Halloween Movie Fest

This year for Halloween I bought the boys their costumes and then found out Taylor has to have surgery and that it was going to be raining. When Taylor is scheduled for surgery, I automatically put out home into lock down. Taylor can only go out to the things that he has to, like school. When we found out that it was going to be raining we planned a fun evening in with suspense movies and treats.

I did take pictures of the boys in their costumes because we went trick or treating at their Grandma's work. However, Kelton has been dead set on me not showing those pictures to anyone and they are not for the blog!! I just felt as though I should explain that so no body out there thinks that I was a complete loser of a mom for Halloween this year :)

I love the movie "The Others", it is such a good movie that keeps you guessing clear to the end. Well, at least it did for me. I had only seen this movie one other time and thought this would be a good one for the boys. It was so fun to watch them jump and cover their eyes with their blankets. They kept asking us questions about the movie and what was going to happen next, but since we had only watched this once, we honestly couldn't remember. We all had to watch and figure it out. I guess I shouldn't enjoy scaring my boys, but it was fun to watch them get into it and try to figure out the plot.

With "Angels and Demons" I wasn't completely sure if they were old enough to watch this one. There are some yucky parts! I have to look away on some of the scenes because I can't handle seeing them. Then we figured if they can handle "Lord of The Rings" and the violence in all those movies, they could handle this. Besides, if it gets to bad we start talking about how they would make someone look that way or what kind of make up do you think they used on that person.

The boys loved this movie and had fun guessing at who the bad guy was.

Everyone said how good "The Karate Kid" was, so we had to rent this one. Kenny said it was okay but that it was a little slow. The boys it was okay but that it was slow also. Kelton said that it took forever to get to the good part. What did I think? I don't know, I watched it through my eyelids. I think I'll take their word on it though.

We saw "Transformers Revenge of the Fallen" in the movie theaters and was not happy with some of the scenes in this movie. But, Taylor LOVES transformers and Kelton knows exactly where to skip through the movie and miss the questionable parts. I think it's funny that Taylor really doesn't care and that Kelton mother's him and tries to protect him from anything that could "corrupt" him. We can all agree that we love the action in this movie. I can't believe that we don't own this one.

Overall, I think we have had a wonderful Halloween weekend. I know I had fun spending time at home with my family. I'm not sure if you can really call it a bonding moment when I was scaring my kids, but it was fun!

UMMMM, I Don't Think You're A Girl!

Remember this cute picture? When I first brought "Bella" home and added her to our family. She was so cute and sweet.

Well our Kitten has grown fast and now is this big furry cat that likes to lounge around the house and take naps with me. However, something weird happened yesterday. While Bella was cleaning herself I saw something that I was pretty sure did not belong to a girl. I was quit surprised and looked a little further to find our that our little Bella is indeed not a girl.

The boys decided that we needed to find a new name for our cat and that he must be suffering with low self esteem from being called a girl for so many months. I looked up boy names on the internet and found nothing I liked. The boys suggested several names that were fun but still didn't seem right. My favorite name that Kelton suggested was Prince Poppycock (from "America's Got Talent"). That one had us all laughing.

Later on, after the boys were in bed, Kenny suggested that we name him Tony, like from the "Sopranos". I know here I am again referring to the "Sopranos". It has stuck and our cat now has a new name. Now I just hope he learns it quickly. Now I hope I can begin to remember it quickly as well :)

It is official, our cat is now named Tony. We now have two male pets and I am back to being the only girl in the house.

Here is a picture of our four legged kids wrestling, its their favorite thing to do.

Charlie is at a slight disadvantage with his little legs, but Tony comes away pretty wet from Charlie licking him so much and trying to fit Ton'y whole head into his mouth. They are so funny to watch and like any paranoid mother would do, when it gets to rough I break them up.

It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt!

Kenny's Top 5

I figured to make it fair (not that I was really worried) and have Kenny pick his top 5. I also thought that since I put myself out there, I would make him get out of his comfort zone. He doesn't want to share any thoughts, so I'll just make sure you know who they are. Like any men will need help knowing who any of these women are :)

Kenny's Top 5:

Catherine Zita Jones

Anne Hathaway

Jennifer Love Hewitt

Liv Tyler

Angelina Jolie

The only commentary I can add is, he likes brunettes!!

