Jacki

2011-11-27T18:49:00.000-08:00

changes

2011-09-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

Even though fall is one of my most favorite seasons, I'm not sure that i am ready for it just yet. It is starting to get chilly at night as well as early in the morning. Don't get me wrong, i love to see the leaves changing and i absolutely love all of the fall holidays oh and i think that fall is my favorite time of the year to decorate my house for. but i'm not ready to see summer go. we just haven't had enough of it.

here is what i will miss about summer -

the hummingbirds
the flowers in full bloom
yardwork (minus all the weeds!)
reading a book under the shade of the tree in my front yard
bar-b-ques
the sun and all its warmth
shorts

here is what i am looking forward to for fall -

decorating
jackets and hoodies :)
hot soups on a cool night
leaves changing
fall television will be back
HALLOWEEN (my favorite holiday)
reading a good book while wrapped in your favorite blanket
cute fall clothes

there is alot of changes happening around my house. its like the seasons, i can't wait to see what it all brings.

Party!!

2011-08-21T20:49:00.000-07:00

I couldn't let this post slide since I suck at blogging.

(see previous post)

My brother Kim and I planned a retirement party for my mom on July 26, 2011.

The party was just an open house. There was alot of yummy food which consisted of grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, salads, chips, and cookies.

We were really happy that alot of moms family, friends and co-workers came out to support her and enjoy themselves that night.

We both thought that she deserved this party because she truly worked so hard over the years, especially the last few years at the Internal Medicine Clinic.

I'm quite sure she loved being a nurse, she is the most kindest, loving person you could meet and patients would ask if she was working that day just so they could get her to take care of them. :)

I may be biased, but she is the greatest nurse ever!!

I Love you Mom!! :)

**The Decor**

--poster made by Brittany

--pom poms made by Jacki (so easy and so fun!)

Nick & Bodie

The grill master himself!

Mom . Shelly . Dr. Welch. (he seriously ate like 3 hotdogs and 2 hamburgers haha)

Kolbey

Amy Jensen and Sandy

Aunt LaDee and Lori

The many faces of Cooper! ha.

My amazing Dad. oh how i love him!

The 3 Amigas!

Gayle Marie, Mom & Crazy Susette Mitchell

The adorable Jayke Healey

Bethie and I

Brittany and I

Jerry and Diane Smith

Mom. Kim & I

Mom , her best friend Stella and Tommy

Mom,

I hope your retirement is the greatest and you are able to do things

that you haven't been able to do for sometime. You are an amazing

person and an amazing nurse. Enjoy your time with Dad.

Love you always,

-- Jacki <3

2011-08-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

my name is Jacki...

i suck at blogging..

yes..i admit, i have a serious problem.

the end.

California Trip - Thursday April 14 & Friday April 15, 2011

2011-07-05T15:16:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh our last 2 days...

so relaxing, yet none of us wanted our vacation to end.

Thursday was pretty low-key for Brittany and I.

we basically didn't feel like doing anything, so we just hung out at the condo and watched some tv, played games, started packing and did laundry. yep..did laundry on our last day in Cali. not sure what we were thinking, haha!

but it felt good to do absolutely nothing!!

Kim and they boys went to the ocean (i can't remember which one) and did a few other things.

I gave the boys my camera and told them to take some pictures for me

well , this is the only picture they took.....

yep..of lazy sea lions! haha

Friday our vacation was over :(

Our flight was in the early afternoon, but we wanted to go to San Fran one last time before we headed to the airport. I'm really glad we did. :)

This was my FIRST plane ride ever in my 41 years.

to be honest with you, i was not nervous at all. kind of weird i know.

The only time i got a little sick to my stomach was when the plane was leveling out during the take off and then again during the decent. there was a little bit of turbulence but i was ok after a while.

I'm really glad i got the opportunity to fly once in my lifetime and i would do it again for sure.

I sure didn't envy kim driving the car back from cali on friday.

Here we are at the airport

boarding the plane

not a bit nervous..

above the clouds...it was SO cool!

i loved the color of the sky and the clouds together in this picture.

i hope to see San Francisco again someday. we had a blast!

California Trip - Day 7 Wednesday April 13, 2011

2011-06-19T19:37:00.000-07:00

its been about a month since my last post. ugh i can't keep up!

i understand my california trip has lasted about 2 months now. ha.

i guess you could say i never want it to end.

the redwoods= long windy roads, ghetto restraunts, a tie/die store, and a drive-thru tree.

in the end you receive beautiful scenery at the ocean.

classic picture of Kolbey. i guess hes trying to get the tree to grow a little taller. ha.

it was so green there. i loved it!

the drive thru tree. yes, we paid $7 to drive through this thing and at one point i thought we weren't going to fit.

and now..
THE OCEAN!!
sooo beautiful..need i say more?

Seaside Beach

California Trip - Day 6 Tuesday April 12, 2011

2011-05-24T20:58:00.000-07:00

I'm a blog slacker...i admit it.

I'm really behind on my posts about my California vacation. forgive me.

today was a day of relaxation.

it was kind of nice to sleep in after the game and the drive back to the condo afterwards.

just wish my bed would have been better. :/

we took our time getting ready and then took a drive a little ways along the russian river again.

the boys spotted a golf course and wanted to check it out and play a round of golf if they could.

but they couldn't, because there was a school there golfing at that time.

there was a restaurant there so we decided to grab some lunch while we were there.

it was expensive.

but good.

on the way to to the golf course, there were tons of vineyards.

brittany making an attempt of jumping off the curb. haha

silly pictures taken at the restaraunt.

on the way back to the condo, we stopped at a fruit stand and got some yummy fruits and veggies.

when we got back to the condo and got comfy, we played a game of pictionary.

one of my favorite games.

and i will just say this....

brittany and I dominated!!

we are goooooood!! :)

what a fun night!

tomorrow we drive into the redwoods!

California Trip - Day 5 Monday April 11, 2011

2011-05-13T22:14:00.000-07:00

today was GAME DAY.

Giants vs Dodgers

everyone was excited, especially the boys of course.

we spent some time at pier 39 before we went to the game.

we saw some pretty crazy people, watched the seals, ate lunch and shopped. It was alot of fun and there really wasn't enough time to see everything.

the bay bridge

there was alot of these people in san fran, they do any little thing to make money somehow. this guy was acting like a robot to get money but when i walked by him he stopped doing his "robot movements" so i stopped and snapped a picture of him. while i was taking his picture he said "donation!" I got his picture and walked away....lol

Alcatraz - would love to go on a tour here someday.

I went here and got the most amazing sourdough bread that i have ever had!

and....

off to the game... :)

It was windy, it was FREEZING- need I say more!?

don't get in the way of the fans during a game or after a game when these 2 rivalry teams play against each other. apparantly there was a fan that got beat up after a game when these teams played and is still in a coma.

in this picture the teams were talking about being a rivalry and to let the fans know to come and have fun at the games, but to keep it there and not take it elsewhere if they get mad that an opposing team wins. its not worth your life.

it was kind neat to see both teams come together.

a random fan.

i loved that the stadium was y on the water. it was pretty, yet freezing.

I told kasey to take my camera and get some closer pictures of the players. he came back with this amazing picture.

** i have been trying to put videos on here, but blogger is being so dumb. if you have any suggestions please let me know.

California Trip - Day 4 Sunday April 10th 2011

2011-05-07T20:35:00.000-07:00

We never seemed to know what we were going to do from one day to the next.

It was always spur of the moment and it seemed like there was at least one of us that came unprepared.

Brittany wore flip flops and we were doing a little bit of hiking.

She felt a little bit out of place.

We decided to go to Muir Woods on this day. I was pretty excited because I have never seen redwoods before. These were smaller trees, from what Brittany said, but I was still excited.

Everything was SO green and it was very forestry.

buzzard

i don't know why, but they all have serious faces in this picture.

i love this picture.

After our hike through the redwoods, we grabbed some lunch via the trunk of the car. :)

Can't beat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and pretzels. ha!

We were back on the road again headed towards a beach- Muir beach to be exact.

Once again it was windy and freezing. There was actually alot of people at this beach. good times.

crazy boogie boarders

After spending some time at the beach, we took a drive into San Francisco. We had a few things planned for the next day and we wanted to locate a few of the places we needed to go to.

fyi....most of the next pictures were pretty random. we never got out of the car this trip into San Fran.

San Francisco bridge.

Even though i've never been to New York, San Fran sure looked alot like it.
with the tall buildings and just the overall appearance of it and the busy-ness.
I decided just by seeing San Fran and driving though it , that I would only visit occasionaly and not live there.

It seemed like on every corner, there were people trying to make money in some way.

whether it was playing music or being a robot. these people were on a mission.

San Fran = way too much anxiety.....

Tomorrow is "game day" & a walk on Pier 39.

California Trip - Day 3 Saturday April 9th, 2011

2011-04-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

We were ready to go have some fun on the beach on this day.

What we didn't know was how windy and cold it was going to be.

This is California people, its supposed to be warm, right?

Unfortunately it was not! :(

It was probably the area we went to and the time of year that we went.

If you notice in most of the pictures we are all wearing jackets and jeans.

We started off by going on a scenic tour through an area called The Russian River.

It was a narrow road with lots of trees and you follow the river until you reach the coast.

There is houses on the mountains as well as tons of fields with awesome vineyards.

It was so green and so pretty.

We wanted to go check out Bodega Bay.

Needless to say, i was a little disappointed. I thought it was going to be a little more taken care of with lots more to see. But it wasn't.

The anticipation of seeing the ocean for the first time, especially if you haven't seen it in a while is crazy.

It is so pretty and you have to go see it if you haven't at least once in your lifetime.

*kolbey & Kasey- my wonderful nephews*

I was determined to wear shorts this day, but of course I changed out of them the first chance I got.

stupid cold weather!

*The Boys*

We stopped and had lunch at a little place called The Boathouse.

It was so crowded and some of us had to sit in different areas than the others.

We all ordered fish and chips.

and they weren't that good and it was expensive.

This kite shop was next to where we had lunch. it was a cute little place.

I love this girl! :)

Ugh! It was SO windy!

I can't tell you how much i love them. :)

While we were in Bodega bay, we stopped at a market and bought some fresh fish. Whole crabs, salmon and jumbo prawns. It was SO good. I didn't even touch the salmon, i was stuffed!!

Be jealous!

We were all so full after eating the seafood, that we basically just lounged around the rest of the night. Fine with me....I was on vacation. :)

Sunday we drive into the city.

Be excited!

spring photo checklist

2011-04-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

I found this idea on a blog that i visit regularly. what a great way to make it a habit to take pictures of anything spring.

i'm so going to do this. be prepared for lots of pictures coming up as well as more posts about my California trip. :)

book review

2011-04-26T21:13:00.000-07:00

This book is about a man by the name of Wyatt that loses his wife and son in a car accident on his birthday. The other man involved in the accident was a drunk driver. Gabby, the wife of the drunk driver is having problems with her son Trevor. He is going to be kicked out of school for fighting if he doesn't stop. Trevor is offered one last chance to make things better and that is too enroll in the New Beginning Horse Therapy Program at Wyatts ranch. Wyatt is angry about Trevor joining, but allows him into the program.

Wyatt has met Gabby once before when she wanted to know about the therapy program. He thinks she is the most attractive woman he has met since his wifes death.

I would give this book about 3 1/2 stars.

It was kind of slow at the beginning, but then towards the middle, i couldn't put it down.

there was a couple of parts that I wasn't expecting to happen and caught myself tearing up.

happy reading!

