Witches Night Out...

Me, my Mom, and Ev's girlfriend Nina

Friday night was 'Witches Night Out' at Gardener Village in West Jordan. Gardener Village is this little shopping place that's outside and has a bunch of different novelty stores. There's an antique store, a candy store, a little girl's store (there are actually quite a few of those), a shoe store, a couple furniture stores, and a bunch of other stores that I can't even put my finger on right now. They also have a restaurant there. It's a pretty awesome little setup they have. My Mom found out about it quite a few years ago, and it has just gotten bigger since. -These are my cousin Mandy's little girls, Paris & Kennedy (I can't get enough of them!) -
-Aunt Susan & Kennedy - Paris & me -

Anyway, every year they have this 'get-together' there called 'Witches Night Out' and everyone who goes, dresses up.

-Stephanie, Grandma, & Mandy - -Nicki & Karlie-

There were so many people there! It was insane. I had no idea it was this big. They have so many different things to do, and there were a lot of booths setup outside of the stores for shopping and food and junk. They had a live dj and different activities and contests. It was a lot of fun!

-Aunt Kiwi & Mandy-

My Grandma (my Mom's Mom) is the one who wanted to get all the girls in the family together to go there. We all went to eat at Mimi's Cafe at about 5:30-6, and then went to Gardener Village at about 7:30 or so. We stayed till about 10! It sure didn't seem that long... So much to look at!

-I found Glenda the Good Witch from 'The Wizard of Oz'!

-I also found the witches from 'Hocus Pocus'!!!-
-Grandma, Kar, & Mandy-

Who all went: Grandma, My Mom, me, Aunt Susan, Nicki, Karlie, Mandy, Kennedy, Paris, Stephanie, and Aunt Kiwi all went out to eat. Then, Aunt Jamie and Kenzee met us at Gardener Village. (I didn't really get a chance to take any pictures of Jamie and Kenzee...)

I think that Karlie is the funniest girl I've ever met. She is Nicki's daughter, and I just love her. I used to take her over the weekends when she was just little, all the time. It was so much fun to have her. She has grown into this beautiful girl, before you know it, she'll be graduating from High School. She is only 12, but it seems like she was just 4 yesterday.

-This is her just being herself... thought I'd take a picture while I could.-

-And this is both of us, doing what we do best....-

They had some pretty cool decorations setup there...

This is where they had the d.j. setup and there was a stage to dance on.

Anyway, we all had a really good time. I think we'll have to make this a tradition in the family!

Four Doggies and a Wedding.... ha ha

I forgot to take my camera out to my Mom's last Saturday (10/6) when we went out to paint my shelves and fix her mailbox (read previous entry).. So, when we were at the house, Will took some pictures with his camera on his phone. They didn't turn out all that well, but they look pretty good. C.J. is on Porter's lap (he couldn't get enough of Po), Eddie is on the right (with the white stripe on his head), Molly is the little one in the front, and Tug is the bigger one in between Po and I. And yes, they are ALL wiener dogs.. Porter just loves them. When we are talking about them, he always says, "They're mine, they just live at your Mom's house, right?!?!" ha ha.. I always laugh when he says that because I love them just as much, if not more, than he does. They are the best dogs ever! One day I (we) will have one or two.. . (Will just doesn't know it yet...) Well, I am going to try out the whole 'video' thing.. Will took a video with his phone, of the dogs just going nuts over Porter.. It was pretty funny.



Anyway, I was going through some old pics...

I found the ones from Kale (one of my brothers, I have 2 younger ones) and Brittany's wedding on 8/12/06. I planned Britt's Bachlorette Party which was on Saturday August 5, 2006.

We had so much fun, and most importantly, Brittany did! Her favorite place to eat (and mine ironically) is the Spaghetti Factory.. So, I made a reservation for a group a girls (about 5 of Britt's friends, our cousins wife Stephanie, and my girl-friend Katija) to eat some good food!! At dinner, I presented Britt with some gifts that she had to wear all night, and a little something for the rest of us too! She had to wear this feathery-fluffy veil thingy, a huge pink, ring that lit up bright red, and a leigh. We all had to wear the leigh's as well, and there were a few colors to chose from. After dinner, it was off to go dancin' and have a few cock-tails.. I reserved a huge booth for us at 'The Hotel' which is in downtown SLC. Britt was so suprised when we got there, I don't think she realized how much I had planned! It was awesome, if I do say so myself!! She had a great time.

A week later, it was on to the Wedding! I can't believe how emotional I got. My little brother was getting married! I am the oldest of three, and it didn't seem real until that moment. I was so proud of him! He picked a great person to add to our family. I love Brittany!

This is a pic of my Mom and Britt, right before the wedding.

This one is of (L to R) Everett, Kale, and I. (What a handsome family...)