My Top 5

My friend challenged anyone who reads her blog to pick their top 5. I didn't realize how hard that could be because I like so many different actors (and singers) for many different reasons. This has been fun to see how my tastes have changed since I was a teenager. Back then it was all about Jason Priestley. Whom, by the way, Kenny met at one of the races he was at and didn't even take a picture for me. I guess I can forgive him because he didn't come back with a picture of Angele Seelling either.

Without any further rambling, here are the 5 I could narrow it down to:

Robert Downey Jr: What can I say, he has just aged well! I love watching him in "Sherlock Holmes" and in "Iron Man". I remember back to when he was Charlie Chaplin and thought he was pretty cute, back then I was in High School and you already know where my mind was. Those eyes and the grey at the temples, oh my!

Vin Diesel: Really, need I say more? He just screams Testosterone! He knows how to handle a car and a gun. One of the few actors that will keep my attention even if I don't like the movie. Now, that's saying something. I could say more, but this is my family blog :)

Nicholas Cage: Oh, he had me back at "Moonstruck" and I've been hooked ever since. Most recently I have completely loved him in "Gone in 60 seconds" and "National Treasure". I love watching how arrogant he can be. I think it's that arrogant attitude and the fact that you wouldn't think he can be tough but he is, is what makes him stay on my top 5 list.

Brendan Fraser: he is so cute! He has been so much fun to watch since "Encino Man" (boy that dates me). I love that he seems to just have fun being an actor. It's fun watching him in a comedy and in slightly more serious roles. I really, really love him in the "Mummy". I thought it was interesting that it was hard to find an even slightly "sexy" picture of him, most of his pictures had his family in them. I think that made him even more endearing to me.

Trace Adkins: Here we go again, can we say testosterone? and that voice...it makes me melt. I have only been able to see him in concert once, but it was memorable. I also still think that he should have won "The Apprentice"! Once again, I really like how committed to his family he is. I will always keep my delusional thought that "Chrome" was written for me.

I know that each of these men have a past (which also draws me to them) and a small part of their lives that are private and only for them. Each of them in one way or another are incredibly handsome to me. For all of them I love their characters they play and that none of them take themselves completely serious, they all have a fun side to them.

And, don't worry, there is always a place for Sir Sean Connery. I know he's getting older (okay old) but there will always be a place for my favorite 007!

Snow and Flowers

This is our view from our balcony and I love seeing the dusting of snow on the mountains from the storm yesterday. Have I said how much I love the view that we have? I can see across the entire valley. I would miss these mountains if we ever had to move away.

Here is another picture of the mountains further south and I can see our next storm coming in. I just hope my boys can get home from school before it decides to storm at our place.

And with the grey sky's and snow, Kenny brought me some bright beautiful yellow flowers. I love how they brighten my day every time I look at them. I love that even after 16 years Kenny still brings me flowers!

Our New Place

I finally took some pictures of our new home. Please keep in mind that I was still unpacking when I took these. We love our new place and have been settling in quit nicely. The boys seem to be really liking their new schools and Charlie has been his normal "I can't adjust" self. Luckily Bella has been more adaptable like the boys and has done fine with the move.

This is our living room. I know the picture makes it look a little squishy, and it is a little, but we have room to put up all 4 recliners. We have loved watching movies together in our new living room.

Our dining room/office. I thought this was going to be really tight, but we have had plenty of room and I even have the table cleaned off now so we can eat dinner together. I love being able to look out those large windows while I gather my thoughts while I'm writing.

Our bedroom... It is squishy in here, but I love it. And your not allowed to really notice the laundry on my bed. I have hope that one day I will have maybe 2 days in a row when I'm not folding laundry and have it all over my bed.

You can't see the drapes really well, but they have red, orange, brown, grey, and a yellow color in them. I love them because they are not what I would normally have picked out. I have some things that will match them perfectly to put on the wall above our bed and above our night stand.

This is the other side of our room. For the past few years I haven't really decorated our room, but with having the books in our room I was able to put out some of our pictures of just Kenny and I and some of our things that we love. It is the first time in years that we feel like our room is ours and we love seeing our things out on display.

