MiMi's World

Tree house

2009-06-25T19:42:00.002-07:00

We went out to G-ville on Sunday for Father's Day. We are always excited to go there because we get to see our family especially our grandchildren. My mother-in-law has a friend who has been working on a tree house in her backyard for the grandchildren. Years ago there was, well as my children put it, a pathetic tree house in the same place as the new on that is being built. Well this new treehouse is ginormous. It is still a work in progress, but as you can see it is every child's dream of what a tree house should be. The roof is still under construction and the barn red paint needs to applied. We all had fun exploring it.

Landon enjoying the slide. You gotta love that his shoes are on the wrong feet.

My Life, Lately

2009-06-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

My life lately has been really busy and somewhat stressful. After we returned from our wonderful trip, I had to start studying for my National Council Licensure Exam (NCLEX). This is the licensure test that officially confirms that you are ready to begin practicing as a registered nurse. I have to admit I was so tired of studying, but the fear of failing the NCLEX was enough to keep me motivated. I also had some good friends from school who wanted to study together which helped keep us all motivated. You need to understand that all during nursing school you are being prepped for this exam. The instructors are drilling into your minds ways to study for it and they are constantly giving insightful hints to help you answer questions that you may have no earthly idea of what the answer might be. There are practice questions that are similiar to the real questions, 3,500-4,000 to be exact, that you are encouraged to work on, that will help you with the exam. It is highly suggested that you do all of the practice questions before you take the test because it will further your knowledge. Alot of weight is put on this exam, not only the fact that you have to pass to work as an RN, but also the nursing school you attend is judged on how well their students do on the exam. Now you can fail this test and retake it, but come on who wants to at $200 a pop. So needless to say, this test is a big deal!

In between study sessions I have tried to get my flowers and vegetable garden planted. We had are sweet grandchildren for a weekend. So much fun and so much work!

Isn't he adorable! He is showing off his Batman pjs.

Addy loves wearing her hat. She gets cuter by the day.

Then the dreaded day of the exam arrived. I felt prepared because I did about 10-12 hours of studying a week, but it is one of those tests that you just really do not know how well you did. You feel comfortable half of the time that you know the answers, but the other half of the time you are thinking that you have no earthly idea what the answer is and you take an educated guess.

Well the good news is that I passed the test and I can finally start to enjoy my summer. I do need to find a job eventually, but for now, I am going to enjoy summer as much as I can. However, we do have a daughter getting married at the end of August that we need to finish planning. So who actually has time to find a job with all of the other things happening in one's life. By the way, I do love my life!

I can't believe my little bubba is 4!

2009-06-08T22:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that our Landon is 4 years-old. He is the cutest and smartest little boy. He wanted a skateboard for his birthday and despite my begging and pleading to his parents, they got him one.

Ever since Landon taught himself to ride his bicycle, I have been stressing to him to wear a helmet. I bought him a helmet and I constantly remind him to wear it. So when I was talking to him and trying to help him understand that a skateboard was not a good idea because it is dangerous, his reply was, "But Mimi I will wear my helmet". I wasn't goimg to win this battle.

Here Landon is poising by the pinata. It is almost as big as he is.

What a swing that little guy has. He was doing some serious damage.

Go Bubba go!

Opening presents

Addie enjoying the candy from the pinata. Unfortuantely she lllllloooovvvveeeesss candy.

Happy birthday to our sweet little boy. We love you!

LONDON - DAY 7

2009-06-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

This is our last day in London. We took in some more sights and we did a little browsing in Harrods. There is actually a designated time set a side for those who want to browse and not buy. I had the crazy idea that I could actully purchase some scarves for my daughters. It was crazy how expensive things were in that store. I saw some beautiful scarves which were priced at around $700. I DON'T THINK SO! Needless to say we got the heck out of there, but before we left I did take some pictures of the inside.

Inside Harrods on the floor that expensive scarves and purses are sold.

Here I am standing outside of Harrods.

To top off our wonderful time in London went to the broadway show "Wicked". Bret and I both agreed that it was fabulous. The theatre that the show was performed in had some fabulous architecture. It was a great night. (Please excuse the horrible picture of myself. The sun was so bright I could not help but squint. I did not take very many good pictures while on our trip).

