Happy Birthday!!!

I would like to wish my sister in law Nikki a very Happy Birthday today. :) Nikki is one of those fun loving people that I love to be around. We both have the same sense of humor so she gets my quirky weird jokes. When James and I were first married Nikki and I had kinda a rough start that we are not really sure of why it was there. :) But we powered through it and she is one of my favorite people. I love talking to her about everything, I love her insights into the gospel and her view on life and other people. Nikki is one of those people that can makes friends instantly. She's very friendly and outgoing and helps cheer others when they are down. She has a warm smile that makes you smile too. Nikki loves to read and learn about new things. She loves her kids and every moment she spends with them. Even when she is frustrated with them. Nikki is a very strong person as well. When I hear about all the things that she has gone through it makes me wonder where she gets all her strength. I really look up to her. So here's to you Nikki on your birthday, and remember that every year we may get older but that doesn't mean we cant have FUN. :) P.S. for those of you who don't know Nikki she's wearing the red sweater in the picture. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Sunday Thoughts and Weekend Fun.

I wanted to combines my Sunday thought into what happened this weekend cause my Sunday thought is not just a thought from Sunday but from all of last week. Well as most of you know this Saturday I had a surprise party for James. So at the beginning of last week 'i though I was doing pretty good but the closer the party got, I realized how much I needed to get done and started to panic a little. I had invited a whole bunch of people and their families. Well for the past few months we have been trying to upgrade our house a little. New carpet, tile, wood floors, new paint, things like that. So our "game room" downstairs has been our storage room for the past few months. Well I realized with so many people coming over (50 -70 people give our take some kids) that it would be really good to have that room done so that the kids could go down there and play Foosball, pool and I was even wanting to see if I could get a cheap TV at the DI so they could watch movies or play video games and maybe even a large rug so as to hide the ugly cement underneath. Plus clean the rest of the house, etc.etc.etc. All the while going about my regular routine so that James wouldn't suspect a thing. Well our "regular routine" was a bit different this week. Monday was pretty regular but then Tues hit us with a HUGE snowstorm that kept us inside our house...a good chance to do a little cleaning. Then Wednesday James had planned a tour of the Printing Division for family and friends. This is something I think everyone should see. It's amazing to see how all these books, magazines, pamphlets, etc. are made. (If you are interested in getting a tour of the printing division/distribution center, please just let us know and we can either have it set up for you or just get you the information.) Everyone seemed to enjoy the tour. Afterwards we went out to dinner at Chili's and then our friend Dawn invited us over for cake for James' birthday since she wasn't going to be able to make it to the surprise party by the time we got home it was very late. By Thursday I started to panic when I got a call from a family member asking if I needed any help. This call was such a blessing. I jumped at the chance to get some help. After that I got a few more calls asking what that person could do to help. So by Thursday I had a plan and by the time I went to go pick up James from work I was a lot calmer. :) Thursday was a great day. James got a pedal effect for his amp and guitar from a bunch of people from work. He was SO excited. Then he got the birthday card from my mom and dad with money to go get his DVD drive for his computer and some chocolate covered cinnamon bears. He was having a great day. We went to Best Buy and got his drive and then went home and the rest of the night he was going back and forth between the two. Well Friday I had taken off work to really attack the house. It felt so good to get everything clean up and get set up. I didn't have the car so a lot of my time was devoted to walking to the store but I got a lot done. Then when James got home (who thought I was sick) I had a surprise dinner for him mostly to try and take away from any ideas that he might have about Sat. It was nice we had a nice dinner then we went and got his hair cut real quick and then came home to watch the movie that Dawn gave him for his birthday. (Madagascar 2) it was a nice relaxing evening. Then on Sat. we were going to do our workout with the family but Nikki has been really sick and thinks it's a sinus infection so she wanted to go to the doctor. So we called Lisa and had her come over to our house for our workout. I love these workouts that we do with the family it's a great motivational tool...knowing someone is hurting just as bad as you are. :) No just kidding. It's a great motivation for a lot of different reasons. After that I did some more house cleaning here and there till mom came to pick up James to go shopping. When they were gone I really got to work. finishing up the basement...which didn't turn out like I wanted but hey at least it was clean. I also called Lisa and told her that they were gone so that she could come over. Her and Abby came over and helped me clean and get things ready. We went to Zurchers and bought the rest of the decorations and then to the store to buy the rest of the food. then we got home and once again got to work. At 5:00 everyone started to show up. It was great. I was really nervous about how many people were going to be showing up cause there was a lot of people who were sick and had to call and cancel. I hope everyone is feeling better. But we had a good turn out. Nancy and Gary and their family came (Alexis, Alec and Andre), Alan and Raquel with their foreign exchange student, Mike and his fiance, (sorry I cant remember her name) Jason, Ralf and Jamie, Lisa, Bob and Amy, Mom and Dad Armstrong, Nikki and her kids Abby, Gavin, and Nate and of course little Ethan. :) I feel like I am forgetting someone...If I did I'm really sorry. It was great. Everyone sat and visited while we waited for James and then when we saw Mom's car we all hid around the front door...till I saw them pull around back then everyone rushed into the kitchen. Nate came walking in the door first and was shocked at how everything looked we had to encourage him to come inside. Then James came in and YAY he was surprised. He loves Chili peppers so the whole party was a chili pepper theme. We got this lei with chili peppers that lite up that he could wear. It was so great we had taco's, drinks and a chocolate fountain with lots of yummy stuff to dip in the chocolate. James showed off his new pedal effect by playing some songs for everyone...it turned out really well. Thank you SO much to those who helped out with food, decorations, plans, and getting James out of the house. :)
Once again Happy Birthday James... I hope you had a great...week. :)

