Out With The Old, In With The New

I put a beef roast in my crock pot last Monday night (at midnight) because I was craving a delicious french dip sandwich and thought it would be the perfect Tuesday night dinner. But, I awoke to the sad realization that the old crock pot was on it's last leg. After about 15 hours the roast was done, but not to the "shredding" done-ness that I desired. It was at that moment that I accepted the fact that it was time to put the poor thing out of it's misery and find a suitable replacement. It has been my companion in the kitchen for the past 10 years, and it will be missed. I mean, look at the poor thing...it's been used and abused. The crock has a crack all the way through it. The lid has 3 huge chips in it. No matter what I've used to clean the outside, it just won't come clean. It is a truly pathetic sight. Poor baby. However, I hope I don't seem too calloused to say, in this same post, how excited I was to get this new baby:

It's so silver and shiny. On Friday it cooked my chicken to perfect shredding-ness in 8 hours. It has really cool lights and buttons, as compared to the twist knob on the old one. I'm in crock pot heaven!!

"I DID IT!!"

These were Treyson's words as he busted through the door after school today. He was so excited that he couldn't wait to tell me that he finally passed off his 100 sight words and was officially in AR. This is something he's been working for since towards the end of Kindergarten. I'm so proud of him!

Here he is showing me the "yellow star"...his AR level.

Don't you love the dirty, marker-covered hands??

I do!! ;)

This Is Me

{Self Portrait}

By Tate Lewis This is one of the very best things about having a 4 year old!!

I get the best pictures EVER!!

CAN

{I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me}

Philippians 4:13

My sis-in-law, Rebecca, sent me this video this morning. I've seen it before, but it was worth watching again. It's inspiring. I relate to how this father feels, because I know there isn't anything I wouldn't do to help my children accomplish something worthwhile. It makes me so thankful for my life...my small troubles, my trials, and all of my blessings. It reminds me of the unconditional love of my Heavenly Father...of His love for every single one of His children.

You can read more about this incredible duo here .

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy, Joy!!!

Today I went to Costco on Val Vista/202 to pick up a few items...you know, bread, bisquik, toilet paper...stuff. When I went to check out the lines were enormous...I'm not exaggerating at all. They were headed down one of the main isles in the store. Why? I don't know. I can't ever figure out why Costco has lines. They have like 15 check out lanes, and there seems to be plenty of employees that need something to do....oh, sorry, another rant...back to the story. But then, I looked to my right and saw a sign hanging from the ceiling that said "Self Check Out". I nearly broke into my happy dance as I worked my way around and through the winding lines and walked right up to an empty self check out line. I was done in 5 minutes and on my way. I'm still happy about it and I've been home for 2 hours. Pretty pathetic, hu! Ha! I don't really care how pathetic it is...it made my day!!!

Just Keep Spinning...

I'm tired. Not just kind of tired. Not just, "I'm going to sit down for a minute" tired...
I'm tired to the very core of me. Every single muscle, no, every single cell in my body is tired. Why? Well, I'll tell you...

It's because of this:This is what many lovingly refer to as Spin Class. For me, it's more like how I picture Hell. And, the craziest thing is that I'm at the gym at least 30 minutes prior to the class to sign up because if I don't then I won't have a bike to sit and spin on. I don't even like the bike. It hurts my "unders". I don't like that my legs feel like they're going to fall off 5 minutes into the 60 minute class. I don't like that my head feels super hot and like it's going to blow off of the top of my shoulders. I don't like that I sweat so much that I could probably drown in it. But, I guess it's what I'll do if it will make me healthy. I know that it will get easier, but until then I'll just keep singing this little song in my head (to the tune of the song from Nemo...sing along with me now)

Just keep spinning,

Just keep spinning,

Just keep spinning, spinning, spinning,

What do ya do, you spin, spin, spin.

A New Adventure

Today I was called as Laurel Advisor in our ward. I'm excited and nervous and the same time...but mostly excited. I get to work with an amazing president (Leslie, pictured in the post below this one) and fun counselors and advisors. Aside from this year's girls camp I have never served in the YW before, so it's going to be an adventure!! We have some awesome young women in our ward and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better!

Brainiaks Preschool

My baby had his first day of preschool today. He's been looking forward to this day for a really long time.

{TATE}

Height: 42"

Weight: 39 1/2 lbs.

He couldn't wait to put on his backpack and go to "Miss Lovies".