We really packed in alot of sightseeing and activities while we were in London. But I think the greatest part of my vacation was spending every minute with my sweetheart. Thank you sweetie you planned a great trip. I love you!

LONDON - DAY 6

2009-06-08T19:32:00.000-07:00

Today we decided to take a trip outside of London. We took a tour that visited Leeds Castle near Maidstone, Kent, England, the quaint town of Canterbury where Canterbury Cathedral is located, and the White Cliffs of Dover.

The castle is built on an island. It was originally built by Henry VIII for his wife Catherine of Aragon. It was purchased in 1926 by Lady Baillie who redecorated and donated it to the Leeds Castle foundation when she died.

One of the rooms inside the castle.

A sweets shop in the middle of the shopping square in Canterbury. There were some amazing candies found here. Some I recognized and some I did not.

The Canterbury Catherdral

Inside the Catherdral, it was amazing and this picture does not do it justice.

The White Cliffs of Dover which face the Strait of Dover and France. They are symbolic to Britain because they face towards Continental Europe across the narrowest part of the English Channel, where invasions have historically threatened and against which the cliffs form a symbolic guard. They are white in color because are calcium carbonate with streaks of black flint.

A resort on the beach near the cliffs.

Here I am about to touch the Atlantic Ocean and you can see the pebble beach. There is not any sand found on this beach!

At the end of our tour we boarded a boat that took us on a scenic drive along the Thames River for several miles. We drove under the Tower Brige (below). It was a fun day.

LONDON - DAY 5

2009-05-24T15:26:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am finally sometime to complete our London experience. Today is Sunday, so we are going to take it easy. We went to church. The church is located on a street that is mostly office buildings. Across the street from the church is the Natural history and a Science museum. If you are not careful you could pass the church without knowing it was there.

The ward that we attended was the Hyde Park Ward. The members were really friendly and the membership in the ward consists of many different nationalities. There were many visitors in attendance along with students from BYU and their professors who are studying in London for about 6 weeks. There are several American families who are working there and going to school. There was a special spirit there. I loved it. I tried to convince Bret to find a job here in London for a couple of years so that we could travel Europe and be in the mission field again. He wouldn't have it.

After church we went to Hyde Park because we wanted to witness Speakers' Corner. Speakers' Corner is where people get on stepladders and speak their mind on religion. See the photo below. President Hinckley mentions this corner in his book and some experiences he had when he was on his church mission here in London. It was quite entertaining. There were a lot of people in the park. The park is close to a lot of nice shopping like Harrods. It was Sunday so we didn't do any of the shopping though. We plan on shopping a little on Tuesday.

After a much needed nap we were hoping to take in a concert at Westminster Abbey. We thought that there was a concert around 5 pm, but no such luck. So we walked around the grounds of the Abbey and walked around St. James Park where there is a memorial walk dedicated to Princess Diana. It was nice relaxing day which included a much needed nap.

LONDON - DAY 4

2009-05-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

Today we ventured out of London and visited Wimbledon Lawn, Tennis, and Croquet club. Yes, that is the correct name as we were told today during our tour. If you are not familiar with Wimbledon, it is where one of the major professional tennis tournaments of the year is played. This was a must see due to the fact that Bret loves to play and watch the game of tennis. We took a tour of the grounds and saw court one and other side courts, as well as the every famous center court. The center court stadium is not that big and while we were seated in there we didn't think that there would be a bad seat. Too bad that tickets are so hard to get. We also toured the media room where all of the players are brought for interviews. Bret is sitting in that seat below. Doesn't he make a great tennis star!

Here we are at center court.

While we were out in the country, we also went to see Henry VIII's Hampton Court Palace. All of the palaces have tapestries, paintings and architecture that are outstanding. Sorry for the nudity in the pictures. I am not up on the history of art around this time, but you see a lot of art with bare chests and scantily clad women. The gardens are really pretty and very spectacular. They put my flower garden to shame. Below are pictures of an outside front view of the palace and one of the murals that is painted on the ceiling and wall of one of the stairways.