Happy Birthday!!!

Well today is my wonderful husbands birthday. He's been teasing for awhile now that he's getting "old" and how much his joints hurt. It makes me laugh. I wanted to tell you a little about James...basically cause I like to talk and brag about him. :p James is someone who loves adventure and new places. When he's in a new place he cant sit still, he wants to look at everything and take it all in as quick as he can for fear of missing something. :) He is very much an outdoors person which I love. We love to go hiking, camping, biking and this summer I am going to try and convert him to fishing so he'll become a fisherman. :) He works for the LDS Printing Division and although you cant really tell sometimes he really loves his job.He tries to find something in common with everyone he meets. Even if he may not quite understand them. Alot of people really like that and it helps him to make friends very easily. Out of all his friends though some of his best friends are his brother and sisters. He loves every minute that he can spend with his mom, dad, sisters, brother and of course niece and nephews. James is also a 1st degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and loves it. He has a real passion for martial arts and is currently seeking to become a student again, he's not sure if he wants to continue in Tae Kwon Do or try a different art. Along with his love for martial arts he also loves the Asian culture and someday wants to travel to China, Japan and Korea.James also loves teaching our Sunday school class. He loves learning the gospel and feeling the spirit. He loves his relationship with the Savior and reading the Book of Mormon. This year he is reading in spanish. James also loves to play guitar. He was once in a band with his good friend Alex and Alex's father. they would teach him different songs and techniques. He loved it. Although sadly Alex and his family moved to Texas so that kinda ended, But James continues to buy different sheet music and learns new songs all the time. He is currently working on some for our ward talent show in March. He's pretty proud of himself for learning these songs. I learn more and more from James each and ever day. He never wants to feel like he has wasted any of his life and wants to learn as much as he can. He is always full of surprises and just when I think I have him figured out he shows me another side of him I never knew. He always brightens my day when he calls me at work or whenever I see him. When I am with James I cant help but smile. He makes me so happy. So here's to you James. :) I love you so much and cant wait to see what the next year of our life together holds.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

