's petting zoo. Or should I say taking ANGIE to McKee's petting Zoo. (my kids didn't want to come because they couldn't wait to start their stay with G-ma Becky while I went to NY). One thing I learned about Angie on this trip is that she is NOT a lover of animals.... at least not in HER SPACE! LOL Angie is one of those amazing people that everyone looks up to and thinks "Wow.... how does she do it all!???" So Angie has definitely been a positive influence in my life... she teaches me a TON. For this one moment.... I got to push Angie out of her comfort zone! I made her feed a goat!!! (yes it is a goat Angie... not a deer.... hehe) This movie is a cherished memoir of the event.... I hope you enjoy it slightly as much as I do every time I watch it!






YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU ANGIE!!!!! Thanks for the FUN TRIP!!

Now we jump back to the present.
Now that we are finally home long enough to enjoy our own yard (even though it is dead and overgrown) we have a new favorite past time!

SPRINKLERS!!!!!! Only the kids have discovered that it is so much more fun while you are still DRESSED!!!!

Yes this is how we have spent many evenings in the last few weeks. I only let them play in the sprinklers dressed in the evenings just before bed time. When we are all finished we peel the wet clothing off send them through a warm bath and then it is off to bed! I think we have all come to enjoy this past time and will be sad to see it end as fall sets in.

That is all for tonight. Maybe I will get back to my blog sooner than a month from now and tell you about the crazy birthday party I threw for Amalyssa and the 6 foot tall pink Eiffel Tower I have in my basement as a result of it (which coincidentally Angie cut out of cardboard for me! THANKS ANGIE!!!)

Ramblings of the brainless..... oh, and NYC!

WHY am I kissing Robert Pattinson you may ask!??? Because NYC is the place where dreams come true. Read on!!!!



Once again I find myself in the blogging dilemma of TOO MUCH TO SAY! This summer has been a whirlwind of amazing vacations and fun with friends. I have about a bazillion pictures I want to post up here and I want to record every fun memory. However, that would take me about a week to accomplish and nobody would EVER read it (not even me!) because it would be too long!! So here is the question..... do I just sum it all up and leave out half the great stories and pictures? Do I start with the oldest event and do a post about each by itself - in which case I will NEVER get caught up AND no one will see all the separate posts. Do I just blog the most recent and leave the rest to be forgotten by my old age brain!???? *sigh* such hard decisions in life!!!!

(one hour later after editing photos)

So I have decided to start with the most recent and work backwards..... until I get sick of it and then the rest will just be history! lol So here we come NYC!!!!

Scott's company is based in NYC. They are an awesome company and really believe in team building! Once a year they fly all the SLC employees to NY for a few days of team activities and then a big company party! The wives are all invited to come and play (sadly they only pay for the employees.... but I still get a few free meals on the company!) So we left the kids with their grandma and ran away to NYC for a few days!!! Here is some of what we did!

We flew into NYC on Wed. On Thursday the employees all have meetings.... so when the hubbys are away.... the wives will play!!!!! Yep.... 8 women out on 5th avenue spending every last dime in our pocket books! SO MUCH FUN!!!!!

Meet Kris- she is my new BFF!!! (Braden says you aren't really friends until you are BFF's)
I hung out with Kris two years ago on the NY trip and found her absolutely the loveliest person ever! This year we REALLY bonded!!! We already have plans to hang out... oh yea... bff's for sure!!! lol - No really, I do love Kris, she is the bubbly, energetic, proud to be who she is, type of person that we all want to be! This lady can talk me into ANYTHING!

This is us in the swanky swarovski crystal store. the sales ladies were SO NICE! They offered to take our picture even when they knew we had no money to buy their lovely items! (some places are not so nice.... story to follow shortly)

Yes.... she can even talk me into 'posing' by the playboy sign ON FIFTH AVENUE while HUNDREDS of people are walking by..... Yeah....... I had a guy tell me "Work it!" good thing he looked normal and had a girl on his arm so I wasn't scared!

So two years ago Kris talked me into going in Versaci. We felt like TOTAL TOURISTS! We left soon after I asked how much a scarf was..... 350$ was a BIT more than I wanted to pay for a scarf.... so we made a quick exit. THIS year I told Kris I was NOT going into Versaci or any other swanky stores I would feel like a hick in! Not so...... not so...... She talked me into entering Bergdorf Goodman. I didn't KNOW what Bergdorf Goodman was..... lets just say.... SWANKY! The sales people didn't even LOOK at us when we walked in. I am pretty sure they were having a good laugh after we left though!!!! We entered the store and I spotted a pretty black clutch. I wanted one to go with my dress for 'Wicked' so I picked it up... made a shabby guess at the price... then looked at the price tag. Kris literally RAN INTO the 75% off sign in the middle of the floor trying to exit the store. 895$ was a little more than I wanted to pay for a CLUTCH!!!!!!


