Karen's Surprise

Last weekend we had a great surprise for Karen. She has been an elementary school teacher for 26 great years and since we are so proud of her we decided (all of the family) to have a surprise weekend party for her and to celebrate all she has done over the years.

With every ones help we were able to get the whole family here for a surprise party on Friday night and a family picture Saturday morning. I believe it's been almost 4 or 5 years since we've had every one together to have a family picture. It was so great to have everyone there and even more special to have surprised Karen. We love you Karen!

It was so fun to have everyone over at our place. It reminded me of all the Thanksgivings and Christmas's' we would spend down here when it used to be Grandma Harmon's.

Here we are watching the videos all of us made for Karen.

Brett and Mindy's family

Spencer, Rheina and family

Michael and Danielle's family

Ty and Kim's Family

Us, the ODD balls off the whole group!

Glenn and Kristen's family.....with one on the way.

The Whole Fam

and all the Grandkids!

After the family pictures, we all went to ihop for breakfast and while we were waiting for our orders to be taken the waitress asked us what group we were with. Scott said, "uhm, we are all in white, can't miss us!"

We really had a great time!!! Congratulations Karen!!

and thanks Scott for taking some really awesome pictures of everyone!!!

Our Memorial Weekend

We took off for Vegas on Friday to celebrate our three day weekend. We rented a car and by four in the afternoon with Tom (Scott's dad), we were on our way. Considering how expensive gas has been lately we were able to make it down on one tank of gas with some to spare before we had to fill up.

We arrived at the door of The Harmon's around 10:00 p.m. Devil Child was still up watching a movie while Miss Priss was fast asleep. We quickly did some catch-up and then slowly went to bed.

The next morning Ty and Kim took off with Tom to go to one of the Harmon cousins' wedding. We had been invited to the sealing but decided to stay and watch the "little" crew there at home. We had a really great time playing house and we really enjoyed the girls. They really enjoyed the "Scott" play gym.
After lunch it got a lot quieter and we sat back and watched the Little Mermaid. Too bad we don't have pictures or video of lunch, that was one of the highlights of the day. Miss Priss and Devil Child did some mighty entertaining!!




When Ty and Kim got home we took off for the park for some cooling off fun. Scott, The Man, and the girls really enjoyed the water!

Oh, yeah, and so did the Kim!!! (wow, look how fat that arm is on Kim!! wink wink)

Another highlight of the trip was meeting Gladys Knight! If you look closely at the picture above you can see her standing right next to the groom (the groom is her grandson). While we were at the reception Kim and I mustered up the courage to go and introduce ourselves. Before the night was over we had both successfully accomplished our goal. She was a very sweet and gracious lady! (We forgot to take a camera to the reception or we would have had more pictures to share)

We enjoyed a very relaxing weekend!! Whenever we make it down to Vegas we know we will never be disappointed!! Thanks Ty and Kim, we really had a great time!!

Still here.

I'm still here, just a little behind. With work consuming me and with no internet access there, it's become few and far between that I can really make time for this awesome blog. I think about it everyday, but sitting down and doing it is another thing. Scott and I have finally made some progress on our bathroom, we are hoping to get the last of our adoption paperwork in this week, and we'll have some pictures to share with the next entry. Until then!!

Congrats Grad!!!

On April 27, 2007 Glenn D. H. graduated from BYU with a BA in Visual Arts (correct me if I got it wrong, Glenn). We are so very proud of you and all your amazing artistic accomplishments. Soon, everyone around will know your name well!

"Did you see that new Pixar film, Glenn was the brain child behind it."
or
"Have you seen all those beautiful illustrations Glenn drew in that new book entitled...."
and so on!!

Congratulations Glenn!

Glenn giving his commencement speech. In this picture he's explaining his animation film, "Pajama Gladiator."

With Diploma in hand, the world is yours.

"Brothers don't shake hands, brothers got to hug." Congrats little brother!

A very proud day, with very proud smiles.

Resting after the big graduation feast.

Playing games till 1:oo a.m. (too bad we didn't get a picture of our ruthless game of spoons!)

It's so great to be a part of a family who supports and loves being together. Friday night was so much fun and we hope that Glenn felt that love and support. You're awesome Glenn and we wish you all the success in the world!

Tag!, you're it.....4 things about me.

4 jobs I've had in my life:
- I was a cashier at Dollar days
- I worked for Zion's bank for 3 yrs and HATED IT!!
- Worked at Principal Financial
-Worked for National DME

4 movies I could watch over and over:
-Little Women (1994 version)
-Fools Rush In
-Ever After
-Pretty in Pink

4 places I've lived: (this is where I get daring)
-West Jordan, UT.
-Holladay, UT.
-West Valley, UT.
-West Jordan, UT.

