~TO MY GJO~

Ok I am a HUGE slacker! This is true! I have been in a funk lately. I am not sure why, I don't know how it happened. But alas I am. I am so sad summer is gone already! It went so fast and I feel like I got nothing accomplished! Maybe this is why I am in a funk! I hate feeling like that! I am going to try and do better managing my time so that I can get everything done, but man between work and kids and life I feel very bogged down!

Ok I will stop with the ranting! I have so much to post about but again was in such a rush to get out the door I left the camera at home! Lucky for me the pictures I need of Jimi Jo are on my computer, so today I will give Jo her a very LATE birthday shout out!

My niece Jimi Jo turned 16 years old on the 20th. Let me just say WOW really 16! How can this be? Jo is such an amazing person! She and I have always been so close. I don't think I could ever put into words what this kid means to me! When Lori and her family moved, I was crushed! I knew all of the things I would be missing with her! I would miss our girl time when she would come stay for the weekend with me, we would laugh and be silly. Ride down main street in Driggs and sing with all the windows down. Or we would go to the drive in and eat yummy bad for you food! Or she would help me paint something or just hang out! She is just the coolest kid ever! Jo has the kindest spirit she wants to help everyone and make sure everyone is happy. She is always there to lend me an ear to listen to my woes or a helping hand to help me with my kids so my load seems lighter. Jo can make me laugh so hard my guts hurt! I love watching her grow up(even from afar) what an amazing young women she is becoming! I love that she is so strong willed. She always has been too! I will never forget when she was like 3 and someone was telling her not to do something and she looked them square in the face and she said "You not the boss of me, I the boss of Shane!" (my boyfriend at the time) From day one we knew this kid was going to do many great things in her life and influence many people! The strength she shows by holding on tightly to the things she believes in when not many around her share in her same values, is truly amazing. I love her with all I am. She is such an example to me and to Lacey, I can only pray that Lacey will grow up to be just like her! So to my very best GJO I want to say I love you and hope you had a FABULOUS SWEET 16!!!!!!!

Happy 1st BIRTHDAY Miss CY CY!

WOW....REALLY???!!??! No way has it been one whole year already! Where has the time gone? It is the craziest thing to me to say my baby is ONE! I can't even begin to explain the joy this little girl has brought into our lives. She is so fabulous! Cylie has the best belly laugh you have ever heard! It reminds me alot of my niece Jimi Jo when Jo was little! It sounds like a burly man is having the time of his life, only to find a tiny little girl making that sound! Oh but don't let her smile fool you, she is every bit the DIVA! Cylie has decided there is not point to walking, since she is a princess she shall just be carried! She screams when things are not going her way, and she is very impatient! She wants it and she wants it NOW! Cylie loves playing with her daddy! She gets very excited to see him. All he has to do is say "I'm gonna..." and she squeals with delight and crawls away as fast as possible for she knows her dad is coming to get her! She has decided the best mode of transportation is on top of Papa's shoulders. She loves her cousin Cooper and can't wait for him to get bigger so they can play. Cylie can say Mom, Dad, Mo(the dog, and all dogs are named mo) sometimes she will say more instead of yell at you, you must pay attention though as more gets confused with Mo. I love when she says tickle tickle tickle! Cutest thing ever! She has been my slowest to talk and walk which makes me nervous for the fact that when she does start she will probably NEVER STOP! I Love when we are playing and I say yeah she will stop what she is doing and clap! I love her little fat roles everywhere! I love the way she almost ALWAYS wakes up with a smile on her face. She is so easy going and happy! I hope and pray that I can be the best mom to her and get it right! So hear is to my little miss Cy Cy! Happy Birthday baby girl!

READY...SET...GO!

Be one of the first three bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me.

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3. The gift that you send your friends can be of any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift, and have shipped your gifts. {And remember it is the spirit and the thought that count.}

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing the appropriate linky.love! If you are not one of the top three commenters on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay it Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same.

remember.pay.it.forward.


