i like sundays...

sundays are nice. they generally are more quiet at our house, with not much going on. no practice to drive to, no school. and while i have smart friends who are busy teaching seminary or in big leadership positions, doing all of this intellectual scripture study, having important meetings, and giving great detailed, much researched lessons to those listening, eager to hear some profound and well put together words...i get to spend my time with the little children. 15 or so of them...and all under the age of 3. the studying i do involves gathering crackers and raisins from my pantry, printing off a coloring page and remembering to put stickers in my bag. i will say these little ones ARE listening to what is being said around them. the lessons taught to them make an impression. never underestimate their learning capabilities, and how the Spirit touches their little hearts. love my calling, and love the little ones i interact with. i so love making each small child feel individually special and safe. i have worked with these children in the nursery for years now...must be my lot in life. maybe its my simple mind and pure love for them that keeps me in there. and to the moms of these darling kids, hope you dont mind i posted their precious faces here. thanks for letting me borrow their sunny spirits every sunday. they make my day complete. 

what would your three words be?

come borrow my yard

seems as if i am lending my yard out a lot these days. a-ok with me, and an opportunity for me to clean up big time. i was getting accustomed to looking at all of the cobwebs and dirt on the patio furniture. never did much about it, but ignore it. we haven't been out there much this season, however, that is about to change. i got reacquainted with my yard which provides a cozy retreat in this glorious southern california weather. how lucky we are to live in this beautiful sunshine and mild climate.

my friend claudine (click on her name to look at her blog) is an interior decorator and does a garden tour every spring. she called a couple weeks ago to see if she could borrow my yard to use as the stage for her beautifully set table and outdoor decor. i even got to light a whole bunch of candles...amazing what a little candle light will do. she taught a short mini class on how to set a summer table, then the group was off to the other 2 homes on the tour. a lot of fun for a mundane thursday evening.

thank you cupcake queen for the amazing coconut cupcakes and thank you claudine for reminding me i need to keep those cobwebs away and appreciate the beauty of my very own surroundings. 

they came...

and they are absolutely stunning...just like i remember.

fun at the fun house

 

what can i say...the tradition continues-a great party thrown by great people. thanks for all of the warm hospitality, fun people to mingle with and fantastic food. 

oh, and the Laker game too. made the day all the better. too bad they lost so terribly. maybe they should take lessons on "how to rebound".

and also, this was a perfect excuse for us to make cupcakes...AGAIN. we actually had some stiff competition from jenny's (hers were awesome, i must say) beautiful, homemade from scratch ones. lets just say we went home with an empty cupcake holder (which by the way is the most amazing invention ever created-i will post about that later). duncan hines white just rules, i am afraid. each time we make them, a little different...our creativity runs wild. cant wait to go to the party store and get more colors to play with. just dont want anyone to get bored. heaven forbid. i think we are obsessed. 

perfect day.

nothing like a discount

since emma is an official employee of nordstrom...we went shopping, of course. the boys even tagged along. they got kind of bored, so to combat all of that monotony, we went and had tomato soup and shrimp salad. like the kids pizza too. its cheap. what a deal.

love this man in a uniform

this is my dad. 

in 1943, while at school at utah state, he received a letter from the draft board, informing him he was officially part of the war effort. they did however, give him the choice of what area of service he wanted to join. he chose the air corp. unfortunately, WWII was now in full swing. i have come to find out he stood out in the crowd, was one of the leaders, was a man whom others could count on, in a big way. he became an excellent pilot of B-25s, and eventually stood out in the crowd enough to be one of the few appointed as an instructor. on december 23, 1944 he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant and given his silver wings, a coveted and respected appointment. he trained many pilots who eventually were sent overseas. he became an integral part of the war effort. his service was exemplary. 