4 TV shows I enjoy watching:
-LOST
-Planet Earth
-Friends (I have all the season DVD's)
-Scrubs

4 places I've gone on vacation:
-Cruise to Mexico (thanks Edith)
-The Bahamas
-Orlando, FL. Disney World, Universal Studios
-Yachats, OR.

4 websites I visit almost daily:
-Orbitmedical.com
-Google
-blogs
-Comcast.net

4 of my favorite foods:
-Artichokes
-BBQ (on the grill) anything
-Crab
-Thai food

4 places I'd rather be:
-Not working!!!!!!
-In Yachats walking the beach with Scott
-On any beach!!
-Sitting in my new jetted tub (still haven't been able to use it yet!)

4 people who I tag:
-Michelle
-Kelly
-Karen
-and anyone else who wants to play.

Thanks Edith for tagging me, this was fun!
-

Hiking up Lake Mountain

Saturday we arrived at B and M's around 4:20 p.m. With back packs and kids in tow we drove to the foot of the Lake Mountains and decided we would conquer the small beast. As we started to hike we all realized (the adults) that this was going to be a piece of cake for the kids. For some of us, another story. As the kids were racing to the top we started to re-think the whole "getting to the top of the small beast part" and decided on a smaller mountain to the left. (We decided the next hike we'll get a little closer to the top and by the end of the summer we will conquer the beast. Sounds good, huh)

The kids at the top, and they didn't even break a sweat!

Here's the rest of us just barely making it to the top.

What a happy camper on the back of his dad's back. He was such a good boy.

When we got to the tip top, we had to give everyone high fives. We did awesome, and the view was awesome as well.

You can see here where B and Family live. Come on, he's pointing right at it.

We might be fat, but we can still hike a mountain!

After some rest, snacks, and a few snapshot moments we made our way back down. With a few falls here and there, everyone made it down safe and sound and with another great memory. We finished off the night with Pizza and Brownies (thanks M)

This was a great idea B we had a ton of fun!

A post with pictures, finally!

With not one drop of Internet access at my new place of employment it's few and far between that I'm able to make post's to my blog. I miss posting at least once a week. Now I post, if I'm lucky, three times a month. Man, I can't wait to be home. Life has been speeding past as normal and with family and friends it's full of birthday's, baptisms, blessings, births, and more. We've had friends and family over the past few weeks giving birth to their third or fourth child. We just found out that a good friend of ours who has a set of twin girls and two boys is expecting another set of twins. Whoa Nelly!! We've been (I should just say me) enjoying all our informative adoptions classes that are held every Thursday for 2 hours. We're slowly working on finishing up our bathroom. And we've been really excited for the warm weather so we can take all our friends camping (they seem to be the ones who want to get out and do that with us the most).

Here's a few pictures that we took over the past few weeks (nothing too exciting)

All the local brothers came over after priesthood for pizza. Scott and Brett were really enjoying themselves. I guess if you eat too much pizza it makes your true character come out.

We all went over to Grandma and Grandpa Harmon's for lunch in-between conference sessions. The BBQ was great and we really enjoyed the company. It was great to see Mike and Danielle and the kids. We're so excited to have them down here with us. (see that empty spot next to Scott and I? That's where Ty, Kim, and family go.)

Scott had another wedding to shoot this weekend but this time it was family of family. Isn't it amazing how Scott and Andrew look like brothers. They act like brothers!! Scott loved this shot he took of the bride and groom.

Visiting Scott during the reception. Didn't really know the family, but enjoyed the food and the photographer!!

Here we are up at Deer Valley @ the Stein Erickson Lodge where Spencer and Rheina held their engagement party. It was beautiful. The food was great, the atmosphere spectacular, and we were surrounded by people who were catching the last few days of skiing. We wished everyone in the family could have been there!

Well, until next time!

All you need is love

Scott and I spend every free minute we have with each other. We're so ridiculous we literally cannot be in two separate rooms if we're in the house at the same time. If Scott is on the computer downstairs and I'm upstairs cooking dinner he'll grab the laptop and come join me in the kitchen.
This week Scott was planning on taking a vocational class. It would only be this week from 5:30-8:00 p.m., really, no big deal. The plan fell through and when I found out the class wasn't going to work out I was so excited. So we can now get back to the butterfly kisses and the constant holding of the hands. Yeah baby!

The workout and other things

(Very close to an actual picture.)