This is the boys room... They have been loving having the master bedroom. I'm loving having their stuff contained in one room. I thought they might have a hard time sharing a room but they have done wonderful.

Here is the other side of their bedroom, don't ya love the shot of the toilette? As with all of the other rooms, we will get our pictures hung soon.

This has been such a good move for us and we love where we are at and since we went to the wrong ward on Sunday, I can't wait to meet our neighbors. I also can't wait to get all of my pictures on the walls.

All Boxed Up

We're going backward for a moment. I wanted to show you the chaos that we enjoyed living in while we were getting ready to move. I also have to add that all the boxing was done by Kenny, Kelton, Taylor, Becca, Cheryl Thomas, Rebecca Wynn, Nancy Stephens and Sister Nielson (sorry, I don't know your first name). I think I was only able to pack about 4 boxes and then would have to rest. It just about killed me to have everyone else do my work, but Thank You for all of your help and love.

Above and below is the living room. We tip toed around these boxes and I'm glad that it worked out okay and that even the pets were careful because within this pile was my china and my Christmas dishes.

You can't really tell, but there was just this narrow passageway to get into the kitchen.

A couple thoughts: I personally love that I took this showing how things really were with the blankets everywhere and the box on the chair, sometimes seeing real life can be an eye opener.

Next thought is that my green plant stand that is next to the orange and grey backpack is missing, I can't find it. If anyone out there knows what happened to my plant stand please let me know. I would really like to get my plant off my kitchen table. Thank You!

Below is the dinning area of our kitchen, this is the only part of the kitchen I can show you. If I had turned the camera and let you see my counter tops, it would have been to much of reality.

Anyway, I can't believe that two people came in here and boxed my entire kitchen in less than an hour. They were amazing!!

This is one section of the bonus room that was above the garage. This is the cleanest I have seen that room in over six months (why did I just admit that?). I think I gave up on that room when I realized that no matter what I did the carpet would always be protected by a layer of Lego's.

Here is the "blue room" also known as the "girl room" or just "mom's room". I guess they all worked except for it was also the catch all room. This was where everything went when we didn't know what to do with it. The pile of clothing on the ironing board should be proof enough. This was the one room that I walked into probably 20 times to pack and then walked right back out because I just couldn't think of what to do with anything in there. I know the obvious answer would be to put it into a box, but I didn't want to keep some of the things in the room and I didn't want to pack them, move them, and then try to figure out what to do.

Nancy was wonderful because she just tore through there like a tornado and had everything organized and boxed in no time. I'm glad she did because I have found things that I want to use in decorating our new place.

Thanks to everyones help, we were able to move everything out of the house quickly and get it loaded onto the trucks. Our only draw back was that as all of our furniture was moved out to the yard so it could be organized and loaded quickly, we had several people stop and look over our furniture and things like we were having a yard sale.

A couple of the guys that were outside with our things did have to tell one person that we were not having a yard sale. It never occurred to me that people would think that. Now that I know this, I will make a sign that says "this is not a yard sale" and post it somewhere.

Please don't let that worry any of you, we are not planning on moving again anytime soon (haaaahaaaahaaaaa). We never plan, it just happens.

Thank you to everyone that helped us. I'm not going to list individuals because I'll miss someone.

Thank you to my family that was able to help!!

Thank you to Kenny's family that was able to come and help!!

Thank you to a large portion of the Elders Quorum for helping us!!

One last Thank You to Sister Nielsen and Sister Merritt for the wonderful dinners that you made for us. They were so good!!

Mobster Mommy

I have been having a hard time waking up in the mornings to get the boys to school, so this is what I looked like this morning. Yes, that is my black velvet "jogging" outfit. I really don't know what these are called and I don't jog, but ya get the point.

When I got into the car with Taylor this morning, Taylor looked over at me and started by saying, "No offense mom..."

When Taylor starts a comment that way it usually isn't followed by something nice. Last time he started a comment like this to me he said that my dress looked a little moomooish. I was really nervous to hear what he could say this morning, there was a lot to choose from.

What I got this morning was, "but you look like a mob boss."

