At least 3 Blackberrys thick!

Is this a stack of bills? NO. A stack of newspapers? NO A stack of school work? NO

This is the stack of houses I have looked at!!

Seriously! My poor mom - its a good thing she is my Real Estate Agent because no other person would show me every house! (secretly we just really like to look at houses together.)

But I think we found them - yes I said them. We found a few houses yesterday that were good but kinda alot of money (isn't that the way it goes). But were driving by this one (its not even on the MLS yet) and it had a lock box so of course we are game. It is good. 3 bedrooms, 2 updated bathrooms, a pebble tech pool, and a decent kitchen. But it is kinda small. The second one is huge - 5 bedrooms (4 really big ones and one teeny tiny one) 3 bathrooms and a nice yard, not as close to ASU as I would like but its about 3 blocks to the free bus (as opposed to 3 houses with the first one). Big difference in PRICE though. Except it really works out to about $65 a month in house payment - more girls in the bigger house and lots of more room, about double.

What to do....well you offer on both and see what happens!! With our luck we will get both and then have to decide. If that happens I may just detail it out here and you all can VOTE!!

Logan's Dream

I must preface this post with a few facts:

My family - Father and siblings - have always had very vivid, usually strange dreams. Lots of de ja vu - and even some really creepy ones. I do not watch horror movies for that reason alone.

This I have passed on to my children. We have always enjoyed the mornings of relating the past nights dreams, all except poor Ken who never remembers his dreams, we think this is really sad.

A few months after Ken and I were married I had a really, really real dream that he took a second wife (a friends wife in fact (she was tall and I am short there in lies the insecurity) yes that is you Clarissa) with out telling me!! I came home from work to find out it was a done deal - did I mention my dreams are REALLY vivid? I woke up mad and hitting my husband - it literally took a couple of days to forgive him. Over the last 21 years he has gotten use to me waking up mad because he was a JERK in my dream - eventually I am able to separate the dream state from reality, well mostly.

This brings on the reason for my post. Logan (14) came to me last night just hopping up and down to tell someone his 'really cool dream'. Now I am used to this but immediately I knew this dream was different. He had a really big smile, not the usual confusion, and he told me he had been dying to tell someone about what happened in his dream. I am going to copy out of his journal so it is in his words - it's just that cool of a dream.

"The part I remember is that I'm with a group of people and we are on this golden cloud. I am the same age as I am now. I'm talking to my friends Jackson Buntrock and Rachael McCue, they are the only ones there that I know. Its not a very big group and the golden cloud we were waiting on was kind of like a waiting room. There were chairs everywhere and people from everywhere around the world. Jesus calls me up and I get interviewed. I do not remember any of the questions or anything. The next thing I do remember is I get passed and then Rachael and then Jackson. I leave them and go looking for my great grandparents, Grandma and Grandpa Petersen and Grandma Cole and to meet Grandpa Cole. Then I got woken up. I was smiling during the whole dream. I felt love everywhere. It was the one of the most amazing experiences of my life."

When he was telling me I asked a few questions.

"Were you nervous to interview with Jesus?"
"No, I was excited."

"How do you know you passed?"
"Mom, Jesus loves me, of course I passed."

Then he told me his friend Rachael is not Mormon, but she passed. Then he said, "Well, she is a really great person."

We then had the conversation about how we are ALL Gods children and He wants all of us to be with him. His did not make the supreme sacrifice for only those chosen few, I know He made it for everyone everywhere.

I was also touched that he was searching out his Great Grandparents, that he knows they will be there waiting and happy to see him.

After I encouraged him to write it down - I only copied the dream, he wrote 5 pages about this experience. What a lucky, lucky, really blessed boy I have.

As I am writing this post - and helping Brenn find bagels in the freeze - she tells me of her dream last night. Aaron Beihl (a boy she dated and is not person non grata) she is at his house doing something with his dad and they have Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies too - one with a pink collar that looks just like Stella (her puppy she is keeping) and but with a really strange name and she was suspicious they had stolen our puppies. That is normal for our house.

Do you know who John Connor is??!!!!

I have a confession to my posterity....I love Science Fiction. Particularly movies and television shows.