They have the best soft serve ice cream here. It is a lot thicker and almost like a custard in a cone. They top it off with a stick of chocolate. It is so good!

Both of these sites were out near the town of Richmond which was a neat area. It is in the country, but it had a lot of shopping available and many cafe's and pubs. We traveled by Tube and bus and were surprised how easy it was to get there, that is after Bret did a lot of research.

LONDON - DAY 3

2009-05-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

Today was another busy day sightseeing. We to Buckingham Palace to witness the ever so famous changing of the guards. That is a very pomp and circumstance event which Bret had a much better view of than I did. We have one of those sightseeing books about London which mentioned that the better part of the changing of the guards was done before the soldiers arrived at the palace at a different location. So he wanted to see that, but I didn't really want to, so I joined the hundreds of people who were waiting at the palace.

Changing of the Guards

Buckingham Palace

While Bret and a few other tour groups were waiting for the soldiers to come out of the specific area mentioned in the book, a policeman came out and told them that the soldiers would not be coming out this way today. So Bret decided to walk around towards the palace and happen to fall into an area where he had a great view of the ceremony. I was able to see it, but not as well as he did. I was in front of the palace up on the center fountain area and my view was sort of blocked by the gate and other people. It was still fun and it is one of those sights you need to see when in London.

We visited the Queen's Gallery, which is a museum that houses the royal treasures (art and furniture) that has been purchased through the years by the royal family. I found that very interesting and was glad that we stumbled upon it because that was not on our to do list.

We wanted to visit Kensington Palace where Princess Diane lived while married to Prince Charles, but it was closed for the day. We hope to visit that on another day. The Kensington area is a very nice area, with a lot of shopping. I tasted my first gelato while shopping and forgot to take a picture of it. It was sooo good. Bret even liked it because it and he does not like many sweet tasting things. We didn't have time to go to Harrod's shopping, but we will before we leave. I hope to pick a scarf or something like that in my price range to bring home to my daughters.

In front of Kensington Palace

We are getting comfortable with the Tube and I wish we had something like that in Utah. It is definitely the way to get around London. Tomorrow will be an adventure. We are heading to Wimbledon and Hampton Court and will travel by the Tube and by bus.

LONDON - Day 2

2009-05-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

Today was a full day of sight-seeing. We left the hotel at 8:30 am and returned at 9:30 pm. We probably walked over 7 miles and rode the Tube (subway) multiple times to see all that we wanted to today. We visited the Tower of London, The Tower Bridge, took in a display on The British Wartime, went to London Bridge, The Globe ( a replica of the Shakespearean Theatre that existed when Shakespeare's plays were first performed), St. Paul's Cathedral (which was amazing), and toured the London Museum. We are so tired right now all we want to do is go to bed, but I wanted to give an update on our travels. Here are a couple of pictures of our day.

This is at the Tower Bridge.

This is Bret with one of the soldiers at the Tower of London.

LONDON - Day 1

2009-05-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

We are finally here after the long, cramped, and sleepless flights. We flew out of SLC to NY and then on to London. That equals 11 hours in a plane with a 3 hour layover in NY, ughh. We arrive at Heathrow airport in London and had to wait an hour for our transportation to our hotel, yeah we were a little annoyed by that, but once we arrived at our hotel (which is great by the way) we took a much needed nap. After the nap and a shower we headed out to get transportation and tour passes and to take in a little of the city. We went to Piccadilly Circus which reminds me of New York's Times Square and also to Trafalgar Square. We wanted to go into the the National gallery which is an art museum that has many works of art by famous artist, but it was closed, so we ate at the first restaurant we came upon which happened to be Italian and it was excellent. We hadn't planned on it, but we were so close to the London Eye that we bought a ticket and got on it. What a fabulous way to see London! It is the world's largest observation wheel. It is a gigantic ferris wheel and you are inside a capsule like apparatus ( there are 30 capsules all together) which rotates slowly, 30 minutes to be exact, allowing you a unique view of the city. I really enjoyed that. The photo is of Mr. Bret and myself while we are on the London Eye. You can see Big Ben in the background on the right. It started to get dark so we walked back to our hotel, passing Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. These buildings have fabulous architecture and history. We are planning to tour them later in the week.