So, today I was on the treadmill with my wrist weights on, my water near my side, and my ipod going. I really like to get into the music, it allows me to zone out and get through my workout with out quitting half way through. As I was zoning a song shuffled in called The Adventure by Angels and Airwaves. As soon as the beat of the song popped into my head I immediately started to day dream. Now, if you're like me, and maybe I'm weird, but I tend to day dream a tad when a good song comes on (and other times as well, I admit). It reminds me of all those sentimental moments in all those great movies you see. As the song started my mind began it's own movie and the next thing I know I'm outside walking along a beautiful suburban street. I've had six kids, but I still look fabulous. I really work out for the pure fun of it. As I'm walking I'm smiling and waving to neighbors that I pass. A montage of memories pass through over my minds movie screen. The day I was married, the certificate I received from the city for all my free hair service's to the homeless, cutting the red ribbon in front of Scott's new office, the births of our children, our spectacular vacations, and our awesome family reunions to Hawaii, and the Galapagos. As the music is playing I start to run (still day dreaming guys) I run through the cherry blossoms falling over the street from the neighbors cherry tree. I have a wonderful life, I'm happy, I'm healthy, and I have everything I dreamed of having in life.........then the lyrics to the song bring me back to reality.

I wanna have the same last dream again,

the one where I wake up and I'm alive.

Just as the four walls close me within,

my eyes are opened up with pure sunlight.

I realized that my dream come true was right here, where I was, on my treadmill. Life is fantastic!!! I'm the one who makes my dream a reality and so far I feel I've been doing pretty good. I may have spent the last cheesiest five minutes dabbling in another dream, but it wasn't my dream.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to day dream. Like the one from my childhood: I dream that I've been taken away from my family and while the "sentimental music" is playing I turn and look out the back window of the car I'm in and slowly place my hand on the window as a tear falls down my face. "Goodbye", I whisper, "I will see you again." and the song plays on.

Whew, pretty heavy afternoon huh? Well, I apologize there aren't any pictures because I truly did have a good movie/day dream face going on. Along with the smile and waves to the neighbors. Ok, reality. Life really is good. We are coming up on our three out of eight classes we are supposed to attend at LDS services. The adoption process is still moving along and we hope to have all the paper work in before the end of April. So, we are looking at May to be approved and on the list.

I have liberated myself from taking all fertility medications. Yippy! This is such an awesome lift off my shoulders. No more filling and re-filling prescriptions, and forgetting and remembering to take them at the wrong time. All I'm taking now are good for you vitamins, and keeping up on my way girly figure by working out more! Yes, yes, I've heard the myth; once you put your focus on something else you'll get pregnant. Great, if not, Great. We are ready to handle anything.

Over the last couple of weeks the weather has been very ideal. Scott and I have the "garden" bug and we've made a few plans and goals for our yard this year. We'll be planting some trees, doing some landscaping and planting beautiful flowers.

Our bathroom is finally coming together (next time I'll have pictures) Scott and Brian got the awesome jetted tub in place and hooked up on Friday. Whaoo, I can't wait for bath time!!! We're hoping to have the paint, the vanity, the sink, and the new floor in by next week.(our case worker, Kate, from LDS services will be inspecting our home right around then) We literally tore this bathroom apart and we are now rebuilding it. We've really had a lot of fun remodeling our home. It has come together very well.

Last weekend my mother called and invited us to go bowling over at the Allstar lanes. This wasn't your typical bowling, even better, COSMIC bowling. My mother was calling to invite me and Scott to go cosmic bowling. How cool is my mom! So, at 10:30 we met up with them, and my sister and her husband and enjoyed a night of cosmic fun with music to shake your booty too, which we all did, including my dad, with games and food and of course, a lot of bowling fun. We finally left at 1:00 a.m. It really was a good time. If you get a chance you should go cosmic bowling sometime. If you need a babysitter, give us a call. If not, call your mother, have her baby sit, and we'll come with you!

On Thursday night, Scott and I took a trip up to Brighton ski resort, we have some fond memories there. Our plan was to go up, make out, and then come home. Instead we talked, and talked, and laughed, and cried, and talked, and then as we were about to leave a coyote walked right in front of our car. This was Scott's first time ever seeing a coyote. Wylee was a girl and interesting to watch. Scott was in awe. We watched her, followed her in the car for a while, and then watched her again. It was a very unique night. If I see another coyote I'll think of Wylee and our night we didn't make out up at Brighton.

So there's the update. I'm sorry my post are few and far between. Since I don't have access to the Internet at work my normal lunch hour jaunts on the blog are off. Cross your fingers and pray for this "working from home" thing to happen through work and maybe this few and far between stuff will disappear! Until next time, Goodnight!!

One year away from the BIG THREE 0!