I love the picture below.. It is one of my favorites.

I can't wait till the day that I can walk down the isle with Will. It will come soon...

More Soccer Pics.. and a Sleepover..

Porter had a soccer game last Wednesday, and they won! They are a good little team. He really enjoys playing soccer. The last two games that were supposed to take place on Saturday's, haven't. Yesterday was raining all day! Literally. And last Saturday was the same. So, both games got cancelled.

Yesterday, Will, Porter, and I went out to my Mom's house to finish up some shelves I was painting out in the garage and Will offered to fix my Mom's mailbox. The little door on it was falling off on one side, so he took care of it for her! He did a really good job. (I'll have to start a list for him or something...) ha ha

While we were out there, Porter was just loving being around the wiener dogs. (In case you haven't read previous entries, there are 4 of them. C.J., Tug, Molly, and Eddie.) Eddie is mine, and the rest kind of belong to everyone, I guess. I bought Eddie when Kale & Britt bought Charlie. Eddie and Charlie are brothers. My little Eddie was born deaf and partially blind, he's kind of scared of his own shadow.. But, he is the sweetest dog ever. We decided to take him home with us last night, to have a sleepover. Po was so excited.

Eddie ended up falling asleep on the couch with me, sprawled out with his belly in the air. So cute! Then Will and I let him sleep in our bed with us. He actually did pretty well being away from the other doggies. I could tell it was really awkward for him though. He is so used to having them around, they are like his eyes and ears. So, Po and I took him home this morning around 10:30, and we hung out at the house with my Mom and the doggies for a bit.

Other than that, there wasn't much else going on. I kind of enjoyed the rainy weather yesterday. It's just so nice to cuddle up on the couch with blankets and watch movies or T.V. with Will and Po (and Eddie). Hopefully it's like this again soon.

WOO HOO for Soccer!! But not the COLD!!

It's that time of year... and Will enrolled Porter in Soccer. This is the first time he has played! I am so grateful to be a part of that experience for him! He is an awesome player (if I do say so myself...) Geez.. you'd think he was my kid...

Anyway, he really enjoys it. He has had 3 games now.. one of which was cancelled. His very first game he scored 2 goals!! He was so excited. He kept asking Will and I if we saw it, like he didn't think we were watching. He is a good little athlete. (Follows after his Dad...)

Porter was with his Mom this weekend. It's seemed so weird to not have him this weekend. It seems like we have had him with us so much lately, that it was just 'quiet' and weird without him here. I went out to my Mom's to do some painting on Friday night, after work. Po was at the house with Will till about 5:30, when I got home. I went out to my Mom's pretty much right after that. At work, they are doing some remodeling and they were getting rid of some things.. There were these 2 white shelves in the office on the 3rd floor (which will be my residence for the next few weeks, along with the rest of my team), that they were just going to throw away! So, one of the other assistants and I each took one. However, I wanted to paint it black, to match a few other things I have.
The weekend before this one, Will, Po, and I went to a garage sale that Will's boss had. He was raising some money for his Mother who has cancer.. So, we volunteered our time to see if we could help out at the garage sale. We ended up buying a few things, among them, some more decorations that I want to paint... ha ha
So, on Friday night (9/28) which also happens to be my Mom's birthday, I went out to the house with the plan to paint.... Yeah, that didn't happen... My youngest brother, Ev, still lives at home, and his girlfriend Nina moved in as well. So, when I first got out to the house, I gave my Mom the gift I had got for her, and we had a plan to go up to Wal-Mart to have the can of paint we had, shaken up. (It's been sitting in the garage for quite a while) well, Nina came with us, and before you know it, almost 2 hours had passed. Then Nina mentioned that she was going to dinner at La Luna with a friend and wanted to know if my Mom and I wanted to go.. (like I'm gonna turn down Mexican food...) so, we went. By the time we were done, it was like 9:30. Way too late to paint... cuz we were going to do it out in the garage, and with how cold it was this weekend... we changed our minds.. (I kind of felt bad not painting because Will went out and bought sand paper and sanded all the stuff for me on Friday afternoon.) I went home after sitting at the house for a bit.
Then yesterday (Saturday) morning, all the girls had plans to go to a boutique that is up in the Fruit Heights/Layton area. I can't even remember the name of it now.. Anyway, it was me, my Mom, Brittany (my sis-in-law, Kale's wife), and Nina that drove up there together. Talk about a crappy drive! It was storming so bad yesterday! We met my Grandma (my Mom's Mom), my Mom's sister Susan, Susan's daughter Mandy, Mandy's 2 girls Kennedy & Paris, my cousins wife Stephani, and her 2 kids Maison and David John Jr. (which by the way is the cutest little stink-face, he's 6 months old and just the sweetest thing ever!) We looked around the boutique, which was really expensive, so hardly any of us got anything.. but then we went and ate at the little restaurant they had next door. It was so fun to be with all the girls! I had my camera, but forgot it in the car, and it was snowing so bad that I didn't want to go out to Britt's car to get it... DANG IT! I am so mad that I didn't get any pictures. I always take pictures and I am upset that I didn't get any. I'll make sure to get pictures next time!! My Grandma wants to get all the girls together to go to this place out here in West Jordan called Gardener Village, on Oct 19th. They are having this little thing called 'Witches Night Out' and you have to dress up like a witch. It will be fun! Gardener Village is like a bunch of little boutiques in like old antique houses.. hence the name 'village'.. each one is a different theme, and they have so many cute things and ideas.. That will be a lot of fun.
Anyway, I'll write more soon!