That is an update of our travels here in London, not bad for being here 12 hours and functioning on only a 2 hour nap. Oh, by the way I did fry my hair straightener when I misunderstood that the converter plug was not the volt converter plug, oh well that is not going to ruin my vacation!

Last Day of Class!

2009-04-21T15:35:00.000-07:00

Today I had my last day of class. I can't believe this day has finally arrived. It is such a good feeling. However, I am sad that I won't be able see my nursing friends on a regular basis. Oh, we have plans to get together every three months to catch up, but it will be different not spending time with them as often as I have the last two years.

When I started this journey, we had been living here in Utah a little over a year. My babies (twin daughters) had graduated from high school and had left home and were off to college. For the first time in twenty-seven years, I did not have children at home to keep me busy. I didn't realize that my life would change so drastically and so suddenly. Not only were our children moving out and on with their lives, but I had left behind a life that I had built for fourteen years full of friends and familiarity in Memphis. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to be living here. I just needed something productive to keep me busy, shopping and lunch dates are fun for only so long.

Through the years I had been going to school off and on working towards a nursing degree. So when I came to the realization that I needed a life, I knew that I needed to apply to a nursing program to see if I would be accepted. I think I had resigned to the fact that I would not be accepted because when I got my acceptance letter I was excited, but I thought, "Oh, I guess I have to do this now". Well, I am so glad that I did. It has been one of the hardest things I have done, but also one of the most rewarding.

So here is to no more case studies, service hours, clinical journals, clinical hours, group presentations, ugly green scrubs, etc, etc. But, I only get a short reprieve of a couple of weeks, and then I must begin to prepare for my state board exam. If I don't pass that exam I will not be able to practice as a nurse.

I haven't heard back from the residency positions that I applied to. I heard through the grapevine that for one of the positions that I applied, there were over 100 applicants for only 16 available positions. Yeah, I am going to need more than fingers crossed, I am going to need a miracle. Oh well, I am sure something will work out.

Here are some pictures compliments of my great friend Wendy. The first photo is our group photo. The last picture is a few of us celebrating by going out to lunch. To my fellow nursing students I say, thank you it has been alot of fun!

I'm finished :(

2009-04-13T16:06:00.000-07:00

Last night was my last clinical for my preceptorship in labor and delivery. I never thought I would say this, but I am so sad. If you have ever been a nursing student, the usual response when you finish a clinical rotation is, "YES I'M finished!". Clinicals are usually really stressful because of all of the dos and don'ts and learning that goes on. You don't want to contaminate your sterile field, you hope and pray that you do have a flash of blood when you are placing your IV, (that means you are in the right place), and the list goes on and on. There is so much to learn and depending on your clinical instructor or nurse that you follow, it can be a good experience or a down right bad experience. This clinical experience was amazing! I am really going to miss the nurses I worked with. My preceptor (the nure I followed) was wonderful. I learned so much and have definitely decided that I want to practice in Women and Children's services.

This is my wonderful preceptor who taught me so much.

Some of the great nurses that I got to spend alot of time with. You guys are awesome!

The new project is finding a job. To work for an IHC hospital (which are most of the hospitals in Utah) as a new graduate, you must apply and get accepted to their Residency program that opens up about three times a year. There are limited openings and as you can imagine very competitive because most of the new graduates are applying. So join me in crossing your fingers, hoping that I can get into a Residency program. I have applied to two different programs. One at IMC in the NICU and the other is at one of the three Utah county hospitals.

Farewell to the lovely (not) green scrubs that I have had to wear the last two years. I am so tired of wearing them. I 'm thinking of having a "burn the scrubs" party to celebrate not having to wear them anymore.

I only have 2 tests and 1 paper to write and I will be finished with my schooling. I can hardly believe it. I'm looking forward to this new and exciting chapter in my life.

Can you guess where I'm going?