California Trip - Day 2 Friday April 8th, 2011

2011-04-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of our vacation we woke up to this....

ugh! i hate snow!

We had put on our itinerary that we were going to take a ferry around the lake that was like 2 hours long. Needless to say with the snow and freezing cold temperatures, that didn't happen. :(

Instead of going on the ferry, we took a drive around Tahoe for a little bit. We drove down a very scenic road with lots of trees and some amazing looking houses.

This was on our way to emerald bay. We were unable to go there as well because of avalanche danger. Stupid snow!

I really wanted to see it because there is a little tea house on the Island. Couldn't even get a blasted picture!

This waterfall was just on the side of the hill. It had a pretty cool name too.

BRIDAL VEIL FALLS

When we finally came out of the canyon and dropped into the valley this is what we saw. It was so pretty and SO green! Reminded me of the Sound of Music..haha

The last time we went to California we had quite the laughs. We found this cookie store by the name of Uncle Biffs Killer Cookies and that was the highlight of our trip. And you couldn't forget "the smoker" it was a beat up rusty ole' car with smoke coming out of the tail pipe..haha. We kept asking people out the window if they have seen Uncle Biff because we want some killer cookies...haha ok well I guess you had to be there.

Anyways, to make a long story short, we had to pull over to find directions. This is where the highlight of this trip comes in. We pulled into this parking lot and there was this animal control vehicle backing up, and behind that car was a man guiding him back with this crazy crazy accent and he was yelling....."COME ON BACK!!" but you have to picture this guy with the accent when he says this. Anyways after that, we could NOT stop repeating "come on back" in this accent the whole entire trip and no matter what we were doing or where we were, if someone said it, we all cracked up laughing and couldn't stop! It was pretty funny.

Ok, so I'm a nerd haha. I heard about this next stop from my mom and she said if we had the chance, then to stop and check it out. It is located in Fairfield California and it was on our way to our destination, so what the heck why not stop. Kim thought i was weird, but oh well. haha

Jelly Belly Factory

There was SO many choices!

$24 later, I had what I went there for. A bag of jelly bellys for me, my mom and Bethie! :)

Yep...definetely a nerd!

We finally made it to Windsor California! yahoo! So this was our crib for the next week. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a murphy bed, cable tv, dvd player, internet access, full kitchen and our very own washer and dryer. It was pretty sweet!

I thought i would take some pictures of the inside before the tornado hit..haha

so lets take a look around. :)

This was mine and Brittanys room! Umm yep, those are twin beds. UGH! They were the MOST uncomfortable beds I have slept on in my life. Every morning I would wake up with back pain and the last 2 nights of the vacation, I DIDN'T SLEEP! Stupid beds!

This is out the back door on the deck. There was 2 hot tubs, a pool, and a fitness area with a pool table, table tennis and a whole lot more.

Notice the tree. they were everywhere and so cool looking.

We unloaded our luggage and got a little situated and then went out to eat at ...

JOHNNY GARLICS

yes, Guy Fieris very own restraunt. It was so delish! I was hoping to see him, but no such luck.

winding down. we were SO tired!

Well I tried to upload some videos of Kasey and Kolbey playing "just dance" on the wii, but blogger is being dumb so I will try again later.

We catch the first glimpse of the ocean on day 3...stay tuned.

California Trip - Day 1 Thursday April 7th,2011

2011-04-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

After months of planning, this day came so quick that it was almost like we didn't have time to plan at all. Our destination....Windsor California/San Francisco California. :)

We packed up the car (my moms car) THANKS MOM!! :) and left early Thursday morning. Our first stop was going to be in Lake Tahoe and we all knew that it was going to be a long drive and seriously it was, with nothing to see but desert all around us. :/ So, what did we do.....

we slept...

well sort of....haha.

and we tried to strangle ourselves with seatbelts too. haha

We made it safely to Lake Tahoe and was very surprised to see that it was snowing and had been snowing ALOT! I thought we were leaving Utah because of the weather? It was crazy how much it had snowed there. I have to admit though, it was very beautiful, oh so cold as well!

Yes, our condo was at 7,400 ft in elevation. Basically at the top of the mountain, where it was 10x as cold as it was in the valley.

This picture was taken near our condo. you can see the valley with Lake Tahoe in the background. It was quite the view.

After we got settled in at the condo we ventured out to find something to eat. Poor Brittany had a migraine that night, so we went on the hunt to find her a cheeseburger per her request. We took her burger back to the condo and then Me, Kim, Kasey and Kolbey went to Cabo Wabo Cantina, Kims favorite place to go because of Sammy Hagar. Sammys son actually owns this cabo wabo and it was fun to see. For me, the food was just ok. Kim ordered me a waborita, which i didn't even drink half of and was feeling a little tipsy, so I stopped. The atmosphere was awesome and the waitresses were very nice.

Here is a photo taken at Cabo Wabo of all of us...minus brit. we missed you brittany!

Sorry for the blurriness, its a picture taken of a picture.

good times!

We were all pretty tired from the drive from Utah, that once we got back to the condo after dinner, we all pretty much crashed!

I wish it had been a little bit warmer in Tahoe to see more things, but that just means I will need to go back in the summer when its warmer.

Our first leg of the trip was over and we had more to see in the morning. :)

St. Patricks Day!

2011-03-17T21:12:00.000-07:00

here are the letters that i did for St. Pattys Day.

at first i didn't think the green was bright enough

but once i got the embellishments on them, i think they turned out ok.

Happy St. Pattys Day! :)

jazz game & baby blessing

2011-03-10T20:51:00.000-08:00

this was one crazy busy weekend. we were finally able to get tickets to a jazz game on saturday march 5th and were able to go with lots of friends and family. we got tickets for the jazz vs. sacramento game, and boy what a game it was. :] alot had changed since we had gotten our tickets. head coach jerry sloan resigned as well as his asst. coach and deron williams was traded to the nets, but the team seems to be doing ok and i think it will take some time for them to really work together and win some really good games.
i don't think i have yelled that loud in a very long time. in the final minutes of the game we tied it up and it went into OT. YES!! more yelling......

and we won!!

such a fun time with everyone.

wish i could afford season tickets.

i actually got alot more pictures but only am posting my favs.

[Raja Bell]

[cj miles]

[andre kirlenko]

[paul milsap]

[bear!!]

[al jefferson]

the new guys

[derek favors & devon harris]

[this girl LOVES ice cream! ]

after the jazz game we had to make the trip to logan for a baby blessing on sunday morning. we got to quintin and amandas after midnight and had to get up at 6:30 am to make it to church in weston idaho by 9. yeah, lets just say we were all tired and ornery in the morning. we wouldn't have missed this blessing for the world.

[sweet annie jo kropf] i believe i see some red in her hair. adorable.

bethie got this side shot of annie. i love it!

and....i could not leave these too beautiful little girls out for nothing. they are growing so fast!

[abbi] isn't her hair beautiful!?

[Lilli] so cute!!

good times!

i'm still trying to get caught up on my sleep! ugh

2011-03-10T13:18:00.000-08:00

headed here in about 28 days :)

i can't wait! :]

2011-03-02T21:09:00.000-08:00

it seems like i have time to change my blog background, but never have anything fun or exciting to post about.

there is something wrong with that picture.

oh well..at least my blog is cute. :)

on another note...

i'm going to cali in April.

i'm getting pretty excited.

-beach

-baseball game

-shopping

-safari (maybe)

-fresh fish

-swimming

-restraunts with calmari + seafood

ahhhh...i can't wait!

just not sure about flying home for the first time ever in my life.

at least i won't be flying alone.

valentine letters

2011-02-13T19:02:00.000-08:00

here is my latest craft project

*Valentine Letters *

these were actually pretty simple as there was just alot of painting because the letters are quite large so i couldn't really cover them with decorative paper.

i added some bling to the letters as well as a few buttons

the bling added a nice touch and made the letters stand out more.

i think they turned out awesome!

Happy Valentines Day!

picture-lessssss

2011-01-24T19:00:00.000-08:00

i went to Logan this weekend
and then to weston, idaho
to see a newborn baby
that i wanted to take pictures of
for the first time.
the baby was so cute.
i left my camera in Logan.
what was i thinking!?

i went to dinner with some great friends

that i actually can call my family.

we went to Tandoori Oven

the restraunt is in a gas station, mind you

but it was some of the best Indian food i've had yet.

i didn't capture photos of this delicious food or friends

because once again, my camera was left behind.

we all met up later

to play some fun games

apples to apples

and a card game

by the name of

s*%t head. ha ha

pretty fun games.

but because i was enjoying myself so much

my camera got left upstairs.

i didn't capture mike and carlys laughter,

or bethies cute smile

or quintin and amanda concentration in reading their braille cards

sometimes there are moments you just don't want to forget.

next time, my camera will be dangling from my neck at all times.

the end.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-09T19:52:00.000-08:00

Christmas was kind of low-key this year for me. Brittany, Kasey and Kolbey spent christmas eve and christmas morning with their mom and kim. I spent christmas eve at my parents house. we ate some yummy food and just spent some quality time together. we didn't do much as my mom is still recovering from her hip surgery and is doing very well.
Christmas morning I slept in, ha! :] the kids weren't going to be at my parents house until 10 or 11, so we cooked up some christmas morning breakfast and watched the parade until they arrived.

So fun to come from a small family and spoil the kids every year, even though they are teenagers now. I love them and i am glad i can get them things that they want for christmas.

i feel very blessed to have such great family and friends!

I hope you all had a great holiday spent with the ones you love.

[moms christmas tree]

[mom is doing amazing in her hip recovery. love her.]
*please don't kill me mom...haha *

[i can never get a good picture of my dad. he is either covering his face or turning away. this is the best i could do]

[wow. look at the concentration.]

[this kid right here is your future BMX champion. crazy kid, but oh how i love him.]

[aspiring guitarist] love him.

[this picture cracks me up! kolbey got a new helmet and goggles for snowboarding and mom thought she would put it on and model it for us..haha]

** i think i am not going to be living when she sees that i posted this picture **

love u mom :]

Later that evening everyone came over to my house where we had a delicious dinner of ham, funeral potatoes and veggies. It was so yummy! we also played mario kart for the wii because santa brought that to everyone as a family gift. thanks santa, you are the best! :]

I think we all had a little too much too eat. haha!

even jess. lol

[ahem.. don't look at the mess. thanks.]

[be berry berry quiet..kasey is hunting squirrels..]

christmas was great this year. thank you to everyone for everything. you are all the best and i love you all!
here is to a new year with new begginnings.

book review

2011-01-05T20:15:00.000-08:00

I'm sure Jodi Picoult is a great author.

Her books are just too slow for me.

I had a really hard time getting into this book at the beginning. It got a little better towards the middle. I hated how they dragged out the storyline throughout the whole book and you had to wait until the very end to find out what happened. Kind of a depressing book as well.

meh. i wasn't a fan.

kropf family christmas party

2011-01-02T22:59:00.000-08:00

we headed up to Logan on Friday Dec. 17th for the kropf christmas party. bethie and I usually cannot make it because the party would be scheduled for a day during the week. this year it was on saturday the 18th, so we were able to go. yay!!

i bought a brand new camera before we left because i couldn't get it off my mind. ha! i know..i know..but it is a super cool camera. a Nikon coolpix. i will post pictures later. :)
needless to say, i didn't have much time to get the hang of my newly purchased camera. so i was just playing around with it and got a couple of shots of these two adorable girls before we took them to get their pictures taken with their cousins.

~Lilli~

~Lilli and Abbi~

aren't they adorable!?