I know I did this once already but when I saw it on my friend Alicia's blog I had to do it again...for very selfish reasons....she makes FABULOUS things!

MORE VACATION...and updates at the bottom!

Ok so I am a horrible blogger! Forgive me! I would love to tell you I will do better, but that will just set me up for failure! The last thing I need right now is one more thing to feel guilty about not getting done! SO better late then never I guess! Sadly just getting to Lori's house was so eventful it took a WHOLE post! That really did suck! Oh well the rest of the week was fabulous!

SO here goes...

Sunday June 7,2009
Lori always tells us great stories about her church so I really wanted to go with her to see what it was like. For those of us that grew up with the LDS religion being the majority not minority I was hoping for an eye opening experience. Sadly they were all on there best behavior that day! Other then the Happy Birthday song that was sung in primary it was very uneventful! I must say I was a bit sad about this! HAHA! After church we went back to Lori's to get our jammies back on and relax. We were still soooo exhausted! We had Lacey's bday cake and sloppy Joe's. One of Lacey's favorites! The rest of the day was spent hanging out and laughing.

Monday June 8, 2009
We spent Monday still recouping from the nasty 24 hour road trip. We spent time up in Jo's room hanging out Laughing our guts out. At nothing particular I am sure, but dang we truly are funny girls! Lori was holding Cooper and Cylie was so excited to get her hands on him. She would get so frustrated because we would let her get just close enough that she could see him but not close enough for her to taste him! She was getting so mad! It was pretty funny! The weather was a bit chilly so we all hung out inside just soaking up our time together.

Tuesday June 9, 2009
We headed to Minneapolis to do the Mall of America this day. Originally when we talked about doing this is it was supposed to be a "sister thing" but some of the men decided to tag along which meant some of the kids tagged along. It probably would have been a little less stress with only the sisters but it was still fun! I only wish I had money to spend while we were there! It was huge! They had some rides inside. We let Brook go on one ride with Michelle. Then the bigger girls (Lacey, Jo, Me and Michelle) wanted to go on a bigger girl ride. Lori so should have joined us! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! It was a sponge bob ride it took you straight up to the top of the mall, then dropped you straight to the floor! It took my breath away I tried so hard to scream but I couldn't! It was fun! I could have spent more time doing the rides but alas our time was limited. So we walked and walked and looked and looked. It was fun! If there is ever a next time it will be a girl only trip...maybe an overnight girl trip hmmmmm that's a great idea! The boys that stayed home went fishing. They had a great time. Cylie got to go spend the day with Lori's wonderful friend Heather and her girls! I knew she was in great hands and was enjoying her time so it made it easier for me to have fun at the mall! After we got home it was kinda late so we had a quick dinner then just chilled.

Wednesday June 10, 2009
Wednesday we did more hanging out. The boys had such a good time fishing they went again. The girls did what we do best and laughed and made more memories. It is kinda hard to leave with two little ones, but that is OK we had a perfectly good time just sitting on Jo's floor laughing and being silly.