One of my Favorite of all time is the Terminator movies - yes I know they are action packed and a little violent. I got hooked in the early 80's with the first one and have really enjoyed the series (including the Sarah Connor Chronicles on tv). Last night we

FINALLY

went to see the Terminator Salvation (I was so relieved it was not rated R, since the first one I have repented and not watched R rated movies (yes, I had to wait for T3 to show on tv)) for family home evening. Yes, we are stellar parents. Actually we planned it and all three kids ditched us. So Ken and I went ahead with the plan not knowing you have to have 3 in your party to get the family night discount at the local theater. Oh well, I thought it was worth it.

What a great movie!!

Ok - I know critically the story was under developed and not too much plot but the homage paid to the previous movies was spectacular!! I really enjoyed the whole movie - Ken was kind to me and let me laugh and explain the parody's. Really, I believe the director, MCG, who ever that is must love the other movies as much as I did (ok T3 was not as good).


I could go on to describe the little details used from the other movies but I won't bore you - but "I'll be back" someday and I will rent all 4 - download the clearplay edits - and make my children watch a marathon!! WHEEE!!!

Loved IT!!

PS - yes I watch Sci-fi channel all day on Saturday while I clean and iron just to see the movies!!

PSS - Yes - you are related to me!!

Logan to D.C.

Logan went to Washington D.C. for a school trip. They had a ball!

He was very impressed by the monuments especially Arlington Cemetery

They were there over Memorial Day and I know it made a big impression on military service and sacrifice. He knows my Dad spent 20 years in the Air Force and My Uncle Rick served 2 tours in Vietnam. He told me the Wall memorial was a sacred place and it bothered him that some of the other groups were not as reverent as he thought they should be, what a great kid!!

Logan and FDR

He told me he needed at least another week to see all he wanted to see. He went with a group called Close up and they had kids from about 5 other states in their group too.

What a great experience for him!!

This is for Shelly - look I am finishing up old business.

My Front Bathroom is done! Isn't it beautiful?

This is my tile Guy - Dominic - poor Brenn she was gone most of the time he was here!
This is the downstairs shower - it is almost finished too!

Does this look like a tired nursing mother? She really doesn't let them nurse much anymore because they are so big and greedy! Isn't this the cutest thing?!! They are growing even faster than my boys! The sleep of the innocent! They are not so innocent when they are awake, they have sharp little teeth and are ferocious on any bare toes.Most of my pictures are blurry - they are constantly on the move!

If you are interested the puppies will be ready to go in about 2 weeks. There are only boys available (for $500).

My house still hates me. On Tuesday as we were leaving the wind whipped and took a good part of my shingles with it! I cannot believe this last year. I just keep thinking that pretty soon it will all be new and I won't have to worry about it anymore.

Help I think I am going to go CRAZY!!

Might as well start with the cute! I cannot believe how fast these puppies have grown! They are now 4 1/2 weeks and in the last week have learned to get out of the pool (in about a second) - potty on a puppy pad (most of the time) and chew on my toes!
I banished them to the backyard 2 nights ago so I could finally sleep through the night and although they did not really like it, they did finally settle down and I got a full nights sleep!

Except in the morning they had pooped all over the patio! I had to clean that up for my tile guy (and because it was gross) so I moved them a little farther into the grass (which they are not too sure of). I felt bad leaving them outside during the day because it was 102 today but if they are inside Zara growls at the tile guy more.

Luckily they found shelter under the half pipe - it is still damp from irrigation and is shady all the time! If I step into yard and yell "puppies, puppies" they come running! Ken is jealous because they won't come to him!

On to my crazy - actually the puppies are part of it because all of my kids have been gone and so has Ken so I am caring for them (picking up poop and wiping up pee pee) all by myself along with the tile guy, plumbers, making sure Zara doesn't eat said tile guy and plumbers, picking out tile and buying, getting my house ready for Celcee (cleaning lady), along with the the rest of my life!! Like I said...

CRAZY!!!

Here is the set tile - he will grout tomorrow. I was planning white tile with black accents the tile lady talked me in to stone - I am really pleased (not so sure about the purple paint but...)

