Sick, Sick, Sick & Happy Turkey Day...

...And what a TURKEY DAY this will be. It will be one for the books, thats for sure. Let me tell the tale....

...You see our family over the years has done a few different things on Turkey day:

1) When the kids were younger (pre high school, thanks Cay for growing up), we'd go to ID and spend it with my sister.

2) When the kids got older we started going to Disneyland, our favorite place on earth.

3) If I can, I'd have people over. I LOVE to cook the turkey meal.

To tell the truth, 1&2 happened so we wouldn't hurt families feelings by tiring to decided who we would spend the day with.

So this year~The BIG Question~ WHAT TO DO? We thought, NO BIGGY, kids are in school, we'd stay here. Then 2 things happened (things always happen, right?):

1) My dad informs me that the family (him, my mom, brother and sister and their families), were getting together in ID and they'd love for us to try and come.

2) About a month or two ago, DJs mom got pretty sick. Shes doing better now, but still (shes in UT).

What do we do... go to ID (16 hour drive), go to UT (12 hour drive), or stay here (we just went to Disneyland a few weeks ago, so thats out). Well DJ and I being the fast decision makers we are (NOT), we couldn't make up our minds what to do. The kids can't miss school and if we went somewhere it would have to be after Cay got home from school (which was 3)...what do we do. After weeks of going around in circles, LAST WEEK (I know, nothing like waiting til the last minute) DJ came to a conclusion. We haven't been up to see his family in a long time. If we drove we could be there by 3am, plus we have some good friends we'd love to see. So we made the call, were were on our way to UT for Thanksgiving. We were on a roll, UNTIL....

Saturday it all started and went down hill from there. Josh woke up in the middle of the night...well lets just say he was REALLY SICK. Became good friends with MR. BUCKET. Stomach Flu you know. He was down all day Saturday and we kept him home Sunday from church to be safe. Then Sunday night Seth, go figure, the Stomach Flu. However, that little booger seemed to be just fine after his visit with Mr. Bucket and some sleep.

Monday at 5am I get up to check on Cayla for seminary and open her door and the room started spinning (you can ask my family, I have a bad habit of passing out), so I sat down. I just figured I got up to fast before. But heck lets admit it-I am an air head. So Cay helps me up and I start back to my room, Ya~No, she had to help me all the way, I wasn't doing to well.

I get back and I think I fall asleep (not too sure on that one). Then the old alarm goes off for the boys. DJ gets Josh up and going. I call him in and before you know it... Mr. Bucket and I are making friends. I end up that day not being able to walk on my own without falling-staying in and out of consciousness. The days a blurr. The next day I was a little more awake and was able to eat 3 crackers (Yay ME).

Then Wednesday comes, see this also triggered the glorious migraine too. And because of my stomach and everything I couldn't figure out WHY THE HECK MY HEAD was hurting, until Wed...daaaahhh, so since I could now keep things in (isn't that so nice to know on turkey day), I took drugs (got to love drugs).

Why is it kids can bounce back so fast and well not adults. So Tuesday night DJ shared that his tum-tum wasn't feeling so well, but that he was ok. NOOOOOOO, hes our main driver for the trip. I'm not 100%, what are we going to do. He says "DON'T WORRY, I'LL BE FINE." Famous last words. DJ never made friends with Mr. Bucket or Mr. Toilet (ya, didn't share that one before, we were all very close friends)(well, I guess DJ became an aquaince with Mr. Toilet, not FRIENDS like the rest of us~just thought I'd share. I know too much info...), but lets just say Cay and I had to get him twice after he fell to the floor. The way DJ was carrying me on Monday was what we were trying to do with him. He was weak and drained. There was NO WAY we could make that drive with 2 sick adult drivers and one new 16 year old driver. Plus the storm was going to hit, we just didn't know where.

So after a long debate, at about 4 on Wed, we decided we'll have to stay here and make the best of it. Then the race was on. Cayla took me to the store, cuz well, I was still a little off balance (its a good thing I don't drink cuz I'd be one ditzy drunk). We got a small bird (I usually get a 20lb or more- don't know if I can cook a small one). We got a small bird so we can defrost it fast, which thx to water we did. That night I made one pie and got my broth simmering for the next morning.