After shopping the ladies all went to 'Serendipity 3' for lunch! Such a FUN FUN FUN place to eat! Make sure you have a reservation though or you will be waiting for hours in the HOT NY sun to get a table!!!!

Later that night after a nice dinner with all the SLC employees Scott took me out for one of my birthday presents! Two years ago I wanted to get a caricature done, but it just never materialized. This year I REALLY wanted to make sure we got one! Since this trip fell right in between Scott and my 30th birthdays I wanted it to have some reference to that. We found this great lady who did a really awesome job for us! (ok so she drew me with an immodest dress and a drink in my hand... somehow asking for a modest caricature seemed a little silly!)
Take a good look at how she drew my face.... I personally am creeped out by how totally good it is!!! Good thing she drew my body better looking than reality!!!
I actually didn't take ANY pictures on Friday!! Crazy hu! I slept in and then met the other wives for another nice lunch. I just have to say.... I TOOK THE SUBWAY ALL BY MYSELF!!!!! Yep.... I am a true New Yorker now! After lunch I headed back to the hotel to get ready for the company party that evening. It was a really nice party with great food! Sadly I was not one of the winners of the 4 Ipads they raffled away at the end of the night. ah well..... at least I got my caricature right?

Saturday was a bit of a bust. Scott and I had a great plan for the day. We started by visiting the Apple store. No not big red juicy ones.... expensive silver computer ones!

Yes this was Scott's activity choice... but I did enjoy it none the less. Look at how cool this store front is!!! You go down a glass stair case into this cave of electric geekdom! We actually met one of his co-workers in there and he called it "The Nerd Temple" I thought it was fitting! But I did get a SWEET picture of the store front (at least I think it is cool!)


The Plaza hotel is reflected in the glass front. I think it is a spiffy shot. After the apple store we TRIED to go to Serendipity 3 for lunch. They have a crazy fun and yummy menu so I wanted Scott to experience it, but it is a bit of a girly haven so I don't expect him to try it out on his own while he is in NY. However I had this great idea much to late to actually get a reservation and neither of us wanted to wait in the scorching sun for an hour or so to get a table. We then TRIED to take the subway over to the Natural History museum. After an hour and a half or so of being confused and drug all over the city in the hot and sweaty subway tunnels we FINALLY made it to the museum only to discover a GIGANTIC line for tickets.... We got a cab and went back to the hotel. lol.

Saturday evening was the HIGHLIGHT of the trip!!! Scott took me to a sweet little Italian place for a romantic dinner and then we went to see 'Wicked' on Broadway!!!!! WOW WOW WOW and WOW!!!! Can I just say..... AMAZING!!!! I LOVED every single minute of the play!!! WOW!!!!! Elphaba is my new hero!!!! WOW what a night..... WOW. Have I said WOW!!! It hardly covers the subject!!! WOW~

So Scott is so sweet and he let my buy a new dress just for my 'Broadway debut' Wasn't that SWEET!!!! Who knew that it is now common to wear JEANS to a Broadway play! POOOH! I say DRESS UP BABY!!!! Here are some picts of me in my fancy new dress!!! Sadly I can't take my own picture so I am not overly thrilled with how they turned out.... but you get the basic idea. Lets just say I was GORGEOUS!!! lol

Notice the awesome flower pin I am wearing!???? Here is a shout out to my girl Kieran! She created this lovely pin for me! If you want one I can get you in touch with this talented lady!

So back to my picture with Robert Pattinson! That picture was SPECIFICALLY for Kieran! He was SO NICE to just let me maul him for some picture! He didn't even say anything.... or move for that matter..... maybe because he was made of wax.... but still!!!!

On Sunday Scott and I had a LATE LATE LATE flight and of course an early check out time from the hotel. So we decided Madame Tussauds wax museum sounded like a fun (and air conditioned) place to kill some time! We had quite a bit of fun! Scott TOLD me to kiss Rob!!! REALLY HE DID!!!! Speaking of Rob... here is a tid bit I have been meaning to post for a while

Scary eh!!!! Maybe Braden will be rich and loved by millions some day!!! For now I will just enjoy his 'after bath hair'.

Back to the museum.
Truthfully my star struck crush is on this hottie! *sigh* I don't think I would look so confident standing next to him in person!


You really needed a 10 second video of this one to get the full effect. Brittany's chest was heaving..... really......

