down mexico way...

here are some pictures of our trip to mexico... it was the best...

muchas gracias

along with being thankful...thanksgiving is a great time for a trip! we are in punta mita mexico for a little r and r....everyone is here, but kelly k and willie and kate...we miss them...this place is gorgeous..we are in a really nice villa at the 4 seasons...which i love when you have kids...they go out of their way to do fun things for the kids...at the pool every afternoon they have an ice cream cart that comes around with free ice cream..they also bring cool towels, bites of fruit, smoothies...it's the best for being totally spoiled...so we are celebrating for the week...it's a great way to have a fun thanksgiving...hope yours is just as great...adios

t-day

thanksgiving is a great holiday...it's the one holiday that we all celebrate...with a lot of great food...as much as i love christmas.....i really love thanksgiving, it's great in it's simplicity...we all need to stop and think of our wonderful blessings...i have so many to be grateful for...my children, grandchildren...health, home...being with people i love...i am able to do many fun and great things...it's great to see my kids grow and change and accomplish so much...i'm so proud of all of them...so, have a great time, be happy and thankful....

top ten reasons to be the youngest

without me

i'm answering my neice gabi's blog ...she wrote about being the oldest...i'll write about being the youngest...

the best

10. you're always younger than anyone else in the family

9. you're the one that is spoiled

8. when everyone else is gone, you get to go on fun trips

7. you have your older sisters clothing to "borrow"

6. you might get a car...but only from a sweet older brother..

5. you don't have to babysit little brother/sisters

4. parents are sometimes a little more lenient...although, i think that's me....not my mom

3. you get your own room after everyone leaves

2. you have older sisters and a brother to have fun with

1. everyone loves you because you're the baby....

with me..isn't it better?

ok...

the worst

1. everyone leaves before you do...well, unless your brother doesn't...

2. they go off to play with friends and you're left home alone

3. you get teased by the family

4. you are their slave....

5. you have hand me downs from everyone

6. your parents have parenting down..you don't get away with much

7. you don't get to pick...tv shows, music, where to go, whatever

8. you share a room

9. they went alot of places without you

10. But, you're still loved because you're the baby.....

fun pictures

here are some fun pictures of the family...enjoy...

miss kate

in hawaii in april '07
stopping to smell the flowers
a happy girl
swiss miss
all dressed up and ready to go!


this week i'm going to visit kelly and willie and miss kate...it is her 2nd birthday on thursday...i'm excited that i can be there...it will be fun to see the changes in her since i saw her last in august...she's a darling little girl that loves to sing "old mcdonald" to me on the phone...what fun...so, i'll tell you more after i've seen her for awhile...but, here are some darling pictures of her...

surprise, surprise, surprise

last night i got a surprise...i was talking to a friend and they said, i guess russell and kerry are on their way home!...i was like, "really"..so of course, i gave them a call...and they didn't answer, so then i thought, guess it wasn't true...but, then kerry called back and i said "where are you?" she said.."california"...so i get to have a party this weekend...yippee!!!

the best mom ever

wasn't mom pretty?this was after marty and polly were married


mom has been gone for 10 years now...it's amazing....i miss her everyday and still wish i could talk to her...she was a fantastic mom and luckily i was able to learn from her...i don't think i have ever measured up to her standards, but, i have tried...she was great at cooking, decorating, sewing, artistic things like crafts, she was alot of fun and liked to have many things going...she was loving and kind and very giving...she volunteered for many different museums etc...she was wise...i knew she would always give me great advice..i have just wanted to be half of what she was...i'm so lucky that i was her daughter...how blessed i have been...polly thought it would be nice to write about the last 10 years....an update for mom...so let's hope she's reading this blog!