So, it's true, today is my birthday. Sunday was my families celebration of my birth and while Kristy was putting up the balloons around the dinning room table I noticed the balloons read, "Happy 4th Birthday." We all cracked up over the mistake but at that same moment my mind quickly took a flash back to the simpler days when birthday's really meant something. Where you would celebrate the whole week long, or the whole weekend long (depending on what day it fell on) with birthday parties at home, at school, or in primary. And the parties were great. The sleepovers, the trip to McDonald's, or the miniature golf. Whatever the activity it sure beats how they are now. Don't get me wrong, Scott does a fabulous job of surprising and celebrating but it's rare that you come home from a long day of work, on your birthday, and arrive to a house full of close friends and family wishing you a Happy Birthday and giving you boat loads of gifts to open. Childhood is so relaxing and stress free!

After that quick flash back, reality took a bite and I was 29 again. Crap, What's 30 going to be like. Another thought pops in: "Man, I never saw myself here 20 years ago." Life has definitely not taken the course I really thought it would take when I was 9. I wanted to be a mom with 8 kids, live in a mansion and have candy all the time. Well, that sure didn't happen!, well, maybe the candy part. Have you seen my butt!!!!

Life has thrown me a few curve balls but truly I am blessed with many wonderful things and unfathomable opportunities. I have another year before life makes me really old (leaving the 20's will be hard) so by then maybe I'll be a mom, I already live in a great house, and hopefully I'll look fantastic. (That candy thing I'm seriously re-thinking.) Happy Birthday to me.

The Nissan Sentra

(Not the actual car, but it sure did look similar)

I was coming home from work this afternoon and this horrid Nissan Sentra merged in front of me. The gentleman (if that's what you would call him, he looked horrid himself) had a girl sitting next to him in the passenger seat and they were having a good time yuck yucking about something. I was baffled by the condition this car was in. We were coming to a stop light and as we were stopping I started to picture this gentlemans home. "What must that be like? If he has no pride in his car, can you imagine his living conditions." And then I got to thinking about how jugemental my 1 sec. thought had been. As I was having this mental conversation the guy rolled down his window and pulled out some windex and started spraying the windshield as his windshield wipers were going. The girl in the passenger seat did the same thing. "Holy crap, that's hilarious." Hey, if the car works ......

Catch Up

Well, this last month has been very busy, crazy, and at times we were venturing into territory we were un-familiar with.

I received a job offer with a company called Orbit Medical. I've been training for 2 weeks already and I'm finally getting excited. Hopefully by May I can be working from home through Orbit. (That's the dream anyway) I really enjoyed having two weeks off, and searching for a job was no picnic, but due to a good resume I got a lot of offers and I'm happy with the company I chose.

While I had some time off I decided to finish the quilt I started for Scott. I wanted to get it done before his birthday. I finished it the morning of his birthday and I do have to say, I'm quite impressed with the finished result.

Scott loves it, and it's just his size!

On Friday the 16th I called in to work and said I wouldn't be in. I thought for sure I'd be fired, being that it was my first week with my new job, but all worked out well. Why did I call in, you ask? Because Scott decided to wrestle with Brian Miller the night before and due to his old age, pulled some big muscles in his back and shoulder and couldn't move for two days. I called in to work so I could be home with Scott. Someone had to help him get out of bed when he had to use the bathroom, some one needed to feed him and wipe his mouth. He couldn't even sniff his back and shoulder hurt so bad. By Sunday I was sick of his moaning and groaning and started to make fun of him, at times I wouldn't even help him up and he then would have to crawl to the bathroom (I'm totally kidding) by Monday he was getting back to normal but decided to take the day off anyway. Obviously that weekend was shot. Scott is finally back to normal, and is realizing that wrestling maybe isn't the right move for someone his age!

Last week I was getting sick of my normal work out routine. So, I found this awesome website called PodFitness.com. It allows me to choose from a variety of real workout trainers and music of my own choice and then it fashions a workout session targeted toward me and my body needs and level of fitness. If you have an ipod you should check this out. It has really made my workouts more enjoyable. (you don't need a video ipod for this) http://www.podfitness.com/

Last Friday Scott and I attended our first adoption orientation through LDS services. It was two hours long and they went through all our paper work, who qualifies (we do) and they answered any questions or concerns we had when it comes to adoption. We left overwhelmed and excited. There's a lot involved with just getting on the waiting list. We have to have Dr's exams, back ground checks, Bishop's referral, a collage of our married life, and two page letters from both Scott and I along with other misc paper work. It's about a three month process. We are then assigned a case worker who comes to our house and works with us until a baby is placed in our home. The wait could be from 6 months to 7 yrs. (there's a couple who has been on the waiting list that long) To help speed the process up they post our profile on the LDS services adoption web-site and give us pass along cards. The pass along cards are to give to family, friends, or people in our ward. If they know of a young women who is expecting then they give her that pass along card and hopefully she'll want to match up with us and then we go through the adoption process with her. It's all very complicated to explain. We want children so bad that we will do anything, no matter how hard or complicated, to make that happen. We've been trying for almost 6 1/2 yrs. now and we really are hoping for something wonderful to happen!