IF you are wondering what happened to this bathroom click here

This is the downstairs bathroom - you mean the only bathroom you had remodeled? Yes, that's the one! A few weeks ago as we were moving some furniture downstairs Dallin noticed the carpet was wet (again). So after investigating the usual sources we finally figured it was the shower we had re tiled a couple years ago. The only way to fix it properly was to demo it and start over!!

ARRRGGG!!

Not only did the shower leak but when we took down the ceiling we realized the toilet upstairs was still leaking onto the ceiling! YUCK!!

So I call my buddy Bret (at Dirt Dog Plumbing, if you live in the Phx area I recommend him highly) he comes over and changes out the pipe under the toilet and finds some copper pipe that had been leaking but the mineral deposits clogged the leak, so he fixed that too.

Maybe this time it will last 20 years!!

Such fun - Bret had already been to my house when I gave the puppies a bath in the front bathroom sink and it then rained into Logan's room. Good thing we are not afraid of drywall.

We had to replace this pipe, this is a picture of the TOP of the pipe - yes the top - it only leaked because the pipe backed up and the water came out of the top - where the sewer gases had eaten up the cast iron.

You know Bret does have 6 boys to put through college - good thing I have really cruddy pipes.

All in all this is a marathon post but I want it documented for posterity that my house hates me!!

I love my house!!

I also wanted my kids to see in writing how much I appreciate the help they give me. Just an eye on the puppies, or switch the laundry, or just here to let the workers in the house they are a big help and I am thankful for their willingness.

OK - I am feeling Old or Graduation Night!!

Remember the magical night before you turned 16? You woke up the next morning to see if everything changed, like a bigger chest (I needed that then anyway) or you magically looked more mature and capable... and you were disappointed. Well last night I went to bed ignorant of what would magically (or evilly) take place...I am old! My daughter just GRADUATED!! I really felt older and somewhat (even if I am kidding myself) wiser this morning!!



She is now a full fledged adult! She has been 18 for a while, in fact she is closer to 19 than 18 but as long as she was in high school I still felt so parental. Now what?! I am both really proud (she missed 107 of 180 days of school and still had mostly A's) and really scared she will up leave and I know it will never be the same. Our relationship is going to under go big changes.



Anywho!

It RAINED all night.

Mesa Mountain View High School has been graduating seniors for 30 some odd years and it has only rained 2 times; last year and this year. We got there at 6:30 and against advice from a trusted source I met Jenny (with her big BYU umbrella) and saved seats for our family. It did not quit raining for the whole time! Jenny was more prepared than us, we only own one Winnie the Pooh umbrella that Brenn got in 3rd grade, Ken looked really cute under it. I opted to sit in comfort (mostly) under the edge of Jenny's big tent and her waterproof blanket. Even tho we were relatively covered it was hard to avoid all of the run off from all the surrounding umbrellas!! But the graduates were not allowed anything!! They were really soaked. Luckily the temperature was not cold and so it wasn't too bad.

Band, Orchestra and Choir were in the tent - which was too bad because their sound was not nearly as powerful as it would have been.You can see the water on my lens - I tried to keep my camera dry and still zoom to get the pictures (sorry about the blur - it was really far away). Brenn accepting her diploma.Moving her tassel!!Look at that smile!!



Afterward all the girls were waterlogged! Brenn and Ashley Tucker (whose mom counseled us where to sit and we would have been so much better off!!)
Heather Dalton, Heidi Denton, Brenn, and Aubrey Gibson.

Brenn and Josh Boatwright

Brenn and a drowned Rat!

Walking in - you would think she would at least look for us but no... she is right in the middle looking toward her seat.

EVIT graduation - this was the night before - Brenn completed her program for Massage Therapy and as soon as she turns in her hours to the State she will be legal to do body work!

No rain that night!


They gave them a blank holder and she had to go to school the next day to get her certificate.

With Grandma Young.

Brenn and Grandpa Ed Cole

Brenn and Grandma Kathy Cole

I am so proud of Brenn - she has worked thru so much pain and still completed the Scholastic Diploma (more requirements) and finished her hours for Massage. I know if we can get the migraines under control she will go way farther than we can even imagine!