Love them! :]

later that night we headed over to bethies parents house for the christmas festivities.

there was so much yummy food! sandwiches-salads- chips-dip-candy & chocolate(that may be the same thing, but oh well)-dessert, ugh! it was so delish!

it was fun to sit around and chat with everyone(even though i had a blasted headache). everyone couldn't contain their excited because we all new the "big fella" was going to pay us a visit real soon.

here are some photos of the big guy himself

[abbi]

she loved him!

[Lilli]

she just wanted the paper.

I didn't get a picture of Holly and Sharon with santa. Holly is so very scared of him that she was in the back bedroom with Sharon. I really hope that she outgrows this because it is really so sad. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Love ya Holl!

Tim and Carrie [and abbi too]

It was so fun to get to spend time with great friends that I can honestly call my family.

[ornaments on Amandas christmas tree. love them!]

update on mom

2010-12-13T20:43:00.000-08:00

It has been a week since moms surgery and everything went very well. Since it was her first time having surgery, she got quite sick the day after due to the pain meds which she is very sensitive too as well as the anesthesia.
On wednesday she was feeling much better, but she lost alot of blood during the surgery so they decided to give her a blood transfusion to build it back up. They ended up giving her 2 pints. She starting feeling alot better after that and was able to get up for a bit and do some walking.
She finally got to come home on Thursday. :] I know it has been hard for her not being able to do the "little things" that we all seem to take for granted.
She has only been home for a week and is doing very well. She is walking great and doing awesome with her physical therapy. She does not have the same pain that she had before the surgery, she only has the surgical pain now. I'm pretty sure that her recovery will go quite fast and she will be back to normal in no time.
Thank you so much for thinking of her and keeping her in your prayers.

I love you Mom!

MOM

2010-12-05T21:24:00.000-08:00

As I was saying in a previous post, my mom has been having some problems with her hip and is having a very difficult time standing and is in alot of pain. She is going in for hip replacement surgey in the morning ( Dec. 6th, 2010). She is really nervous about the surgery as she has been a very healthy person until this time, so it is her first time having surgery in her life. She knows it is for the best because if she doesn't have the surgery than she would possibly never walk again. I love her so much and want the best for her!
please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you!
I love you mom!

Winter

2010-12-05T21:16:00.000-08:00

just wanted to share next set of wood blocks I have finished. I think this one is my favorite so far.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-05T21:09:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was a little different this year for our family. My mom has been having problems with her hip for some time now and has been having a difficult time standing, so this year we had dinner at my house with me and my brother cooking everything but the turkey and the rolls. I was a little nervous at first because I am not much of a cook, but everything turned out so good! :) It was nice to be able to cook for my mom, dad and niece and nephews for once in my own home. I love each of them and enjoy spending time with them.

[ brittany making delicious pumpkin pies ]-- the cute apron she is wearing was made by my wonderful mom. (sorry this picture is blurry)

[ i love this picture- kolbey and my mom looking at each other smiling ]

[ Mmmmm LETS EAT! ]

[ I think he would kill me if he knew this was on here ]

I hope you all had a great turkey day spent with loved ones!

decisions.decisions.decisions.

2010-11-11T21:00:00.000-08:00

why do i have to be so indecisive about everything!?
** my clothes
** my shoes
** what to eat
** curly hair or straight hair
etc.
etc.
etc.

i guess thats not everything, but you know what i'm talking about, right?
thats all.

2010-11-07T20:51:00.000-08:00

dear blog,
i think you are really boring right now.
because it seems like i never have anything to say.
maybe its because i never have time to update.
when i first started this whole blog thing, it seemed like a fun way to keep in touch with people and to let those people now all the things happening in my life.
well, i guess i have a pretty boring life.
except for this weekend.
it was packed full of some pretty fun things.

spent a couple of hours at the womens show at the sandy expo center.
lots of jewelry, salons with lucky ladies getting their hair done super cute, a fun place to be able to learn about some things that us women don't know, but the men do.
a place to spend some time with my very dear friend. :)
catching up with my other friends brother (jayson) that i haven't seen in years.
the best part was
getting a massage. BLISS.

going to a baby shower with my mom for a very close friend of my brothers.
knowing that if you have patience, pregnancy really will happen for those that truly deserve it.
Shae was glowing, as well as her husband clint.
such great people that truly deserve this new addition in their lives.
seeing their home for the first time and wishing i had the same skills in decorating as shae does.
maybe someday.
it was
beautiful.

going to dinner at chilis with some very dear friends.
shelly. bethie and autumn.
playing catch up is always so fun.
reminicing about old times and learning new things happening now in each of their lives.
love all these ladies and look forward to the next visit with them. :)

and
finally finishing this craft project that i have been working on.
it was a tough one
but i thought it turned out super cute.

love,
jacki

book review

2010-11-01T19:35:00.000-07:00

- The Hunger Games series -

I LOVED THEM!!

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU READ THEM.

thats all i'm going to say.

craft project

2010-10-09T22:45:00.000-07:00

I have been having so much fun doing these letters! They kind of give me a break from the usual craft things that I would normally do. Don't get me wrong, I love scrapbooking but I get burned out on it and I end up doing it in spurts.

I had alot of help doing the witch hair, face and home-made broom. Thanks becky!

I love everything about fall, especially HALLOWEEN!

catching up! -- 3 posts in 1

2010-09-28T19:39:00.000-07:00

There just is not enough time in the day for me to blog anymore. I miss it when i can't post something on my blog or read and comment on yours. so, bare with me while I play a little catching up. First up is.....

Grand Tetons/Yellowstone

Over Labor Day weekend we finally made our yearly trip to the tetons and yellowstone. We actually got there at a good time during the afternoon because we spent the night before in Logan at Amandas, so we were ahead by 2 hours. :] It is always a long drive there, but Amandas husband, Quinten suggested that we listen to "The Hunger Games" on tape. I have a hard time following on tape, especially when there is other things to look at. Lets just say that I finally got into it on our way home. we didn't have time to finish it, so i HAD to buy it on my kindle because it was so good. It really did make our travel alot faster.

Friday night after we set up camp we went to Leeks Marina for some pizza since we all still looked presentable. haha! It was really good for eating there for the first time.

{Leeks Marina}

Saturday we spent some time at the chapel of transfiguration, the mennors ferry, the new moose visitors center, canoeing string lake as well as the river and hiking. There is just so much to see and do in the tetons, that you need alot of time or extra days to fit everything in.

{Holly + Amanda inside the Chapel of Transfiguration}

{Holly + I}

{Me,Bethie,Amanda, Holly and Maggie}

{Bethie at the Mennors Ferry General Store}

{beautiful tetons and mount moran}

{Holly getting ready to go down the river}

{Bethie + Holly on our hike to swan lake}

{Swan Lake}

Sunday we woke up and had a good breakfast and headed to Yellowstone. We took several detours on our way there looking at different sites. we stopped and checked out some geysers, the canyons and lower falls.

{dragons mouth geyser} stinky!!

{mud pots}

{tons of buffalo on the side of the road}

{Lower Falls} absolutely breathtaking!!

{Diane, Amanda + Holly at the brink of lower falls}

On our way to tower, we spotted a bear on the side of the road. we seriously had front row seats from the car. it was SOO cool! such an adrenaline rush. I love seeing bears there or any other type of wildlife.

{this buffalo was just taking a stroll down the road causing a total traffic jam or should i say "buffalo jam"}

It was so cold in yellowstone, but we stopped and had some lunch and then headed to Old Faithful. It was also very cold there, so we stayed inside to watch the geyser erupt.

We walked over to the lodge to get some souveniers in the freezing cold and once we were inside, it started to snow. yes, you read that right..it started to SNOW! it was sooo crazy!! We decided not to stay too long at the lodge, because the snow was starting to pick up and we didn't want to get caught in a terrible storm with the snow sticking to the roads, so we headed back towards the tetons. This night was the coldest night there, but we were prepared. I'm so glad i brought my gloves because i slept with them on my hands that night. haha!

I never ever want to leave the tetons once there because i never know when we will be going back. time seems to go by so fast there and i'm always wishing we have more time. Monday morning came and I knew that it was time to say good-bye for another year.

I LOVE the tetons! :]

********************************

My 1yr. check-up with the RP specialist

I can't believe its been one year since I was diagnosed with RP. I guess you could say I was a little scared going into this, just because I didn't want to hear that my vision has gotten worse. I kind of knew that my vision at night has worsened, but I was hoping for nothing more.

The Drs. assistant asked me if I have noticed any difference in my vision, and I haven't during the day, but i'm to the point now that I WILL NOT drive at night unless i'm going a very short distance. I also mentioned that I tried the vitamin A for about a month and a half to slow the process of RP down, but I experienced some moods that I had no idea I was doing until other people pointed them out to me. I became very easily agitated and irritated for no reason and I had no idea that I was like that at all. I told him that I am no longer taking the medicine for my roomates sake. haha! Oh and everyone else that is around me on a daily basis. I told him that after being off of the vitamin A , I have not experienced any of those symptoms again. thank goodness. :]

They dilated my eyes and while I was seeing the Dr. he told me that everything seems to be the same. YAY!! He did ask me if I needed any visual aids for not seeing well at night. I just told him I have just been using a flashlight and that seems to be efficient for now. He did ask if I am still able to work, which I am and I'm grateful.

They also took photos of my eyes to check the rods and cones and he said that the pigment of my eyes have not changed and the rods and cones have not worsened.

I think I am being well taken care of here at the retina specialist for now. Hopefully in the next several years there will be no change for a very long time.

**********************

Stewart Falls Hike

A couple of weeks ago, Bethie and I took a leisurely drive up American Fork Canyon to see the amazing fall colors. I think fall is my favorite season because of the changing of the leaves. Anyways we did the drive up around the Alpine Loop and as we were coming up by Sundance we thought that it would be a great day to do this hike. I'm so glad we did, even though it totally kicked our butts! These pictures seriously don't do it justice.

I want to come back again someday and do this hike again. It was worth it in the end to see this waterfall.

Lion King...

2010-08-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

... was fantastic!!

I'm not sure if i need to say anything more about this show. seriously, it was amazing! Bethie and I bought our tickets clear back in February. I didn't think August 14th 2010 would get here fast enough. The tickets were pricey, but i would totally do it all over again. I loved it!

We had initially planned to ride tracks to salt lake, but we were running a little late so we just drove to the Capitol Theatre, and i am so glad that we did because if we were late, we couldn't be let in until 10 minutes after the show started. the first 10 minutes was by far the best! i seriously, no joke, had chills for that first 10 minutes because the animals ( puppets ) were walking in the aisles next to us to get to the stage. So cool!

I wasn't able to get many pictures because you are not allowed to take them inside the capitol theatre, but i will never forget this night! It was so much fun and i'm glad i got to experience it and see a spectacular showing of Lion King. :)

watch out! she is legal...

2010-08-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

Oh man, my niece is growing up way way too fast! Oh how i love this girl!

She decided that she wanted to have a BBQ and invite a few friends as well as family. we were going to have the BBQ up american fork canyon, but the weather was not cooperating, so we had it at my house instead. :)

Brit- i hope you had the most wonderful birthday and got all that you wished for. love you.

Cooper - Brit - Kylie & Ryan (now Mr. and Mrs Toomey) and Chassie

Cooper - Brit - Kylie

Kasey & Sandy

they really do love each other... lol

she couldn't figure out what i gave her..haha!

She has the go for the 'smore look in her eyes

photography giveaway!

