Flashback Friday

Ann has started this Flashback Friday and got me doing it too. So I found this picture for this weeks blog and it is a classic! This is from the clogging days when my mom and Tammy Beckstrand taught lessons! From left to right in the picture it is: Brandy Robinson, Ginger Starley, Lisa Beckstrand, Taunie Stott, Leslie Stott, and Emily Smith (I think...am I right Brandy???) I had to do this one because Brandy, Taunie, and I are still really close friends (along with the other girlies)and I knew that this would get some great laughs from all of us. Maybe at our next girls weekend we can get together a performance for everyone... what do you think?

Lovin Life in Bermuda!

We had so much fun in Bermuda. I would have loved to have been able to go with Jeremy, but since that wasn't an option, I took my very best friend, my sister. I am so lucky that I have her living so close. So going to Bermuda with her was SO MUCH FUN!

We started out flying to New York and it was so stinkin cold! I had no idea how cold it was going to be. Of course there had to be a major cold front that just happened to follow us all the way to Bermuda. Our first day in Bermuda was the coldest day they had had all year!

We had so much fun just walking through all the fun little shops and of course buying just a few things :) We walked many streets in Hamilton just checking everything out. It was so pretty there and everyone was so friendly.

My very favorite part of the trip was the Helmet Dive that I already blogged about. It was totally amazing and beautiful under the ocean. The water was the most amazing color of blue. It was so clear that you could see everything down there. Mo was such a sport to do this with me, since she hates to be in the water. She even ended up liking it! After the dive while the other groups were diving, we just laid out on the top of the ship and relaxed in the sunshine. It was so nice and peaceful. We did get a little bit burned, ok so FRIED! But it was totally worth it!

I have to say that we were totally pampered on the ship. The crew was so friendly and would do anything for you. When we went to dinner, our server Bambang would always pull out our chairs for us, and put our napkins on our lap for us. If we started to do it ourself, he would give us this look and make us wait. Our room boy always had our room made up so nice, and there was always a different little towl animal on our bed for us which were very cute. And the ice cream bar there was dangerous! We had ice cream a couple times a day, who wouldn't love that?

I was very lucky to have such good help here at home while I was gone. My mom and dad kept my kids the first weekend, and then I had Jamie Walton (Day), her husband Dustin, and her little boy Oakley come and stay at my house to take care of my kids and everything else here at home. Then my parents took the kids again for the second weekend to give Jamie a break. My kids are not the easiest to handle, but Jamie was awesome! My kids loved her and had so much fun with her. We only had a few little mishaps while she was here, mostly with animals. The first was Carson's Beta fish died and the boys found it when they went to feed it. The next day Bryson and his little buddy Braxton decided to see if Carson's little dog Grendal could fly out the second story window, landing on the sidewalk below.... and no, he didn't fly, but he amazingly wasn't hurt either! So Jamie had to hold Carson back from beating the crap out of Bryson. Then later that night the boys found one of our baby kittens that was in the basement dead. Once again, Bryson and Braxton causing mischeif. They were in the cat carrier (for who knows how long) and they had fed them popcorn. Since they were only 3 weeks old, popcorn wasn't really it's food of choice. I think after that night, Jamie had just about had it and that is right when her little baby started throwing up, which continued all night long. Poor Jame. But she was amazing!

So that is the short version of my trip. I wish I could write everything down, but that would be way too much! We had a great time and I can't wait to do it again, but this time with my very best friend, Jer.

***Helmet Dive in Bermuda***

We had such a great time in Bermuda! This was my very favorite day in Bermuda.

I was so excited to do this, but I practially had to force Mo to do it with me, since she has major issues being under the water like we were. I just love being in the water, especially in the ocean with all the awesome fish and coral reefs. This was incredible. They took us on a boat out into the ocean and then we went down. It was a shallow part and we were only about 12 feet down. We wore these funky helmets that had oxygen in them. It was so neat to walk along the bottom of the ocean and actually hold the fish as they swam around us.

So this will tell you how unexcited Mo was about doing this. We were supposed to go out on Tuesday morning, but they called that morning and since the water was so rough the night before the clarity of the water was bad so they rescheduled it for the next day. I got off the phone and told Mo what they said and whe said, "I said my prayers last night!" But after we did it, she admitted that she actually loved it and would do it again. I will blog more about our trip when I get my pics all loaded on my computer so I can put some on here!

Carson's Birthday Dog

This year Carson's Uncle Shad and Aunt Julia decided to get him a new dog! He has been wanting a new dog for a really long time now and I keep putting him off since I do not like dogs.

So this is Grendall. He was Julia's brother's dog and he ended up moving and could not take his dog with him so they were looking for a good home for him and they thought of Carson. So Julia called me and told me she had the perfect birthday present for Carson. She also told me she wanted me to be really excited about it. I told her I would be, and then she told me that it was a dog, and I said "Oh heck no!" I felt bad because I totally shot her down. But you know me, I am always a sucker and give in, so look who ended up getting the dog! He is actually a really well behaved dog and knows some tricks which the kids love. But... if anyone knows how to cats and dogs to like each other...PLEASE let me know. We are having some issues with that!

Birthday Bowling Party

Wow, I can't believe that I have an 8 year old! Where has the time gone? This year for Carson's birthday he really wanted to go bowling. Ok, easy enough I thought. So I started with only 2 friends. So any of you who know me know that I can't say no. So needless to say, we filled up the van with kids. What was I thinking??? Me with 6 kids? Ya, it was a VERY crazy time. But the kids had fun and that was all that mattered. We drove over to Richfield and went bowling, then we went out for pizza afterwards, and then headed back home. The hour ride over and back was definately interesting, and there was not a dull moment, or a quiet one for that matter!

Not Again!

This week Carson started complaining of a sore throat, but he said it wasn't too bad. We had wrestling on Thursday night, and after his match he started just laying around and saying he didn't feel good. So he came home, went to bed, got up in the morning and said he felt fine. His fever was gone, so I let him go to school (since he was begging to go). I decided that since it was a Friday, I would get him into the dr. just in case it was something. So they do the strep test, and what do you know... it's possitive! That kid and strep! I think that this is the 5th or 6th time he has had it this winter alone. It has been less than a month since he had it last time. So we will go back in two weeks and see how he is doing, and then most likely schedule a tonsilectomy, after my cruise and girls weekend of course :) He heard the word surgery and started freaking out, but I would rather just get them out and be done with it. So we'll see in two weeks what the doc says!

Baseball Team's Tribute to Jeremy

This year is going to be a different one for us not having Jeremy coaching the baseball team. His assistant coach, Jason Bullock is awesome for taking over and dealing with all the "crap" that goes with the job.


These are the hats that Coach Bullock had designed for the team this year. When he told me what he was having done, it almost made me cry. If you can't tell in the pictures, there is a yellow ribbon sewn into the hat with the initials JT in the ribbon.


As a team, they are wearing these hats to show their support to Jeremy as a coach, and also to show their support of where he is, and what he is fighting for.

So before I sent this hat to Jeremy, I thought it would be cute for the kids to all have their pictures taken in it. They had fun doing this and were excited to send it to their dad. Carson was quite the little poser for me, really getting into it. Who knows, maybe we have a little model in the making :)