On another note we did try the SCIO machine a couple weeks ago and it was interesting. Brenn seems to feel better, she definitely has more energy and a better outlook so...we will see.

I think I am obsessed...

...with puppies! We are having such fun, they have their eyes open and are trying to walk on all 4's and it is so funny. They are starting to play with one another and with me but they still have no teeth so it is still fun for me.

This video is probably a little dark - I just couldn't resist filming, two of the puppies were nursing upside down and very happy to be that way! They are starting to sleep on their backs and are almost irresistible!

Visit if you like

The puppies are ready for visitors, so feel free to call and come by for some

'Puppy Love!'

That means you Jannalee, Jessica, and Lisa!

Thanks to Donnie Osmond for the song!!

Puppy Pictures

I said I would post some updated pictures of the puppies - they are so much bigger in just one week!! Look at the little tails! They just push and push to get some milk.


Here is one of the girls - We haven't named them all because we cannot tell them apart. I tried to tie ribbon around the neck but only this puppy kept hers on. We named one Handsome Rob (from the Italian Job) because he is dark and the only one who is different.

Puppy piles (not that kind)! My friend and fellow wrestling watcher Sharon always describes the wrestlers as puppies because of the way they pile on each other, so when I see this I think "Look, just like wrestlers." Handsome Rob is the one in the back with the dark stripe down his back.

Isn't this a precious face?

Brenn went to another Prom with a boy we knew really well when she was a toddler. I have to say Tres looks remarkably the same just waaayyy taller.

It seems like a great time to wear another of our great dress finds!

That is my mom in the back ground - Tres was really patient with 3 Grandmas and various Aunts, Grandpas, and Parents taking pictures.

It's a good thing they were a little late picking up Brenn because I had a full day of working concessions at a wrestling tourney (what new about that?) and trying to put some sleeves on the dress - I only finished about 2 minutes before he came to the door!

I wanted to show off my daughters creativity. She designed her graduation announcements and we put them together.

Front - notice the star shaped paper clip that keeps it closed.



She is such an amazing girl (woman in 2 weeks she will be in Relief Society).

On Friday we are going to try a new biofeedback treatment for her migraines so keep her in your prayers!

"The Flirty Pole" - Are you kidding Me!!!!

I happened to see an ad on TV this morning that left me slack jawed - for an exercise video. Practice your sexy moves like you see in your favorite video...or like an EXOTIC dancer!! Are you kidding? You can even buy your own "Flirty Pole" (aka stripper pole) for your house for $19.99. Practice your chair (or lap) dance all in your own home and all while getting your body in the best shape of its life.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE!!?

All in the thinly veiled guise of getting in shape and losing weight (lets prey on our insecurities, especially teen girls).

APPALLING

Honestly, I really thought I could not be shocked by TV commercials after the extenxse ads, but here I am at breakfast with my boys (yes, we watch VH1 during breakfast) and here is this commercial. I can't decide if I am outraged or just really sad that the world has come to this.

I told my boys if they know any girls with a Flirty pole - they are grounded!!

The whole story...

So Sunday night (or Monday morning) about midnight Zara would not settle down, usually she gets a dog bone about 10:30 or so and will pace and whine at Ken until he completes this ritual and then comes in to our bedroom and sleeps under the bench at the foot of our bed. So she is whining and panting and pacing like crazy - coming to my side of the bed and bumping me with her nose - this is not normal so I try to comfort her (she is due on Wednesday) and try to go back to sleep.

Did I mention ALL of my babies pretty much slept through the night? I am not good in the wee hours.

About 12:30 am I finally gave up and got out of bed figuring she must be starting labor - we get into the pool and I try to be supportive - really, I have only been on the prego side, not the supportive side, its harder than you think - she continues to pant and whine and pace.

After a couple of hours Fritz and I are laying in the living room trying to sleep and Zara is still pacing - then like magic she goes into my bedroom and under her bench and goes to sleep. Fritz said she was just faking us out and if we went to bed she would just start up again , but I wanted my bed. It's now 2:30am and I am really tired.

