Bonjour!

Bonjour!
I’m a 51 year old mother of five amazing daughters and wife to a caring, sensitive AND sexy husband. I adore my family. I’m dedicated to my faith. I enjoy a good laugh. I'm nostalgic and love to reminisce. "Remember" is my favorite word in the English language. I love life! I’m passionate about music, food and {dreams of} traveling the world. I wanna be a castle and waterfall chaser. I’m fascinated with anything European. {PARIS! Hello!} I love celebrating anything and everything! I love to read, especially a good biography, mystery, Regency Era Romance or Historical fiction novel. I love thoughtful gift giving. To me the gift wrap is almost as important as the gift itself. I have a bit of an obsession with gift boxes and gift bags. As well as old world maps & globes, apothecary bottles and jars! I love being creative…bolts of ribbon, coordinating scrapbook papers, producing a table scape, or planning décor for a themed party puts a smile on my face. I love the details! I’m a freak for anything theme oriented. I enjoy event planning, but oddly enough do not like to host or entertain. I enjoy fashion, but have to really be in the mood to clothes shop. I love purses and funky costume jewelry. Especially big rings! I’d rather wear wedges or heels any day than flats. I enjoy decorating and searching for the perfect decorative pillow or picture. However, you’ll never see me frequent high-end stores. I'm more of a Ross, TJ Maxx, Tuesday Morning kind of gal. My favorite decor style is an old world rustic Italian chateau/Spanish Villa look with a hint of bohemian! OR a vintage shabby chic French country cottage/English cobblestone farmhouse. My #1 cookie-Molasses! Autumn is my favorite season. I’d go through childbirth a million times. I enjoy biking with my man, Pilates, and power walking. You’ll never find me in a gym working out. I love movies, whether watching them in the theatre or cuddled up on the couch with my family. I enjoy a good chick flick or real life drama! I'm a sucker for movies on the Hallmark & Great American Family Channel. I have a tender heart for the elderly. I adore Disneyland. I enjoy being in the canyon on a summer or fall evening at dusk. I love my friends. While I have some extroverted characteristics. I’m a self proclaimed introvert. I’m generally quiet, calm, reserved and pretty darn private. Why in the heck do I blog? It’s a creative way to record family history. I enjoy photography. I really don’t like to write, although I write in my journal often. My journals, patriarchal blessing, scriptures, quote book, and beloved Christmas tree filled with ornaments of family memories are among my prized possessions. I love the beach. I enjoy WWII history. I love a clean, orderly house, but ours usually looks lived in. ;) PBS Masterpiece is my friend. I adore Jane Austen films. They transport me to another time and place. If I had to choose another time period in which to live, early 19th Century England would be my pick. "Sense and Sensibility" is my all time favorite movie. My 3 favorite TV series are...BBC's Larkrise to Candleford, the 1950's Spanish Drama "Velvet," and the travel/food show "Somebody Feed Phil." My biggest pet peeve is people who blow their noses in public. So gross! {Take it to the bathroom people.} I’d go on a wine tasting vacation if it wasn’t against my religion. I’ve always wanted to adopt a baby from a foreign country. I’m an avid BYU football fan. I'm a Educational Support Professional. I tutor elementary kids in phonemic awareness, phonics, reading, fluency and comprehension. I love our campfires at Scofield Lake. I have a 'thing' for fairy gardens, Gallic French roosters, fresh flowers in a vase, pretty bowls & plates, and yummy smelling candles & soap. I love summer rainstorms and warm baths. I'm a scripture podcast fanatic. I'm also a fan of several Fox News shows; Hannity and Dave Ramsey Talk Radio. I very much miss Rush Limbaugh! I hate when my kids have homework. I'd rather clean 20 toilets than give a talk or prayer in church. I have quite a collection of Madame Alexander Dolls, children's books, Disney pins, and quotes. My favorite quote is "Don't underestimate me. I know more than I say, think more than I speak & notice more than you realize." True True LOL! I always prefer sitting in a back row versus the front. {I'm sort of a seat snob..yikes} I also have high expectations for my lemonade, salsa, and french fries too. HA! I work well behind the scenes. I love a good Dateline, 20/20 or 48 Hour Mystery. I’m a night owl. I'd rather be cold than hot. I love to budget our finances! I enjoy being a chauffeur to my children. I'm not a huge fan of social media. I don't snap, pin or tweet. All I want for Christmas every year is a ticket to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. It's my FAVORITE. I’m an Anglophile…a royal watcher who loves anything English! Especially tea parties! I would like to serve a church mission to England with Jaren someday. I'm queen of paper towel, used kitchen dishrags and sponges kinda make me squirm. You’ll rarely find me out of the house not ready for the day, except when driving the kids to school on the days I don't work. I feel naked without lipstick or lip gloss. Mismatched socks, chipped fingernail polish, chapped lips and brownie crumbs on the floor drive me nuts! I like to organize and BE organized..but not saying I always am. ;) I enjoy hiking to waterfalls, ATV’ing with my family and snowshoeing with the hubs. Although I enjoy collecting recipes and occasionally watch cooking shows... (Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade, Paula Deen, Jamie Oliver, and the Pioneer Woman are my favorites) I’d rather not cook. Eating out is so much more fun. I'm a foodie. I live to EAT! LOL Trying new foods and restaurants is a favorite past-time, and believe it or not so is intermittent fasting. I'm not good at a lot of things... but gosh, if you need help with a themed celebration or someone to enjoy good food with, I'm your girl. I love the joy of anticipation and the celebration of holidays. Family traditions are important to me. I'm a memory preserver. I'm a pathological picture taker ;) a visual storyteller, and a lover of happy lists!