2010-08-17T19:20:00.000-07:00

Kali Poulsen is giving away a free photo session. up to 5 entries per person. all you have to do is:

like kali poulsen photography on facebook
suggest kali poulsen photography to your friends on facebook
post about the giveaway in your facebook status
blog about the giveaway
put a kali poulsen photography button on your blog.

go to kali poulsen photography on facebook or http://www.kalibug.blogspot.com/ for more info!

she is an amazing photographer! :)

Moab!

2010-07-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

Over the 4th of July weekend we decided to make a trip to one of our favorite places...MOAB! Oh how i love this place. There is so much to see and the scenery is always so pretty.

We got there on Saturday afternoon, got checked into our hotel and headed into Arches. We have been there before but we still wanted to drive through and stop at some of our favortie places. We kind of lucked out this time because it wasn't as crowded this time as it was before, so there wasn't huge crowds and no crazy out-of-state drivers. :)

Delicate Arch--my favorite to see in Arches.

Sunday was an all together different day with lots to see. We drove into Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point. I have been to Dead Horse Point before with my mom several years ago, but Bethie hasn't seen it before so we drove in so she was able to. I love the views here, it is breathtaking with alot of different layers in the rock. If you have never heard the story behind Dead Horse Point, you should look it up and read about it.

After Dead Horse Point we headed into Canyonlands. I've never been here so i was kind of excited to see it. Unfortunately it was alot of driving, with only a few things to see. You couldn't drive all the way through it. there were different entrances to the park which required more driving. It seems like if you have a 4-wheel drive or 4-wheelers you would be able to see alot more. Sad to say it was kind of a let down for me and we didn't want to drive further to see other areas of the park. i'm still glad i was able to see it though.

Sunday night we just hung out at the pool and went shopping in downtown Moab. We were looking forward to the next day when we were going to Goblin Valley.

Monday morning we grabbed a good breakfast before getting on the road. Last time we went to goblin valley it was raining so hard we were not able to go down near the lil' goblins, so we were excited ths time cause the weather was fantastic.

NOTE TO SELF: READ THE MAP BEFORE YOU GET ON THE ROAD SO YOU DON'T MISS YOUR EXIT!

-no goblin valley this time around- :(

ah well........gives us another reason to go back! :)

we had a blast!

I LOVE MOAB!!

enjoy the slideshow. :)

Living Traditions

2010-06-09T19:02:00.000-07:00

a couple of weekends ago we headed up to salt lake city to the Living Traditions festival. it was held at the city county building. the festival is a place where people from the area go to share their traditions and customs of other countries. there is different performances from the different countries as well as food that they prepare from the different countries.

one of the reasons we went was because Laiza, a sweet lady from where i work, was performing a couple of dances from the Kanamu Tahitian dance company. we were excited to go see what the festival was all about, but we were happy to go and support Laiza and watch her dance her heart out.

we got to sample some of the yummy food from different countries and i have to say, the baklava was my all time favorite. after i ate it, i told myself that i should of bought 4 more pieces to take home. haha! it was that good. not only did we have baklava but we tried a tamale that was wrapped in a banana peel. it had a totally different flavor, but yet it was still good. we also tried a papusa. it is like a corn tortilla with beans and cheese in the middle and then fried. it was yummy! we also sampled some authentic chinese food. can't go wrong there.

there was a time during the night when the chinese people danced while in costume as a dragon. they do this dance during the chinese new year. i was pretty excited to see this it was really cool.

this is city county building where the festival was held. kind of a cool building.

the yummy food - this is a tamale wrapped in a banana peel. the fried corn tortilla with beans and cheese is the papusa. so good.

authentic chinese food. delish!

this is baklava. oh man i was seriously in heaven! look at all the layers of phyllo dough. it was so so good!

Laiza doing a dance performance from the Kanamu Tahitian dance company. She did an awesome job.

these are some other dancers from the Kanamu dance company.

these are the chinese dragon dancers. this was SOOO cool!!

i am glad we were able to go to the Living Traditions. it was an awesome experience and i look forward to going again soon. thanks Laiza for telling us about it. :]

a letter.

2010-05-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Jacki-
My name is Kathy Lenau. I believe your nephew, Doug and my daughter Serena were together and had Chloe. My oldest daughter had been emailing Serena but they got into a fight over Serenas lack of being responsible. I am told that Serena no longer has Chloe and I am guessing Dougs mom does. I am raising her other daughter. I have no intention of trying to interfere with what is going on but would like to get in touch with Dougs mom so we can keep in touch for Chloe and Megans sake and exchange pictures etc..
I would like Chloe to know about us and want her to know about her sister. I have photos of Serena when she was young that I would like to forward.
If this info is correct could you please pass this info on. Serena has been very distant with us because we won't pay for her to live there. She burned us big time when we tried to help her here. I'm sure the family there knows very little of the truth.
Thanks.
Kathy Lenau

i got this most random letter in the mail today.

apparently i have a nephew by the name of Doug.

Doug was with Serena and had Chloe.

Serena seems to be quite the trouble child.

i think whoever sent me this letter may have the wrong person.

what do you think?

happenings...

2010-04-30T20:12:00.001-07:00

i have been such a slacker when it comes to blogging lately, but in my defense i have been so so busy. who would of thought that buying a house would of turned out to be SO much work. don't get me wrong, i absolutely love having the house and wouldn't change it for anything. :)
with spring here (well maybe) and summer just around the corner we have been busy doing yardwork. my brother Kim seems to think that planting an agressive/low maintenance ground cover is the bomb! you don't have to weed it, just basically let it take over everywhere. well, to me it looks like weeds and it is just plain ugly.........so, we are ripping it all out! oh man, what a chore that has been. we have already pulled up the front part by the living room, but now we have the whole south side to pull up as well as some ground cover by the kitchen. we may just have to use something to kill it because it is going to take 4-ever to rip that all out!

last week we planted a few things and are excited to see how things progress. we planted 2 coneflower plants and a rose bush. we also added some solar lights along the walkway that i absolutely love. we would like to plant a small garden, but if we use weed killer for the ground cover, i'm not really sure if we will be able to plant something there. i think we are also going to plant a lilac bush on the south side of the gate that goes into the backyard. it is definetely a work in progress. alot of work to be honest, but the outcome will make the yard look tons better. :)
there is alot of things that i would still like to do inside the house as well. some of the projects that i would like to do are:

paint 7-8 doors.
get curtain rods and hang curtains.
get craft room organized and paint..get blinds .
fix and re-paint the wall where big "dead" animals were hanging.
fix and re-paint wall in my bedroom.
have kim make frames and shelf for the living room
hang pictures
organize garage so we can park in there. :)

well that is just a few projects i have in mind and i would like to do. i'm going to have to take it one step at a time or it will NEVER get done.
i will try and be better at posting, but with the warmer weather comes added work. i feel like that is all i do.
i would much rather be sewing, scrapbooking, relaxing, reading etc etc...ah well, maybe someday.
anyways, thanks for listening. :)

p.s. i will try and post pictures later. my computer is currently not working. sorry.

walk it challenge

2010-04-09T11:16:00.000-07:00

weight watchers is doing a walk it challenge this year on June 5th. it will be a 5k in provo somewhere, i don't have all the details yet but i'm really excited about it. i haven't been as motivated as i should be and i think this is just what i need. i just know a 5k is one of the goals i have had since joining weight watchers and this is an awesome opportunity to achieve it. :)
they gave us a booklet that has a schedule in it that we can use to train for it. we have to walk for 5 days and rest for 2 and each day is a little longer than the day before. i am already walking/jogging for 45 minutes to an hour so i know i can do this.
you don't have to be a runner to do this challenge. you can walk the whole way if you want or run/walk. i just know that whatever i decide to do, it will be for me. let the training begin... :)

so cool!

2010-03-31T11:01:00.000-07:00

is this not the coolest thing to put on a wall?

ah. i love it.

it makes me happy.

2's

2010-03-26T15:32:00.000-07:00

aren't these 2 just the cutest couple ever?!

i think so!

love her. love them as a couple. :)

this cute little girl turned 2 years old today. i can't believe that time goes by so fast, it seems like just yesterday when she was born. she is so much fun and so stinkin' cute.

love her.

Happy Birthday sweet lil' Abbi!

don't you hate it when.....

2010-03-16T11:49:00.000-07:00

- you clean your contacts in the same case that you originally had them in, only to find out later that you don't have an extra case to put them back in afterwards.

- you buy a new sewing machine only to find out that it doesn't work properly, so you have to take it back and get a new one. :/

- you put something off for days that you have been meaning to get to, only to find yourself putting it off longer than anticipated.

- you go to a restraunt and have a wonderful dinner, only to find out later that your waitress misplaced your debit card.

..when it happens, it REALLY happens!!

S.P.R.I.N.G is coming!! :))

heavy heart - happy heart

2010-03-10T12:37:00.000-08:00

my heart has been heavy the past couple of days. brittanys boyfriends brother Porter passed away in a tragic hiking accident on Friday March 5th. i can only imagine what they are going through. my heart hurts for them. losing your son, brother, cousin, grandson, nephew and friend so suddenly and so unexpected. i know they will get through this and i hope they feel comfort knowing the many fond memories that they will cherish forever about Porter. i hope they find the peace that they need in the days ahead. my thoughts and prayers are with them.

this is what makes my heart happy -

i bought this over the weekend

i think it is going to look great in my bedroom. :)

i also bought this

which makes my heart happier-

oh, the projects i am going to be able to make with my new sewing machine is

endless........

i can't wait! :)

hakuna matata....

2010-03-01T15:34:00.000-08:00

...what a wonderful phrase

hakuna matata! ain't no passing craze

it means no worries for the rest of your days

its a problem-free philosophy

HAKUNA MATATA!

i cannot begin to tell you how excited i am to FINALLY get to see the lion king.

we were going to go to las vegas and see it, but instead...

its coming to salt lake city at the capitol theatre.

OH MAN, i hope august gets here fast!!

I.cannot. wait. :)

check out the video below

IT.IS.AMAZING.

not.for.me.

2010-02-17T10:11:00.000-08:00

why do certain medications that you take for something have to mess with you in weird ways? i don't think that i can answer that, but i think i have experienced things that i don't want to anymore.
my regualar eye doctor as well as the retina specialist, have both requested that i get on vitamin A to slow down the progress of my RP. first of all, i questioned taking it and talked to alot of people to see what their input is about it. i know several people that have RP as well and they have both told me that vitamin A does not work. after thinking things over and realizing that i want to keep my vision as long as possible, i decided to give it a try.
the dosage amount that i need to take is pretty high. it is 15,000 UI. i think the highest is 25,000 UI but i could be wrong. you can buy it at the store over the counter, but with the dosage amount that i needed, it is really hard to find. i ended up looking online and buying it there for a good price.
when i talked to the retina specialist about it, i asked him about side effects just so i would be prepared on what to expect. he told me not to worry that it is safe with minimal effects. i started taking the vitamin around the first of January 2010.
during the first couple of weeks of February i started to feel extremely tired and very irritable. irratable as in everything bothered me that anyone was doing. not just certain people... but everyone!!
i got online to see if i could find something about the vitamin and its side effects. needless to say, i was feeling some of the effects that they had mentioned on several of the sites that i went to.

this is what i found out on WebMD:
Long-term use of large amounts of vitamin A might cause serious side effects including fatigue, irritability, mental changes, anorexia, stomach discomfort, nausea, vomiting, mild fever, excessive sweating, and many other side effects. In women who have passed menopause, taking too much vitamin A can increase the risk of osteoporosis and hip fracture.