he writes, "at the end of each training class period there was a period of time, usually 4-5 days where we were free to do anything we wanted. since the airplanes were sitting idle at this time, we were encouraged to take them cross country. several times we came back to utah with 3 TB-25s and as we passed over our hometowns we would give them a real buzz job. i remember one time we decided to buzz fish lake. we dropped down onto the lake in a 3-ship formation, flying about 15 feet from the water. we had many boaters waving to us as it must have been a great sight to them. while around gunnison, one of  the things that i did was drop the landing gear, lower the flaps and proceed up main street at about 50 feet of altitude at a very slow speed. everyone in town thought i was going to land. i soon pulled up out of that maneuver then made several passes at high speed. it was fun. usually i called home before and the folks would be waiting for me. mom said larry would go outside and sit on the roof of the chicken coop from early morning until i arrived (about noon). 

i remember another cross country trip. we were flying across the expansive wheat fields of kansas where 6 or 7 large combines were harvesting wheat. they were in formation, one behind the other. i decided to see if i could get their attention and proceeded to make a low pass over them. they kept running and finally after the 5th pass they all came to a stop and got out of their combines and started waving at us."

and if you have ever been around one of these planes...they are LOUD and BIG. i can feel the passion my dad had for these planes through him, because i have it too. although i am not a pilot, never was in a war, planes give me goosebumps. in a major way. must run in the family.

my dad talks about the immense patriotism which was so alive in america during WWII. through his stories i have come to understand the importance of ALL veterans and the purpose in fighting for what is right. i am especially fond of the older gentlemen who are WWII veterans, especially one i know quite well. sorry dad, i just called you an "older gentleman".

i also have been known to get teary eyed when i encounter a young man wearing fatiques...maybe all of that old fashioned patriotism has worn off on me.

to all veterans old and young. 

happy memorial day. 

thanks for keeping us safe.

wanna sit in the "put me in a trance" chair?

setting: evening last week, craig is sitting in this above named chair, remote control in hand watching ESPN. he is pretending in his mind that he is actually playing third base in the Dodger game that is going on right in front of his eyes, or is thinking about some other basketball or football game that might be on the other 100 ESPN channels that he might be missing out on that very second, and contemplating which channel he should really be watching. the dilemma. 

shawna: "hey craig, are you hungry?"

no response...shawna waits patiently...waits...waits...waits...and waits more

still no response. craig is still contemplating the seriousness of the ESPN matter at hand. remote control still in a death grip.

dane: (in a very serious, perturbed voice) "dad, there's this nice lady over here that is trying to talk to you...the least you can do is turn around and answer her question!"

finally someone sticks up for me...gosh.

YOU got a facebook?

i know, i know...i said i would NEVER get a facebook. voiced my opinion loudly. i lied. i caved. i succumbed to the peer pressure. however, i will NOT add any kids (well, emma forced me into adding her...boy where is my backbone?). i would be really perturbed if i were some kid and all of a sudden some old man throws in a comment like. "you look cute in that photo" or "have a good weekend!" just weird to me. or when your dad (craig) starts commenting (negatively i might add) about the boys that you are friends with. craig is barred from mine now too. his comments were excessive and annoying. he has been sent to his room. he is grounded. ugghhh.

jonathan meyer where are you?

i have been digging through old photos recently. located a giant box in the garage. have found some really good ones. this is one rare gem i got my hands on. also i now know how to work the new scanner! i am simply a computer genius. eden was high fiving me when i told her i actually did it on my own. i know, i am pathetic.

one of edens friends was asking to see a photo of me in high school...well, here you go, avery. i know you are loving the artificial fro and the prom dress with no sleeves. sorry girls. i was pretty scandalous back then. i am not a very good example...my next prom dress HAD sleeves. i can even prove it with a photo, which i may provide on another reminiscing post, which youre having a hard time containing all of our excitement for. everyone had a perm too, remember? (oh, you little ones wont remember-you people weren't even BORN yet) also look at the flower in my hair (matches my dress-my mom made my dress, too), all the rage now. who knew the style in 1979 would come back, like 30 years later (see emmas latest post). the handsome young man (i know weird, i look at him in the photo like he would still be 17-not thinking that he is out there somewhere a 47 year old man) was jonathan meyer, the local heart throb. he was a babe, and a junior. he was younger than me-loved that power i had over him.  