My Fam!

My Fam!

The Hubs and I

The Hubs and I

My Girls!

My Girls!

Kyleigh Dawn (28)

Kyleigh Dawn (28)

Emma Abigail (26)

Emma Abigail (26)

Hannah Isabelle (23)

Hannah Isabelle (23)

Brielle Olivia (19)

Brielle Olivia (19)

Kate Evangelene Lyllie (13)

Kate Evangelene Lyllie (13)

Mr. Charles "Bingley" Wentworth III (4 yrs.)

Colonel Edward Fitzwilliam "Darcy", Duke of Westridge (3 yrs.)

My Man!

My Man!

Good Times!

Good Times!

Wedding Day 5*17*22

Lillian "Lilly" Belle

Disney Food Fun! 2019

Disneyland Tips

What I Believe!

Our Missionary

We Bleed Blue! {Except for the Poppi}

My list of favorite movies!

Learn more about Dyslexia!

Music To My Ears!

Tuesday, July 01, 2014

What's On My Happy List?

Trek!
Sent these three awesome people off at 6:30 am on a Wednesday morning for a 3 1/2 day pioneer experience on the plains of Wyoming. Look how cute they look in their pioneer-y gear! They've been looking forward to/dreading this day for quite some time. Dad was called as the trail boss so he's been prepping for this experience for months. He totally digs this kind of stuff, so he was excited, the others, um...not so much....I knew dad would fair just fine, the girls I was just hoping they would come back alive...and have a better experience then Kyleigh did four years ago...  

While the others were away trekking, we had a little fun of our own. Each day we picked a theme and rolled with it...Wednesday was Garden/Fairy Day... We had lunch at the quaint, Art Garden Cafe...


The Art Garden is THE cutest little boutique shop that I love to occasionally pop into to find a special gift for my mom or a friend.


Kate, cousin Taylor, and I recently discovered the backyard of a lady in our neighborhood. I was gobsmacked when I walked back there for the first time. It was like a secret garden..

So on our garden themed day we stopped by her house so that Kyleigh and Brie could see it...



There are flowers, statues, fountains, waterfalls, a pond with lily pads and gold fish...etc.. Such a beautiful back yard.  

I'm a sucker for a well kept yard and beautiful flowers...Our front yard is nothing like that lady's, but it must be looking pretty darn good {can't take much credit for that} or else I wouldn't have been possessed to take this pic of its beauty one early morning..


Grandma and the Mr. love their pots filled with different herbs for cooking...

To continue with our Garden/Fairy Day, Brie, Kate and I made a little Fairy Garden out in our back yard...We love how it turned out!... We are half expecting a visit from a garden fairy ;)









That night we made fairies in a jar! All you need is liquid from glow sticks, glitter and a jar. Found the idea on line.

It doesn't photograph well, but it sure looks super cool in the dark!