Thursday June 11, 2009
Thursday we were having some pictures taken by Lori's friend Heather in the evening so we hung out in the morning and hit the local "mall" it was a really sad little place! But non the less we found somewhere to SHOP! haha! I had thought we would all were jeans in our family photos and Bridger had worn his only jeans the day before and put a hole in the knee! Darn boys, how are they so rough on clothes! So that was our mission was to find Bridger some new jeans, that didn't cost a lot! Cause really that is the last thing one wants to buy while on vacation. Anyways while at the local mall we did find some jeans and they were on a really good sale! SCORE! I also found the most fabulous purse ever! I Loved it from the moment I saw it across the store! It was a brown giraffe print bag! Sooo uber fabulous! But again not really in my budget to be buying new bags! So I went across the store to visit the bag, say a nice hello and leave it there! I was sad...but strong! This whole buying things only because you need them is really hard for me! I am learning and am a work in progress. I considered the day a success, we found some inexpensive pants and I left the bag at the store! GO ME! We headed back to Lori's house to get some lunch. Well after we got back Lori looked at Michelle and said "should we give it to her?" I looked puzzled at her and Michelle said "yes!" They pull out the bag! THE BAG I tell you! I was so happy! My thoughtful sisters bought me the bag for an early birthday present! How fabulous are they! I was so touched at their thoughtfulness! My bag and I haven't been separated since!(well except for when I went to KC for work cause it was to big and I didn't want to take up that much space!) After the wonderful surprise and the boys got home we went into Lori's room, locked the door and pulled out our peanut m&m's and oreo's to have a little sister time doing pedicures so our feet looked nice for the photos! It was so fun! Jo figured out where we were and unlocked the door from the outside and joined us! She is so fabulous! I love that kid! She fits right in with the sisters! I do hope one day Lacey fits in with the sisters too!So we had great sister time and our feet looked fabulous for the pictures and life was good! For the photo shoot we went to a lake, don't ask me which one cause man they have a million! I will have to try and steal some of the photos that were taken and try to post them. We had thought we would go to a few different locations to take the photos but the husbands sabotaged us and let the kids get in the lake and get all nasty while the sisters and dad where getting our photos taken. Needless to say I was NOT happy. Good thing Heather is good at what she does and got some good shots because she didn't get near the chance that we thought she would. After pictures we went back to Lori's and hung out...husbands in one area of the house, wife's in the other!

I will have to post the rest of the Vacation that took place almost two months ago on Monday.

~~UPDATE ON MY BROTHER~~

You probably have already been bored to tears and logged off already! I don't blame ya! But if you are still here you get the update on my Brother. First of all thank you so much to all of you that came to me in my hour of need. I am not sure where I stand on the whole prayer thing still but I do want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your faith and love during our time of need! Anyways back to Travis, he told me on Monday morning that the tests came back "negative" is how he called it. Which kinda stresses me out. I think they were testing for something specific but Trav didn't want to freak me out any more than I already was so he left that part out! Little stinker. So what that means is they don't know why his pancreas isn't working but they are hopeful that if the stint does it's job and works correctly with that and medication he will be just fine! YEAH! I am so happy and relieved I must say if I am being honest I am not sure I believe it yet. I think once he starts feeling better and looking healthy again I will be able to breath a sigh of relief and be thankful! For now I am trying not to get too excited, been there, done that, didn't turn out so well! I hope you all have a GREAT weekend.

~~YARD SALE~~

We are have a yard sale tomorrow in Blackfoot so if you need any great finds come check it out! It's at least a 4 family sale so there will be lots of great stuff! Its going to be at the old carpet store across from the old Blackfoot motor on Bridge street! See you there!

PRAYERS NEEDED!

OK I am just going to unload today, I am hoping if I get this all out I can semi function today! Here goes...
I am bitter at the world right now, I have been for a while. I know my life could be so much worse then it is...but really I question that too! It sure feels like since my Mom left us I have been truly alone! ALONE! I hate that feeling! I am struggling again today with this alone feeling, like I have been abandon for the wolves to devour. I know your all thinking Kim your not alone you should pray the Lord will help you. I hate to be a Debbie downer but this is my blog and I am going to lay it out just as I feel. I have tried to pray to feel comfort to feel like this will all make sense one day it hasn't helped. It seems like the more I pray and the things I pray for the opposite happens and I am again ALONE! I begged and pleaded for the Lord to spare my sister's son Kurt, to no avail, he was taken. I prayed and prayed and pondered and did my best to be a good person if he would just please spare my mom. I wasn't done learning all I needed from her. Therefore she must not be done on this earth. Alas she was taken. Now we are looking straight down the barrel of another gun. My brother has been so sick for such a long time. They finally thought they had gotten the answers they needed and went to Seattle for a surgery. A risky one, but one that would make him better and give me back the brother I have been so close to my entire life! They tried on Tuesday and had to stop he was not dealing with the surgery well. The Dr decided to wait and approach his sedation differently the next day. So yesterday July 8th they tried again. They finally got to were they thought they would find his stomach/intestinal issues, well they didn't find anything. I am not sure how it came to be that they decided his pancreas needed a biopsy. I am not really sure I want to know this, it will probably freak me out more. However they did take a biopsy. Today we wait for the results and run more tests. I have heard the Lord will not give you more than you can handle, let me say I know in my heart of hearts I will never recover from this if he is also taken from me. So to all of you my dear friends that have not lost the faith and don't feel so alone I am begging you to please Pray for my brother Travis today. Pray that the Dr's will find the answers to his health issues, pray that whatever they might find his poor tired body will have the strength to fight it and come home to his family on earth. And maybe if you don't mind send one up for me that I might not feel so alone and scared.