Well, here we are...TURKEY DAY for just our small little family. It may not be all the bells and whistles it would normally be but it will be ours and we'll all be together. (Sometimes I can say the sweetest things)

So everyone, STAY HEALTHY. Don't visit with Mr. Bucket or Mr. Toilet. Their not very inviting. Have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING and watch the Macy's day parade,and guess what...

Christmas is coming ~ GOTTA LOVE THE HOLIDAYS! Turn your radio on and listen to Christmas music, ITS THE BEST!!!

Wowwey-Wow-Wow...

...My house lit up like a CHRISTMAS TREE. It was so COOL!!! And it rocked and rolled. What on earth am I talking about? Didn't you SEE and HEAR?!?! How could you miss it. All that rain, lightning and thunder... You couldn't have missed it, you had to of woken up. (Well, not if your Cayla, she slept through it all, how could she)

I had just fallen asleep watching NCIS about 12:30-1:00 (I know, another night of not sleeping-I do that a lot, you'd think I would have a perfectly clean house with the amount of sleep I DON'T get, oh well) and BANG-FLASH-POW. WOW, was it SO COOL!!

One small problem...our old dog Mickey (hes 16 years old), really didn't think it was so cool, like me. For a lab he sure don't like loud sounds much, you know like gun shoots, oh and thunder, which there was a lot of. Did I mention that it was SO COOL!

Anywho, DJ and I were up with him trying to calm him down, after he tried to claw his way out of the laundry room. After a bit and turning on a night light for him (wow, hes just like a kid), and giving him a snack and a drink (he really is a kid), he settled down for the night. SO I THOUGHT.

I went back up stairs and started watching the food net work and about an hour later I hear sounds and its not the wind and the rain from out side. No its my silly old dog. Hes up stairs. Crazy old dog. One hes suppose to be in his bed, and two hes not suppose to be up stairs. Again I got him settled in for the night. But HEY whats a person to do when you've go a crazy husband and crazy kids, and now a crazy old dog. BUT DID YOU SEE THAT LIGHTNING...just in case I didn't tell you...IT WAS SO COOL!!

Twilight...

Wait for it...Did I go...Did I like it...Heres what happen...

So I'm not really part of the whole Twilight cult yet.

Why you ask?

Well, I haven't read the BOOKS. Yes, my mom, and all my friend have told me and I'm sure each of you will tell me that its a sin,

BUT WAIT...THERE IS MORE...

I got to go and see the movie earlie. Yep, little old me, who hasn't even read the book got special tickets (BUT I do own it, mind you, its just soooooooo long and thick, have you seen it. Heck I didn't even read Harry Potter when it came out, but I saw the movies:)).

See my mom, the crazy little old thing she is, LOVES to read. When I say love I mean LOVE. She use to get in trouble at school for reading too much. Have you ever heard of such a thing. So anyways, this is probable nothing knew to those of you that are part of the Twilight cult but shes read the books, All the books, THREE TIMES. YEP, that was the number 3.

Anyways, theres was this lady (there always is), that got an e-mail and she sent it to mom. So we got special tickets. Didn't have to wait in any lines or out in the COLD, cuz it was cold last night. They had music and special drawings (which we didn't win). We were treated like we were important or something.

The thing was, I really liked the movie. It was good. I knew it would be. I like these type of things. I wont tell you what happened cuz some people don't like that, I'm not one of them but like I said it was good and mom said they stayed pretty close to the book.

Now I haven't read the book not cuz I don't want to, its cuz its long and I just find it hard to have the time. I guess now I need to or else I'll NEVER hear the end of it.

Heck, even by dad came and he seemed to like it. We were probable the only two people in the whole place who hadn't read the book. PRETTY FUNNY IF YOU ASK ME.

Happy B-day Booger...

So this is for

Seths Favorite Booger...

I know that just sounds wrong!!

But hey its me and well, I'm just not NORMAL!

This blog is dedicated to BIG Booger (Jerrae) from

LITTLE Booger (Seth).

See Jerrae is my kids BIG sister. My Kids fell in LOVE with her when DJ was in Iraq. I was the YW's President and Jerrae was one of my girls (her mom was my YW's Pres,so we just kept it going). Well, she ended up becoming part of our family and when DJ came home he found out he had another daughter, lucky for us. Jerrae helped keep me sane while DJ was gone and then just kept being part of the family when he came home. When people ask who she is we say shes our kids big Sister!

