We are still here.

Ok, I miss blogging, I miss the memories we will have for a lifetime, but a girl gets busy, I will be better.

A lot has happened in 2 months.

-We went on vacation.

- new job offer.(we didn't take it)

-Kids visiting, coming, going, and staying.

-A lot of memories.

-Maverik March maddness and we Are still married.

Now I Will start blogging on some of this stuff... Tomorrow.

Tying a knot and hanging on!

Everyone that knows me well knows the last month has been tough. It is so refreshing to me to have my "go to" people that Love me, care about me, and are always there for me. I have a group of them that every time I am kind of at the end of my rope I pick up the phone and call. A, S.O.S,. call of "hey, I am not doing really good right now". So if your one of those people thank you from the bottom of my heart for last week. I am still standing!!!

Then on the flip side of the people that love you, you have the people that DON'T. The people that rub salt, judge fast, and are very busy telling you how wonderful they are and rotten you are that they may forget, that believe it or not, I also have true feelings. I always have been pretty resilient to this, not letting things get to me, not letting "those" people that truly believe I am the spawn of Satan take me down. Well I didn't do such a good job of that last week. It got to me, BAD.

.

I am not perfect, however, my intentions are good. I do not sit home and plot nasty revenge against people. I truly am just trying to help my family the best way I know how. If that is not good enough for you then I am sorry for my short comings.

remind all of you that "WORDS FRICKEN HURT" be careful how you use them

Sam and I am still standing, maybe leaning a little bit but at least we have each other to lean on, but never the less Still Standing! :-)

MAKE THIS... TONIGHT.

*disclaimer: This is not figure friendly!
I am not a huge mac and cheese lover. However my husband is (It's the Southerner in him). I ran acrossed this recipe by Paula Dean. I tweaked it here and there and let me tell you.. It is YUMMY.. It is rich, and it is fattening but it is awesome. I love crock pot meals, this one you have to stir quite often but it is Heaven sent. Go get this stuff and make it. I doubled the recipe. That will be about a big crock pot full.

GO BUY THE STUFF BELOW, DON'T BUY FAT FREE ANYTHING, DOUBLE THE RECIPE AND EAT IT... RIGHT NOW!!!


CROCK POT MACARONI AND CHEESE

• 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni



• 4 TBL butter



• 2 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese



• 1/2 cup sour cream



• 1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cheddar cheese soup



• 1/2 teaspoon salt



• 1 cup WHOLE milk



• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard



• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put Crock pot on high and put butter in crock pot while Macaroni is boiling. Just to get it melted a little. (doesn't have to be entirely melted)

2. Boil the macaroni in water for six minutes. Drain

3. Combined all ingredients into crock pot and stir stir stir till mixed together (either melt the butter a little before you put it in the crock pot or cut it up into 1 inch pieces).

4. Cook on low for 2 1/2 hours. stirring occasionally.

Do not buy the pre grated Sharp cheddar. Grate your cheese yourself, it is just better cheese. AND remember this is all about the cheese... buy good cheese. But remember this is a rich rich recipe to begin with so don't go haywire buying richer cheese. Just good Sharp Cheddar Cheese works dandy..

Home Base!

You know when you have a really really bad day, week, month... etc.. and you just want that place to land. That place you know your loved, that you know they will take care of you??? I know that place and it's usually where my Mom is.

To say the LEAST this week has been rough and to make it rougher my Mom and Nolan have moved to Vegas for the Winter, and my Dad and Judy have gone to Lake Mead for the winter. So I don't even have a place to run. I have Sam and I have my kids and I have my home but sometimes you just need your Mom!!!

so I was given some motherly advice and boy does the shoe fit this week... My Mom is still my home base.

BE HOME BASE!
You are home to them. When they learn to walk, they wobble a few feet away from you and then come back, then wobble away a little farther and then come back. When they try something new, they will look for your proud smile. When they learn to read, they will repeat the same book to you twenty times in a row, because you're the only one who will listen that many times. When they play sports, they will search for our face in the stands. When they are sick, they will call you. When they REALLY mess up, they will call you. When they are grown and strong and tough and big and they feel like crying, they will come to you; When their hair is turning grey and they miss their Mom, they will think of you!

so here is to your home base!

