Grow old gracefully...... SCREW THAT!

The fact that I am about ready to admit this.. shows you how big of fan I really am.. I am in LOVE.. I think it's the best invention since sliced bread!!! I will take donations, and you should send your money every 4 to 5 month.... What is this new Love I have found...


BOTOX!!!!... BOTOX!!!!....BOTOX!!!!....


I know, I know, I know.. I am now going to hear all the bull shit that comes when you admit to things like this.. HOWEVER, I am a firm believer if it makes YOU personally feel better than here is to you and do what ever you want (well almost whatever).

The last year or so my furrowed brow started getting worse and worse and every time I looked in the mirror I saw a permanent "11" between my eyes.. not to mention watching commercial after commercial with it looking like I am squinting.. So after complaining about it and trying every wrinkle cream you could think of, I bit the bullet and got my first injections of Botox... Notice how I say "first" it is NOT my last.. When I came home from getting my injections Brock called me Madonna the rest of the week!!!

my before picture.. see the "11" between my eyes...my after picture... no 11 and hardly ANY wrinkles... LOVE! Yes the side effects of Botox are true.. Such as you wont be able to move your eyebrows as much, and your expressions are not as EXPRESSIVE.. I can not squint and furrow my brow when I am mad but Brock tells me he still knows when I am mad because I clench my teeth.. The doctor explained it to me as a "pleasant" look so that is what I say to Sam all the time.. "this is my pleasant look!"

So here is to growing old with Botox, hair dye, teeth whitener and nips and tucks as needed!! WOOT WOOT!

*DISCLAIMER.. Sam is NOT a fan that I do this.. but he is getting use to the fact. He tells me all the time I am beautiful without it.. (such a nice guy)!!!

Fall...

I always tell Sam I think I will die in the Fall. I know what you are thinking "that is kind of morbid".. It is not morbid for me at all. Fall gives me the sense of peace and tranquility.. The glow in the sky, the cool nights, the leafs turning colors, football, pumpkins... and the smell of all things peach cooking in my house.. I have a peach crisp in the oven and it just reminded me of how much I LOVE FALL!!!

Ring around Wyoming!!!

Sam and I just spent the last week making a BIG loop around the entire state of Wyoming.
There were parts very pretty, parts VERY ugly, and parts that I never want to go back.. but all in all it was a great trip. I am afraid I am more of a city girl than I want to admit and I don't think I would "thrive" in Wyoming. It surprised me because I am from small town USA but I kinda feel like I am a fish out of water there.

Here are a few highlights of our trip.

• Mineral pools in Thermopolis
• Seeing Jordan's apartment.
• The Big Horn Mountains
• Dinner at Sanfords.
• Seeing some of Sam's friends.
• Going to a U of WY football game.
• Seeing Sarah's house.
• Adult slushies.
• I slept in a car.. (I NEVER DO THIS)
• Car Bingo..

Here are some of the things I have seen enough of to last for a lifetime..

• SAGE BRUSH... SAGE BRUSH.. SAGE BRUSH..
• semi trucks.
• Antelope.
• Run down towns.
• 4-wheel drive trucks.
• liquor stores (1 on every corner)
• 2 lane highways that go FOREVER.

any way you get the basic of the trip. Sam worked and we stopped at EVERY single Maverik between here and there and I read (A GREAT BOOK, The Hunger Games).

It was so much fun to see Jordan and Sarah's lives and have that much windshield time with my husband but let me tell you.. WE ARE GLAD TO BE HOME!!!

Colombia here we come..

Yes as in the Country in between Ecuador and Venezuela. We are headed there for 11 fun filled day in February.

The company Sam works for give incentive trips and we chose to go to Colombia and we are so dam excited. I wanted to share with you some of the fun things we will be doing.. For the first 4 day we will be staying at Tyrona National Park.

I am the most excited about this part of the trip. We stay in little huts in the jungle and hang out on some of the Worlds best beaches and eat till we are fat happy and silly!!

Than for 4 days we will be in Cartegna.

All I can think about when I think Cartegna Colombia is what EVERYONE else thinks of... INDIANA JONES.. We will be staying in the hotel picture above and we will get to visit old town, new town and the walls that surround this once very dangerous city. It has a European feel to it and they say that the city seems like you have been dumped in Spain...

Than we are off to an Island for the last leg of our trip. We will be staying at Punta Faro.

I am sure at the end of this trip we will have a ton of stories and a ton of memories. I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS TRIP I CAN'T STAND IT. I have never been to South America (Sam has been to Brazil) so it will be an entire new experience for me. Sam and I will be able to tell you if it is true that Colombia is a different and SAFE place (we all know the stories in the 80's).

I am sure I will be blogging a few more times about this trip as our countdown STARTS..

Plantar Fasciitis!!

Sam has been hobbling around complaining about his foot hurting most of the summer. It was mostly in the mornings and then... he started to play softball, and NOW he can't walk.

We went to the Doctor and he told Sam he has bone spurs and gave him the name to a podiatrist and told him that he would not "hurt" his foot if he used it, that it would only hurt him. So...

Thursday night rolls around and Sam decides he is going to play softball. So he runs to his short stop position and I could tell after the first ball was hit that Sam was HURTING. So he plays the game limping the entire time and we get in the car and I said to him..

"how is your foot?"

Sam: "Dude, I heard a loud pop and then my entire foot went flush!"

So at this point (note. Sam has now struggled with the foot for MONTHS) he makes an appointment with the podiatrist. I knew it must be really bad if he was willing to go to the Dr. That is just a very novel idea *wink.

So over the next few days he iced it, limped, and stayed pretty much off of it. He goes to the dr. and find out that is Plantar Fasciitis. The "pop" he heard in his foot was his tendon tearing. The Doc said it is your body's way of making more room in your foot when it is as inflamed as Sam's is.

What do you do for Plantar Fasciitis...???

YOU STAY OFF IT... YOU BABY IT... AND if by next week it is not better.. They will put Sam in a Cast... Poor Sam is getting old!!

Lordy Lordy look who's 40!

This weekend Sam and I went to Wendover, Nevada with a bunch of my lifelong friends to celebrate Sally's 40th Birthday. It had been a long time since I spent a lot of time with all these girls and it was great and seemed just like old times. Happy 40th Birthday Sally and here is to 40 more!! What a fun adult weekend! All the girls. We grew up together and O boy the stories we could tell about each other!!
PRINCESS!!!

Happy Birthday cupcakes!

Red cups and cup cakes!

There she is "princess Sally"!!!

Roses and Sunshine!!!

I am not pompous enough to keep a blog and only write about our most "shining" moments. Sam and I have life pretty darn good but right now things are not all "roses and sunshine".

Without going into great detail or getting into a very very deep blog I am just going to say that every struggle our children go through hurts all of us and it is one of the most gut wrenching things a parent can do is simply have to watch their child go through a terrible time. As a parent, and step parent, you feel helpless, frustrated, angry, concerned, and so many other emotions that you cant seem to wrap your head (or heart) around it. WELL THAT IS ABOUT WHERE SAM AND I ARE AT THE LAST FEW WEEKS. However, the one thing I have realized in this struggle is how proud I am of this step family. I think the first thing that can happen to make a step family fall apart is drawing blood lines.. and there is definitely no blood lines drawn here.. So as you go to bed tonight say a little prayer for the Campbell family and especially Josh.

in other news... I stubbed my toe really really bad and tore off my toenail!