Was it the leisure look in crushed velvet that gave him this idea? I'm not admiting that any of the Sopranos episodes could have given him an idea like this, nope!

So, tonight he brought in his fedora and had me put it on. Because, you know that I can't be any kind of a good mob boss with out a fedora.

Now that I look at myself, I would have to agree with Taylor a little. I have the build, the clothes, and the attitude. I would need a different Fedora, I don't think this style fits me.

Has anyone else had to start their day like this?

Fist Bump

I did see the GI doctor on Monday and found out that I do have to have a colonoscopy and an endoscopy. Before I went to my appointment I was joking with my sister-in-law and told her that I want everything done at one time. She thought they would need to do is separately. I really want both procedures done at one time and I said that they could have one person at one end and another at the other end and "fist bump" in the middle. We laughed a lot over that but she still thought that it would most likely be done separately.

Later (still before my appointment) I told my mom what I wanted and she thought it was funny but I don't remember her saying to much about it. I then suggested that we could bet as to where they would "fist bump". She ruined it by being a nurse and knowing exactly where each scope ended. That was the end of betting, I thought it would have been fun. Sick, but fun.

When I went to my appointment the doctor informed me that I did need both the upper and lower scope and that we can do them at the same time. No way!

My appointment isn't until the first part of November, but I will keep you posted. Not about the prepping part (yuuuuuck), but the after part when I am coming out of anesthesia. Post anesthesia is always entertaining.

The move is over

I finally have internet again, literally, it has only been about 10 minutes. I think I was going through withdrawals. This is the longest I have gone without the internet for a very long time and it was only four days. Pathetic! I really want to put up the pictures of our move and show our new home and how far we have gotten unpacked in only two days, but, I have to go grocery shopping because we need food. I didn't want to shop before we moved because I didn't want to pack and move the food. I have my list and my coupons clipped and I really need to go before I find facebook again and start playing bejeweled. I hope everyone else out there had a wonderful weekend and a good start to your week.

Do you know what the "P" word is?

We have family dinner with my family at least once a week and it is a time that we always look forward to. You can guarantee that unless something else is going on we will be at my Mom's house either on Friday or Sunday, and Friday is always clams and macaroni YUUUUUUUM!

This last weekend when we were all sitting around the dinner table I was sharing a story about a conversation that I had with my cousin. It was one of my rough days and she told me, "you are not a pussy." Alright, I hate that word! We have been very creative in coming up with other phrases that could mean something similar, like "cake boy". We had to do that because for some reason that is Kenny's favorite line at the end of "Fast and the Furious". Once the boys figured out that that was their dad's favorite part of the entire movie we had to come up with something quick. Somehow we ended up with "cake boy" and it has worked for the most part to this point.

The only time it didn't work was when Taylor heard Kenny and I talking about someone and he said from the back seat, "Oh just say it how it really is, he's a "p"." I think I almost wreaked the car and at the same time didn't know whether to laugh or yell. It caught me so off guard.

Back to this last weekend, I'm telling this story and my sister asks Taylor, my cute little innocent son (I can pretend for a minute) if he knows what that word really means. Right there at the table with all of us sitting there to hear, he says, "yes I know what that means, it means vagina." Once we were all able to swallow instead of losing our macaroni all over the table, we looked at each other and started laughing. His Aunt Becca was very proud of him knowing the correct terminology and his Mom is still in a state of shock that he said vagina at the dinner table in front of his Grandma's. I really don't know why I was shocked, I'm pretty sure worse has been uttered around that table.

I knew my boys were growing up but I was hoping that there were a few things that they didn't know about yet. I can't even blame it all on the public school system either, because this is how our family dinners go. Oh, and I let them watch Seinfeld and we all remember the entire episode that was devoted to just that one word (the v one, not the p one). I've always been a little nervous to write some of my Taylor stories because I don't know how people will take them and then I have to wait and hope that child protective services won't come knocking on my door. Please give me some feed back so I know if I'm safe to keep sharing these stories, they really are priceless.

I love ya T, don't ya ever change!!!

Medical Drama Update

I have gone back and forth with trying to decide if I should share to much of my health problems with everyone and then I decided that if I can help someone else out there that could be going through some of the same things that I am, then I will drag ya'll through this with me.