There is growing concern that taking high doses of antioxidant supplements such as vitamin A might do more harm than good. Some research shows that taking high doses of vitamin A supplements might increase the chance of death from all causes and possibly other serious side effects

it is unfortunate that i am no longer taking the vitamin A. i did not like how i was feeling at all. i was seriously falling asleep at my desk at work on a busy day and just being very ornery and irritable for no reason at all. i didn't like it.

for now i see how fast or slow the RP progresses. hopefully its alot slower than fast. i will admit that it does scare me. i don't want to lose my vision, but in the long run i will take what i can get for now.

thanks for listening. :)

Finished!

2010-02-08T20:48:00.000-08:00

I found this super cute valentine wreath online and knew that i had to make one for my new house. :) i think it turned out pretty good. Lots of cutting and about 200+felt circles later, i finally finished!

p.s. if you are in need of a styrofoam heart around valentines day, you better get it really early and not 2 weeks before because you will not find one, guaranteed! I learned the hard way.

HAPPY CRAFTING! :)

Jazz game!!

2010-02-08T20:19:00.000-08:00

so, bethie got me Jazz tickets for Christmas. i know, your jealous! ha. She got a deal for 2 games and 4 tickets. :) Last monday was the first game we got to go to and it was against the dallas maveriks. it was a really good game and we stayed within 2-4 points the whole game until the 4th quarter when we DOMINATED!! love the jazz and its always a blast going to the games. i'm really looking forward to the next game which is the end of February against the atlanta hawks. can't wait! :)

Thanks bethie for the best christmas present ever!! :D

Its game time!!

2010-02-01T11:52:00.000-08:00

tonight..

utah jazz

vs.

dallas maveriks

I'M EXCITED!!

a much needed update..finally!

2010-01-24T18:23:00.000-08:00

wow, i am sitting here wondering how i should start this post out and for the life of me i have no idea where to begin. lets jump back to dec. 2009....

what a crazy month that was! honestly i do not remember some of the things that transpired in this month because there was so much going on.

first off i would like to say that i am now a proud home owner. :) ah yes.. i was insanely crazy to purchase a home in the month of december. what in the world was i thinking?! it has been so worth it and it was not any house, it was my brothers house. i love this house! kim built it himself and raised his kids here. it still has a close place in his heart and as long as its in the family, he won't have to worry about it not being taken care of. :)

during the time i was waiting for the loan to go through for the house+ signing paper after paper over and over again..... christmas decided to make an appearance.

christmas was spent once again at my parents house, along with kim , brittany, kasey and kolbey. its always so much fun to wake up on christmas morning with the kids, even if they are teenagers now. :)

here are a few pictures of christmas 2009...

{the beautiful christmas tree}

{on christmas eve my mom made us fill in the blanks to "twas the night before christmas"- the kids seriously didn't know how it went..i was so ashamed..haha! here is brittany reading her "made up" version..haha! }

{we played cage bingo and won some cool prizes! }

{kolbey and fiona and kasey playing bingo}

{this is what happens when you leave your camera alone with teenagers-they end up taking self portraits of themselves} haha!

{looks like we were good kids, santa paid us a visit! } wow!

{kolbey asked for a bike sled-kim made it himself with kolbeys old bike and a snowboard cut in half. kolbey was so excited! i hope he wears a helmet because it has no brakes! }

{brittany got and edward doll-just what she always wanted!} haha!
{ from L to R- dad,colby and brittany...kim trying to teach dad how to play catch phrase, haha!....bottom left- i don't think dad quite figured out how to play, but it was fun anyways....bottom right- kim and kolbey}

we had a great christmas spent with lots of family!

now the fun begins! the weekend and week after christmas we packed up 8 years of our life and moved into the new house. it was an emotional time for bethie and I. you get so attached to things and you are leaving your comfort zone that you have been in for many years. it really is hard to move, both physically and emotionally. we both new that we were moving on to bigger and better things. not only will we have a home to make our own, but lots of extra space that we haven't had for many years. what a way to start the new year in 2010! :)

here are a few pictures of our apartment while we were getting things packed up and ready to move . it is so crazy how much stuff you accumulate over the years.

thank you once again mike, carly, tim and carrie for driving down from logan in a snowstorm to help us move. we love you guys! :)

we are adjusting well in the new house. we pretty much have things put away and we look forward to 2010 and making our house a home.

Upcoming projects

2010-01-21T13:04:00.000-08:00

I want to make one of these valentines wreaths-

or one of these topiaries in a smaller version-

I will let you know how they turn out!

{p.s. Dec. 2009 updates coming soon}

I promise!!

2010-01-06T12:59:00.000-08:00

No internet=no blogging :(

Will return soon...

44 years!

2009-12-02T12:27:00.000-08:00

HaPPy ANNiVeRsArY!!

Heres to many more happy years together!

I love you!!

Christmas star

2009-11-29T20:46:00.000-08:00

My Thanksgiving weekend was not only filled with yummy food, but it was filled with several craft projects that I really enjoyed making.

I was shopping with my mom and came across this random star and I told my mom that I would buy it for her if she would pick out some Christmas paper so I could cover it. It was super easy to make and alot of fun. It turned out really pretty and best of all, mom has a new Christmas star to hang wherever she wants made by me. :)

I can't remember what website it was that I found the tutorial for this star, but If I happen to stumble across it I will be sure to post it.

I hope your Thanksgiving was a memorable one!

Thirty!

2009-11-20T12:06:00.000-08:00

Finally

Did

It!!

I made it to 30 pounds of total weight loss on weight watchers.

At one point I thought I would NEVER get here because I have been on an up and down rollercoaster for some time now. I really am proud of myself for sticking with it and getting to this point. :)

Wish List.. sigh

2009-11-05T09:23:00.000-08:00

Here is my wish list for 2009. It would be so kind of any of you to choose one and kindly place it under my Christmas Tree this year. :)

1- Tickets to see these guys.

2- Crop-a-dile 2 big bite punch. I could do some amazing crafts with this gadget.

3- Ice Age 3 Dawn of the Dinosaurs movie. Saw it in the theater and loved it.

4- Up! movie

5- A new full sized bed that looks likes this.

6- A custom made necklace like this. You can find alot more here. http://http//www.lisaleonardonline.com/custom-necklaces/

7- This new Wii game.

8- Nintendo DS. rose colored please. I know, call me crazy, but I still want one.

9- Taylor Swift CD. Platinum Editon

10- Carrie Underwood CD. love her.

11- Singer Sewing machine. I could do some cute things with this. Carly, you may need to teach me how to do some of your super cute ideas. :D

Carrie

2009-10-25T18:33:00.001-07:00

I LOVE this picture of Carrie, ha. It is SO her! :) I just want to give her a quick shout out and wish her a Happy 21st Birthday! I have really enjoyed getting to know Carrie. She really is a genuine person and she would do anything for you if you asked. She gets so excited to tell you new things that are happening in her life, and I love that she is so bubbly and just full of spunk! She is also such a great mom to sweet Abbi and I am happy to call her my friend!

Have a great day Carrie!!

Here is the card that I made for her. She loves horses..

Doctors Visits...

2009-10-13T12:01:00.000-07:00

To start treatment for my RP, I had 2 doctors appointments last week. One was with my general doctor and the other one was with the retina specialist.
I needed to get a liver function test and talk to my general dr. about vitamin A. She wasn't able to answer too many specific questions that I had about the vitamin, only that it does damage your liver quite a bit. If I am going to go ahead and take it, then I would need to get blood work done to check my liver every year.

I have been doing alot of research online about vitamin A, so when I went to see the retina specilaist, I think he was kind of shocked that I knew so much about it, ha. He confirmed that vitamin A only slows down the progression of RP by 2% a year. That is not a very big percentage, but if it is your eyes then you will do everything you can to keep some of your sight. He also stated that there is no side affects of the vitamin, which is good. They dilated my eyes again and checked to make sure they weren't any worse etc. There was no change. I did talk to him about my experience with Amanda, and why I was holding back on taking the vitamin. He totally understood if I didn't want to take it, but said that it is very unlikely that something like that would happen to me. I told him that I was still torn and very unsure, but he wrote down exactly what I needed and to call him if I had anymore questions. I go back to see the retina specialist in another year to see if anything has changed.

*** Logan ***

Oh how I LOVE fall! :) Last weekend we went to Logan/Idaho for Beths nephews blessing. Brittany was taking pictures of Derek that same weekend and Becky decided to do them up Logan canyon. Oh, it was beautiful! I snapped a few photos of the leaves while we were there. The colors of the leaves had not completely changed yet, but I thought they were so pretty.

Enjoy! :)

Retinitis Pigmentosa WARNING-LONG POST

2009-10-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

It has taken me awhile to post something about the title of this post. Its not that I haven't wanted to, but it has been really hard for me to put down in words what to say about it. But this is like my journal and I want to remember things while I can.
For those of you that don't know, I have recentely been diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa otherwise knows as RP. I will fill you in on what RP is and what it means for me.

What is RP?: Rp is an inherited progressive disorder in which there are abnormalities of the photoreceptors (rods & cones) or the pigment of the retina, which may lead to progressive vision loss. Individuals that have RP have night vision loss and they lose their peripheral vision as well. Sometimes they lose their central vision late in the course. Many people retain some of their sight all of their lives, others may go completely blind. Progressive RP is different in every case.

My diagnosis: I have been going to a very thorough eye doctor for some time now. They do every kind of test imaginable at this office, which I love because most eye drs don't do that, they just want you in and out of there in a hurry. Anyways, the tech had taken some photos of my eyes and when the dr was reading them he noticed some black spots on the sides of my eyes. Well, the black spots didn't mean anything to me at the time, but he wanted to do some more thorough testing. He had one of the techs do a test where you are looking into...lets just say a drumb. They make you wear a patch over one eye so your only looking out the one eye. When they start the test, there are blinking lights all over the inside of the drumb and they flash randomly but you have to keep looking at the light in front of you. I will just say one thing.....this test sucked! It was awful. Well the results came back and they were not good, not good at all. I was not seeing any of the blinking lights peripheraly, just the ones that were flashing in front of me. I made another appt to come back and take the same test because the dr thought maybe the tech did something wrong or it was me and I was just not cooperating, ha. Whatever.....
The next time I went back, I took the same test with the same tech, clicked the button whenever I saw a light (I was trying so hard) and still the results came back bad. Well now the dr was getting worried and it was freaking me out. He decided he wanted to give me the test to see how I did. Just to make sure I was positioned right, was clicking the button and what not.
After that test I was done with it. I didn't want to take it anymore. The test results came back bad once more. I still was not seeing the blinking lights out of my peripheral vision. The dr decided to send me to a retina specialist because he thought that my retina was thinning. Thinning of the retina didn't sound so bad, right?

Que to the retina specialist. I had my mom go with me to this appt because I didn't want to go by myself and I was a little nervous. I know...pathetic. I'm 40 years old and I still make mom come with me. :) He pretty much did some more thorough testing, said alot of really big words, took tons more pictures, which were so cool! At this appt the retina specialist pretty much diagnosed me with RP. He kind of explained to me what it was and he talked to me a little about treatment. But the treatment would come later. I now had to go to the Moran Eye Center in SLC for more testing and a "full diagnosis".

The Moran Eye Center- Oh, I was so so nervous going to Moran. I had myself worked up, was nervous and sick to my stomach. Blech. First of all, the Doctor was loopy, ha. When I say loopy, I mean so loooooopy. Second of all.....more testing! I was sick of tests at this point.