in the last 10 years we have had good times....we have had bad times...since we all know what the bad times were...let's concentrate on the good....willie served a great mission to new york...he left right after graduating from high school...kelly graduated from college that december and met jeff in about january...they dated, got engaged and waited and waited for willie to come home..then they were married in the l.a. temple...what a fun day...they both went to school, jeff became an attorney and kelly got her mba..now they have 2 cute boys..gavin who is almost 3 and owen who just turned 1....we started traveling quiet a bit and have had some fantastic trips....france, england, ireland, scotland, boston, washington d.c., hawaii, mexico, italy, switzterland, greece, turkey, spain...and many more...and of course our favorite....utah!!! willie went to the u of u...after graduation he got his masters from usc...he married a beautiful girl named kelly! they have darling kate who is turning 2 this next week..and are expecting #2 in april....russell graduated from high school after being the star of the tennis team....he is a senior at the u of u....waiting impatiently for snowboarding to start...he loves to ride his motorcycle, excercise, fish, anything that's active...and now kerry just graduated and is in utah at uvsc...she grew into such a beautiful girl..she is talented in so many different ways..she is alot of fun to be with...i've missed her alot this fall....so that's my update...i know that you're watching us and are just as proud of my kids as i am...so thanks for being the greatest mom and grandma ever...

arrrrrgh!!!!

i'm i to be tortured alllllll week? so i reset my clock...and the effiecient clock that it is....it reset itself.....so, i missed my morning workout.....i keep waking up thinking it's one time....and it's another.......i'll be crazy by next sunday.......then, it probably WON'T change...

what time is it??????

what happens when you are sooooooo organized that you even have an automatic clock? i'll tell you...when it "used" to be the day that daylight savings ended......it still changes.....and when you wake up late anyway.....well...you know the rest.....didn't quite make it to church...until the 3rd hour....oh well....next week...same time...same station?

late last night when i was home in bed....

malibu
san diego


remember that song? i used to love it...well, actually it would now be "late last night when i was in slc...." it was then that california decided to burn up! and it burns and burns....i've lived here for almost 30 years and we have fires every year...but, i think that this one takes the cake...right by my house was the malibu fire..it burned down a huge castle that has been there forever....up north is the casitas fire, the magic fire, down south by kelly's is the irvine fire, her neighborhood was actually evacuated on sunday....then, farther south is the whole of san diego, which seems to be on fire...then, there is the lake arrowhead fires...it's crazy....smoky...hard to drive anywhere....it's also really HOT! not because of fire, just the temp...it was 100 degrees today...and very dry...sort of that suck it in because you can't breathe feeling...yesterday, i flew in from utah and it was crazy to see all the smoke from the air...so, say your prayers for all of those in need...and a big thanks to the firefighters out there fighting the fires..hopefully, the "hot time in the old town" will be over really soon.....

it might not be the Matterhorn, but it felt like it!

shawn, kelly and kerry
kerry and dan (he's the leader and russ' best friend)


on saturday i had one of the biggest physical challenges that i've done for many, many years...the plan was to climb mt. boney and scatter my brother in law's ashes on one of his favorite sites...i was not going to go at first, thought i would stay home and tend the babies...but, then i thought, i should go in uncle russ' memory...i've climbed halfway up in early years...way earlier...but, i thought, i can do this..so we ( me, my kids, kelly and jeff, russ and kerry, my sister in law, reilley and her son shawn and our friend danny) started off at 6 am...it had rained the night before, it was muddy, slick, dark...when the light came it was foggy and misty, which turned out great, because it was cool...so, we walked and hiked and climbed on and on...i was at the end of the group...way far away from the rest...wondering if i was on the right trail, thinking what have i done...i will be wandering forever...FINALLY, after hours of hiking we got to the top...then, we walked down the ridge a bit to this ledge, that i guess on a clear day you can see the ocean...that's where we scattered the ashes...it was a special moment to think of him and rembember his life..then we started down on the SHORTCUT, wow, what a way to go...it was down the face of the mountain...sliding down slick mossy rock, crumbly rock (i'm thinking, where is willie? he's the one that likes to rock climb..alas, he and kelly k couldn't come), at one point it was the rock on one side and poison oak on the other...so i was clinging to the rock....and boy did my thighs hurt..and my toes!!!! .then, you get off the face....and you still have to hike out!!! from this outting i learned many things....the main one is...just keep putting one foot in front of the other...just as in life...sometimes it's better to not look up and see the big picture..just keep those feet moving...you can't give up...so, no matter how long it takes (in my case 8 and1/2 hours), you have to do it...you have to endure to the end..you might fall or stumble...but, you have to pick yourself up again and keep walking...life is like this hike, we sometimes can run up the mountain (my kids, not me) and sometimes we trudge (me), but, we all get there...sometimes you need help from others (russ and kelly helped me alot coming down), you sometimes give help along the way ( not me, i just took alot of help)....we all need encouragement and love (everyone kept giving me ALOT of encouragement)..and in the end....it is all worth it!!! when you accomplish something that is so far out of your realm(this was it for me)...it makes you really proud of yourself....and you can think of that when the next hurdle comes along.... so for all of you out there...trudging along the path....just keep moving those feet...one step at a time!!!