Most of you already know that I have a Pituitary Tumor and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and that just over 2 months ago I was also diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. We also know that there is something else going on that is affecting my health and I have been referred to another specialist that I will see on Monday to have some more tests done.

I'm pretty sure this is the most serious that I have written about what has been going on over the past few years. When we found the tumor I didn't want to do the whole poor pity picked on me announcement, so I had a naming game. I know it's not normal, but I'm just not normal. I figured it was either name it or curl up in a ball and cry. I had some very interesting suggestions, however, the one that came up the most was Spot; so Spot is the tumors name. If you didn't know my family and heard someone get mad at Spot you would probably think we have another dog, but it's just my tumor. With the diagnosis of PCOS, I just filled my prescriptions and figured, wow I really am weird.

Now there is this new diagnosis that has been added to all my drama and I really don't know how to feel about it yet. It has brought me to the point that I had to quit my job and am excited if I can stay awake for an entire day. I hurt all over most every day and have the pleasure of feeling like a human pin cushion. Every day normal things that I have always done are now a chore and leave me exhausted. I feel completely useless!!

I know I can't blame it all on the Fybro, but it's hard to accept that there is more going on. I have a lot of inflammation in me and I am incredibly anemic. Both of those along with the Fybro are contributing to my tiredness and my pain. I will see a GI doctor on Monday and I know that he will be getting me scheduled so they can scope me (both ends even). Okay, that just made me lose all seriousness. There is nothing left sacred now when it comes to my health or my body. Why does that happen, huh? I guess it shouldn't matter once you have children, but seeing that much of the inside of me takes away the last place that had yet to be seen.

Well I will keep everyone posted, whether ya want to know or not, and since I've had good luck so far with not receiving therapy bills after all the other doctors have seen me, here's hoping I make it through another round of examinations without him needing therapy :)

And I also want to say that on those days that I feel like stink and can't move off the couch, those are sometimes one of my best days. Not because of the pain but because that means I get to curl up with a book and read and nap and not feel guilty. There is always something positive that can be found when going through any trial.

Becca Size

My sister, Becca, has always liked small things. When we were kids she would use a baby spoon or the small forks instead of the regular size silverware. When she went to California recently she had to use a mustache brush to brush someone's hair while she was cutting it (she is an amazing hairdresser, pure natural talent too). Her friend that she was staying with came into the room and saw her with the little brush and yelled, "oh, it's Becca sized!"

So, now that you know how this all started it will make more sense when I start showing you how we got distracted for a long time that I don't want to admit to, yet, and wandered around J.C. Penney looking for a blender instead of packing up my house for our move this week. We found shampoo that Becca had been looking for and it was an amazing deal. I don't know why they have their Christmas stuff next to the salon, but they do, and it always distracts us for a while. We always have to see all the decorations and plan our future themed Christmas tree for that year that we have money and can buy those precious peacock ornaments.

After an undisclosed amount of time, we finally found our way over to the appliances. We were both very disappointed in their selection of blenders. Four, they only had 4 blenders to choose from and I could get all four of them at Wal Mart for less money. Just when we were thinking this was a huge wast of time, other than we were having tons of fun, we found Becca sized appliances.

It all started with this amazing little red three in one toaster oven, griddle, and coffee maker. Did I mention it would be perfect because it is small and red? Did I mention that it is red? It is on sale and I'm thinking it would make a perfect Christmas present (Becca, you can't read that part). Oh, by the way, it is red. If you know Becca, then you'll know why I keep mentioning red. I would point out something it could do and she would say, "and it's red."

Then we found Becca sized casserole dishes. It's important to note that one of them is red!

And, well, this was just cute. It counts as Becca size because it's a silver dollar pancake maker. But past that I had to take a picture because they were just cute and fun.

This one had nothing to do with Becca size, we just both loved these bowels. Look at how wonderful they are. They are ceramic in bright colors and they have measurements inside. These are just fun, I think I need these. This picture might just somehow appear on my husbands phone as a hint. Ya, I really think I need these.