"Jeep Safari" 2009

Well unfortunately, James and I wont be able to attend Jeep Safari this year. (Our poor Jeep has been sitting in our drive way with a dead battery...we really need to get that fixed.) :p So instead we decided to take our friend Dawn to see Moab. So we had our reservations for our hotel and all we needed to do was get our remaining hours for work on Friday. After work we were off with a full tank of gas and Rosko staying with my niece Erika for the weekend. (Thanks again Erika for doing that it was a HUGE help.) We rolled into Monticello around 8:30 and got checked into our hotel. We were exhausted so that night we just decided to go for a swim and then get to bed. Well this hotel we stayed in was HORRIBLE. It had mold,bugs,lumpy beds and paper think walls. I kept waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of people checking in, talking, watching TV, etc. I couldn't believe it. Well Sat morning came and we got ready for the day and went to check out the breakfast that the hotel offered. James made us some waffles for Valentines day, (they had a little self serve waffle maker in the lobby) then off to Moab. We started our "Jeep Safari" weekend with a trip to Arches National Park. We started at the visitors center and James was so excited that he couldn't stop for very long. So we were off. We took tons of pictures of the different arches and rock formation. We saw so much we went to the fault line overlook, balance rock, double arches and we even hiked up to Delicate arch. That was SO awesome. I have never hiked to the actual arch. It was a hard hike but a lot of fun. We had the chance to look at petroglyphs and some really neat rock structures including a smaller arch, Then we were on this 3 to 4 foot ledge up against a rock wall with a canyon on our left and as soon as we turned the corner there was the arch. It was so beautiful. I didn't think that we were going to be that close to it. James and I stood under the arch and Dawn took our picture. Then the three of us sat against a rock wall and just soaked it all in. It was so beautiful. I felt such an overwhelming and awe inspiring feeling. I cant explain it but it was amazing. After awhile the wind really picked up and it got very cold. so we headed back down. the hike back down was a lot faster then the hike up. we got a chance to talk and even walk side by side rather than in single file. When we got to the car we were all very tired and hungry. So we had lunch and then decided to go look at some arches that we passed before we head out of the park. We went and saw window arch, double arch and many others. It was starting to get late though so we decided to try and do the rest of the park on Sunday. So we headed back in to Moab and did a little window shopping at the cute little stores then went and had dinner at this place called Eddie McStiffs. It was ok. Well then off to Monticello to go and say hi to mom and dad. We got to their house pretty late but we had a chance to visit with them, Kari, David and Adam too. By the time 11:00 rolled around though we were tired. We headed back to our hotel for the night. Sunday came and we were so excited to leave that hotel we did NOT have a very good stay there. After we packed up we took Dawn to see the temple and then stopped by my brother and sister in laws to visit for awhile. then off to Moab again. On our way we stopped by Wilson's arch so Dawn could see it. Then on the road again only to stop by Hole in the rock. This place is kinda cool really. This man blasted ( I don't know if it was a cave or if he started right on the rock face) and hauled out rock to "build" him and his wife a house in the rock. It's really neat to see how they used the rock to their advantage. After our tour and buying a few gifts at the gift shop there we walked around to see all the different things. The art work, the grave where the original owners are buried, and a petting zoo that they have there now. It was neat. Then off again to Moab we had lunch at Denny's and then found a hotel (that we could afford) and checked in for the night we were a little bummed cause it was kinda late and we figures that we wouldn't be able to make it to the rest of the arches and have time to enjoy them. James was really tired and wanted to take a nap. So Dawn and I went to the teacups. We got there and saw that in the opposite side of the river that we would be hiking by were some Jeepers on the obstacle called potato salad hill. It was so much fun watching this guy go up and down this obstacle. We watched him for awhile and then started our hike. The teacups is a river that empties into some pools big enough to swim in. Dawn and I had a lot of fun on our hike. It was a great chance for girl talk and to get some exercise. We got to see some neat caves and even some Indian ruins....or what looked like Indian ruins. It was starting to get dark so we headed back to the hotel to figure out what we were going to do for dinner. We decided to go into town and found this cute little Mexican restaurant that we were really excited about...till we saw the prices. OUCH! James and I found the only thing on the menu that was cheap enough $9.00 for a chicken enchilada. if you wanted any meat the price jumped up to 14 and higher. But the food was very yummy and James found a remedy for soothing the burning in his mouth from eating a jalapeno. Then off for ice cream and back to the hotel. When we got back we noticed that the hot tub was free it had people sitting in it all day and finally no people. YAY!!! So we went and sat in the hot tub till we were thoroughly cooked. James stayed out a little longer to talk with the guy and girl that had joined us later. He told us later when he joined us for a movie that the guy thought that James was here with a wife and girlfriend and told him that he had some problems. Dawn and I got a laugh out of that. We watched Fool's Gold then decided to call it a night. We all slept much better on the beds at this hotel. it was SO much nicer then the one in Monticello. Monday came and after we got packed up and ready for the day we decided to go to McDonald's for breakfast and then do a little more shopping. James got himself this really nice coat and hoodie that he found for 50% off. He was very excited. Then I found a cute tin horse candle holders and matching wall hanging for 50% off also. James got me those and a cute gecko for valentines day. They're so cute. Dawn got some great stuff too she got her mom a beautiful hand fired vase and she bought some Indian pottery as well as some beautiful jewelry. Yay for shopping. :p Before we headed out of town we took Dawn to moon flower canyon. We hiked back to the pond and then after went and saw the Indian ladder. James decided to try and climb it. i was biting my nails the whole time...Which is weird cause when I use to live in moab I use to climb that all the time. but he made me really nervous. After moon flower we gased up and got some lunch to eat on the way back home. Before we left Moab we tried to show Dawn the spring that's on the side of the road next to the Colorado river. But someone had piped it off and routed in underground. Grrrrr. A little disappointed at that we headed home. We had a great time but after all that it's always nice to be back home. Here are some more pictures.
James and I at balance rockDawn looking oh so cute. :)A small arch on the way to delicate arch.
James with his superman cape. :) But really it's his coat.Can you see us?
A zebra at hole in the rock. unfortunately we didn't get the chance to pet or feed him. :(James climbing Indian ladder

Lovin' Feelin

So, here's how it works-the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or be lazy and copy and past like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival or your gift! Please submit in an e-mail or on the comment, your address, if I don't have it already (kabby17@yahoo.com) :) Remember that only the first 3 comments will receive a gift from me, so be quick!