Pirates & Hotdogs....

Kind of a funny title, huh? Well on Saturday morning at about 11, Porter had a birthday party to go to for a little girl named Mia, that lives across the hall from us. She turned 6. Mia is really into Pirates for some reason, so her invitations had pirates on them, and when Porter got to the party there was pirate costumes for all the kids. They even got treasure chests with a ton of candy and other goodies. He had a lot of fun.

Then later that day, my Grandma wanted to have everyone up for a picnic/wienee roast at the Terraces up Millcreek Canyon. Millcreek is right above her house, pretty much. We were supposed to meet at 2, but I was waiting for Porter to get home from the party. (Mia's Mom was bringing him home, because they were coming home as well.) Po got home at about 2:30, and Will didn't want to go, so just Po and I went. We couldn't find the terraces once we got up the canyon. I drove all the way to the top, and back down, which took about an hour or so. Then I finally asked someone and they told me how to get there. It was only about 5 minutes up the canyon, and there was a tiny sign on the left side of the road that said 'Terraces' and pointed to the right side of the road. So we turned right, and found the little picnic area in about 5 minutes. (Geez, talk about a whole lotta drivin') My Mom was going to come up with Kale and Britt, and they passed us on their way back down. I guess the elevation was really putting my Mom in a ton of pain, because of her eye surgery. It was putting so much pressure on her eye, she said she could see colors and felt like her eye was going to explode. She couldn't stay up there, so Kale and Britt took her back home and I guess they stopped at Ruby Tuesdays to get something to eat.

When Porter and I finally pulled up, everyone was excited to see us. My Grandma, Uncle Dave, D.J. and Steph (cousins) and their 2 kids (Maison and David), and my cousins Mandy's 2 little girls were there(Kennedy & Paris.) My Aunt Susan and her boyfriend showed up a little later. It was fun to see everyone. Porter had a lot of fun with the girls. They would chase him around and scream! It was so funny! I could tell Porter was lovin' it. We cooked our hot dogs over the fire, on sticks. Po cooked his own! He did a really good job! He was a really good eater too! He ate everything on his plate. We were up there for about 3 hours and Po didn't want to leave. He liked playing out in the mountains and building stuff with sticks. We stopped at my Grandma's after, so that Po could see my uncles dogs. We got home at about 7:30. What a long day! Porter was worn out. Will and I laid down to watch some T.V. and Po laid with us. After about 5 minutes, he was out!

This was the sunset on our way home from the canyon! Pretty huh?

Porter's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Porter started Kinder-garten today!! He said he had a lot of fun. When Will picked him up from school, he told him "I didn't even get yelled at!!" He also told his Dad that he met a girl.... uh oh... here we go...

Porter is so interested in learning. He came home and started writing in his workbook that we got him for Christmas. He likes to practice his letters and numbers. He is a smart little turd. Will thinks he is a different kid then what he was before.. He says words like 'literally' and it just throws us off. He's only 5!! He has recess with the older kids too, so maybe he picks up on those things.. who knows?

Other then that, nothing really new to report... My Mom is still in pain from the eye surgery. She gets these stabbing sharp pains in her eye. I feel bad for her. I worry about her so much and I want to help out in any way that I can. I went to go and have some papers signed by her Dr today at lunch, so she can get paid for her 'Leave of Absence.' Her 1 week post-op check-up is a week from today at 9:15. I think I will probably have to take her to that... She probably won't be able to see in her right eye still.

Well, enough for now...

Emergency Surgery..& a 'Good Sign'..