I will also share that someone should be proud of me because I stopped taking pictures before store security showed up. But I did find the most amazing pink appliance ever. I had never seen or known about this before, but they had a cupcake maker. I couldn't believe it. It was the cutest thing ever and it made what could have been the cutest little cupcakes. I thought it was a big pink waffle maker at first, who knew!? I think I better get out more so I don't make such mistakes in the future.

Thank you Becca for providing me with 2 great distractions from packing. First the shopping and now the time to record our adventure and blog about it.

Gays and Lesbians and Mormons, Oh My!

I have spent many days wondering how to approach this, but knowing that I needed to say something regarding all the hatred that has been felt on both sides of this controversy. It has been a struggle to try to decide how much of myself I should put into this, or if I should just present facts. Every one has an opinion on this subject and I feel as though I can't stay quiet any longer and that I need to voice my opinion and in a way defend my way of life.

In order to help everyone understand where I am coming from, I will need to take you back 16 years. It all started before that time, but when I was 18 years old is when everything came to that climatic moment when the whole world falls apart. I spent my teenage years in a household that was ran by two lesbian partners, one of which was completely insane and expected everyone within the household to be lesbian. I spent many times during my high school years being treated horribly and punished just because she could punish me because I didn't live the life style of the household. There were many things that I felt and wished for during that time, that if my mom knew how hard it was for me it would hurt her horribly. When I got engaged at 18, everything fell apart and she kicked me out of the house. One month before my wedding that was supposed to be wonderful and a time for me to spend with my mom planning it, I was homeless and with no support from my family.

I realize that I'm in the minority for having something like this happen, however, it is important that you know this so that everyone can understand that I do have empathy for those teenagers that are looking for a place where they fit in and where they can be loved for who they are. I know that we all get to make our own choices in this life as to how we will live our lives and not all of us will fit into one master mold of how we should all be. I am thankful that there are support groups out there to offer help and support for when things like this happen to other teens. When I went through losing my home and a large part of my family I was lucky enough to have my Dad and my future in-laws to step in and help me through. It's not like we have a straight community center I could turn to.

I am now a wife and mother and a proud member of the Church of Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ. I am raising my children to understand the ways of God and to also be loving and supportive of how other people want to live their lives. They love their Grandma's very much and their Aunt. We have several family friends that are gay and lesbian and when we get together with them it is just like any other family party you would see in any other home. We just have more families that have parents that are of the same sex.

With all of that said, I need to say thank you to Elder Packer for being strong enough to share with us what God wanted us to know. I am thankful that, just like prophets of old, he was willing to face the backlash that would come by calling a people to repentance (not just homosexuals, but all of us). The whole point of our General Conference is for us to hear from our leaders what they have been inspired to share with us, what our Heavenly Father knows that we need at this time to strengthen us and to prepare for things that may be coming. It is our responsibility to take the time to prayerfully ponder the words that we have heard or read and learn of their truth for ourselves and how to incorporate them into our lives. If you're spending the time to listen and find that you hear something that you can't incorporate into your life, that is fine. I hear things that I'm not ready to hear and it takes me time to be ready to make that change in my life. But, does that really require you to make signs and protest outside of our religious buildings.

I'm not going to take the time to find facts and articles to back up the fact that the LDS faith is not the only religion that has taken this stance on homosexuality, but it is the only one that I see under attack. This, obviously, could just be that I'm here in Utah and am not aware of everything happening all over the Country. However, I find it interesting that no one has protested outside the Cathedral of the Madeleine. I haven't seen anyone sitting in quiet protest around the First Southern Baptist Church of Salt Lake*. What is it that draws so many negative people to attack my religion so openly?

When I was kicked out of my home because I wouldn't be a lesbian, I did not hold it against the whole homosexual community. I did not go to the news channels and cause a big stink. I did not protest or vandalize your homes or your community center. Think back to the late 1980's and early 1990's, there were several things that I could have done that would have had reaching affects to this day. But, would it have made me a better person to punish a whole group that does consist of some amazing people? It does no good to sink to that level. It will not get you the results you want by sinking to a level where you group everyone together and hate that group without taking into account the individuality that is part of that group.