2009-04-08T16:19:00.001-07:00

That's right. London here we come! You might remember in a previous blog, that I mentioned I was in much need of a vacation. Well it has been decided that London it is. I am so excited. So if you have been there and have any suggestions of places to see and visit, please post them. We will be there the last week of May. He did good didn't he!

Snowshoeing To Donut Falls

2009-04-08T15:49:00.000-07:00

A few of us from our church group went snowshoeing the other day. We had to postpone the adventure a couple of times due to inclement weather. It was worth the wait. We could not have picked a more beautiful day. I had never been showshoeing before and really enjoyed it. It was a really fun way to get in some exercise and spend time with some really great ladies. Thanks to Heather and Rachel for putting it together.

Easter Fun

2009-04-08T15:26:00.000-07:00

We had an early Easter celebration with the family. Landon had a great time with the Easter egg hunt. We held it inside due to the wet and cold weather we have been experiencing, UGHH! Addie didn't really care about finding eggs after she found one and realized that there was candy inside of it. She just wanted to eat the candy.

A Happy Birthday Wish!

2009-03-29T12:04:00.001-07:00

Today is my mother's 67th birthday. I am really grateful that I have her for my mother. She is a kind and gentle lady with a big and loving heart. She has a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and is a wonderful example for her family. She gave birth to 9 children and worked miracles daily while raising all of us. She continues to be a wonderful grandmother to 35 and a greatgrandmother to 4. When I spoke to her last night she didn't feel well. She has a cold and is aching all over. There won't be a celebration today, the party will have to wait until she feels better. I hope you feel better soon mom. Happy Birthday and I love you!

Kids do and say the darndest things :)

2009-03-27T19:54:00.000-07:00

Our son called us the other day to tell us a story about our darling grandson. Their family was sitting down to dinner and Landon enthusiastically volunteered to say the blessing on their food. He bowed his head and began, "I pledge allegiance to the flag", holding back laughter, his mother reminds him, no its Heavenly Father..... Landon has been learning the pledge of allegiance at preschool and got a little mixed up. He continually makes us smile. Oh how I love that little boy.

Another funny story I heard, is about a seven-year-old boy who had become seperated from his mother in a Wal-Mart store in West Valley City. He went up to an employee and asked for help in locating his mother. He was taken to the customer service desk and was told to say his and his mother's name over the intercom. When he was put in front of the microphone he says, "I'd like to bear my testimony", I guess everyone in Wal-Mart stopped for a minute to try to figure out what was going on. Only in Utah would this happen, you gotta love it.

Are you kidding me!!

2009-03-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday when I retrieved our mail from the mailbox I found the above advertisement and coupons. Are you kidding me! Smoking is a very seroius and deadly addiction that can cause many problems to your health. Unfortunately, I have people who I love and care about who have succumbed to this addiction and knowing that this rubbish is mailed out to people infuriates me and it is just wrong. How kind of them to include the above warning as well. The warning is geared toward a woman because it was sent to one of my daughters. Needless to say this info was ripped up and thrown in the trash immediately. So beware when you go to get your mail, you may also find this rubbish lurking in your mailbox.

Long time no blog :(

2009-03-24T21:44:00.000-07:00

Here is what I have been up to lately.

My husband, son and I went to my grandmother's funeral to honor her and to say goodbye. The funeral services appropriately reminded us of what a great lady she was and of her many great accomplishments. I also was able attend my neice and nephew's basketball games. They both played well and each of their teams won their game which sent them to the state basketball tournament. Unfortunately, they didn't do that great at state, but the fact that they made it to state is a great accomplishment. Way to go Ty and Tori! I really wish I lived closer to attend all of these events.

I took my Hesi exam at school and passed, Woohoo! This required much studying and caused me alot of stress. We have to pass the exam to pass the semester. You can take it another time if you don't pass and pay $40, no thank you. After you take this exam, you are given a print out which tells you the areas that you did well in and the areas that you need to work on. This will help us successfully pass our state boards to become licensed registered nurses. I hope to take that big test at the end of May.