Mom and Brittany came with me again on this appt because I knew they were dilating my eyes and there was no way I could drive home, let alone find my way home. The tests here were a little different, but probably more thorough. I saw that dreaded "drumb machine" in the same room where we were and was freaking out cause I did not want to do that ever again! Anyways, he numbed and dilated my eyes, like 3 times I swear. After they were dilated, mom and I had to sit in the same room in pitch blackness for 15 minutes to get my eyes used to the dark. Ok weird. So here we are mom and I....talking to each other in the dark and not being able to see each other. It was just weird.

After 15 minutes he came back in and he had to wear this lamp on his head so he could put in these ghetto contacts. When I had to take my "real" contacts out.....wow, that was a story in itself, ha. I will just say i was nervous and dropped one on the floor...oops..... Back to the ghetto contacts...... they were like suction cups, but really soft and they had these square parts around them that is supposed to hold your eyelids open. Its hard to explain, but you get the idea. So he put those in, and then I had to look into a drumb machine again, but this time there were only 3 lights that blinked and I didn't have to push any buttons. We did it once in the dark and once in the light. I had my results right after the test and it was poor, which means the retina specialist was right and I did have RP. Boo!

Treatment- I got a call from the retina specialist the next day telling me that I need to make an appt with my regular dr to get a liver function test and talk to her about Vitamin A. If my liver is ok and I am put on Vitamin A, it does things to your liver so they have to monitor it more. The Vitamin A is supposed to slow down the progression of RP, but only like 2% a year.
Until I talk to my regular dr. and the retina specialist, I don't know that I will take the Vitamin A yet. I know that my body is different than everyone elses and the Vitamin A probably would be ok, its just that I have had a traumatic experience with Bethies sister going blind from taking minicyline with Vitamin A in it. Its hard for me to see Amanda the way she is. I know that she is fine, but the experience that she went through was terrible and I don't want to be like that.

The retina specialist told me that I should have my central vision for a very long time. How long that will be, I do not know. Right now I have a very hard time seeing at night. I have very little peripheral vision. I'm worried that I will lose some of my driving priviledges and I don't want to be dependant on other people. I know that people love me and they would do it for me, but its hard. I didn't want to write this post to have people feel sorry for me. I know that I will be ok, I just know that I will need to make some adjustments. I wish things in life were a little more easier, but sometimes we are dealt things to make us stronger. We shall see....
I will try and keep you all posted on things as they transpire.

Have a great weekend! :)

Lion King...

2009-09-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

They did a segment of this amazing musical on Dancing With The Stars on Wednesday night and now I really really want to see it. It is playing in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay. Anyone want to buy me tickets? Puuuuulease! :)

Grand Tetons

2009-09-13T17:47:00.000-07:00

The long anticipated wait to go the the Tetons was finally over, but oh how I did not want it to end! So much to see, yet so little time. In the end it was so worth it and I would do it again in a heartbeat come rain or shine.

This time around we drove by Bear Lake. I had never been there so I was pretty excited to at least "see" it. :) On our way through we stopped and got some of these.....

....ooOOoo they were delish! Would take these over strawberries anyday!

We arrived at our campsite pretty late Friday night so we were not able to see anything. The next couple of days, this is what we were able to see. Love these mountains!
{ click on the pictures to make them bigger }

I think since we got there we were pretty much on the hunt for any sort of wildlife possible. We drove by Oxbow Bend several times with no luck. We drove up signal moutnain several times and only saw one deer. I really wanted to see a bear!

The next day some of us rode the boat across Jackson Lake....

..... and hiked to see Hidden Falls. I don't think I will ever be disappointed with this hike and seeing this waterfall.

These are just some cute pictures of Holly and Abbi at camp and at Jackson Lake Lodge.

I think next time we go, we might take this.....

but if we take the plane, we won't see a big ol' moose like this guy . Seriously....he was HUGE!!

Highlights of the trip:

-seeing my brother and niece and nephews at bear lake. Totally random..

-hearing the elk bugle...so cool!

-campfires

-listening to the coyotes howl..kind of scarey, yet really cool.

-shopping in Jackson

-spending time with great friends and family.

-seeing a moose! :)

I can't wait until next time. I hope it won't be as long as it has this trip.

Va-ca-tion :)

2009-09-04T10:26:00.000-07:00

It has been about 3 years since I have been here....

I'm super excited that I am going there for 4 whole days this weekend. I seriously can't wait! I have been wanting to go camping for so long. :) The mountains are beautiful, I love seeing wildlife in captivity, hiking, going down the river, spending time with friends/family and just all around relaxing! YAY! Pictures to come........... :)

Announcing....

2009-09-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

Taylor Jared Kropf

8 lbs. 9 oz.

21 inches long

Born about 2:10 pm on August 31, 2009

Congratulations Jared, Sharon & big sister Holly!! :)

{pictures coming soon}

Big Bad Voo Doo Daddy....

2009-08-18T08:35:00.000-07:00

Saw these very talented guys at the Scera Shell last night. Don't know much about them, didn't think I would like them, but they were truly

AMAZING!!

The lead singer/guitarist reminded me so much of Frank Sinatra with his deep voice and his very classy dance moves. All the other guys could play their instrument like no other. I would go see them again in a heartbeat!

Birthday thoughts...

2009-08-15T23:40:00.000-07:00

Today is my 40th birthday, which seems like a big deal yet it seems so impossible and sounds so old.
It seems silly to make a big t0-do over your own birthday, or to secretly hope someone else will throw together a huge birthday bash. But its kind of sad to let it pass without a festive nod of some sort.
As a blogger it feels funny to draw attention to my birthday by writing about it, but it feels wrong to let it pass without mention. So for now, I am just going to acknowledge it and accept it. I guess this is the state of mind that I have been in for the last several weeks, because I have been dreading turning 40.
I guess this is reality and the fact that I am even publishing my age here on my blog shows great progress.
I think there is a couple of different things that have helped me in reaching this age. One being that I regualarly get told that I look about 10 years younger. I am amused by this, but I am definetely not complaining. :) Two is that I have so many wonderful people in my life. Whether it is family or friends or even complete strangers. They have helped me be who I am today and I love them for that.
I guess I don't have time to worry about silly things like getting older. There is a much bigger picture and I realize that they don't really matter in that big picture anymore.

I think I have figured out how to like and accept myself and that is exactly as I am. It doesn't really matter what age it is when that happens but it is going to be a beautiful one when it does.

So..... Happy Birthday to me! :)

Happy Birthday to......

2009-08-07T10:03:00.000-07:00

.....someone who

has the biggest heart
is a great photographer
would by you a candy bar if they had the money :)
tells you their secrets
is like the sister I never had
would do anything for you if it came right down to it
goes by the name crash or eddie
can sing karioke like no other
has the most beautiful blue eyes

Happy Birthday Brittany!!

I love you!!

Card...

2009-08-06T21:01:00.002-07:00

Here is a card that I made for Beths sister-in-law. She is expecting a little boy in August. They are throwing her a baby shower this weekend in Logan. I am excited to see all the cute things she will be receiving(Ahem, Carly!) Just thought I would share this card, I thought it turned out pretty cute.

This is the inside of the card.

My latest addiction...

2009-08-05T15:31:00.001-07:00

I love love love the show Army Wives on Lifetime! I saw it advertised and thought it looked really good. I didn't want to start watching it in the middle, so I started on season 1 and am now playing catch up. It really does hit close to home,not only what the people in the army go through, but what the wives go through while they are away. I find myself crying on each episode that I watch. Oh, and the music on each episode is amazing! You should check it out.

Who doesn't like zucchini fresh right out of the garden? My mom has been giving me some from her garden and I'm loving it. The best way I have found to eat it, other than zucchini bread is slice it up with the peeling still on(peel it if you like). Put it on a cookie sheet and drizzle it with a little olive oil. Add some salt, pepper and garlic salt and toss so it is coated. Put it in the oven on a hight heat, turning occasionely. Keep an eye on it, it cooks pretty fast. Delish!

Pioneer Day 2009

2009-07-25T23:09:00.000-07:00

What a way to celebrate Pioneer Day with country music from the 80's and 90's and love songs that you never seem to forget. Restless Heart and Collin Rae came to the scera shell and performed under the stars, which is the best setting ever!! It was a fun night.

Favorite Restless Heart songs:

I'll Still Be Loving You
Why Does It Have To Be (wrong or right)
When She Cries
Bluest Eyes in Texas
A Tender Lie
That Rock Won't Roll
Fast Movin' Train
Long Lost Friend
Dancy's Dream

Favorite Songs of Collin Rae:

Love Me
I Can Still Feel You
That Was A River
One Boy, One Girl
Little Rock
When I Think About You
In This Life
The Gift

I hope you all had a fun and safe Pioneer Day!!

Steel Days '09

2009-07-25T21:59:00.000-07:00

I am a little late posting about this years Steel Days events. Better late than never, right? It turned out to be a full day of fun for everyone.
We started out the day with the parade, which was super long (about 2 hrs) serioulsy! Oh and lets not forget about sitting in 100 degree weather for those 2 hrs or so..yeah, definetely miserable! But we had a great time and we had a great spot with shade from mom and dads umbrella. :) Whos complaining?
Mom, Bethie and I went and walked around the car show and boutique after the parade. There was a lot of saweeet cars there. Mom kept saying, "we used" to have a car like this or "we used" to have a car like that. I think she was wishing she still had all of them and is kickin herself for not keeping them. Good times....
Bethie and I walked down to main street and watched the cars drag main later after the car show. I don't know which was funnier.. the crazy people watching the cars drive by, or the people in the cars wondering about us crazy people watching them, ha!
What a busy day it was, but the fun wasn't over yet. We still had a BBQ to go to at mom and dads and then the fireworks after. As always AF city puts on a great fireworks show, and we have the best seats in town with parking!! We can see them in mom and dads backyard, Its so great! Here are a few shots of our fun day. :)

Can I just say that I love all of them!!

American Fork marching band, cinderalla, the bagpipes and rainbow brite were a few of my favs.

{ Ice Age 3 }

2009-07-13T11:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, it was an Ice Age family reunion! The whole herd...ehh em...I mean the whole family met at the theatre to to see Ice Age 3 in 3D.

The cast consisted of:

** Stacey as......SID

"I'm too young to be eaten!"

**Jacki as....MANNY

"After we rescue Sid, I'm going to kill him!"

**Brittany as....CRASH

"Wait.You mean there is something "bigger"than mommy dinosaur?"

**Mom as...EDDIE

"Uhh, can you repeat the question?"

**Bethie(not in attendance)as....DIEGO

"Look, who are we kidding, Manny, I'm-I'm-I'm not a kitty cat, I'm a sabre. I'm not really built for chaperoning play dates."

We also need someone to to play the role of BUCK and SCRAT. I think Kim as Buck and Dad playing the role of Scrat would work out just fine. :D

Well, if you have not read a previous post of my family and our "inside joke" of ice age, you should check it out sometime, it is quite hilarious.

Anywhooooo....Ice Age 3 was pretty good. Although it was not my favorite, I give it about 3 stars. My favorite is the first one of this series. So, if you have not checked it out, I recommend it and its a must to see it in 3D.

Here is Mom, Brittany and myself sporting our awesome 3D glasses.

haha...look at Brittanys eyes, she has glasses under her glasses

It was a fun day at the movies with the fam. Love them!

4th of July Festivities

2009-07-07T13:58:00.001-07:00

I love the 4th of July! I am so very proud to live in this country and be an American! Thanks to all those soldiers out there that are fighting so hard for our freedom.
So, I drove back up to Logan for the 4th of July weekend. We had some fun things planned and I had to pick bethie up as well because she spent the week at Amanda and Quintins.

