I'm thankful for...

This holiday season I would like to say how thankful I am for It's a Wonderful Life...

My absolutely darling grandkids...

The Wicked soundtrack (hint, hint)...

Christmas Junior Mints...

My awesome Subaru...

And last but not least, Twilight. "You'd better hold on tight, spider monkey."

So much to be thankful for!

Happy Birthday, Mel!

Always has a smile and is a saint, especially when dealing with Casey.

Melanie with her mom.

Likes Casey's crazy pizza creations with tuna and carrots (not pictured, this is normal pizza)

Outdoorsy

Teenage mother

Happy birthday, Mel! You are a dream come true and don't look a day older than 16!

I cannot wait for 12:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 20th because that is when I have tickets to see Twilight! Everyone knows I am a HUGE fan of the Twilight series (Team Edward!) and I could not put the books down once I started. I am going with my daughter and my surrogate daughter, Nicole, and we are just tickled pink that Cedric Diggory will be playing dear Edward. I always knew there was a future for him after Lord Voldemort stoled his life in Harry Potter. So I will let you know on Friday what I thought of the show!


"Remember, if the time should come, when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory."
—Albus Dumbledore[src]

What if I'm not the superhero. What if I'm the bad guy?"
—Edward Cullen

Happy Birthday, Holly!

In celebration of Holly's birthday, here is a collage of some of her favorite things. Happy birthday, dearheart!

Josh Groban-- Grobanite.

Peanut butter AND chocolate?

$6 candy apple from Disneyland

Zac Efron

All musicals, esp. Mamma Mia, Hairspray, Moulin Rouge, etc.

Taggart, aka Holly's child

Jack and Sawyer...

Cheesecake instead of birthday cake

Disneyland

Nursing School

Today's Special (especially Jeff)

Grandma Gussie

Braxton Jeans

Emerald Isle

I just went to Ireland with Casey, Maggie, and my Janny and it was a blast! We stopped in NY first (Times Square, Central Park, Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Rockefeller Center, etc. etc.) before flying over to Shannon. Not too many people can do two trips in one, right?

We got to stay in downtown Cork which was a nice little cultural hub. Thank heavens the Tesco was right down the street so we could make chocolate runs at all hours of the day. One rainy morning we even got hot chocolate which was as chocolate as it gets-- wowzers. Who knew Ireland could have such good chocolate?

Everyone knows I love castles. We went to Blarney Castle and I was lifted down to kiss the Blarney Stone but I missed the first time so I made them hoist me down a second time to actually kiss it. You know I will let it fester and fester in my mind unless I do every tourist thing there is to do in any given place. I am still upset that we didn't go to as many castles as we could have. In fact, I continually bring up things I've missed on trips even five or six years after the fact. It drives my family nuts.

Some people thought I looked like an Irish mum, what with my red hair, pale skin, green eyes, and "old world" look. But really I was one of the few redheads (natural and fake) that I actually saw in Ireland. Good thing I was wearing my Disney jacket and pedal pushers with white running shoes so I could have USA emblazened all over me. No one will ever think twice about my nationality ever again.

Casey as a wee bloke at Blarney Castle.

Casey channeling his Utahn old lady inner self.

You'd think this was Ireland but it's actually in New York. Who knew?

Ireland was a great success (some of our trips are not) and I had a great time! I hope to go again soon.

I'm too young and too cute to be the mom of a 31-year-old

Pizza lover

Photographer

Avid Reader

Hands-on dad

Adventurer



Happy 31st birthday, Steven Casey!

I did something real dumb over the weekend. Real dumb.

The family and I went rafting down the Oneida Narrows in Idaho over the weekend. We had five homemade pontoons and 3 tubes. The pontoon people used oars but the tube people used their legs, as the river was a little shallow and most of the time we could touch. It was a gawgeous day and the scenery was breathtaking. Most of the ride we just floated, but we hit a few light rapids every so often which dunked most everyone and scraped up some knees.

This is a stolen picture from someone else's blog about rafting the Oneida Narrows. But it's pretty much exactly what we did.

Jack, Maddi, and Sami gearing up for the Oneida Narrows. Sami was the only one who rafted down--Maddi just likes to wear lifejackets.

This is me getting ready for the float. I drove down with the grandkids for the first two hours then jumped in for the remaining, oh, 6 hours after that on just an inner tube.

We got started a little late in the day--2:00ish--and two of the smarter kids (the girls) got about about 5:00 p.m. after they got dunked. They wanted to give us a little more time so they gave us an ETA point about an hour down the river where we could meet then go get some suppa.

When we got to the rendez-vous point at about 6:00ish, a couple of us made a gross error and decided to keep floating down "to the end", not realizing the end was quite a ways away (although one of the sons-in-law was smart enough to get out right then). We also neglected to tell our other children that we would be continuing or where to meet us. Instead, we just left them hanging for about 3 hours, worried sick that we had drowned.

What happened is that we separated: my daughter-in-law and the hubby together, me and my son together, and my other son-in-law by himself as it turned out. We kept thinking the end would be "just around the corner". But we passed many a corner and there was no end in sight.

It started to get real dark, the sun set, and the temp dropped into the 50s/low 60s. You would think we would get out of the water as the temp dipped? Oh, no, we decided to stay in. Until we were all pre-hypothermia. In fact, my lips turned blue towards the end there.

Eventually the hubby and daughter-in-law abandoned ship and started walking. They knew we was in trouble with a capital UH-OH. Myself and my son (who was almost neck-deep in water at this point) chose to stay into the water until nearly 9 p.m. when we flagged down some help at a neighboring house. P.S. No cell phone service there!

My smart kids found us all at this point but we were shivering beyond control. We had to strip down and turn on the heat full blast (while the even-temperatured passengers nearly passed out from heat) and try to warm ourselves up. My son was in somewhat bad shape-- he was even a little delirious that last little 30 mins.

Gosh, I just wished I would've listened to my smarts and gotten out of the water earlier. That or

just maybe communicated my plans to the other people. Next time I think I'll plan a little bit better.

Amen.

A few of my favorite things...

How can you not love Junior Mints? I like to "hide" them in my freezer and snitch at them until all of the sudden the box is gone.

It really is the happiest place on earth. I like to go there and blow all of my money at the gift shop and on cotton candy for my grandkids (thank heavens we know a dentist! wink)

I just love frozen bananas. I like to buy loads of them at Disneyland/world. They're only, like, 7 bucks or something.

I have four grandkids. I just wish my other kids would give me more! :(

Truly the best theme park in America!

This is where I get all my little necessities for showers, birthdays, church, etc.

The first time I went to Memphis we did a driveby of Graceland and I was SO MAD. I just knew I had to get back. And boy, did I ever! I got the grand tour and could not stop raving about it!

One Wednesday a month is Book Club with my gals. Some of the books are good, some of them are just plain awful. I'm a GOOD SPORT, though. I read whatever is on the docket, and then some.

I like to listen to these very talented gentlemen on my kitchen cd player. Then when the cd is over, I just leave the cd player on all day long, sometimes even for a week at a time.

James McAvoy is such a hunk. I will watch any movie with him in it, especially Becoming Jane Austen and Atonement.

Mel Gibson will always be a hunk to me. I forgive him for anything he's ever said. Sometimes people say crazy things when they're drunk. He's still dreamy.

I really, really want a toy poodle. That or a mini terrier. I just like little dogs that can be carried around in a purse.

And those are a few of my favorite things!

My grandkids

Ain't they cute?