The rest of the Holiday

One of our hardest thing to do over the Holidays is get all of our kids together in one spot. We were able to do it for about an hour 2 years ago but I would someday really like to get a family picture lol. So this year Josh, Sarah and Jordan couldnt make it to Christmas day but we were able to see them before the year ended. We saw Josh the day after Christmas at Peggies party and he is doing great.
We then went to Sheridan Wyoming to see Jordan and Sarah. They are doing great as well and have busy lives. We had dinner with them before we left. Sitting next to Sarah is her friend Cole. We miss all of our kids and love them all so damn much!!

The last picture is New Years Eve with a bunch of the buddies in Sheridan. Great time..

Another Christmas come and gone......

It always surprises me how fast the years go by. Kids are growing up and getting their own lives started and it getting harder and harder to get everyone together in one spot. We appreciate the time we do get and as you can see from the pictures, we have LOTS of fun hah. We were able to get Brock, Taylor and Cass in our house all at the same time. Josh had to work in Payson, Jordan and Sarah had to work in Sheridan. We were able to see Josh the day after Christmas and we will see Sarah and Jordan before the year ends. We love them all very much!!
Peggie and Nolan came up Christmas Eve night and we ate LOTS and played games. If you ever get the chance to play Guesstures do it... so much fun and we laughed and laughed at each other trying to act these things out.

Here are just some random pictures of the last couple of weeks over Christmas. Our blogging lately has been scarce.

You can take the girl out of the city, but...

It has been years since I have lived a small town life. As most of you know I was raised in a VERY small town in Southern Idaho, Population 6,000 or something like that. I knew everyone I graduated high school with, knew where they lived, what their parents did, and at one time or another probably dated someone in their family. I hauled hay, chased cows, and caught mice in mouse traps... SMALL town.
Now Sam and I live in big city... We don't really know our neighbors, I don't know where they work, what their kids names are, I don't know where they grew up or what they do on the weekends. I do not have mice, I do not SEE cows, and if one of my kids had to haul hay they would look at me like I was crazy, they may not even know what hay looks like. I DO have everything I want at the tip of my fingertips. Professional sports teams, huge shopping complex, airport, gourmet restaurants, art galleries, world class medical teams, unbelievable schools and Universities, and endless opportunities for the kids. We make big money, we spend big money, and I pay more for a pair of Levis and way more for a pair of shoes than I EVER thought I would. I am more and more city girl and less and less country girl.

So Sam and I have the conversation a lot if we would want to go back to small town living and we both agree that there is something about a small town that calls to us. I know I would not be content in TOO small of town and I have to be somewhere that I could buy a really expensive pair of shoes and have somewhere to wear them. I am more of a city girl now than I ever want to admit and Sam laughs occasionally about how I would stick out like a sore thumb in some of the places he has lived. However, he forgets that I have lived in a small town and there are a lot of things I miss.
You probably will never see Sam and I moving back to Preston, Idaho, Sheridan, Wyoming, Le Mars, Iowa or Winslow, AZ... but we may be planting our roots somewhere smaller than this concrete jungle of Salt Lake City, Utah.

So how big of city is to big??? or how small of a town is to small??? We are thinking somewhere with 100 to 200 thousand people.. That sounds just right to us! and you?

Where have we been???

As our busy lives seem to get even busier through the Holidays we keep saying we need to blog more. We were reading through a lot of our old posts the other night and such great memories are kept here.
We had a great Thanksgiving, we have been to a couple of Hockey games, shopping for the Holidays...... but the reality is we work so much right now that we try to squeeze things in and by the time we hit the bed at night we are exhausted. We are still having lots of fun however!!!
Here are a few pics of some memories over the last month or so.

ITS HOCKEY TIME!!!!!! Even Grizzbee knows who the hottest woman in the crowd is.