FINALLY...The Trip!

OK So I know it has almost been a month since we went to MN and I said I would blog about it long ago, but man my life has been a crazy mess lately! I am not sure if I will get it all done today but I will at least start!

Saturday June 6, 2009
WE ARE OFF!
WOW we left so early that morning, my alarm went off at 12:45 am yes that is right! All I wanted to do was snuggle down in my blanky, but then it hit me as to why my alarm was going off! LORI! LORI! LORI! I was on my way to see my sister and her family! Time to get up, rise and shine! I was pumped up and ready to go! We got the older kids up to get ready. We put Cylie to bed in her car seat so it would be an easy transfer. We all met at my house and we were off by 1:15! I decided if Matt wanted me to take a turn and drive he had better let me right then because I couldn't guarantee how I would feel later in the day! So off we went with me driving, a decision I would soon regret! We were making pretty good time, I even made the mistake to tell myself this! Then on the whindy roads after Big Sky it happened! My car made the LOUDEST noise I had ever heard! It sounded like I dropped the drive line right there on the road! Cylie woke up screaming, Bridger was so confused and there I was DRIVING! I got the car to the side of the road and used the walkie talkies to call the first two cars back! You may be wondering what happened, I will tell you! I HIT A ROCK! A stinking dang rock! I didn't even see the dang thing. Funny thing is (funny now, not then) my dad and Michelle both said as they past it I bet Kimmie hits that! REALLY YOU HAD TO THROW THAT OUT INTO THE UNIVERSE! You may think oh no biggy you can just change the tire then continue on until it's morning time and a tire shop is open you can get it fixed while we eat lunch! HAHAHAHAHA that is what I thought too, until I heard some horrible news, I blew out BOTH tires on the passenger side! Yes really I did, both tires! I was sick to my stomach! I was mad at myself! Poor Lacey kept saying it's OK Mom it's OK mom! I finally said NO LACEY IT'S NOT! Which in hind sight maybe not very nice of me! I was so sad! I had ruined our trip in my eyes and we had just barley started! So we unloaded the stuff we didn't need right away from Michelle and Dad's car and loaded the 4 passengers from my car. We headed to the closest town to waste time until a tire store opened! At that point we had been on the side of the road for about an hour and the sun was just coming up! So to town we went we started at McDonalds, I was so upset, we were all tired and we were trapped and it was my fault! I hate that feeling! We saw a bill board for a tire store that said they were open 24/7 so we called it but alas no answer! We killed about an hour and a half there then we went to the tire store. Let me just say they were so fast, Michelle and I were worried cause it didn't take very long, we thought they weren't going to fix it! Well turned out they couldn't fix the front tire, I blew a hole in the rim! Nice uh! Thankfully our spare tire is a full sized tire and not a doughnut! So the boys decided they would drop Michelle and I and the kids off at the Burger King so they could play while the boys went back and fixed the tire. So there we sat at another fast food joint!Needless to say my name on that trip was ROCKSTAR! Awe the sweet sweet memories! Any way they got the tires fixed and down the road we went after a 5 hour detour! We drove and drove and drove! It took forever! We stopped in Bismark for some dinner, we decided to do a sit down meal, I snuck away and asked our server to bring Lacey a special birthday treat! They brought her an ice cream sunday and we sang happy birthday! That poor girl what a horrible day for a birthday! She was such a good sport! We had entertained the idea of staying in Bismark, but we didn't, we really should have! We pulled into Lori's house at 12:15 local time! Almost a full 24hour trip! UGH! The boys were so tired and I know in my heart my mom was pulling our cars safely to Lori's doors. Our eyes were slamming shut, Matt was "seeing things" run across the road as was Dad when really there was nothing there! Michelle and Les fared a little better, they were able to try and sleep and take shifts driving but they were still dead tired! We crammed ourselves around Lori's bar and watch Lacey open her few presents. She wanted money so she didn't have much to open. I didn't have my camera handy ya know since it was so late and all! We sang Happy Birthday then headed to bed to CRASH!!!