Well, so much for a relaxing Labor Day weekend.. My Mom had a Dr Appt last Friday (the 31st) at about 9 in the morning up at the Moran Eye Center at the U of U. She has been having a lot of trouble with her eye recently. She has had other health issues with her eyes, but her right eye has really been bothering her lately. She started to see 'floaties' and scheduled an appt with her Dr about 2 weeks ago and they told her at that time, it was the Vitreous Gel (Which is the clear solution that fills the space between the lens and the retina of the eyeball. 'When the gel-like vitreous occasionally tugs on the light-sensitive retina. They may be a warning sign of a detached retina. When people reach middle age, the gel-like vitreous begins to liquefy and contract. Some parts of the vitreous form clumps or strands inside the eye. The vitreous gel pulls away from the back wall of the eye, causing a posterior vitreous detachment. It is a common cause of floaters.')

Well, when my Mom went in to the first appointment they told her that it was just the floaters and to watch it carefully. She had the check-up appointment scheduled for Friday. When she got there the Dr's decided that she needed to have the surgery done. She had 5 tears on her retina, which if she didn't have the surgery, it could have caused the total detachment of the retina, and she could have gone blind in that eye. So, when she called me at about 10 on Friday morning and told me what was going on, I was really scared. They only have one operating room, and it was booked all day with other surgeries. The Dr's wouldn't let her leave, or eat anything because if they had a cancellation, they could get her right in. Well, she ended up waiting till about 5 or 6 before they took her back. Will, Kale (my brother), my Grandma, and I were all in the waiting room till about 8:30. We went back and sat with her for about 30 minutes or so, while the Dr's explained everything. We got out of the Hospital around almost 10. Will just drove back to our apartment and I drove my Mom home in her car. We had to stop to pick up a couple prescriptions, one for pain and one for nausea. Then I drove her home and helped with a few things. I just drove myself home in her car, because I needed to pick her up again in the morning at about 7:45. (yeah, tell me how much fun that sounds..) I didn't get home Friday night till about midnight or so.

On Saturday morning I got up at about 6:00 and got ready, then drove out to pick up my Mom to take her back up to the Moran Eye Center. Her appointment was at 8:30. The Dr's checked her out, and said it looked ok and normal.. (I thought it looked pretty bad, it was all puffy and her eye was all red, but if they say it looks good then it must be ok.) Anyway, she has 3 different eye drop prescriptions that she has to make sure she puts in her eye at certain times of the day. We picked those up on the way back from the Dr's office. Then I hung out with her for a bit, and played with the wiener dogs too.

On Sunday, I drove out to spend some time with her and just make sure everything was ok. Her eye looked a lot more swollen on Sunday, but that's probably to be expected. I stayed till about 6 and then came home. She let me borrow some movies, one of them was 'Blades of Glory', which was a pretty funny show. Will Ferrell is such an idiot. I think he's hilarious.

Today, I went out again, around 10:30 to spend some time with my Mom and run some errands for her. She hasn't felt up to going anywhere, so I just took care of the stuff for her instead of her coming with me. I had to go get 'Leave of Absence' papers from her work that we need to have the Dr's fill out and sign. And I needed to get a refill for her for one of her prescriptions. I am going to have to meet one of her Dr's tomorrow to have them fill out the papers. They have to be filled out 10 days after the 1st work day missed, (which would have been Saturday.) So, I just want to get it taken care of so the process can get going. She'll have to be off work for at least 2 weeks. Then they said they'd see about letting her back to work with 'light duty' after that. If not, they said a total of 4 weeks off. She'll have a check-up appointment next Tuesday, and they'll probably determine that then. It hasn't been a fun process for my Mom to deal with. She's been in a lot of pain. She has to keep her head down for a whole week, and when she's sleeping she has to stay on her left side. They put a 'gas bubble' behind her eye to keep everything in place while the 'tears' are repairing themselves. The way the Dr explained it was, "It's like when you're putting up wallpaper, you have to have someone hold it up against the wall while your working on it, or while it's drying- so on, so forth.." Anyway, she has to keep her nose to the ground when she is standing, sitting, or anything for a whole week. The gas bubble has to stay right behind her eye to help it heal. What a pain in the butt. She already is getting a neck-ache.

On my way back to the apartment from the house on Saturday, it was kinda sprinkling/raining a bit, and a rainbow came out. It was so pretty. I had to pull over as soon as I pulled out of my Mom's driveway, so I could take some pictures. Then as I was driving, I put the camera on the steering wheel and took some more. (I'm not a superstitious person by any means, but it kinda seemed like a 'good sign' to me...) It just made me feel good to see something like that after everything that happened this weekend. And please don't get me wrong, I am not complaining at all. I really enjoy doing things for other people and helping my Mom out when she really needs it, makes me feel good. I just want to make sure she is taken care of. I love my Mom so much, and I want her around for a while. I would do anything to help prolong that. I really don't know what I would do without her. I don't want it to sound like my brothers don't help out at all, because they do, I just have more of that 'motherly instinct' and don't need to be asked to do things.. They are boys, so they don't think about that kind of stuff. But, they do help out.

I'll keep ya'll updated with the fun!