we're all different

gav and his turkish friends

kerry's home for a long weekend which is really great...today we went to see the show sydney white...it was a cute, silly little show, the point of it being that she takes on the "popular, mean girl".....but, what i thought was really good was that through the hardships sydney had in not being accepted by the "in" crowd, she made alot of friends with people that were out of her circle...she learned about different people and even though they were different, she realized that they could be friends...she learned the importance of accepting others no matter what they are like...i think that's such a good lesson and i know i've written about friends before, but i do believe it's an important topic to think about...so, as we go through our lives we meet people, become friends...and usually you end up with a group of friends that are "like" you...which is great...it's fun to have friends that think like yourself...but, it's also fun to have friends that are different...we can learn so much from people that are different...it really opens up your life...that's another reason blogging is so much fun....we get to know alot of people....their views, their values, how they live....it helps you grow...it broadens our lives to make us better people.....so hopefully, wherever we are in our lives...we will be open to others...we will smile at others, say hi to those people we pass everyday, whether it's at class, at the store, at the gym...have a party to introduce your old friends with your new..make your circle just a little bit bigger....it will make your life a more interesting adventure....

torture time

tom and marty plotting even then
didn't think those sweet faces had it in them
waiting for me to show up to tease
wishing for a new sister to tease
you'd never know by looking at them, they look so sweet!


i was reading my niece gabi's blog and she mentioned my sister and brother and how they used to tease me...brought back aloooooot of memories...being the youngest in a family of 4 kids made me the obvious target....and they sure did....i think i cried and cried and cried as a kid...to this day when kids are teasing others it sort of "sends" me....but, on the other hand...it made me tough after about 20 years...and then i got a new teaser.....tom! some of the more memorable times were....being told that i had an orange head...it was the back of my head and of course if i looked in a mirror...it would not be there...my brother tom, pointing his finger at me and laughing silently...even when he did it under the table...i knew he what he was doing....and i would cry...then, when we did the dishes, he would whip me with the wet towels...polly had "torture time"....that was when i got to smell her feet for a 100 years....or be tickled for another 100 years..another fun time was when they all wrapped me in alot of different blankets and i had to find my way out...the thing of it is.....i went along with it..i was pretty naive..i know i cried...but, i also let them do it....i think i knew that even though they were teasing, that they loved me...it wasn't malicious....it was what kids seem to do to other kids....we often show our love in a not so loving way...and it seems to be a built in trait....just the other day...gavin was doing something to owen and kelly said, that owen has learned to cry even before gavin does anything to bug him....i know the kids are home when i hear kerry yell "RUSSELLLLL" in a not so happy way....but it is that tortureous love that makes a close in a way that we all seem to love...i used to tell the kids that when they were teased by other kids especially ones of the opposite sex that it was probably because that person liked them.....so hopefully we can all deal with our "torture times" and realize that they are just showing their love for us...(and i know that you guys (m,t, and p) loved me enough to tease)......so, who did you used to tease and torture?

fun music

i was reading kelly's blog and she was talking about some music she liked, then read some comments and one mentioned the ipod commercials...i think those are always fun, so i went to watch them...thought you might enjoy them also...they are just fun and crazy...make me wish i could dance like that...enjoy!!