Monday morning she is back to panting and pacing - I kept a really good eye on her all day but she did not seem to be progressing - I googled it you know.

Finally at about 4pm I was starting to get a little worried, I did not want her to be wore out before the really important stuff, so I called the Vet. He said to bring her in and so Ken came home and we went to find out he really couldn't tell us if it was false labor or what. But he gave us some good pointers and I felt better for having taken her.

About 9:30 pm Brenn and I are working on her Grad announcements and in comes Zara to lay at my (really, on my) feet. I look down and see some blood - We are on...she is in labor and so we mobilize to the pool and try to get her to follow. She keeps going into Grandma's room and we keep calling her. At this point Grandma (thank goodness she has really good hearing) says something is making noise in her room - sure enough Zara dropped the first puppy behind Grandma's bed! She did clean it up and he squealed like crazy! So we grabbed the puppy and put it in the pool to nurse and spread out to see if she left any some where else then watched ....and watched...and waited....

Finally about 2 hours after the first one she delivered the next one and from there it ranged from about an hour to an hour and a half between puppies. Thank Heaven there were only 6 - as it was I was up until 4 am. Then I made Ken take over watching and then he had to irrigate at 5am anyway.

Its hard to know when they are done - but she did such a good job and my kids got to see what it was like, the boys were a little grossed out when she chewed off the cord and ate everything but hey that is nature (I am glad that was not required for humans!)

Zara is being a really good mom...I am not getting much sleep though, she really wants to sleep in our room but the pull of the puppies is pretty strong. Last night was the best so far, she spent most of the night in our room but got up to nurse the puppies when they got loud (are they ever loud) except for about 3 am, I had to get up and help her. She is really tired, she looks really tired. So do I!

The puppies have grown so much in just a few days. We have only named one "Handsome Rob" and yes we were watching the Italian Job. He is the only one who is dark, there are 2 blonde ones and 3 who look identical so Handsome Rob is the only one we can figure out for now.

I will post some pictures tomorrow.

PUPPIES!!! 4am!!

6 puppies, 4 boys, 2 girls - finished at 4am - more after I sleep!

Prom 2009

So Prom starts at our house (for Dallin and his group).

Dallin and Diane

The boys in that group came over and covered our back patio in white lights and Dallin wanted to try to get all 16 at one big table so they would not have to be split up.

Here is the table:

It turned out really pretty, we used lots of candles and beautiful roses from my neighbors yard. I used my grandmothers red glass plates on top of the silver chargers, they were really pretty. My grandmother wanted these red dishes and made sure all of her daughters knew this and one year for her birthday (Dec 9th) and Christmas she got a lot of red dishes. Luckily I inherited them and really wanted to use them but they have been used for about 25 or 30 years and had a lot of hard water build up on them. Needless to say I am sore, I spent about 10 hours scrubbing, soaking, and yes cursing trying to bring them back to a beautiful shine. They looked so nice that it was worth it!

They dined on steak, courtesy of Chef Ken, baked potato, green salad, fruit salad and rolls.

All in all a pretty easy dinner for me, 2 of the other mothers helped me serve and clean up. It was a lovely night. They danced and had a great time and then back to our house for fantastic cupcakes made by Chandlers mom, you can check them out here, and ice cream.

A lot of laughing and talking and then everyone went home for curfew.

Brenn's date Jake (yes, boy with the mice) came to get her in this:

Don't they look great?!! Tanner's family hosted a great dinner, she said it was so yummy. They danced and then went to race mini formula cars (too late for that) and watched a movie and played with puppies at Jake's (not her date the other one) house. She said she had a really great time.

One of her Laurel leaders did her hair, it was so beautiful. I wish I had taken a picture of the back.

The night before several of Brenn's friends came over so Grandma could make the boutonnieres (sp). Even tho she has forgotten a few things, flowers are like walking to her and she just whipped out about 7 of them in no time!

See how its done.

I am glad they both had fun and I love to see all of the kids dressed up. The girls were lovely and the boys handsome. I was so busy I didn't take too many other pictures but Brad did and when I get them I will post some of the lovely, modest dresses.

Now on to graduation preparations!!

YIKES!!!