We reserved the Maverik Suite for our lil party one night.

WE are now playing " GUESS WHO THE HEADS ARE" lol

Debbie, Judy, Allison, Sally and Michelle - YOUR RIGHT!!!!

Allison and her friend Brandon

Brock and his friend Rylee

Thanksgiving was awesome!! We didnt get tons of pics but we had about 15 people with lots of food and great company. They even had an activity... building Ginger Bread Houses. My wife built the best one.. but they were all great.

Little Morgan was playing with our snowmen. She was pressing the play button on all of these at the same time haha.. cute!!

Cassidi, Josh and Taylor. 3 of our brady bunch was there.

Kyley, Morgan and Taylor

Bad Bad Mole!!

This past Spring Brock went to the doctors to get his Physical done so he could go to Scout Camp in the summer. While he was there the doc looked at his back and took a pen and circled a mole that he said needed to be removed and to bring him back at the end of the summer. Debbie looked at it and thought "why is this mole a bad one???" Little tiny mole about the size of an ink pen dot. So on we went with the summer.....
About a month ago Debbie took him in and the doctor did a punch hole operation and took the core out of the mole (1st pic). Super thick skin on the back... couldnt believe it.
So they sent it off for tests and to make a long story short, it came back as questionable so he had to go back in and get the whole area taken out and that came back as melonoma!!!! Debbie about fell out of her chair, started cold sweats and almost a panic attack. The doctor calmed her down and said he will be fine and it was caught so early that he will live a long healthy life. He just needs to be careful in the sun and watch all of his moles in every phsyical.

So to all of you.... be very careful of your moles

Yearly Family Pumpkin Carving Contest!!

Another Fall has come and we have faced each other once again in our contest... trash talking.. name calling... you know how that family competition thing goes lol This year Brock said he was an amature and there was no way he could win. We posted the picture on Facebook as usual for voting and he not only won but kicked BOOTY! He won by 15 votes. NICE JOB BROCK!!

Top left was Cass, top right Debbie, bottom left Sam, bottom right Brock. Yeah he smoked us but I think Cass and Debbie had the most detailed pumpkings by far.. my vote was for Cass.

Happy Anniversary.

Monday was Sam and I's 3 year anniversary. We spent it at dinner at Tuscany in Salt Lake City (one of my FAVORITE restaraunts). Here is to the next 30 years.

Nightmare or a Blessing???

I don't really know if this blog is about step families, raising kids, or a parents melt down, or maybe all of the above.

We have had a interesting year with our kids. We have had ups, downs, highs, lows, jealousy, anger, hateful, happy, sad, frustrating, terror, and fear all wrapped up in this family of 8.

I don't live in la la land and I knew that Sam and I's past would have some scars on our kids, divorces, moving, jobs etc. etc. etc. We knew they would have some jealousy with Sam and I's relationship and that if Sam and I didn't put each other first that the family issues that accrue with most step families would put us under. So from the beginning Sam and I's mode of operation was we marinate our kids in love and they can follow or not but our kids will not LEAD this family. Well this year has proven to be tricky in this department. Sam has had his ass handed to him to turn around to see me get mine handed to me by our kids. It truly has taken a tole on this family. So Step Families a nightmare or a blessing??? I am going to go for the blessing part. I would not give up one of the kids for another, I would not change thing, and I sure the hell don't want to go back. I just hope that at some point we can look back at this and say "it really wasn't that bad"! I also know that I am not perfect, I can't speak for Sam but I know I have so many faults, and have made so many mistakes that I can't even begin to write about them and I have had no clue how to be the world's greates Mom. However, I am trying and I can't undo all my mistakes and all the scars etc. etc. etc. all I can do is work on today forward!

So this is for Sam who ALWAYS has my back, , is one of the most patient men I know, and hasn't let this year of parenting ruin our relationship. With both of us we can do this "The Power of TWO"!

I truly am in love with this man I call my husband.