TO BE CONTINUED...

Birthday Bonanza!!!

OK so I am a horrible Aunt and Sister!!! My sweet nephew turned 19 on June 25 and My sister turned 29.....Yep that's what I said 29 on the 28 and I am just now getting to posting how much they mean to me! In my defense I was in Kansas for work when it was Kevin's birthday and Lori's birthday fell on a Sunday and our home computer is a piece of junk! Anywho on to the Birthday celebrations! I will start with my amazing nephew Kevin because I missed his first!


AN ODE TO KEVIN......
Kevin is such an amazing young man, I love him dearly! I will never forget the day I found out Lori was expecting him. I was 10 and I over heard Lori on the phone telling someone the news, I was so shocked, excited and confused all at once! I think the shocked was because I didn't quiet fully grasp the whole thing at the age of 10 excited because I LOVED BABIES! I was so happy to get to be around one. The confused came because I didn't understand the "drama" behind the news! LOL! I get it now! I will also never forget the day you were born! I was having a sleep over in the tent out back with Becky Lewis, we woke up to the news that you had arrived! I was so excited!!! I rushed Becky out of the house and jumped on my bike, I am not even sure if I got dressed! I am not sure if I went alone or if Michelle came with me but I jumped on my bike and rode to the hospital! I couldn't possibly wait any longer to meet you! I was so taken back by you! You were so handsome even back then! From that day on we were great pals! I would watch you all the time! I loved hanging out with you! You had the best smile and the cutest little voice! As I have watched you grow all these 19 years I am always so amazed at your kind heart and willingness to help! When he came and visited this spring he told me a story about one of his friends from when he live in Groveland, she had a baby and got married I guess the baby was born premature, the little family was struggling financially so my sweet Kevin who has his grandma's big heart gave them $50.00. What an example he is to me. Kevin is getting ready to leave on a mission soon. I am again so proud of him. He will touch so many more lives with his willingness to serve and love of people! I am jealous of the people he will be teaching as they will get to feed off his light and what a bright light it is! I love you dearly Pe Pe Ole!


TO MY LORI.....
Happy Birthday my sista! I am so thankful everyday for you! Growing up and still today I knew and still know I can count on you for anything! You taught me so much in this life about being a friend, sister, daughter and mother. You are one of my best friends. I remember the day I found out not all sisters had fabulous relationships like ours. I was appalled! I really had no idea others were not like us! I know in my heart we were meant to be sisters, all three of us! To pick each other up when we are down and out....even in the times we don't want to be picked up! :) I know I NEVER would have made it through these last years with out you both! I will forever cherish our memories of fun concerts to see the opening band...then leaving! Or driving in SCARY SLC traffic together, or going to Park City. I will also cherish the fact that we can do NOTHING at all but hang out on the floor in Jo's room and have the time of our lives! You mean the world to me and I look up to you in more ways then you will ever know! I strive to be like you. You learned so many great things from Mom that I have yet to learn, I will learn them from you I am sure! What an amazing daughter, sister, wife, mother, and friend you are! I love you and wish I could have been with you on your special 29th birthday! hehehehehe!