Friday night we went and watched the fireworks at the stadium...well, we didn't go in the stadium, we sat nearby. Carries family had saved some spots so we just sat with them. We ordered a few pizzas and just hung out waiting for the fireworks to start.

Abbi before the fireworks started

Bethie and I...yeah, carrie didn't want to be left out of the picture..haha!

I didn't think that the fireworks were really that good this year. The grand finale was really lame! I couldn't believe that Abbi was not scared at all with the loud noises that comes with the fireworks. Look at her...she is in a daze and concentrating so hard. Love it!

Saturday morning we were able to make it to the parade in Hyrum. We left kind of late, but were able to get ok seats at the cemetary. I love parades but it seems like there are no floats anymore. Its all just advertising for businesses and what fun is that for the kids to just see cars and firetrucks driving down the road?

Here is Quintin,Tim and Amanda at the parade

This is the first parade that Abbi has been to that she was really aware of what was going on. She loved it and was waving to everyone. Here she is just patiently waiting for the parade to start.

Here is the many cute faces of Abbi. This is here "oooooooh" face. And look at me, I'm trying to copy her, ha!

She was clapping at something here. It could have been the marching band from mountain crest.

We didn't walk around any of the booths in Hyrum or at the fairgrounds this year. It was just to darn HOT! Amanda, Quintin, Bethie and I decided to go to lunch at The Beehive Grill. It was pretty good, but our waiter was kind of lame.

A little while later we walked up to main street from Amandas house and watched the Cruise In. This is where the oldies cars that were at the fairgrounds are able to drag main for a little bit while all of us watch them drive by. Here are a couple of my favorites.....

I took a picture of this car for a reason. My parents had this exact same car. Same color, same model, same everything. They gave it away to the boy scouts so they could use it in a demolition derby...what were they thinking?? I think they are kicking themselves now after seeing this picture.

Haha...this is the Back to the Future car. See the resemblance?? Even the driver and passenger look like good ole' doc.

After we watched the cars drag main, we all went over to Karl and Beckys for a bonfire where we roasted some hot dogs, made s'mores and just visited with great friends.

Once again, it was a really fun and memorable weekend in Logan.

I hope you all had a fun and safe 4th of July! :)

plays, pianist, and proudly organized

2009-06-23T20:25:00.000-07:00

Mother nature has been doing some drastic cleaning these last several weeks. I'm pretty sure that she had accumulated some major dust bunnies up there and did not know what to do. So, for the past several weeks, she has just sat back and just cried her little eyes out at the thought of even trying to get rid of those darn dust bunnies.

While mother nature was trying to decide what she wanted to do, Mike and Carly decided they were coming down and going to IKEA to get a few things. We had the opportunity to go to dinner with them at Macaroni Grill. After we left the restraunt, we went to the Scera outdoor theater to see Beauty and the Beast and from the looks of it, mother nature got a handle on some of the bunnies that had been causing quite a stir. We got halfway through the show and it started to downpour. :( Unfortunately, they cancelled the show and we were forced to take cover elsewhere. I felt really bad that Mike and Carly didn't get to see the whole play. Carly I hope you don't mind, I stole this from your blog. :)
Bethie and I were able to go back this past weekend and see the whole thing and it was well worth it. Everyone did and excellent job and the weather couldn't have been better. There was a guy in the audience that surprised his g/f by proposing to her in front of the audience. Maurice brought them up and said if they could answer a question then they would get a nice gift. The question was, there is a word that follows the story of beauty and beast and what is that word? He let them think it over for a couple of minutes. They guys reply was "love". When i think about love, I think of my g/f. He then got down on his knee and proposed. It was so dang cute.

We are making a trip to Logan this weekend. :) Karl and Becky are going to Vegas for their anniversary and we will be staying at their house to make sure"The Boy"(derek) is taken care of and behaving..ha!

Carly and I will be getting together on Saturday to do a little scrapbooking. :) I needed to get some things in order before I took it to Logan. I had some ribbon in one box and more ribbon in another, so I decided to put all the ribbon together so I wouldn't be searching for it when I needed it. I was feeling very organized this past Saturday...whew! I found a website about craft organizing and some pretty cool ideas. I can't remember what the name of the website is, sorry.

Anyways, I found a cool way to organize all my ribbon. You take an embroidery floss container or a container that you can seperate beads in, then you find some paper spools and wrap your ribbon around the spools and seperate them in colors or however you like. I loved this idea and it keeps your ribbon so its not coming apart and all over the place. I didn't know that I had this much ribbon. But I really like it all together!

On Monday June 22nd, Jim Brickman was doing a performance at the Scera. Bethie and I were both excited to see him play as we have not seen him in concert before. I was amazed at how well he played the piano. Wow! It was really good and he had 2 people singing with him, Anne Cochran and Mark Masri. They were both really good too and Mark sang a song in Italian that was soo good!

I thought the highlight of the night was when Jim Brickman sang "the rainbow connection" in his kermit the frog voice. It was good and the kids enjoyed it.

Quotes.....

2009-06-11T09:38:00.000-07:00

.....to make you smile!

~ Today you are you that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.

~ Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.

~ A person's a person, no matter how small.

~ Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.

~ I meant what I said and I said what I meant.

~ The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.

~ Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

~ If you never did, you should. These things are fun, and fun is good.

~ You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.

~ Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those that who matter don't mind.

~ From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.

~ Just tell yourself, Duckie, you're really quite lucky! :)

~ I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells.

~ Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So...get on your way.
***Dr Seuss

Road trip!!!

2009-05-27T20:56:00.001-07:00

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Bethie and I went south east to Goblin Valley and Moab/Arches. We left on Saturday and went to Goblin Valley. It rained all day, so we were not able to walk down close to see the 'goblins'. We were very disappointed, but we didn't let the rain stop us from getting a little wet and seeing such an awesome place.
Sunday was a much better day weather wise. We spent at least 5 hours at Arches. Went on a few hikes, and drove through the whole park. Of all the arches in the park, we chose Double Arch as our favorite!
After arches we spent a little time in Moab. We walked around town and looked at a few shops and had dinner. There was a crazy storm come through around the time we were having dinner, so we were pretty glad we weren't stuck in Arches somewhere.

We had a great time and wished we had a couple of extra days to see other places like Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point and go back to goblin valley when its not so wet.

can't wait.......

2009-05-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

......to go here

and here.....
....this weekend! :)

PARTAY!!

2009-05-20T13:32:00.000-07:00

The surprise birthday party we threw for my dad on Saturday was a huge success!! Everything we had planned turned out great. There were about 30 people that showed up to wish dad a happy 65th birthday. I'm so happy that he has awesome friends that support him in things like this :)

He knew we had a BBQ planned, but I'm not sure he knew what to think when people started to show up dressed up in their 60's attire.

Earlier in the day, he was talking to my mom and Brittany about the 60's. He was telling them about how attractive the ladies were when they wore their poodle skirts with their hair in pony tails..ha! Lets just say he had the surprise of his life when Brittany, Stacey and I walked out onto the deck together wearing our poodle skirts that mom had so generously made for us. Oh my heck!! The look on his face was PRICELESS!! He loved it!! :)

My brother Kim made an awesome video that had alot of things pertaining to the 60's and snapshots of dad and mom and pictures of when he was growing up with family etc. The video turned out great and dad was laughing the whole time, it was great!!
What a perfect day for a party and we had some yummy food going on too. HotDogs, hamburgers, baked beans, salads, chips etc etc etc.....It all was sooo delish!! :)
We tried to have a hula-hoop contest but nobody could keep it on their hips long enough to even attempt any sort of contest...haha!

Tim, Carrie and Abbi along with Amanda and Quintin also came down and hung out at the party. It was so great to see them, it has been awhile. They are such great people and fun to be around.
Abbi has grown so much since we have seen her last. Its crazy that she is saying a few words now and walking and running all over the place. I love this little girl!! :)

For their belated honeymoon, Quintin and Amanda went on a cruise to the Catalina Islands. They left Sunday morning and will be back Thursday. They are so lucky!!

Abbi loves chapstick just like her Aunt Bethie..ha! Such a cute picture, I love it! Thank you everyone that came. It was a blast and definetely worth it because of dad. :)

My new ride

2009-05-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

Well, as you can see, I finally broke down and bought me a bike. I have been looking for a while now, lets just say about a year and finally found this one. Perfect size, perfect heighth(sp?) and I love the colors. Well, I would love it more if I could actually ride it. Yes, I haven't even had it a week and I already have a flat tire. I borrowed a pump from my parents and pumped it up last night. When I got home from water aerobics, it was completely flat! Now I have to get it fixed. Good thing my dad was a tire repairman before he retired. Maybe if they would actually take care of our yard, we wouldn't have to worry about flat tires, but that is a whole other story and I won't bore you with details.

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

2009-05-05T21:23:00.001-07:00

I know my dad never looks at this blog, but I just want to wish him a very Happy Birthday today.

Dad, I know that I don't tell you often enough but I appreciate everything that you do for me. You are an amazing person. You have been through so much in the last little while and I admire your strength so much! I know things have been hard for you lately but you would do anything for anyone if they asked. You are someone that I totally look up to. I wish the best for you...always! Thanks for being the best dad, brother, uncle, nephew, grandfather anyone could ask for!

I love you!

Happy Birthday!

Wedding & Blessing

2009-04-26T18:49:00.000-07:00

These are for you Carly :]

Yesterday I was able to do a couple more scrapbooking pages at my moms. I was a lonely scrapbooker. My mom was there, but she was unable to do any scrapbooking because my dad is still recuperating and she was helping him do some things. He is doing amazing! :] I actually did quite a lot in less time than before.

This page is sort of a continuation of a few pages I did last month. They are from my cousins wedding. I think it turned out really good.

These 2 pages are of Abbis blessing. I did the pages in a soft blue to bring out the blue beading on her dress. Her dress was beautiful. The blanket in the back was made by my mom, so I had to show that off. :]

It was a fun day. Since the weather was so yucky outside, I didn't feel so bad staying inside doing what I love.
Carly, I missed you and your company and all your cute ideas! I hope we can get together again soon and scrapbook!

Home

2009-04-23T07:51:00.000-07:00

My Dad came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon. Yay!! He is doing well. He says he is really sore, which he probably will be because of all the work they did on his back. He is able to get up and walk with help from someone or by using the walker they sent home with him.
There is still weakness and numbness in his left leg but hopefully that will get better.
He is so stubborn sometimes and I think my mom is going to have a tough time keeping him down and not letting him do things. He is just so active and hates to be tied down like that.

I am sooo happy that he is home and closer to us now. Nobody likes to be in hospitals and I think he will recover alot better. :)

Update on Dad

2009-04-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday had to have been the longest day ever!! We arrived at he hospital at 10 am and got my dad all checked in for surgery. They took him back into a temporary room and started to get him preped for surgery. They ran a EKG because he hasn't had one in the last 6 months and they wanted to make sure his heart was ok. Once he was preped we waited for the go ahead. One of the nurses came back and said that the doctor is running behind and it would be another hour, so we waited...
After about an hour, the nurse came back and said it would be about another hour - hour and a half. My poor dad..had not had anything to eat or drink since midnight sunday night, and could not have anything. So we waited some more...
{cue the nurse} Says she is so sorry, but it will be another 1/2 hour-45 min. We now realize that our day is going to be full of the word...waiting...
Finally about 3pm they came and took him to surgery. They talked to him about his heart and the risk and asked if he still wanted to go ahead with it. Of course his reply was, YES!