Where a kid can be a kid.

This weekend my sister Shelly and her husband Nathan had a birthday party for her cute little girls Elizabeth and Rebecca. We didn't think we'd have a chance to make it but we were glad when we worked things out. Their party was at Chuckie Cheese and I knew that they had invited his family as well as ours I just wasn't sure how many would show up. So when we got to the party I was surprised to see quite a few people including my parents. Dad said they decided on short notice that they were going to come up. It was nice to see everyone on both sides.We got pizza and ate while more people arrived. We spent a lot of time visiting with people. Erika,Craig, James and I decided to walk around and see what kinds of games are there. (We got 50 free tokens with our pizza) But there were so many kids that it was hard to even move. Poor little Zach (Erika and Craig's son) was getting very stressed so they decided to head home. We then got to watch my favorite part of any 1 year old's birthday. The destroying of the cake. :) Lizzie and Becca looked so cute in their matching outfits. We sang Happy Birthday to them and their brother Josh helped them blow out their candles, then each of the girls got their own little cake while we had a bigger one. It was cute to watch them. Becca would just barely get some icing on her finger and then lick it off. But Lizzie got into the cake with both hands. :p They were so cute. After cake and ice cream Lexi, James and I decided to head back out and see what things we could play, by this time some of the kids had left. We went and did game after game it was so fun. They had this spider game that when a light on a spider lights up you have to step on it. Nancy, Gary ,Lexi, James and I all had our own lights to watch and step on. It was so fun. Well we were able to get through all of our tokens and got close to 200 tickets, so on our way to redeem our candy bar. :p Nathan stopped us and handed us a handful more of tokens each. So it was back to the games to help Josh win more tickets. We had TONS of fun. Between all 6 of us we were able to win close to 1000 tickets for Josh. Plus they had this fun picture booth that took your picture and then would sketch it. We spent a good 10 min at that booth trying to get the kids to take a good picture of all three of them. We were laughing so hard it was hard to give directions to stand up, put your hands down, hold you sister. Well when all the tokens were gone Nathan and Josh went to stand in line to get Josh a prize while the rest of us went to pack everything up and get more drinks to hydrate ourselves. Shelly found 3 more tokens in her pocket so Josh got to ride 1 more ride with his sisters before we left. We spent some more time just standing talking in the parking lot while Josh ran in circles around us playing with his new toys and burning off some of the sugar he ate. :) It was fun to talk with everyone and I am so excited that I get to spend time with them. Especially my niece Lexi, I know that it's hard coming back from a mission and getting back into the groove of things but I missed her and I was so excited to spend that time with her. Oh she brought me this cute scooby-doo purse in New York. I love it. Thanks again Lexi. :) We had a fun Friday. Sat we decided to take it slow and just relax...well I did anyway. James was invited by his friend Alan to go snowmobiling. So at 6:00 he was up getting ready while all I had to do was get some warmer clothes on and help him fix a lunch. I dropped him off and headed back home to get some more sleep. :) After I woke up I was able to do some house work, be lazy, run some errands, be lazy, take the dog to the groomers, be lazy and sit on my butt. :) It was SO nice to have a day to myself and just do nothing. When James got home he told me that he thinks he's done snowmobiling for this winter. Then he told me how everything was going good and he was having a lot of fun...till some guy did this jump and...well I wont go into the gory details that I got to hear...he just didn't make the jump and ended up breaking his jaw....to put it mildly. The rest of their trip was going to get the Sheriff and having the Sheriff, and search and rescue come up to get this man and take him down the mountain. He was exhausted. Well after a quick nap James got ready to go to our Sat. session of stake conference...I couldn't go cause the groomer still had Rosko. So James got to go to stake conference while I went and got the dog. Rosko was so madded that they had to shave him completely. He looks like a completely different dog. Well the rest of the night was laundry and movies. James had a lot of fun at stake conference. he said that the speakers were really good and our choir had been chosen to sing, so he got the chance to sing too. He really enjoyed it. :) Overall we had a really great weekend. :) Here are some more pictures of the kids...and Rosko.

