8 THINGS

(Not in any order)

8 Things I'm Passionate About
1. Making sure that I don't spoil my grandkids too much with "things."
2. Taking care of myself. (weight, dress, hygeine, etc.)
3. Having my bed made. (Even when I'm not there to do it!)
4. Music.
5. Having peace in the home.
6. Chocolate, especially dark - but almost ANY chocolate dessert.
7. My heritage.
8. Not watching "crappy" TV.

8 Books I've Read
1. The Book of Mormon
2. The Color Code
3. The 5 Love Languages
4. Go Forward in Faith - Sheri Dew
5. Body for Life
6. The Twilight Series - Stephanie Meyer
7. Harry Potter 1-4
8. The 5 Love Languages for Teenagers

8 Things I Say
1. "Hey, little sister!" (to Eden right now)
2. "Don't get your panties in a wad"
3. "Tibi, I need my phone"
4. "Get in here and clean your room, Landon!"
5. "Gee willikers!!" - (and a bunch of other "mom-isms)
6. "Landon, go turn off the bathroom light"
7. "I'm not calling the Chappells, I called them last time!" (EVERY Sunday!)
8. "Dinner's ready!" (about 3 times, actually)

8 Things That Annoy Me
1. People that drive 15 mph in the school zone during the times that they don't have to.
2. Coming home from a trip and having dirty dishes in the sink.
3. Gossiping (big time annoyance!)
4. When people butt in to a conversation or discipline situation.
5. Asking someone to do something more than once.
6. Semi trucks that pass another semi on the left. (They should make a law.)
7. My scalp problem. (Another big time annoyance)
8. That a good number of pants in my drawer right now don't fit me.

8 Things I Look Forward To
1. When it gets cool again.
2. Living in a place where there are seasons.
3. Having my home remodeling done.
4. Getting back in my routine when school starts. (working out, getting up earlier, etc)
5. Having someone else coach Landon's sports.
6. The Twilight Movie
7. Starting Body for Life in September.
8. General Conference.

8 Things To Do Before I Die
1. Hopefully go on a mission someday.
2. Catch up on all my scrapbooking, including the kid's books.
3. Be out of debt.
4. Take an all-family trip to Disneyland.
5. Hopefully go on a cruise or some other trip with my parents and siblings.
6. See Tibi and Landon become parents. (In other words, live a long time)
7. Write my life history.
8. Maybe record some of my favorite songs in a studio.

8 Things I've Learned
1. People don't MAKE you mad, you CHOOSE to be mad.
2. That it's easier to stay out of trouble than to get out of trouble.
3. Following the prophet is the only way to go.
4. Live your life so that when someone says something bad about you, no one will believe it.
5. Looking good equals 90% food choices and 10% working out.
6. Paying tithing is a commandment worth keeping.
7. Flowers do not live in Nevada if you miss a day of watering.
8. I do not like to be around negative, gossiping, or fault-finding people.

IT'S ABOUT TIME!!

Eden has been waiting for 2 days to finally get into the pool that we bought for her to play in and keep cool. I bought it too late on Saturday to feel like setting it up, and of course, Sunday wasn't going to work, so we brought it into the house for that day (we ended up having a wind storm blow through here anyway). So this morning when I got Tibi up at 5:15 to get ready to catch her ride to Cedar City for EFY, I decided to get some housework done and water the yard and flowers. I got the pool all filled and ready to go when Eden finally woke up. She ended up not sleeping in as long as I thought she would, which was fine, so by 7:30, when she saw the pool, she was ready to get in right then! So for about an hour, before she even ate breakfast, she got her FIRST playing done in the pool. (She had another one later today too!)

It only took her a few minutes to decide that the water wasn't that cold.

She loves to splash!

Taking the plunge.

She took a break to watch the horse go by. Then it was back in the pool.

89021

For anyone that has ever lived in Logandale, or even BEEN in Logandale, you will be interested to know that the "dip" is gone.....Yes, that Moapa Valley icon has gone to "dip heaven." Like I said, for anyone that has ever lived in Logandale, you will probably be as sad as we are. The dip has always been there, and a big part of OUR lives, at least, as we have lived right down the street from it for years. It has been our route we take whenever we have needed to go to Overton, which is where almost everything is in our valley. Needless to say, we will not miss the times when the dip is closed for months at a time every time we get a major flood through our valley, THAT has always been very annoying and we realize just how useful the dip has been. I guess we can't have it all.....no stoplight yet in town, virtually no crime, community 4th of July and Halloween get-togethers ( I mean the WHOLE community), and small schools where our kids can excel in anything and everything that they want to....so we will give up the dip.