we had just moved to mandeville, louisiana from palos verdes, california in the year of 1978. let's just say it was major culture shock for me. however, i learned to love the people and became accustomed to the humid air and  swamps everywhere-complete with alligators who would prey on the small pets of the neighborhood. my dad and i would water ski on the "bayou" on a weekly basis. one of the conditions of these water skiing trips in the afternoons, was not to fall-period. if you ever were unfortunate enough to be stranded in the murky, dark grey, what lies beneath water, the threat of deadly water moccasin snakes was front and center. one bite and youre dead. they were prolific in these waters. would congregate in the reeds on the banks. NEVER land in the reeds. maybe i should be more shocked with the fact that my dad allowed all of this to happen. he has no fear. how stupid were we. oh and we would ski with no observer-just plain dumb. funny how all of this didnt even phase me. i wasnt even afraid to get in the water. we both survived, and living in louisiana my senior year actually turned out to be an exciting adventure. it was a lot of fun. the people were so very different from californians, in a refreshing unique, old fashioned way. the whole town turned out for high school football games, and there was armadillo road kill all over the place. we run over rabbits-they run over armadillos. the kids welcomed me into their culture, and educated me in the proper way to eat crawfish (the locals suck the brains and guts out-ewww), the necessity to wear preppy clothes and before i knew it, i was saying "y'all". graduated a "skipper" (what the heck is that?), the lame mandeville high school mascot, in 1980. not much better than the santa claus mascot tesoro has. who chooses all of these stupid mascots anyhow? oh, better yet, maybe we should have been wasps. dont know why all this bugs me so much.

anyway... 

jonathan meyer if youre out there, would love to see what you look like now. i am sure you are just as cute as you were way back when in the olden days. 

livin the life in the oc

since i am at tesoro every day, this video was particularly funny to me. i enjoy picking up kids from school, actually. i know i am a big complainer. like to say my life is really hard, but in reality. it is not. i like to fake my misery.

i recently realized too, that i wont have to drive anyone next year. i will have children in my life who actually can drive a car. scary, i know. if you encounter a blonde in a little black civic on the road, you are hereby forewarned. 

and i wont have to drive to seminary till dane goes...in like 20 years. i will be 65 and in a wheelchair.

eight is great

dane is eight today. born in the lovely year of 2001. i would like to say that i was thrilled when i found out i was pregnant with him, but i wasn't. i cried. i was devastated. i knew how much work he was going to be, and i was tired at that point. my life was complicated.

the story ended well, and we are happy now. so glad the Lord gave him to me. i feel as if he was literally placed in my care, just for me. i needed him. he came and saved me.

so, happy birthday dane. i love you like you may never know.

and yes, his favorite color is red.

need to see the shrink for sure

ok, i think i have a problem, or should i say WE. apparently we cannot come up with an excuse NOT to make cupcakes. Today the excuse was dane's birthday tomorrow. HELLO, cupcakes make you FAT!!

he wanted red ones. so he got red ones.

look at how glorious they are in red.

i should open a cupcake store.

i would be 300 lbs.

maybe then i would quit this awful addiction.

help.

tell pavillions to not carry the duncan hines cake mix anymore.

yeah, that would fix the problem.

maybe i should just stay inside.

take the car keys away.

o, wait...how would dane get to school?

and the kids to seminary?

maybe i could home school dane.

and read the scriptures with the big kids, yeah, that's a good idea.

i'm so smart.