Scott wouldn't pose next to any of the sexy women..... hmm...... does that make me a bad wife for kissing the hot men???

Tina Turner and Tina Sudweeks - live in concert!!! Well.... I was live... she was wax.

So after a fun filled weekend in NYC Scott and I boarded the plane and headed home! Grandma Becky was sweet enough to bring the kids home and put them to bed so that Amalyssa could start school the next morning.

Yep.... Second Grade!!!!! When did she grow up??? Notice anything NEW? Amalyssa is THRILLED to be the owner of glasses! I have a hard time because I remember how excited I was when I first got glasses! Now I know the reality of them. Ah well.... she looks adorable in them anyway, don't you think!?


I for one am relieved to see the end of my summer. I have had a BLAST but I am SO WORN OUT.... I am ready for some NORMAL life! I will probably leave this post for a few days and then try to post a few other summer events before my memory is totally lost. But for now I think this novel is sufficiently long! (it only took me 2 1/2 hours to get together! That is WAY better than I expected!!!)

Arizon or bust!

So before I start.... I must make an observation... I find it interesting that the people who 'politely request' that I update my blog more often are NOT blog writers themselves..... hmmm..... I wonder why that is!????

Ok- now to get on with the fun stuff! So June has been a fun month! here it is in pictures!!

Amalyssa had her last day of first grade on June 4th and then we jumped in the van and headed for VEGAS! It was suppose to be a 6 hour drive.... 12 hours later we FINALLY arrived at our hotel. Being stuck on the freeway for 3 1/2 hours in the middle of the night is not how I recommend starting a trip! At least the motor home people let us use their bathroom!!! We crashed a few hours in our room at Circus Circus then spent some time at the midway games in the morning before heading out for Phoenix AZ!

Braden has a thing for sitting on the 'heaters' in hotel rooms.
(in this case it was blowing cold air)

Sunday evening we had the wonderful chance to see this little Q-T Baptized!!!


On Monday Scott got on a plane headed for NY while the kids and I moved out of the hotel room and into Marie's apartment. We took a boat tour with mom, grandma and dad. It was really fun and beautiful! (beautiful in a 'nothing but cactus's' kind of way)


Durning the week Rebekah was taking care of the class pet Mazie.
Meet Mazie!


We all got to hold her! I ALMOST want a pet snake now! It was actually really awesome!


At this point in the trip days and events start to blur a little..... So I will share a few more picts and tidbits in no particular order.

Marie and I took the kids to 'Desert Botanical Gardens'. Well actually just to the gift shop! LOL. There we tortured the kids AND the shop keepers while we meticulously combed the place for things that were actually made in AZ. (Unlike the AZ key chains which were ALL maid in China!) Seeing the gardens would have been nice.... but not T$H$A$T nice!
They did have some cool glass art out in front! You can read more about it on their site.


My son... just being himself....


Then we shot over to this cool place called 'Hole in the Rock' You hike up and see the city through a hole in the rock! (I wonder where they came up with the name???) Thankfully we lucked out and the weather was a cool 85 deg with a breeze! AMAZING for Phoenix in the summer!!!!



Marie asked me if I thought the AZ terrain was beautiful. My answer is.... Yes... Kinda. It is beautiful in its own sort of 'lonely desert wasteland' kind of way. But I do have to say that I think Cactus skeletons are BEAUTIFUL!!!!

We had a lot of fun spending the week with Marie and her girls and will definitely visit again sometime (thought most likely NOT in the summer again!). Swimming at the pool, eating frozen yogurt in the evening, the Primary Talent Show, all the fun things we enjoyed in AZ will be remembered for a long time to come!

I am almost all out of pictures and stories so I will share just a few more tid bits with you before I part.

My favorite Piper sayings from the trip - (this girl is a CRACK UP!)

Said while begging desperately for candy at the check out line "I PROMISE NOT TO SWALLOW IT!!!!!"

Said while being given a drink from a used water bottle "I don't want to drink BRADEN'S spit! I want to drink my OWN spit!

And lastly - heard while taking a picture of piper at Goodwill sitting on a geriatric potty seat "PPSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS" -sorry the picture is on my phone or I would share it-

Funniest/most embarrassing moment -
Beware the first stall!!!! - that is all you are getting unless you ask me in person or flood this post with comments!!! :)

And my final thought I will share with you is this -
NEVER get in between Marie and her Rootbeer Float Cookies!!!!!!!

All in all is was a FANTASTIC 2 week trip! I AM glad to be home, but sharing time with Marie and her girls was a fun way to spend a good chunk of our summer! THANKS SMITHS!!!!!