She loved that cake.

Lizzie loved this, it may not look like it but when she saw her brother doing it she started fussing and stretching towards this clock.: )Becca was a little unsure at first but ended up loving it.

With a wink and a smile. Oh yeah this dog knows that he's sexy. :)

Sunday Thoughts

This week we had our stake conference and we had a chance to go to the Ogden tabernacle. It was the first time that James and I have been there. This building is beautiful. We were so excited to go and listen to conference there. One of the talks that stood out to me the most was one that the stake president gave about temples. He told us that if everyone in Ogden who was a temple recommend holder would go to the temple once a month that the Ogden temple wouldn't be able to accommodate all the people and that another temple would have to be build. When he said that I just thought wow how neat would that be to have two temples in Ogden. Another thing he said is that when we go to the temple everything will even itself out and we will be happier.He said that love for spouses will increase, testimonies will grow. you will gain a closer relationship with our Savior, and a lot of other things. I got to thinking about that and realized that having the gospel of Jesus Christ on our lives and living the principles taught and keeping the covenants that we made at our baptism and in the temples can bring us a happiness that we don't even realize. I knew this before but it was nice to feel this again. I love how close we feel to our Heavenly Father and Savior when we go to the temples. It also made me realize that no matter how bad things seem to be in our lives that as long as we are temple worthy and attend the temples everything will even out and be okay. I have made a commitment to go to the temple at least once a month if not more. I would also like to encourage those of you reading this to attend the temple. It's one place we can find peace and safety in the arms of our loving Heavenly Father in this crazy and sometimes chaotic world. I love the temple. I love going in and even just sitting outside on the grounds. I feel such peace there. What a blessing it is to have the temples in our lives and so close that we can get in our cars and drive for just a short distance to get there. I know that these sacred buildings are truly the Lords house.

Happy Birthday.

Today is Elizabeth and Rebecca's birthdays and I wanted to leave a little birthday note for them. These sweet little girls are turning 1 today and, just like their brother Josh, they are two unique little miracles. Shelly and Nathan (my sister and brother in law) have always wanted kids and they had a hard time getting pregant. Well long story short about 18 years later they got pregant with Josh, then after Josh they got pregnant again and to our surprise with twins. :) These sweet little girls have such cute little personalities. Rebecca loves to laugh and is full of smiles and excitment. She always wants to be a part of the action. Elizabeth is quiet and reserved she loves to smile and play but needs to make sure she gets a good look and understanding of who you are and what you are doing holding her. :) When she finally feels comfortable her cute little smile comes willingly and she seems to light up with exciment. Both of these little girls are so fun to play with. We are so grateful when we get a chance to spend time with them. In the picture Elizabeth is on the left and Rebecca on the right. To these cute little ones we wish you a Very

Happy Birthday!!!

Sunday Thoughts.

Last week my friend Dawn and I were talking about the sacrament and the difference between the prayer that is said for the bread and the prayer for the water. Yesterday as I sat in sacrament listening to the prayers I was reminded of the covenants that I made at my baptism and that I renew each Sunday when i take the sacrament. I thought about the first to take upon ourselves the name of Christ. I thought about the ways that I could be a good servant to the Savior and to honor his name. The I thought of the next covenant to always remember him. As I thought of this I remembered what Sister Ballard said in her talk last Sunday. She had asked us how many times we actually take time to think about Christ and to remember him. She asked us if there was a way to download our thoughts for the day and to look at everything all at once. How many times would we see that we have taken the time to think about our Savior and pondered his teachings. I started to wonder how many times that I think about the Savior during the day. I came to the conclusion that it wasn't enough. In my office at work I have two calendars side by side. One is a dry erase board with my calendar on it to keep track of meetings, college events, holidays and other activities and the one right next to it is a small calendar with little pictures of Christ. I noticed that almost everywhere I go I am surrounded by pictures of Christ, but how many times do I actually stop to look at them and think about Christ. His teachings, my relationship with him, the covenants that I have made with him all of it. Sometimes in the "hustle and bustle" of life I realized that I have gotten caught up in the daily routine of things and even though I might notice a picture or take a half hour or so to read his teachings. I often forget to keep him in my thoughts and in my heart as I go about my business throughout the day. So my goal is to remember Christ more and to keep him in my thoughts and in my heart throughout the whole day. One of my favorite hymn is Come, Follow Me - Hymns #116 This song is so powerful and every time I hear it I cant help but feel hope and the love of my Savior. I hope everyone has a great week this week.