sandal time

i had an epiphany the other day. i all of a sudden wanted some bernardo sandals. i remember wearing them as a kid. can still see the perfect leather stitching around the sole and the tiny buckle. i remember the quality of these glorious sandals my mother would buy me every summer. she would march me into bullocks and off we went to the shoe department. in those days, these well made sandals were a splurge, an expensive shoe for a little girl. i didnt appreciate them as much as i appreciate them now. now i realize my mother had class. she shopped at Bullocks, and I Magnin and then there was Bullocks Wilshire-the higher end version of just plain old Bullocks, o and there was Joseph Magnin too-the elite of the elites. we frequented all of these stores. however, she was always looking for a great price, a designer label on sale. she taught me the thrill of a good buy. (say hello to a good buy...just HAD to say that) she would take me to have lunch at Bullocks, in their tea room on the top floor. i remember vividly the magic of a "Bullocks popover", all crispy and brown on the outside, eggy and soft on the inside. this was where the "ladies" ate, and i was lucky enough to be one of them, if only for an hour or so. i still didn't appreciate the good taste my mom radiated. 

on some saturday nights, she wore fur and would get all dressed up to go to the "debonaires" with my dad and their gang of friends. still dont know what that word means. she would put on long gloves and wear glittery jewelry, and would carry a color coordinated sequined clutch. they liked the opera and attended lots of symphonies and musicals and such. my mother was a vocalist too, so she was versed in the latest musical, familiar with every tune.  she liked fine china, knew all of the expensive brands of crystal and taught me the subtle differences between silverplate and sterling. taught me how to "feel" the difference. she was always on her best behavior. always had good manners. however, she is vivacious and fun, very social and not afraid of ANYTHING. wonder what she truly thinks about my paper plates and plastic spoons we use on a daily basis. every time i go to her house i say, "mom we need to get you some plastic cups so you dont have to dishes all day long." 

she laughs at me. "oh no, that's not necessary" she says. 

she's probably dying inside every time she comes to my home and there are no placemats on the table, and my dogs are licking the dirty silverware in the dishwasher. sorry mom. 

so this is to my mom. i am going to go buy me some bernardos this week, so i can appreciate the fine leather and quality workmanship all over again. amazing how these sandals too, have never gone out of style. now that is a sign of class.   

off to work she goes

this is emma going to work-her first day back at nordstrom brass plum department. so, any of you who may have some tweens hanging around, or some young adults itching for a new outfit, she is the queen of assembling to die for, drop dead cute ensembles for the young at heart. use her fashion expertise, she actually is good, im not gonna lie. 

The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.

jonas salk

feel the love

my friend who is is my ward, was throwing a bridal shower for her friend, suubi. however, she needed a bigger venue. my yard became the backdrop for a festive celebration. what a glorious day to celebrate a glorious event. and, i must say, i have never in my life seen so many beautiful people in one place at one time. 

congratulations suubi. i enjoyed so much meeting your family and sharing the love. 

all creatures great and small

if you have followed my blog, you know i am a nut for animals and anything alive or crawling. always been like that. and this wont be the last time i write a detailed post about some insect. the only thing we really enjoy getting rid of is flies and black widows-o and rats. we actually love to watch maggie trap the flies on the picture window and eat them. she is actually quite good. she is also an excellent rat hunter. killed a few of those too. not pretty. 

if there is a harmless spider in the house, we carefully whisk it outside to rest on some leaf. i know, we are strange. actually feel sorry for the mangled daddy long leg who get ruined from some random accident. hunter the other day felt an itch on his leg. his itch was a tiny, baby praying mantis (our garden favorite). he called me into the room to take him outside, holding his leg in such a way as to not harm this little creature. i came running. i gingerly scooped him off his leg, and outside he went to rest on my climbing rose. eden, found him again the next day (he is all of a 1/2 inch long, if that) and quickly grabbed the camera. she flipped the camera on manual focus (dont know how she knew how to do this-she has taken like 5 photos in her whole life) and captured these incredible photos of our garden friend. amazing. 

i have found my new summer buddy.