I have started my preceptorship in labor and delivery and I absolutely love it. The nurse I am assigned to is awesome as are all of the other nurses who I get to tag along with. I hope to get some pictures of these awesome ladies so I can post more later about this great expeience. I now feel that all of the schooling and stress have been worth it. I just hope that I can find a job when I graduate.

Speaking of graduation, that will occur on May 1. My son-in-law, John will also be graduating. It will be a great day. We have ordered our cap and gown and are so looking forward to that day. To top if off the Prophet will be speaking at our commencement. John and I will also be at the same convocation when we get our diplomas. Whohoo!!!

Spring break was last week for those of us who attend UVU. Needless to say I was busy the first part of the week with my clinicals. I am working nights which are different but I think I like that better than getting up at 4 am to get to the hospital by 5:45 am. So I was trying to catch up on some sleep. I was hoping for a wonderful vacation, but it wouldn't work with the hubby's work schedule. He is supposedly going to surprise me with a vacation after graduation. Instead I had a pedicure and did nothing school related. I also spent some fun time with my daughter Cara. We had lunch and did some shopping at the Gateway on Friday. It was a great day and the weather was fantastic for shopping.

Back to the much needed and wanted vacation with my husband. I have been wanting to go on a Mediterranean adventure. I happen to think a cruise is the best and cheapest way to visit many different continents and cities. I really want to visit Italy, Monaco, Greece, and Turkey to name a few. I had a cruise all picked out and suggested it to my husband and he about freaked out about the length of time he would have to take off of work. It was only a 10-day cruise, but with travel time it would be more like 12 days. I was shocked he freaked out over the length of time gone and not the price. So now he has proposed that he will surprise me. I first agreed with that, but now I am not so sure. So to my daughters, if dad asks you for suggestions, tell him to pick something that we have not done before unless it is Hawaii, I can always do Hawaii.

I will miss you Grandma Dorothy!

2009-03-04T15:29:00.000-08:00

Today is a day of mixed emotions for me. My dear sweet grandma passed away. She would have celebrated her 90th birthday on March 10. I am happy she has finally passed on because she has not felt well for several years. However, I am sad because I will miss her, especially when I go back to my home town to visit. I saw her almost everyday while I was growing up and it won't be the same without her.

Grandma Dorothy was a grandma who knew how to have fun. She tried to make sure that all of the cousins knew each other regardless of how far away we lived from each other. She would invite all of her grandchildren from near and far to come and spend time with her. Now that was not an easy accomplishment, there were and are many of us. We always had a great time even though at times we had to make rules like; no tattling, no fighting, etc. We would go swimming, roller skating, to the Sand Dunes, to the mountains, and she even tubed down the river with us. We had so much fun together.

I will remember grandmas, spunkiness, ambition, dill pickles, homemade chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles, cooked ham and gravy, her cowgirl ways (she really was a cowgirl and she has the scars to prove it from being bucked off of many horses), her love for Pepsi, her love for the mountains, the way she reacted when she was mad (d***, d***, d***), and most of all the love she had for the gospel of Jesus Christ and her family. My grandma along with my grandpa served two church missions and served in many different capacities in the church organizations. She has really been a good example to me.

I just wanted to pay tribute to her because I love her and I will miss her.

Volcanoes, are you kidding me!

2009-02-26T09:42:00.000-08:00

As you know from my previous post I got to spend some time with my grandbabies last weekend. While I was driving them to my house Landon and I were playing the "I spy" game. I am sure that you all know about the game, where you describe a visible object to another person giving them clues until they guess what the object is. Well I was the person describing and Landon was guessing. He had guessed correctly a couple of times. Then all of the sudden he says, "Look Mimi there is some ballcaneos!", in his excited, loud and hoarse voice. I didn't really understand what he was saying and I couldn't turn around and look where he was pointing because I was driving. So I asked him to repeat what he had said. "Look at the ballcaneos!", he repeated. We came to a stoplight so I turned around to look at what he was pointing at. He was pointing to the mountains and I then I finally got it. He was saying volcanoes. I am thinking this kid is only 3 (will be 4 in June) how in the heck does he know about volcanoes. So I asked him to tell me what he knew about them. He proceeds to tells me how they have lava in them that spews out (yes, the kid said spews) and that it is hot. I am sitting in my seat in amazement, thinking my grandson is a genis. I asked him where did he learn about volcanoes. He said that he learned it from "Little Einsteins". As a matter of fact I am pretty sure that I bought him that version of "Little Einsteins". I had heard great things about those particular DVDs and I am glad to see they are instructional and are teaching interesting facts to my grandson. As a side note if you were wondering, I did explain to him that the mountains were not volcanoes.

