Surprise!

I was so surprised last night! I never saw my surprise birthday party coming! Let me start at the beginning...Yesterday was my 35th birthday. I thought it would be fun, but I didn't think it would be this fun! My day started with no babysitting (first time in over year that I didn't have any kids to watch) and so my sisters, Mom and Laurie and I went shopping. We headed out to Superstition Mall for the excursion.

We were waylaid by an Estee Lauder sales lady and were talked into trying new makeup and stuff. I got a whole facial and makeup redo and stuff. She had a hard time finding a foundation that would work on my fair skin and had to go with the palest color they had. Her nickname for it was "Butt White". We laughed so hard at that! My face color is butt white! LOL Anyways, I love what she did with my eyes and I am going to try to duplicate the results with a much cheaper product!

We then head to the store Down East Basics. I had never even heard of this store but they have some great, inexpensive clothes. Lots of basics like tees and stuff that cover garments and are a little longer in length. The store originated in the Salt Lake Valley so that makes sense. I got a new swim suit that I love, only problem is JoAnn already has it and it is her fav one too! So I promised her I would coordinate with her if we ever swim in public together! Not really gonna be a problem! lol I also got a few fun tee shirts and my sisters really wanted me to get this really comfy blue skirt, but when they weren't looking I put it back and kept this pink tuxedo tee that I loved. After lunch, I confessed that I pulled the skirt out and they took the bag from me and gave it to Charity and asked her to go back and exchange it! It was so funny! I think Laurie was surprised how easily I caved to whatever my sisters said I should get. I have learned that they have much better fashion sense than I do and they are usually right on, so I tend to go with their suggestions! Anyway, I have a little birthday money left and I am going to go back and get the pink shirt today! LOL

All in all, the mall was a blast! We laughed so much and really enjoyed each other and the time just flew! We were there for 6 hours! I couldn't believe it! Usually I hate shopping! Well, then my sisters were saying they had to go and I knew I had to get back because Bryan was taking me somewhere and wouldn't tell me where. I got home and was shocked and impressed that Jon had watched the kids all day long and the house was sooo clean! I thought he was just being a great son for me today and it was a kind thing to do for my b-day. I quickly made dinner and then Bryan and I set off for my surprise.

We end up at Krispy Kreme. They give a free dozen of doughnuts for your birthday and while it made sense that we went there, I was kinda let down. I was hoping for something a little better than doughnuts! But I tried to stay positive cause I didn't want Bryan to know that I was not super excited for his surprise. The doughnut lady was not that nice, she asked for my ID to prove it was my birthday and then in an almost rude monotone said Happy Birthday. We were taken aback by her attitude. It was weird! Anyway, I said I didn't want to go home quite yet and Bryan was more than happy with that (I thot that was a bit weird, too!) so we went to Target. I really needed a new pair of shorts and that was the only thing I didn't get at the mall, so I found some cute shorts and we also got Bryan some new sandals. I told him his old sandals should only be worn to the lake from now on!! LOL, they were really worn out!! So after this, I asked if he wanted to wander around Target and he usually does but he is like nope, lets go! Again, weird, but I didn't want to push him so we went home.

We pull into the driveway and I just start talking to him about a few things (mostly the grumpy old neighbors) and he is like, lets go in. Again, weird, but ok. I open the door and everyone is inside and yelling Surprise! I just about fell over! I couldn't believe it! my sisters and Mom and Laurie were back after spending the WHOLE day at the mall. Talk about devotion! My brother Lee was also there and all the Hooper's and Smiths came to. I also had a few friends there, the Smithsons and Mursets. It was so fun! Gotta give a shout out to Nathan who was stylin in his new hat! Really cute!

It made for a wonderful day, full of fun and laughter. I think this is the best birthday I have ever had! Major props go to Jon, Bryan and JoAnn for pulling this off! Apparently, I almost caught the schemers sooo many times, but I tend to be totally clueless and it wasn't a problem! Thank you everyone for making my birthday one to always remember! Love you all!

(I will have to post pics that Leslie took, they really catch my surprised face!)

AAAAHHHHH.....

Yes, that is the sound of me screaming (in my head!!). First off, remind me to never, never blog about not having a headache. That is a sure way to bring one on! It hurts. Stupid headache.

The rest of my screaming is because I have been trying to enroll in classes for the fall. I need to help my family out and apparently the economy isn't going to get better anytime soon and I don't feel like I can wait any longer, so I have been working on the enrollment process. I got approved for a grant at MCC (yea to free college!!) and then wanted to enroll. Well, all the classes I need are full. Of course. Yep, of course they are. So then I try Rio Salado. I didn't really want to go this way because with online courses you tend to study everything and not focus entirely on what the teacher wants, so it takes a lot more time. A lot more, like hours per week more. But, that is my last option if I want to go in the fall.