Just taking our drive over the new bridge. We are still a happy people!

EDEN GETS HER TURN!!

When I went back to Arizona to get Tibi and bring her back, I knew it was a great time to bring Eden back too. She hadn't had a turn at grandpa and grandma's house yet, and she was the next in line to come. So we gave Peter and Connie fair warning (a day) and packed her bag and stole her away! She will be with us for 2 weeks until we head back to Arizona for Phoenix's baby blessing. She LOVES to jump on grandma's bed, (especially right after I have made it!) and seems to stay on the bed pretty good so far. She is having a great time playing with Kit and Cat, watching her DVD's, and hopefully playing in the little pool that grandpa is supposed to bring home today from Walmart.

OUT OF THE HEAT ....

Kevin, Landon, and I decided to take a couple of days and go north where it's cooler. Actually, the main reason we went was to go to the cabin and rescue our car that had died there two weeks earlier. So we left on Friday afternoon and drove to the cabin, finally getting there after MANY pitstops in Mesquite and St. George to find the car parts that we needed. We got to the cabin at midnight, got to bed at 1 a.m., and slept like logs. Kevin got up the next morning to change the thermostat on the Mitzubishi, which hardly took any time at all. It left us with plenty of time to head up Highway 89 to Richfield and surprised our friends, the Chappells, who were there to help finish the garage that Gregg's parents were having built. Kevin helped Sharla pick out colors and give her some pointers, (he IS a color guy, you know) and for the rest of the afternoon and night we just hung out and enjoyed each other. It was nice to be in stormy, cloudy, cool weather.

Gregg and his dad and brother have been putting the electrical on for this trip.

The girls snuck away to get some boutique shopping (I was window shopping) done. Paula is a sucker for this kind of shopping. Of course, she came away with an armload of decor for her home.

When the guys did all that they could do, we took off to the steakhouse in town. Yum yum!!

Gregg showing off his new safety goggles. What a stud!

After dinner, we headed back to Gregg's parents house for cake and ice cream. We were too full after dinner to get dessert, but by the time you load up, drive back, get out of the car, into the house, there's ALWAYS room for chocolate cake and ice cream!

My sentiments, exactly!!

Kevin and Paula were still too full after dinner for dessert, (Paula DID eat all the bread that came with our meals) so instead of cake and ice cream, Kevin gets a good rubdown from Paula. She actually needed one too, but no one can give backrubs like she can. She'll just have to call Dr. Askeroth.

The kid's cousin, Randon, got home from his mission last week. He had been serving in Jacksonville, Florida, down with the gators! Younger brother,Jaden, just got to Germany last month for HIS mission. So we are missing one brother here.

I told Randon that he would be a great catch for Michaela if he wasn't her cousin. Isn't it just a sin when the cousin's are almost exactly what you want for your kids?! (Tibi wasn't there, she got to go to Arizona to spend time with Connie and Peter and the kids.)

Kevin's older brother (by 1 year), Randy and his wife Penny and us. We could spend endless hours with these guys! My kids love being at Penny's house. (They can also do a pretty good imitation of her too......"Is what I want to know is....")

The line at the food table.

Amanda with someone else's baby. She is due in 10 weeks with her and Levi's second baby

Landon and I waiting in line for food. We decided it was a good time to snap a picture!

Okay,okay!

A big sorry for all the background changes. I guess I get bored with the same old thing after a while. Actually, I really like this background and plan on keeping it for the next...oh, month or so. Just kidding. I really like it. Hope it doesn't throw you all off too much. (plus it matches Kevin's shirt better, don't you think?!)

TAGGED.....

I'm finally back in town, not that I'm happy with it. It's over 110 degrees here. This may take me a while, but here's my tagged bits of info:

3 Joys:
My grandchildren. And that makes 5 joys! They are the reason I want to live forever. I love seeing all the new things they do, talking to them on the phone, and even spending quality time with each of them changing their diapers.