We were so excited the day Chris walked into Jerraes life, because she finale found that one person who treated her like the queen we always knew she was. WE LOVE YOU CHRIS and thanks for taking care of our BOOGER for us!

Cayla always said she wanted to grown up and be like Jerrae and you know I couldn't ask for a better example for my daughter (I know kind of mushy, I can be at times-scary!)

So WHAT Can we do for you, JERRAE, on your birthday...

TODAY IN HONOR OF JERRAE...

WE WILL...

~Have Hot Chocolate (even though its a million degrees out)

~Eat cheese cake (its a sacrifice but somones got to do it)

~Wear all pink and a little black or white (the boys might die on that one)

~Watch Legally Blond

~Play with make-up (again the boys might die)

and last but not least

~have a Pedicure Party (wish you could come)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JERRAE.

(oh and yes I will be out there any time for my play date, you tell me when)

Happy Birthday Mom!

Well, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my MOMMY... What can I say she looks good for her age, shes fifty(something)...(its not nice to tell a women's age....)

My kids LOVE their grandma and grandma loves ALL her grandchildren, and shes got a lot of them. (and they are all soo cute, wish I had pic of her with them all)

(Cayla is the oldest grand baby and loves her grandma to death)
(Josh is the third grandchild and the first grandson and he thinks grandma rocks) (Seth just loves his grandma so much and is happy shes always there for him)

Mom is always there for me. Its kind of nice to always have someone you can count on. My mom has made me the person I am today, which by the way could be looked at as a good thing or a bad thing depending on who you are. But I think its a good thing. I love my mom and like my kids say..."SHE ROCKS FOR A GRANDMA AND A MOM!"

Happy Birthday Mom and thanks for making me who I am!

The Stephanies~

As I was listing my friends on the side bar... (another thing I'm learning~my small little world of blogging is growing...YEAH ME!!!), I realized I have a million friends name Stephanie (either spelt S-t-e-p-h-a-n-i-e or S-t-e-f-a-n-y). And not all of them have blogs, so this is only a few of them. The other name that is popular for me when it comes to friends is Julie (have about 4 or 5 with that name).

I think I've figured out WHY... You see my brain cells can only handle so much and when it comes to names, well I can't remember any of them (which by the way I do apologize because I am terrible at them. Faces-I remember,well sometimes- names not so good, so sorry). SO to make life easier for me, the Lord brought all these Stephs and Julies into my life.

One problem, when other names come along, I end up calling them Julie or Stephanie, cuz thats all I have on the brain. LIFE IS TOOO COMPLICATED for my SIMPLE BRAIN!! Whats a simple girl to do!!

Told you I'm SLOW...

...(in the head-that is). So today I learned I can add a picture to my heading and CHANGE the color that its in. BOY am I a slow one. I told you this blog thing is going to take some time. So NOW I'll be changing the picture all the time (Its like a new toy, yeah me). I knew there was a way cuz I've seen it on so many others blogs but its baby steps right. For me its more like the baby crawl. DON'T be laughing at me now:). One of these days I'll even figure out how to add all my favorites on the side and who I like to visit. Well, that might be going to far for my brain cells:-). OR WAIT, (might I even dare to dream?) down load a picture from the Internet or a mini video. I don't know if I can handle that... We will see what the future holds for my blogging ability. STAY TUNED TO THE LIFE OF SUZI'S BLOGGING SKILLS....

San Diego or BUST...

Everyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE California, so this weekend we took off to San Diego for the Holiday. Sea World ROCKs! The last few years they have been giving to the soldiers and their families free, did you hear FREE, tickets to Sea World. Its been so cool to go. We don't know if they will do it again next year, but its been fun these last three years. We went and of course got to see everything.

Each of the kids have their favorites. Cayla loves the Manatees. Josh loves the Penguins and, well Seth likes to get wet! Oh and he likes to pet the Dolphins. Mom likes that part too.

Isn't he CUTE!!