I love those moments with these precious little people. It also reminded me of how much of a sponge their little minds are and that we really need to make sure that they see and hear good and uplifiting things.

I love, love, love them!

2009-02-23T17:27:00.000-08:00

My sweet grandbabies came to visit this weekend. Grandpa and Mimi had alot of fun with them. Landon and Mimi had a lot of fun with the camera. Please forgive the nasal shots of moi, I look a little scarry.

LA means Louisiana

2009-02-23T17:09:00.000-08:00

Last night at dinner I was having a conversation with one of my daughters and this is how it went.
Jess: Mardi Gras is going on now, right mom?
Me: Yes, I had't thought about it, but it is happening now.
Jess: Well Cara (another daughter) called me last night to make sure it was Mardi Gras time. I also heard that a guy got killed in L.A. during Mardi Gras.
Me: Yes, I am not surprised, it gets pretty crazy in New Orleans when Mardi Gras is happening. But wait did you say LA?
Jess: Yes, Los Angeles.
Me: No Jess, LA stands for LOUSIANA!
Jess: Oh?
ME: LOL

Thanks for the good laugh Jess, you continue to make life interesting!

Valentine's Weekend Getaway

2009-02-16T16:21:00.000-08:00

My husband gets an A for effort this year. I don't know about you, but Valentine's day for us usually means a date with dinner. Which, if you go to a good resturant, usually means an hour plus wait, unless you go somewhere that is reservations only. So this year we thought we would try something different.

A few weeks ago my husband had heard about the Aspen Grove Family Camp and Conference Center and while he was browsing their website he noticed that they had Marriage Weekend Getaways and there just happened to be one on Valentine's Day. These getaways include educational lectures on marriage with dinner and accomodations Friday night, breakfast and lunch on Saturday and outside recreational activies of cross country skiing and snowshoeing. The outdoor activities really interested my husband, he loves to be outdoors and I try to keep up with him. Even though we are coming up on 28 years of marriage, there is always room for improvement, so we thought we would give the weekend a try.

The getaway was well worth it. We had a good time and learned alot. The food was fabulous! Dr. Jason Carroll gave 4 1-hour lectures (1 Friday night and 3 on Saturday morning) was very captivating while he instructed us on how to better communicate in our marriage. He gave us great advice and many things to practice and use. We wanted to snowshoe, but I had brought the wrong kind of shoes so I waited while my husband walked the trail. While we were up at Aspen Grove it snowed about 7 inches. While we were listening to the lectures, we were in a room that had big windows and we could see the snow falling amidst the evergreen trees and the mountains. It was a beautiful sight.

Overall, it was a good experience and we came away with many good suggestions that we are going to implement into our marriage. My husband's need to improve his life and his desire to stay active are some of the many ways that I love him. I look forward to many more happy years with him. I love you Mr. B and thank you for a great weekend!

Embrace Your Body!

2009-02-11T10:37:00.000-08:00

Let me just preface this post by stating that I am not the greatest writer and I will probably have many gramatical and punctuation errors, so please forgive me. But I have to get this off my chest. My life has been changed forever and hopefully what I write will make a difference in your life.

I have been at Center for Change for the last few weeks fulfilling nursing school clinical hours.
While I was at the center, I was introduced to one of the Clinical Directors, Nicole Hawkins. She has a PhD in Clinical/Counseling Psychology from USU and is a well respected and sought after speaker. I was able to attend one of her body image sessions with some of the patients at the center and I recently attended one of her lectures at UVU. Can I just tell you that I was very enlightened and with this enlightment I became outraged!