yellow house on the hill

i have an old friend (well, not old, just have known her a long time)...she is amazing. i knew her when she was a newlywed in my parents palos verdes ward and i was a youth, years later she miraculously found me in murrieta where we were in the same ward together. she lives in heber, utah now, in a butter yellow house perched on top of it's own little hill. when we were contemplating a move there a year or so ago, she put us in touch with a great realtor and encouraged us to make the jump. we even found a beautiful, expansive home on acreage and fell in love with the small town feel of heber. love the fact that the high school mascot is the wasp. anyway, this home was perfect...had a well, and a barn and a greenhouse-even a bomb shelter. i could have been almost self-sufficient there-a dream of mine which hopefully i can make happen one day. i even was thinking i would be ok with the cold, and the resident hunters who come home with deer carcasses slung into their pick ups...this one had me worried, i will admit. 

well, we chickened out and are now seasoned residents of orange county and all of the constant chaos that surrounds it. what i was really after was a simpler life full of quiet and peace. maybe i will get it one day. 

one time while visiting heber, we were invited to christine's beautiful home for dinner. her cooking is equivalent if not better than the barefoot contessa on a good day. she even coordinated homemade rolls rising while at church, accompanied with baked salmon and fresh asparagus, all the while serving as young womens president no less. christine is my hero. a woman who is soft and kind, generous and ever so talented. 

we were visiting after dinner, ready to catch a plane back to california, when aenon emerged from the powder room white as a ghost, color all gone, with a mist of sweat across her brow. i know now what she will look like if she ever dies in front of me. immediately we sat her down where she managed to barely stay conscious. off to the emergency room we went, promptly missing our flight. turns out aenon's issue was possibly a burst ovarian cyst (i know, sounds gross), and she was all better after her bout of almost dying on christine's mahogany, hand distressed, antique wood floors. christine and her sweet husband kris and cute son will even met us at the emergency room and helped us pass the time while we waited for test results and the physician to make a final diagnosis. however, we were left with missing our flight and in desperate need of a place to spend the night, since it was now about 9pm. we were tired, emotionally exhausted and in need of a bed. of course, christine was all over it. put us up in her charming lower level, complete with two cubby holes for beds. in this gorgeous expansive room there were two large, square, cut outs in the wall, complete with queen size mattress' and luxurious down bedding. completing the scene was an eclectic little light fixture mounted on the wall, nestled amongst the pillows, all as if on the pages of an anthropologie catalog. this was by far, the most perfect reading hide away i had ever encountered. all was needed now was fresh fallen snow outside this magnificent hilltop retreat and a cup of herbal tea in a vintage cup and saucer. 

all was well the next morning, and amazingly aenon survived the night without fainting. the whole sleep experience in those cubby holes was exceptional. 

christine continues to this day, to have aenon up to her home for sunday dinners and has taken her under her glorious wing. i am so grateful for the home away from home she provides so lovingly for aenon. 

christine has 2 daughters (and 2 darling sons). her oldest daughter eva is especially artistic, and has started a new business venture. sycamore street press. hand made cards and invites all made on a vintage press.

check it out, and thank you to my dear old friend christine, for all of your generous hospitality. maybe one day i will be able to make cheesecake like you. aenon recently said it was the best she has ever had. 

ok, hand over the recipe, and no one gets hurt. 

evajorgensen.blogspot.com

ms cupcake please stop

there is a certain someone who is continually making these delicious and beautiful to look at cupcakes. duncan hines, cream cheese frosting, barbie day glow pink. 

we have a serious love hate relationship.

to the offender: you are hereby notified to please cease immediately.

monster truck cheeseburger

hunter has been getting out early all week, so this is what we do with all of that extra time. didnt know what a 4x4 was. now i know.

boys will be boys

Men live in a fantasy world. I know this because I am one, and I actually receive my mail there.
- Scott Adams



why was this so funny to me this morning....?

pancake power

yesterday i awoke to a clean kitchen, scoured by my children (well, probably just emma). nothing better than that. no other gift can hold a candle to a perfectly sparkling counter top. i was greeted too by heartfelt cards expressing love and tender feelings. wonderful.