I made a "fairy cave" for us out of cardboard pieces and a couple strands of colored lights poked through the top cardboard piece. {Also got the idea on line...If you don't know by now, I'm just a good copier.}


We watched the Great Fairy Rescue. In my opinion the cutest Tinkerbell movie they've made. This movie is seriously adorable! It's actually pretty darn close to breaking in to my all time favorite movie list found here.



Day 2 was Bird Day!
We took a visit to Tracy Aviary to see the birds....

Realized Kate is quite enamored by maps....

The peacock was one of the fav's for sure!


We loved the Amazon and Argentine birds, and of course the flamingo's....


Kate took our picture.haha..



We made bird feeders out of pine cones, peanut butter and sunflower seeds...

We hung them by a bird house and our fairy garden out back...


We went and saw Rio 2 at the $1 theatre and got sushi. 



Day 3 was "Aqua"/water day!
We took a little field trip to the new aquarium...

We are a fan of turtles!


The map!


WE fell in love with the penguins. Oh my gosh they are so toot! And the way they pop out of the water and waddle away...quite entertaining...



We watched a cool 4D movie on coral reef underwater cities...

The shark tank!

We'd reached our limit!

They both fell for the stuffed penguins!


We painted sea shells and made our own aquariums with scrap paper and sea creature stickers...


and had "sea" treats...


We ate at our favorite costal eatery...Costa Vida. Kyleigh and Ashton joined us after a road trip up North to do baptisms at the Logan and Brigham City temples...Ash missed out on joining the youth in our ward on Trek. He had football camp in Idaho for most of the week.

A little Aquamarine for our viewing pleasure!

The fourth day Kate called it "Dad Day" because it was the day Daddy was coming home!

Awe! They survived! Look how stink'in cute they look all sunburned, sweaty and exhausted...


I loved hearing all their "stories". {Emma talked for hours about it.}  They got hit by an intense rain and wind storm that caused havoc. Sleeping bags and clothes were soaked, tents busted, they had to divvy out their non wet sleeping items. A trailer bed full of 13 girls about froze to death one night, one unfortunate soul got stuck in the porta pottie during the storm...lol.

All in all they walked over 25 miles, one day alone Jaren's pedometer counted over 30, 000 steps. Quite the adventure they were on. The song "Go West" by the Pet Shop Boys has been our theme song for the week...

This is my favorite picture! Taken after the hoe down. {Gotta love the porta pottie action in the background!} 


So Emmsie lucked out big time and got put in an awesome Trek family. Her ma and pa are Ashton's parents, and her big sister is my good friend, who just happened to have her camera.

This was taken after the infamous "women's pull". These sista's are each others best friend. 



On the last day they had an "Indian attack" squirt guns included...




 Bus ride home...


In other random news...
Hannah and her friend Emma started their first summer volunteering at LDS Hospital. 



We have a pet in the house! One of Hannie's friends gave her a fish for her birthday! She named him Salvatore.  

My Hannie made the nightly news! lol ....She and a friend got to be in a news segment about safe boating at Utah Lake....that's her on the water tube in the middle...  


One of Emmsie's Interior Design projects...She also made her cute yellow apron she wore on Trek..


Our family camp out in the backyard...Now I love birds...but there was a full blown out symphony going on at 3:30 in the morning! No lie.  For the record, {rating on comfort} one of the worst night's sleep in recent memory. 



My friend from Cali was here for a visit. She says she comes to Utah for 3 things...Angie Cooper, BYU brownies, and Grandma Sycamore Bread {how do they not have that kind of bread in Cali?}. We took her to get a red raspberry frozen yogurt cone at the local Macey's grocery store. She was practically in frozen yogurt coma. Wouldn't be surprised if she added that to her "Why she comes to Utah" list. 
This yogurt run has sorta become a Monday night tradition around here. 

A little camera action on aisle 9.

and in the front yard...

Ky and Ash took B and Kate to see the new How to Train Your Dragon 2 movie...

Another friend got his mission call....

Summer baseball...

K so if you get bored this summer. WATCH THIS! I was amazed I'd never seen it. I love it when I come across a keeper. This one IS going on the all time favorite list. So stink'in cute!

Knocking ourselves out with the fruit. One of the things I love about summer!

Some water fun!!!


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