So I try to register online and it won't work, so I call and register for BIO 201 (Human Anatomy and Physiology 1) and try to register for ENG 102. They say I have to take a placement test because my last English class at MCC was in 1997. Stupid, I thought because it should still be ok. I call them back a few hours later and they say that no, I don't need a test and they will register me. So then I am registered for 2 classes and I think I am all good when I ask to be transferred to Financial Aid. They then say that I need to drop all classes until the Financial Aid is finalized or risk paying for the classes myself. I am like- Are you kidding me? It was such a pain to get the classes in the first place and my aid has already been approved on the federal level. She says they don't have a record of it with Rio yet cause I had to transfer it from MCC and to not register for classes until they say so. Now I am seriously frustrated and slightly confused. Since I doubt there will be a problem getting the aid, I am staying in my classes and will drop them later if I have to. Stupid college. Stupid headache. Just stupid all around!!

Hope your day is a lot less stupid than mine!!

Catching up...

So much has happened and yet none of is seems really blog worthy. So I will just type and see what comes out! First thing I can think of is my migraines. Or lack thereof!! I went to see my doctor about two weeks ago and had a really bad migraine when I went in and was hopefully able to convey the "depths of my despair" (I always loved this quote from Anne of Green Gables). My doctor doubled the dose of the daily preventative medication I was taking and I was hopeful that would work. And so far it has! I haven't had a serious migraine in just abt two weeks. I also had my first full body massage (Jenny Gibbons in my ward is amazing!!!). LOVED it! How could I not....Jenny has a room set up in her home with calm, beautiful decor and soft relaxing music piped in. She was sooo good and I felt so comfortable! I could really get used to those massages. Seriously! I think the massage helped a lot, relieving tension and stress in my body. I went to bed happy and I woke up happy. I may need one of those daily if it helps me that much! LOL ( I wish!!)
The last two weekends in a row I have taken any available kids and went up to Heber to help my parents plant some trees to hide the cemetery that borders their property. They want to sell a large portion of their land and think that camouflaging the cemetery will help. They may be right there, but the land is really nice anyways. We worked hard, but it was so beautiful there! Ok, maybe I didn't work that hard the second time, but I won at Phase 10. Doesn't that count for something?
On Sunday, we were in sacrament meeting and I was teasing Jon just a bit about going and bearing his testimony abt their super activity they had just come back from. He actually wanted to bear his testimony but said he was too scared. I told him not to worry and just say what was in his heart. He then asked me to go with him. I said "No way!" Then I started thinking about it and my heart started pounding and I knew I had to. I had been feeling lately that the Lord has guided us here, in this home, school and ward. I felt like I needed to acknowledge His hand in where we are. My kids are really happy here, more so than I had even hoped. So, I did. I know He looks out for me and my family and that He has not abandoned me. So often I had felt that way. Sometimes it is so hard to keep going, but I know He has a plan for us. I just wish the bad stuff would be over already! It is too hard on us. Especially my husband. I think he is really struggling right now. It almost seems like we trade off highs and lows. Right now, he is low and is kinda freaking out. This summer will be a real test of our faith. I am not babysitting very much now and the money just seems to fly out of our account faster than we can put it in. I don't know how we will get by for the next few months, but I know that we will. I am not that worried about it, or maybe I am just trying to not think about it, I don't know. But I do know it is weighing very heavily on Bryan. It is hard for him to shoulder this burden and I know he feels very alone a lot of the time. I love you, babe. We will make it. Somehow.
I do have to say, Jon bore a sweet testimony (Luv u kid!) and he was kinda leaning on one elbow on the podium and he looked so comfortable up there (although I know he was not!!), one man in our ward joked with Bryan that he already had his Bishop pose going on! We had to laugh about that. I hope my kids can make it through being teenagers and be strong members when they are older, Bishop or not, doesn't matter. Just strong and happy!
There is a lot for sale in my ward that we have our eye on. There is no way we can buy it for at least a few years, but we would love to! It is big and in a county island so we could do almost what ever we want with it. I was talking to Jon about how in 4 or 5 years maybe we could build a house with a basement and stick him on the basement so he could have some space and he laughed and said but I will be on my mission so it doesn't matter where we would stick him. Kinda caught me off guard there. That's not too long. Really, in just over 3 years my son will be leaving for his mission. Suddenly that doesn't seem that far away! There was a lady in my ward whose daughter got married last week and she was having a hard time letting her go. I think this will be me every time one of my kids leaves home. Makes me wanna go hug them all right now!
Anyways, that is some of what has been on my mind lately. There is more, but I don't wanna type anymore today!! lol Have a good week!!