I'm not even sure how to end this other than to share with you a strong impression that I just received. We have a loving Father in Heaven that is struggling with watching his children hurt each other and tear each other down instead of helping each other. We are His children and we should be treating each other as brothers and sisters. Instead of placing blame and pointing fingers, we should be learning about each other and finding ways to lift each other up to be the best person we can be. I don't want to make this sound like I don't understand the gravity of what is happening, I just wish that we could learn to be a better people.

*The Religions that I listed are just 2 that I chose from the phone book and are there for no other reason than just that they stood out to me.

Getting Ready

I can't believe it has been so long since I have written. Between doctor appointments and trying to get ready to move, if I'm not packing or having my blood drawn I'm asleep. It is now official that we are moving in a week and a half. We signed our lease on Monday and I am so excited to go and do the walk through inspection on Friday.

I never expected to find that we have so much stuff that we don't need. Downsizing from a large home to a 2 bedroom apartment has helped me to realize that I really don't need to hang onto stuffed animals from my childhood. We did however keep all of Kenny's letters and documents that he has from both boot camp and his mission. It's fun to pull those out every once in a while and see how young he looks in the pictures and read some of the letters and remember what was going on back then.

Going through this process has brought back memories from our other times that we have lived in apartments. Our first home was a one bedroom apartment in West Valley City. It looked really nice when we went and looked at the complex and I even lived there alone for just over a week before we were married and Kenny moved in. Pretty soon we found out that it wasn't the ideal place after all. The first problem was that I ran into a couple that I knew from high school that had bugged the ever living s*!$ out of me. Then I had two men follow me to my truck when I was leaving for work one afternoon, yes in broad daylight, and try to get into my truck after me. I started the truck and got my mace ready. I had already locked the doors and started to back up, I was hoping I would run over one of them (no such luck).

One Sunday we were loading up our laundry to take out to Kenny's moms house and noticed that something wasn't quit right, we were walking through the middle of the SWAT team. We had no idea they were there, nobody notified us to stay in our apartment, so we were loading our car with dirty laundry while they were doing hostage negotiations in the building next to us. One of the swat team members finally stopped us and explained that we either needed to get back in our apartment or leave. Information that would have been useful three trips to the car earlier!

While living there we had the unpleasant opportunity of witnessing animal cruelty when a neighbor threw his dog off his 3rd floor balcony. That image has always stayed with us and I have often wondered what happened to the dog and if he was okay. I also got to experience my first attempted break in. I thought there was no way that could happen when we lived on the 3rd floor, but someone decided to climb up the balcony's and try to come in our door from the balcony. I have always been grateful that it wasn't when Kenny was gone, he was gone frequently back then. It still amazes me to think that this all happened in only 6 months.

When we moved into our next apartment we were more careful and found a nice area that we loved. We lived there for a little over a year, until we bought our first home. It was so nice and quiet there. The only drama was our neighbor that we were friends with watched the OJ Simpson trial obsessively and gave me an update everyday when I got home from work. Kenny had to have surgery to have his ACL repaired while we lived there and while he was home healing he was able to see the space shuttle fly almost overhead. It was an amazing site. The only other thing that happened there, until the day we moved, that was kind of traumatic was when I had my wisdom teeth removed. The removal wasn't bad or healing from having them removed, it was that I fell asleep as soon as I got home from the dentist office with my pain pill in my mouth and woke up to it dissolved in my mouth. I still remember that taste and how my mouth felt, yuck!!

The day we moved out of that apartment and after a year of peace and watching people out golfing on the golf course that was our view, we had someone go out there and try to go duck hunting. I am not kidding, we were loading up the truck and we started hearing gun shots and then it was like we were in an episode of Dukes of Hazards because there were cop cars flying through the golf course. It was hilarious to see them racing around trying to find out who was hunting on the golf course and a couple of the cops even caught some air as the drove over some of the hills that were out there.

I am so excited to be downsizing and to have a lease (our past 2 landlord wouldn't sign a lease with us) that will protect both parties. I can't wait to have everything on one level so I can take care of our home easier and have more time to spend with the family instead of working and trying to care for the home and then being to tired to do anything. All 4 of us are excited to have no yard work, no shoveling, to have a maintenance man to call and the best of all (at least for me) I will have central air next summer and a working furnace this winter that I won't have to worry about.

I'll take pictures when I do the walk through so I can show you our new ity bity apartment :)