We love to go and watch the Sea Lions. They are so noisy and really make us laugh when we try and feed them. This one sea lion just sat there waiting for people to toss fish at him and every time, a bird would fly down and steal the fish. I'm telling you these birds would bite your hands off if you let them. Mean little buggers they were. You toss the fish and mid air the take them.

The wind was really blowing and anyone that knows me, knows that I was FREEZING. By the end of the night, Cayla and I were just plain COLD and WIPED out. The boys went off to play in the jungle jim area, while Cay and I FROZE to DEATH.

Its MY cereal!!

I just LOVE Seth!!! He really is a loving and giving kid. Last Sunday I went to get some granola cereal for breakfast & the box was EMPTY!! (TOTAL CRIME RIGHT, and in a house with a cop, no less). WELL, DJ ate ALL the granola:( His excuse - "You said you got the cereal for ME!" I got 5 boxes of granola cereal, and yes I did say it was for him, but I didn't think he would eat all of them. and I put one box on the VERY top shelf. HE ATE ALL OF THEM. They are ALL gone. I told him thats why I put one on the top shelf - hidden and then I got him his Halloween Favorites - Boo cereal, Count Dracula cereal and Frankin Berry cereal. But NOOOOO - he ate all the granola instead.

So ANYWAYS, I was pouting (really getting ready for stake conference) when theres a knock on the door. Its Seth & he has a pear for me. He says "this is so you wont be hungry for breakfast." He gives me a hug, then leaves. Then a few minutes later he brings me a knife, plate and napkin, he says cuz he knows I like to cut my pears. He smiles and says "love you mommy", then leaves. He comes back with a notes a few minutes later that says "I love you mom" with a picture of him and me on it.

OK, so sometimes my little pill can be the cutest kid. Hes got the BIGGEST heart out there. I just LOVE that kid.

What a fun week...

Its been a busy week for Josh and Seth. It was SCHOOL SPIRIT week. The boys really love doing school spirit week. Monday was PJ's day. Seth LOVES this day. He wore his BATMAN jams to school. For those of you who don't know, BATMAN is Seths favorite, so much that a year and half ago he was pretending to be his favorite and tried to swing from the ceiling fan and, well, broke both his arms. THAT'S MY BOY.... Since he wore his Batman jams to school everyone around the school now calls him "Batman", he loves it.

Wed. was backwards day and also a school awards assembly. It was a busy day for the boys. Seth got perfect attendance and the citizenship award. (Only one boy and one girl from each class can get that award). Seths teacher gave it to him, not because hes the smartest and the best behaved-cuz we all know Seth and hes, well Seth, she gave him the award because she said he has a BIG heart and loves to help everyone, a little too much sometimes.:) Josh did pretty good himself. He made Principles list (Yeah, Josh), he also got perfect attendance and well, he also got the citizenship award in his class. It was a pretty cool day.

OK so THURSDAY was the funnest day. It was CRAZY day at school and we went all out for the boys. We colored their hair with our school colors, SILVER and GREEN. (was a little worried it wouldn't come out of blond hair, but it did!) Seth thought he was so cool getting to have WILD hair at school.

THEN, Friday... Friday was wear a costume to school day, but it couldn't be anything scary. So we had to come up with something for Josh so he wore his dads military uniform. And Seth went as his second favorite...Indian Jones.

That night of course was HALLOWEEN. It was kind of a quite night for us. We got the boys dressed in their costumes.

Dad helped with Joshua make-up (he looked so cool and scary).

Cayla had to work and then had to dance at a football game for half time (kind of sad we didn't get to see it but we weren't sure she would get off work in time). We didn't go any where this year, no biggie. We had fun with just mom, dad and the boys. Our neighborhood was kind of quite but the kids made out like bandits. Josh was a skeleton pirate and Seth , Indian Jones. Of course the boys are boys. Josh had a sword and Seth a machete and a whip, so they had to fight each other. I really didn't know who to root for, I LOVE Indian Jones and well, Josh was pretty scary, I was so confused, which as everyone knows doesn't take too much. In the end it was a draw.
We had fun. The kids can't wait to wear their costumes again next year. (Cuz moms cheap and gets or makes costumes that will last 2 or 3 years and then they get handed down to Seth, he doesn't like that idea too much, but oh well, "LIFE ISN'T FAIR!" A saying we teach our kids over and over and over again.)