Of course his teacher's name isn't Miss Lovie, but that is what he called her for a least a week until he realized that it was actually Miss Leslie, the mom of his buddy, Tate Nikolaus.

Thanks, Leslie!! You're great...not to mention, BRAVE!!!! We're looking forward to a great year!

Blog Tag

Sara tagged me for this post...Here's the low down:

Here's what I'm supposed to do: list 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 surprising facts and then tag 5 other people. Leave a comment for the people you tag so they know they have been tagged.

*Three Joys

• Coca Cola--the real stuff.
• My Boys!!
• Summer Vacation In Utah

*Three Fears

• Throwing a party where no one shows up
• The humming Quaker on the oatmeal commercial
• My kids being seriously injured or ill

*Obsessions/Collections

• Josh Groban--surprise, surprise!!
• The Olympics...especially Michael Phelps' quest for 8 gold medals
• The dishwasher must be loaded from the back to the front...not front to back.

*Surprising Facts

• I almost drowned while white water rafting and haven't been since
• I have to go through the grocery store the same way every time, starting on the right side of the store and working my way, row by row, to the opposite end.
• Kevin and I lived in a trailer (camping, not single or double wide) next to his parents house for 6 months to save money to purchase our first home.

I'm tagging:

• Jenn
• Leslie
• Michelle
• Katherine
• Nikkel
• or anyone else who wants to do it!!

I Love Lucy

It would be hard to explain to anyone who doesn't have a pet of their own the way you grow to love the dang things. It's even harder to explain how I fell in love with this fat pile of fur, especially since I was never too crazy about having an "inside" dog. I've had a few "outside" dogs, but none that I loved more than this pretty lady. Now, I know you're looking at the picture and wondering how in the world I could think that her ugly mug is pretty. You're probably thinking that I've seriously lost my mind (which I probably have, but let's not go there right now). But, I have to tell you that she is a special member of our family and we all love her to death!
That is why my heart sank last night, around 5 p.m., when Treyson went outside to check on her and found her sitting in a pool of blood. We had recently had her inseminated, but for some reason her body decided that it wasn't going to be able to carry puppies and she got a raging bacterial infection in her uterus. She had been on antibiotics for 7 days, but it became all too clear that they weren't even touching the infection as I rushed her to the vet. After some blood tests and a couple of x-rays it was decided that she needed to be spayed immediately, to lessen the risk of a ruptured uterus which could ultimately kill her. We were so sad because she was such a good mommy to her first litter of puppies, and we were sooooo looking forward to having puppies in our house again. Luckily, everything turned out as well as could be expected and she's back home this afternoon, sleeping, on her back, legs sprawled, and snoring. She must be feeling better already!! ;) We sure love our Lucy!!

Breaking Dawn

It's sad to admit, but I've hardly noticed that the kids were back in school because I've been glued to this book!!! I actually saw dawn break yesterday morning because I couldn't wait to see what happened next!! I absolutely loved it!! It was sooooooo much better than the last book I read. (Sorry Tiff!!!) I'd better go re-introduce myself to my kids....and probably my hubby, too!!! ;)

I'm An Auntie...AGAIN!!!

I'm so excited to share the news of the birth of my newest nephew!!!

{Jayger J. Trane}

August 3rd

Weighing in at a whopping 5 lbs. 15 oz!!!

He's such a cutie!! I can't wait to meet him in person!!

Congratulations Todd and Michelle!!

First Day Of School

It's so hard to believe that summer has already flown by and school has started again. The boys were up and at 'em early this morning, eager and excited! I made them go through our usual "new school year routine" of getting their height, weight, and a new picture, and then we were off. Treyson was so excited to ride his bike this year and the other two were just glad that they didn't have to haul him to school on the pegs of their bikes. I can't believe how they've grown. I had a moment of sadness as Tate and I said our goodbye's and started to walk home, but when it all comes down to it I realized that it's hard to stay sad when they are soooooo excited to start their new school year. {Tanner}

• 6th Grade/Miss. Mosher-homeroom
• 4 feet 10 inches
• 91 1/2 lbs.

{Ty}

• 4th Grade/Mrs. Riggs
• 4 feet 8 inches
• 89 1/2 lbs.

{Treyson}

• 1st Grade/Mrs. Cichon
• 4 feet
• 50 lbs. Tate and Trey waiting in the shade for the bell to ring.
  Ty waiting for his teacher to come out and get them.

I have no pictures of Tanner waiting because he took off the minute we got to the school grounds. I guess that's what happens when they get into 6th grade!!!