When one door closes, another opens.

The last couple of weeks have been a little crazy for us and it has to do with a door closing and another one opening. On Jan. 26th I was laid of from work, a job I had been with for almost 6 years. The company has been going through some tough times and with the loss of one of their accounts I, along with a few others, was let go. Of course I was in shock at the news, but there had been hints here and there that there would be some down sizing. My name tag would keep falling off my desk, I was getting the cold shoulder from the CEO, and of course there was the "feeling". It was sad to leave my close friends and the comforts that came with the job, but after the initial shock I went into the "everything will be ok" mode (of course this also occurred with the help of Scott) So, for the past two weeks I have been searching for a job.(not too frantically) After many interviews and job offers I start work on Monday with a company called Orbit Medical. Doing pretty much the same thing I was doing before.
What has been so great about all this is the time I've had off and the great things I have been able to do. Last week I was able to go to the Dr's whenever I wanted. No, "let's figure this out with my work schedule." I went shopping in the middle of the day. I had lunch with my Dad on his birthday, I went with my mom to Salt Lake to help her out at the Relief Society resource center (she's a service missionary there), I was able to help out and make dinners for people in the ward who had been sick or just had babies, I had my visiting teacher over (her nights are always swamped), I had dinner ready every night when Scott got home from work, and I had the house clean and laundry done. Being home has been AWESOME!!! I told Scott, "you will make more money, and I will stay home!" (of course this is when we have children, which had better be soon!!) Along with this time off we were able to make some other personal realizations. The Lord truly blesses us in our time of need!

Ode to Diet Coke

I take a dive into divinity
when there's diet coke in the vicinity
it reaches out and takes a hold
the stuff is like liquid gold
I know it's bad for me but I don't care
I drink and drink till there's nothing there
it's the sweet nectar of the gods
even though it puts my health at odds
so this is my little ode to diet coke
(it's a heck of a lot better then egg yolk)
Oh how I love thee diet coke of mine
in my hand you sure do shine!!!

Everything comes down to poo

Now, everyone knows that Scott's world centers around his BM's! (You obviously know where this post is going, so stop now if you don't want to know anymore about poo) He broadcast his love for the stuff to everyone and everything whenever he gets the chance. It can be a little embarrassing for me sometimes, but for the most part I have really come to appreciate it too.

We love the show "Scrubs" it makes us laugh hard every week! But this last episode was right up Scott's alley. The episode was about a woman who fainted in the park. When she was revived everyone around her, including herself sang all their words whenever they would speak. So the whole episode was a big, fun, musical, while at the same time trying to figure out what the lady's illness was.

I want to share one of the songs that Scott really enjoyed:

You see.... Everything comes down to poo!

From the top of your head, to the sole of your shoe

We can figure out what's wrong with you by lookin' at your poo!
Do you have a hemorrhoid or is it rectal cancer?

When you flush your dookie down, you flush away the answer

It doesn't really matter if it's hard or if it's loose

We'll figure out what's ailing you, as long as it's a deuce!

Yes!Everything comes down to poo!

Everything comes down to poo!

Cardiovascular and lymphatic, yes, the nervous system, too!

All across the nation, we trust in defecation!

Everything comes down to poo!

If you want to know what's wrong, don't sit and act so cool

Just be a man and eat some bran, and drop the kids off at the pool!

My stomach hurts

Check the poo

I sprained my ankle

Check the poo!

I was shot!

Check the poo!

A homeless guy threw poo in my eye!

Check the poo!

Mine or his?

First him, then you!

It may sound gross, you may say "shush!"

But we need to see what comes out of your tush!

Because!Everything comes down to poo!

Whether it's a tumor or a touch of the flu!
Please, won't you pinch us off a big, fat clue!

Our number one test is your Number Two!

If there's no breeze, light a match please!

Everything comes down to --
Doo-doo! Doo-doo! Doo-doo! Doo-doo!
Everything comes down to ... POO

So now this song has become Scott's ringer on my cell phone. Kinda immature huh!!!

Surfn' Jack Russell Style

Scott and I are hoping we can train Sam to be this cool on the waves this summer!

She could totally do it!