Idaho Trip

Working for Maverik I do a lot of road trips through out the year. This week I ran through Western Idaho to nearly all of the Maverik stores over there. I kept a camera close because I was taking pictures of competitors and our parking lots.
Anyway....... I love driving through the back roads and getting off the freeway now and then and stumbling on to things like this pic below. I didn't get a picture of the whole thing but look at all the potential hot rods!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Some of these are obviously junk but there are more beauties behind that old blue van on the left. Like 1930 and 1940 somethings. They need complete restoration but some of these could be worth a ton of money just as they sit.
This particular road is between Burley ID and Kimberly ID.
So if you ever get a chance to hit some random back roads in Idaho and Wyoming do it...you never know what you can find.

Here is another random picture of a great business idea!!! It certainly got my attention.

Still kicking and having fun!!

What a crazy life these days. With Debbie working hard in her new career and with mine we keep very very busy!! We seem to get home from work, do a few chores to keep things up then crash in front of the TV about 7 then in bed by 9:30 haha... yes 9:30!!
On the weekends we have as much fun as possible. This last weekend we went on a bike ride with the buds from Logan. (below pics). It was a perfect day to ride.

In other news, Cassidi moved back in with us after 3 months of renting a place with a friend.
Brock is enjoying school...... and GIRLS.

More blogs to come..... now that things are settling down a little....

The Buds with a mid day refreshment in Coalville

We made a new friend in the parking lot at Taggarts near Morgan when we stopped for lunch. Even birds like Victorys

High heels and Hospitals.

So from the post below ya know I have went back into the work force. I wanted to update real quick about how much I LOVE my job. I love working with Elderly people, they are fascinating and have the most amazing stories. I run around A LOT, spend a lot of time at Assisted Living homes, hospitals, doctor offices and in peoples homes. I am putting a lot of miles on my car and my car is now my office and taxi.
Brock is now in 8th grade and back in school, and I am working so this house is an entirely different animal than it was the last few years, but I think we are getting the hang of it. I have truly found a job that was custom made for me.. LOVE IT!
However my feet hurt so bad tonight I may have to crawl tomorrow. My feet have forgotten how to walk in heels 8 hours a day!

For those of you that know us you know that Debbie had a terrible accident 2 years ago... almost exactly 2 years ago. Here is the link to one of our blogs about it back then -
Accident

About a month or 2 ago Debbie was in the back yard with me cleaning up some yard work. She bent over to pull a couple of weeds, which normally over the past 2 years she would have nearly fallen over because she gets so dizzy. This time she stands back up and says "SAM.. this is the first time that I have not been very dizzy!!!"
From that time on she has been toying with the idea about going back to work. She put her feelers out in a few places and started interviewing a few weeks ago just checking things out trying to find out what she wants to do now. We both agree we don't want her traveling all the time but we tried to keep out options open to what really was a good fit for her. 2 weeks ago she was offered 3 jobs in as many days.. back to back to back. She accepted each one not knowing what was going to happen with the other ones. Each offer that came through was a better job with better money. The last offer was a perfect job for her right here in Kaysville with great wages and benefits.
Today she started her first day in Marketing for a Home Health Care\ Hospice company. She is so excited and will do a wonderful job!!!
Debbie I am so proud of you and to see you healthy again and ready to take on the world is an awesome sight.

Nevada City Wedding

Lauren and Tyson have been planning their wedding for some time now and we could not wait to go. We had no idea what we were in for. We drove clear through Nevada (and hit several Maverik Stores on the way) and by the time we hit Reno it finally started getting pretty. We exited off the freeway 40 miles through the trees and come upon this town nestled in these HUGE pine trees... so huge that GPS systems would not work. Nevada City is such a unique place.

Our first day there we hung out, explored a little and did some wine tasting... well it IS California... wow such great wines. If you get a chance to go to Nevada City DO IT!!

We have so many moments and stories we just cant tell them all in a blog. These few pictures say a lot so I will leave it at that... Congrats Tyson and Lauren!!

A quiet moment while Tyson and Lauren release this into the air in rememberance of our family members who have passed. Miss you Mike Dahle!!