Good food. I am a succor for anything that is tasty. I LOVE FOOD!! Which doesn't make for a very fit body. I'm still working on that one. At least I have good Packard and Sorenson genes. More thin than fat. Woo-hoo! It could be worse.

This probably will sound weird to some of you, but going to the temple with my children for their first time is an all-time high for me. Just as it should be, I guess. I sat here and tried to think of something that topped that, but I could not come up with anything, so there you have it.... being in the temple with my kids.

3 Fears:
Losing any of my kids or grandkids to an early death. I'm sure that every mother thinks about this one some time in her life, but lately I have had close people experience this and I wonder how they do it. I hope I never have to live through it.

Flying. Period. I HATE flying. I'm scared of it, I get sick, and I ALWAYS think that I am never going to see my family again. I HATE IT. Period.

That Kevin will all of a sudden fall out of love with me. I know it's a long shot, but it's happened to other good people. I guess the secret is to never give him a reason to.

3 Goals:
To go on a mission someday. I never got to go on one when I was younger. Actually, I think going on one as a couple would be better anyway, but I would consider going on one as a single sister if anything ever happened to Kevin. I would love to experience the things some of my girls have experienced going on a mission.

To get out of debt. I am sick of owing money to people. I'd say that I hate money, but you can't live without it, so I better just learn to like it. I have no problem NOT having MORE than enough money for things, I just wish that we had ENOUGH money for the things we need and would like. (Man, I just got a little too personal with this one. Sorry.)

To start Body for Life again this year. Back when Camie got married about 5 years ago, I looked the best I've EVER looked, to me. I had had 6 kids, was over 40, and weighed 128 lbs. With muscle! I felt great, looked good, and was happy with myself. And this is the year that I am not only doing it again, but planning on staying their. Not necessarily 128 lbs, but down where I want to be and stay. Being 50 isn't so bad after all.

3 Current Obsessions/Collections:

I have to admit, not blogging....but READING blogs is dang fun for me! I would probably blog more on my own blog if I had a digital camera. It makes it kind of hard to do when you have to rely on your husband's camera that he uses for work. Not fun. But I LOVE reading my kids and other's blogs. Super cool invention, don't you think?

Rain. I love rain! I suppose I REALLY love it lately because we are not getting it. I don't want to say that I could probably live in constant rain , because I know that I would wish for sunny days, but I love it when it rains....for more than a day. There's nothing like being inside, reading a good book (Twilight), and listening to the rain outside. One of my favorite things in the world. I know... kind of out there!

I was trying to think of a collection that I have and the only REAL and ongoing collection I have is my collection of colored shoes. Stupid, huh? I have been collecting bells for quite a while, but if they blew away tomorrow, I actually wouldn't care. My kids might, but I don't think so. But my colored shoes, man....I think I have about every color, well, except for red and yellow. Anyway, I love my colored shoes.

3 Random/Surprising Facts:

How are we supposed to come up with 3 facts that we haven't already put on our "100 Things" list? Man, this is going to take some brain cells. Okay, for one......I have a real hard time just walking away from the dishwasher when I wasn't the one who loaded it. Does anybody else have this problem, or am I just OCD? I find myself rearranging everything before I start it, UNLESS it is SO jam packed that I couldn't move anything if I wanted to. There are three things that you don't mess with......someone else's dishwasher, the pillows on their bed, and their spouse!

I actually love my age! (I actually think that I am the only one who would say that being 50.) I have had a great life, so why would I let my age get in the way. You have to be this old almost to have grandkids (unless YOU had kids at 12, and THEY start having kids at 12), which is the best time of life, and you have to be this old to realize that you don't have it so bad....just look around you for that one. I don't have health problems, I look better than 3/4 of ANYBODY at the mall, and my husband still thinks I'm sexy, so what else is there?

This one is lame, but I don't have a favorite color. I can't come up with one because I love so many. Equally. Green was my favorite growing up, and I still love green, probably because I live in brown now, but I love yellows, oranges, purples, and everything in between. I WILL tell you though that the brighter the color, the better for me. I love brilliant, bright colors.....not flourescent, but true bright, vivid colors. Turquoise, lime green, magenta, etc. Celestial colors are going to be worth going for me.