Nicoles's lecture was focused towards the media and how it has distorted our (women's) perceptions of how our bodies should look. Many of the photos that we see in fashion magazines and of celebrities are air brushed to enhance their appearance. By air brushing you can enhance any photograph. To see how this is done veiw this video made by Dove. Necks, eyes, waists, hips, any part of the body can be digitally manipulated to make the person look "perfect".

Nicole gave examples of celebrities who have had their photos manipulated to enhance their bodies. Apparently when Jennifer Aniston was working on the show "Friends", she worked out for 8 hours a day, to keep her body in what she thought was "top shape". After all of her work, it still wasn't good enough because Jennifer did a photo shoot for the cover of a popular magazine (I don't remember which one) and they ended up using her head but not her bodyand the same thing happened with Kate Winslet. They both tried to sue the responsible people, but couldn't because of some legal clause. Another example given, was when Katie Couric was introduced as the new anchor woman for the CBS Evening News. When Katie was shown the photo that was to be published, it was her photo alright, but it had been airbrushed to make her look thinner. She was upset about this and demanded that they use her original photo.

Nicole also shared some staggering figures. She said that our kids see 400-600 images per day from TV and magazines and that by the age of 12 will have seen 77, 546 commercials. All showing images of bodies, that have been manipulated, to instill in the minds of our children what the "perfect" body should look like.

This was news to me and I am outraged! If you could spend a day in a place like Center for Change and see what these patients struggle with and how their perceptions of themselves are so negative, you would be outraged too. So I share this with you, because as mothers we need to come together and make sure that we are not contributing to this distorted perception of what are bodies should look like. I hope by now we all realize that there is no such thing as the "perfect" body and that we are okay with that. Let's communicate this to our children. It is important for us to teach them to embrace their bodies and to be thankful for it no matter what. Their body is perfect for them and nobody has the right to tell them otherwise. The message to our children should be that they feel good, both physically and mentally. It is our responsibility to teach them how to properly take care of their bodies. We need to teach by example! It is important that we ourselves do not obsess over dieting or constantly point out what we think our body imperfections might me. We must teach them how to feed their minds and bodies properly. We need to serve healthy meals and snacks and fill their minds with good words. Teach them the importance of exercise by participating in it yourself. Through this process their self worth will be strong and they will be in the right frame of mind and in a good place to ward off any bad influences and situations that may suggest to them anything different. Life is to short and to magnificent for our children to be bogged down by all of this junk. It is our responsibilitiy as their mothers to teach them and to give them the power to avoid it. Let's do it!

To my 4 wonderful daughters I want to say I love you!

Happy 2nd Anniversay Jess and John

2009-02-10T21:04:00.000-08:00

Two years ago today John and Jessica were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a beautiful and unseasonably warm day. We are so happy that John joined our family. I love you both!

Good Flick!

2009-02-08T18:10:00.000-08:00

Saw this movie last weekend and I highly recommend it.

Jaw dropping news!

2009-02-02T14:36:00.000-08:00

I am the Primary choritster in our ward. Quite often the children will say things that make me laugh or even make my jaw drop (in a good way). Yesterday, the children were being taught about the importance of families and were asked what things their mothers and fathers did for them. There were many expected replies like their mom's cooked for them and their dad's went to work. Well one of the little girls replied that her dad did the laundry at their house. As you can probably quess many of us women in the room raised our eyebrows and thought hmmmm. This little girls mother happen to be in the Primary substituting and didn't realize what her daughter had said. So one of the leaders told her what was said and this sister replied,"Oh yeah, he has done 99% of the laundry since we have been married". My jaw dropped to the floor. Let me just ask you this, how does that happen??

I've joined the blogging world!

2009-02-01T18:04:00.000-08:00

My introduction of the blogging world was when Nie Nie and her husband were in a tragic airplane crash. Ever since, I have been basically blog stalking. So I think it is high time that I create my own blog. Not that I have any insightful or life changing advice, but more to share my adventures of life and how I am trying to enjoy my journey through life. So welcome to all my family, friends and others who may stumble upon my blog.