in the splendor of my clean kitchen (it sounds as if my kitchen is always a pig pen...well, just feels extra special when someone ELSE cleaned it...sort of like how green salad tastes better when someone ELSE makes it? you know what i am talking about) my beautiful surroundings were begging for pancakes. a worthwhile reward my children deserved on this mothers day. so, my little darlings awoke to the familiar smell of homemade Ellie Dombrowski pancakes.

she was a wonderful lady who was my mothers friend when we lived in redlands. i remember vividly her huge, victorian estate propped on top of its own hill, with manicured gardens and exquisite furnishings. i also remember her raven beehive hairdo and her smiling eyes. she was married to the nicest man, Ed Dombrowski, the local orthopaedic surgeon. they were cultural giants in the community, volunteered their time and donated lots of money to worthwhile causes. seems as if my parents hung around with some very classy people. only now do i seem to recognize all of this. back then, i was not really enamoured with the gorgeous estates and money these people obviously had.

i spent much if not all of my childhood residing at the West's home. another estate appointed with a full guest house, tennis courts and olympic sized swimming pool. in their kitchen, they had their milk delivered in large containers which were put in a commercial dispenser, much like in a cafeteria, with the round, heavy stainless steel lever. the milk coming out in a little stream from a white little hose right into your bowl full of lucky charms. that whole set up was magic for me. their home was a maze, all on one level, with a library and a sitting room, a cellar and several "wings", and these large bumpy olive green mexican tiles all throughout. i can still feel the cool texture on my bare feet. we used to run in the "meadow", a large grassy area which would fill with flowers in the spring, then scamper over to the corral where their old, appaloosa mare named Sugarplum was housed. we used to laugh at her when we would feed her tortillas and they would get stuck to the roof of her mouth. they had a german shepherd named Lady, and another black one named Sport. Sport once got into the bunny cage and killed all of the rabbits. still remember that. i also remember sticking hot pins into Sport's ticks, which were many. great fun for a bunch of kids (i think they ended up with 12 children) with nothing to do but run around a 10 acre estate all summer. no computers, no ipods...only the partridge family and the brady bunch on friday nights. we were the "older kids" so we were responsible for looking after the "younger" ones all day. one day one of the "younger" ones pooped in the pool. we were all laughing hysterically and totally grossed out while scooping it up with the net. not sure which "little" one was responsible. dont think anyone ever fessed up. these wonderful people took me into their home like one of their own, and included me in most if not all of their family activities. thank you for providing such warm memories, and possibly shaping me into the person i am now, with your great examples of how decent human beings should behave.

my mother was equal in her friendships with those around her. i remember very well, playing with kids from the ward who had hardly anything. however, that didnt matter to me or anyone else. what they DID have was priceless. i have memories of spending the night in a tiny little home of a friend, who's bedroom was an added on "lean to" if you will, with not much insulation, and a walk through to the living room and another added on adjacent room. adorned with dated furniture and minimal bedding and one miniscule bathroom which took care of their whole household just fine. her dad was a janitor, and her mother worked hard physically too as i remember. they had a boston terrier they adored, probably the ugliest dog i have ever known. to this day when i see one, i think of my friend in redlands who lived in the house with the gravel driveway. these "salt of the earth" types were my favorites. loved these wonderful, caring people who were not afraid to show they cared. they also introduced me to the wonderful treat of white toast smeared with peanut butter. they were humble, generous and good people. thank you for showing me at a young age that all of the "stuff" doesnt really matter. it's what is inside that is crucial.

so in memory of all of these wonderful people, i have included Ellie Dombrowski's pancake recipe, from the redlands ward cookbook (probably circa 1970) which i have been using for years. truly the best pancakes i have ever had. o, and also to the sisters who are in my ward now and have a copy of the current tijeras canyon recipe book, please note that i accidentally omitted the 3 eggs in the recipe that was printed. sorry. i am a recovering scatterbrain.