It was about 4pm when we knew that they had started the surgery. What we didn' t realize was the surgery was going to take longer than we thought. All went well during the surgery and abou 31/2 hours later( 7:30 pm) he was done and on his way to recovery. Whew!

The doctor came and talked to us and told us that everything went well. There was alot of work involved in fixing the 2 collapsed discs in his back. He said they had to go in and pry the 2 discs apart so that they could get the spacers in there. Not only had the discs collapsed but they had slipped as well and were sitting sort of on an angle. They had to also do some work with his phsyatic nerve because there was damage to that because of the collapsed/slipped discs. He couldn't believe that dad had gone so long like this and that he handled the pain really well.

We didn't stay too long last night(monday) because he was still quite groggy. But this morning he was doing well. When we got there they had him sitting in a chair, practicing putting on his socks and pants. :) What a great sight that was. The pain meds they had him on was kind of making him a little loopy..haha! He has been eating a little so that is good too. It was really good to see him doing so well.

He has some weakness in his left leg due to the phsyatic nerve and the damage done to it. The doctor said that it happens and that it should get better. After I left the hospital today, my mom called and said that the physical therapist was there and that they had him up and walking around, but he was struggling to walk because of the weakness in that left leg. Other than that, he is doing quite well and we are glad it is all over and that his heart was strong enough for the surgery. They said that he would be there until at least tomorrow if all goes well. We all love him so much and hope he is home soon so he can recover at his own pace.

Sorry for such the long post, but I know there are people out there that wanted to know his condition. Thank you so much to all of you that called or texted to find out how he is. And thank you for keeping him in your prayers, they were truly answered! :)

Surgery

2009-04-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

My dad is going in for back surgery tomorrow afternoon. Over the past several years, his back has just got really bad to where it has limited his activites. He can't stand for a limited time because it just puts too much strain on his back. He has been getting shots every 3 months, but they are no longer working. They ran some tests, and there are 2 discs in his back that have totally collapsed. The doctor is worried, but he is going to do everything he can to fix it.

We as a family are worried because it is a very risky surgey because of his heart problems. If he doesn't have the surgery, he could be in a wheel chair for the rest of his life or if he does have it, there may be a chance that he doesn't make it through the surgery. As you can tell we are torn between the 2 because we want him to have a better quality of life and be able to do the things that he enjoys doing...but then again we don't want to face things if something goes wrong.

Please, just say pray for him that all goes well.
Thanks!

I will keep you updated! :)

BETHIE!!!

2009-04-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

On this day when you were born, the world became a better place. :] Thank you so much for your Friendship, being the best room-mate anyone could ask for, and for just being YOU!! I hope your day is a GREAT one!!

Happy Birthday!!!

from

Your Friend,

--Jacki

decisions, decisions....

2009-04-02T09:21:00.000-07:00

Which of these beauties do you like the best??

I can't decide...I think I might have to make them all :]

~Spring chicks~

~Easter Bunnies~

~Easter Eggs~

~Sheep~

~More Bunnies~

Looks like I am going to be busy b4 Easter. I hope that I don't eat them all b4 then.....

I found these cute critters here:

http://bakerella.blogspot.com/

Blasted Snow!!

2009-03-30T14:03:00.000-07:00

--It snowed yesterday morning b4 we left Logan

--It snowed last night, while I was sleeping soundly in my warm bed.

--It was snowing this morning on the way to work.

Its really windy outside, and bitter cold.

blasted snow!!

blasted cold!!

Where are you SPRING -- i miss you......

I can't believe....

2009-03-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

.....this sweet little girl is ONE year old today!

A years gone by

How time has flown

I can't believe

How Abbi has grown

She is such a joy

and so much fun

Oh my! Abbi is

Turning one.

Happy Birthday Abbi!! :]

Crafts + Friends =

2009-03-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

... fun times

Scrapbooking is so much fun when you are able to do it together with friends and family. Carly and I have been planning this day for a month now and I was so excited when it finally arrived. I think Carly and I had a very productive day. I finished 5 pages..that is huge for me as I am a very slow scrapper. Carly has been working on a book for her dad for his birthday and she did tons of pages, its a super cute book and I'm sure her dad will love it!

Here we all are hard at work! My mom was working on some things for my dads 65th birthday party bash. Its going to be alot of work, but so worth it in the end. I can't wait until May. :]
Here is 2 of the pages that I completed. I still need to add a few things, but I think it turned out ok.

~taking a break~

Thank you so much Carly for coming down this way and spending the day with us and doing what we both love to do! I love all your creative and fun ideas and I might have to use them someday. :] I hope that someday soon we will be able to do this again..and I will come up your way when that time comes. I had a great time and love catching up with you! Thank you Bethie for the yummy chicken enchiladas and salad you made for us, it was delish! :]

Stacey!!

2009-03-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

Today is my SIL Staceys birthday. Here are a few reasons why I love her. :)

Who wouln't love a cute face like this?

*****

When there are other people that don't want to take care of the baby, Sid(stacey) automatically becomes the "poop checker."

I know that Sid(stacey) loves Manny(me) because she likes to snuggle with me even though I might snore or make some other noise with my body that I don't have control over.

She walks kind of silly...haha

Crash and Eddie(my mom and Brittany) can be obnoxious at times and they seem to pick on Manny(me) quite often. Sid(stacey)tries to be the peacemaker and makes sure everyone gets along.

Shes the ultimate "fire starter" and can get people to dance with her at the swipe of a single match, as well as make very weird noises when provoked.

And the biggest reason of all that we love Sid(stacey) is because she is the leader of our herd! Even though we don't always seem to follow her rules...HA!

Diego(Bethie) is the tough one of the herd. Diego(bethie) has been known to be mean to Sid(stacey) and occasionally tries to eat her. But Sid(stacey) knows who the "real" leader of the herd is, so she will just ignore Diego.

After writing this post, I realized that we as a family watch way too much Ice Age..haha! I can't remember how this all started with each member of the fam becoming a character in the movie, but seriously it is hilarious to joke about. Stacey can talk exactly like Sid haha..its so funny!! This is all a little side joke with my family, in case you were wondering.

Love ya Stacey! I hope you have a fabulous birthday!! :)

Winner!!!

2009-03-13T11:56:00.000-07:00

YAY!! I finally won something. I registered at this website where they give you FREE gift certificates to restraunts and you can get free food (just what I need since I'm on weight watchers HA) and other fun things in your area and they drew my name and I won a free $10 gift certificate to Rocky Mountain Wing Shak. YAY!! Here is the link to the site if you want to check it out... http://www.utahdinersguide.com/

Happy Friday!! :)

10 game winning streak!!

2009-03-07T12:03:00.000-08:00

This would have been the "best" game to have gone to,but I watched it on TV and it was as if I was right there. It was pretty intense. The Jazz played the Denver Nuggets last night and won! I'm so excited right now, because I HATE the Denver Nuggets. This is the Jazz 10th straight win and they are the "toughest" team in the NBA right now. :)

** LIFE OFF - GAME ON!! **

I give this...

2009-02-28T21:40:00.000-08:00

....5 Stars!!!

ScRaPbOOkInG FuN

2009-02-25T18:45:00.000-08:00

So..I'm really trying to get caught up on my scrapbooking and I'm going to try and do this at least once a month. Last Saturday Mom and I had a fun day of scrapbooking. We started around noonish and didn't finish until like 8pm. Whew...it was a loooong day! Brittany stopped by for awhile to help Mom out with her wedding pictures and to give us some great ideas. Thanks Brit...all the ideas you threw at us worked great! :)

As you can tell by the picture below we had all our goods spread out over the entire length of the ping-pong table..HA! Who would've thought that it would come in handy? It worked great and it gave us tons of room. My mom cracks me up because she tries so hard, but she had papers everywhere and I think she spent more time looking for things that she needed rather than scrapbooking..lol Gotta love moms! :)

Can I just say that this gadget (the cricut) is AMAZING!! I saved so much time using it and it can pretty much do everything you want it to with the right cartridge. I LOVE it!!

So I completed 4 pages of scrapbooking. That is a record for me. I am such a slow scrapper, it drives me crazy! Anyways I took pictures of 2 of the pages that I did, so I could show them off! haha This first one is when we(my family) went to San Diego California a couple of years ago and my brother got us tickets to one of the Angels games. Now you have to know my brother and his 2 boys...they are die-hard baseball fans! No kidding..when baseball season rolls around, that is all that they think about. I don't really care for baseball but it was really fun to go to this game and I LOVE to watch my nephews play.

This page was in California and I think it was the first day we got there. I think the kids were a little stir crazy from being in the car so long..HA so we just let them run wild..lol The ocean is so beautiful! I loved it there. I loved everything about it, but unfortunately our vacation had to end. I hope to go back someday! :)

Carly and I have been talking and we have been planning a scrapbooking day in March. I'm really looking forward to it! :)

Thanks Larry!!

2009-02-20T22:48:00.001-08:00

For Everything..

You will be missed!!

I'm feeling.....

2009-02-19T14:24:00.000-08:00

OH SOOO H*A*P*P*Y!!

Now that I have this in my possesion! :)

♥ Quintin & Amandas Wedding ♥

2009-02-15T19:13:00.001-08:00

Quintin and Amanda were married on February 7th 2009 in Logan,Ut at the Iron Gate Grill. It was such a great day for them and I am so excited and happy for them both. I'm sure they will go far in their life together. Quintin and Amanda seem like such the "perfect" couple and they don't let their blindness stand in the way of anything. I wish them the best and much happiness in their journey together!
Thanks Brittany for the great pictures that you took at the wedding. Your awesome and I love yer guts!! Enjoy the slideshow!

Jacki

changes

Party!!

California Trip - Thursday April 14 & Friday April 15, 2011

California Trip - Day 7 Wednesday April 13, 2011

California Trip - Day 6 Tuesday April 12, 2011

California Trip - Day 5 Monday April 11, 2011

California Trip - Day 4 Sunday April 10th 2011

California Trip - Day 3 Saturday April 9th, 2011

spring photo checklist

book review

California Trip - Day 2 Friday April 8th, 2011

California Trip - Day 1 Thursday April 7th,2011

St. Patricks Day!

jazz game & baby blessing

valentine letters

picture-lessssss

Christmas 2010

book review

kropf family christmas party

update on mom

MOM

Winter

Thanksgiving

decisions.decisions.decisions.

book review

craft project

catching up! -- 3 posts in 1

Lion King...

watch out! she is legal...

photography giveaway!

Moab!

Living Traditions

a letter.

happenings...

walk it challenge

so cool!

2's

don't you hate it when.....

heavy heart - happy heart

hakuna matata....

not.for.me.

Finished!

Jazz game!!

Its game time!!

a much needed update..finally!

Upcoming projects

44 years!

Christmas star

Thirty!

Wish List.. **sigh**

Carrie

Doctors Visits...

Retinitis Pigmentosa **WARNING-LONG POST**

Lion King...

Grand Tetons

Va-ca-tion :)

Announcing....

Big Bad Voo Doo Daddy....

Birthday thoughts...

Happy Birthday to......

Card...

My latest addiction...

Pioneer Day 2009

Steel Days '09

{ Ice Age 3 }

4th of July Festivities

plays, pianist, and proudly organized

Quotes.....

Road trip!!!

can't wait.......

PARTAY!!

My new ride

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Wedding & Blessing

Home

Update on Dad

Surgery

BETHIE!!!

decisions, decisions....

Wish List.. sigh

Retinitis Pigmentosa WARNING-LONG POST