Memorial Day at Canyon Lake

I loved having a 3 day weekend with my family. We had a great time just being together but we wanted to do something extra on Monday so we decided to go to either the lake or the river to play. We originally wanted to go skiing and such on the boat with Grandpa but he had some skin cancer removed off of his face of Friday and wasn't quite up for it. We could have taken the boat ourselves, but it was the first time the boat would be out this summer and knew Grandpa would want to be there for the first time, so we decided to attempt the river.

One of our main goals on this excursion was to let Jon try out his new fishing pole, so we didn't really care where we went. We left about 1pm, much later than originally planned due to a stupid headache (hate them!!). We didn't' get far in our attempt at the river. The roads were all closed because it was so crowded. We then decided to go to the lake, knowing that it would also be overcrowded and we probably wouldn't get in there either. It was so crowded! Cars were parked in every single place along the side of the road and all the parking lots to the beaches were closed. We figured we would try the pay beach by Canyon Lake Marina and then when we couldn't get in that we would go back and go swimming at Grandpa's house and make the best of it.

Well we pull into the parking lot and it didn't look good at all!! Cars were just stopped and getting nowhere. They were doing u-turns and backing out of our side of the road so we figured we were out of luck. Bryan suggested that Jon and I walk up to the toll booth just to check prices and availability, so we did. There was a really nice guy working there and once he saw that it really was just our little family and not a huge group of people, he said we could be the last car in for "day use". Woo hoo! We drove down and surprisingly there were a few spots available and while the beach was crowded, it didn't really feel like it. The beach was grassy and nice and the water was cool. So we had a great time!

Jenna and Alex thought is was fun to sit there and pour warm sand on their arms. They loved the beach!

Ring around the rosies, except we jump up. Alex loves it!

We stayed for a couple of hours and then when a lot of people had left, we headed over to the fishing dock to let Jonathan try out his new fishing gear. He caught his first fish, a small blue gill, on his first cast. We were impressed! Then it came time to pull out the fishing hook and Jonathan couldn't do it. He tried and was kinda worried about hurting the poor fish. So I had to do it. I have NO experience with this stuff and Bryan wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole, so I did the best I could and ended up tearing a small piece of the fish's mouth. Poor fish! So sorry little thing!

While Jonathan was debating whether or not to put the fish back, he said some of the funniest things! Forgive me for posting it, Jon, they are too great not to! He wanted to keep the fish but was worried about upsetting the fish's family! He thought the fish's family would be feeling bad and missing this little fish. I died laughing, it was so sweet and funny at the same time! Once we corrected his thinking about fish families, he decided to throw it back anyways cause it was so small. While it was funny, it was nice to see how much he cares about Heavenly Father's creatures and doesn't want to cause unnecessary pain to one of them. He was kinda upset that I tore that fish's mouth. So was I actually, poor little fishy!! So, what a funny bunch we are I guess!!

It was a wonderful day with my family! It reminded me again how lucky I am to have these people in my life. They are good, kind and loving people and I am blessed to have them all in my family!

Staying strong!

As some of you know, I have had a really hard time dealing with the hand that life has dealt me. I still am, but today I am feeling stronger. One foot in front of the other. That's the best I can do, right? It's been hard to accept that I don't know when or if things will ever get better. There are times I feel angry and times I feel jealous and even resentful of others and what they appear to have. I know it's not right or fair, but it's how I sometimes feel. But today, I don't have any of that. I am still broke and my hubby is still dreadfully underemployed and nothing has changed, but I am trying to be grateful for what I do have.

Besides, JT won Survivor and Kris won American Idol, so things can't be all that bad, can they?

Oh, on the funny side, at least to me it's funny, Jonathan always says he bombed his finals in a class or two and I always tell him that he does better than he thinks. He said he bombed the science final and I laughed and told him he would get an A like he always does. He was very insistent that he failed so I was starting to believe him this time. He just texted me that he got a 100%. Silly kid! that's a perfect score, sooo far from bombing! He is funny, to me!

Anyway, I am trying to find humor and fun in this crazy and depressing time in my life. I hope you can all do the same in the bad times and make sure to recognize and appreciate the good times. Whenever they are!

Meet the New Vice President!!

Kaitlyn won!! I am so excited for her! I honestly did not know if she could win because there were 9 kids running and we have only been here for about 8 months. SHe was so happy, she came in the house and said that another girl won and she looked like she was trying to be happy. In reality, she was trying to contain her excitement! So, yeah to my smart, beautiful, kind daughter who was brave enough to go for something she wants! CONGRATULATIONS!! You Go, Girl!!

Super Duper Kaitlyn Hooper!

Kaitlyn has decides to run for Vice President for next year. The campaining starts this week and she has to do a speech on Thursday. I am proud of her for putting herself out there and trying for this! Her slogan is "Super Duper Kaitlyn Hooper for Vice President!" Note the Superman logo with an H instead of S. We thought it was clever! Voting is either Thursday or Friday, not sure, but good luck, Kaitlyn! We love you!!