3 cups flour
3 eggs
3 cups buttermilk
3 TBS sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
6 tsp baking powder
milk to thin

and to Ellie Dombrowski, thank you for making beautiful memories in my home.

"All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother."

my mom has taught me:

how to endure

how to appreciate the beauty of nature

how to tie my shoes

how to be tough

how to be soft

how to bathe my first child

the importance of bibs

how important the gospel is

the importance of placemats

to love the arts

how important it is to tell the truth

to be grateful

to be prepared

to be Christian

it's ok to let your hair go gray

the importance of good quality linens

to have good manners

how to feed myself

how to wrap a package beautifully

how to work hard

how to make bread

its ok to be yourself

to be a good speller

how important it is to read the newspaper

how to arrange flowers

the art of putting together a beautiful bed

the importance of education

how to make freezer jam

how to penny pinch

how to right a wrong

how to be fair

its ok to buy expensive shoes once in awhile

to appreciate the little details

how to stick up for myself

how to stick up for my children

how to set a table correctly

how to be gracious

how to walk

to be nice to those who may not deserve it

how important it is not to judge

how crucial it was to have her around when baby number 1,2,3,4 and
5 arrived. (couldn't have done it without her)

how important integrity is

how to be a mom and

everything i know and am


i love you mom

somebody's been busy...

i have a small outdoor aviary, which houses my sweet little finches. all colors of the rainbow, even one who looks like a strawberry. the red color on his breast gets vibrant a few times a year, when he is in the mood to make babies. interesting little fact you were dying to hear, i am sure. and i will add, no babies yet. anyway. they are always busy, making their nests all the more cozy, enjoying a bath in the sunlight of the morning, and eagerly waiting for me to step back after i replenish their daily treats of fresh hard boiled egg and lettuce. just love them.

well, this little momma cordon bleu has decided she should spend her whole life sitting on this clutch of empty eggs, and i will say, she has been busy!! too bad no one told her that her man must be infertile, or have some sort of issue. she is still in denial, laying and laying, somewhat hopeful a miracle will occur. she is steadfast in her pursuit of a family, bless her little blue heart.

i had the delicate duty of removing her dream today. so sorry momma, you need to start over. maybe your man will come thru for you in the end.

good luck.

utah without a suitcase

well, never done this before...drove to st george, bought aenon a car, then turned around and drove back. left at 6am, returned about when the sun was going down. my beloved denali took care of me the whole way. i know, we are weird with our cars. we spend a lot of time together, then start talking to them like trusted confidants. i am losing my mind, for sure.

other than some swollen feet, i was a-ok, heat seater and all. turned on my xm radio and and i was good to go. love a car who owns the road, and sits taller than most other vehicles. learned some interesting things from doctor radio and oprahs channel. got filled in on what sarah palins daughter (also teenage mom) should and should not do (maybe everyone should just mind their own business), and i now know my children should have never been vaccinated, or vaccinated on a way slower schedule-but that is another ranting post in the making. anyway, aenon was able to co-sign with us on this car, so this one is really "hers". hopefully she will keep this one clean, and free from any serious contusions. this exciting purchase brings the grand total to 5 (yes, you heard me right) automobiles poor craig is responsible for.

when i arrived home, the hand me down honda was looking pretty lonely in the driveway, all bruised and dirty. i sort of felt sorry for him, having been so nonchalantly replaced by a "newer" version. i am sure he will perk up once he figures out eden is his new best friend. i know, we are odd...we talk about them like they are alive. never felt that way about my mercedes tho-always hated that car. he was a lazy, no good snob. (i have just a little anger towards him-his dumb cousin, my friend, april's car, is the same way. must run in the family-she hates him too).

thats why he was sent back.

aenon arrived in provo a few hours earlier than i arrived in california-i guess st george isnt the halfway mark after all.