I can't resist!

So I can't resist talking about American Idol! I just can't help myself! I'm totally psyched for this years top 24. A lot of them seem really good and I am actually not annoyed YET with anyone. (We all know that this will change) Of course there is also already "controversy" with one of the top 24 already being disqualified. Read here : http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2010/02/18/meet-the-american-idol-top-24-minus-ineligible-chris-golightly/ This is okay with me because me and Dave already called this guy "side show bob" a nod to our favorite character on The Simpsons. And he is being replaced with someone who I liked better anyway. So I just have to put in there some of my top pics so far.....Ashely Rodriguez and Andrew Garcia (love love these 2) I'm also liking Didi Benami and Crystal Bowersox. And of course you know that I am loving Casey James, how can you not? He Harkens back to my days with Ace, the original long haired token hotty of American Idol (even though there was also Bucky Covington ;-) Can hardly wait for the few first weeks when we can watch their total transformations and a few of them fall flat on their faces cause they shouldn't have been there in the first place (ie Aaron Kelly and Haeley Vaughn) Good times good times! Let the AI begin!!!
http://www.americanidol.com/contestants/season_9/

Memorable Pics and Happenings for 2009

Here are some awesome pics for the last 1/2 of my year. For some reason they uploaded backwards than what I meant to, so bare with me that the Christmas pics come first. Oh well. I hope you enjoy them!

The following are some pics of my kids taken in October in Citycreek Canyon by my dear friend Ashley.

This is Matthew with his fav team hat that he got for Christmas.

Will LOVES playing the guitar and Santa brought him one this year! (Even though it is spongebob :-(

Maren and her new American Girl doll Ruthie. They got matching pjs!

The kids Christmas pjs this year!

The Christmas outfits. Don't they all looked thrilled.

These are the pictures of the tree we did for my Mom at Festival this year. "The Bells of Ireland" was the name. She had gone to Ireland right before she has died. Also, we used the flower "the bells of ireland" in her casket when she died. This tree was really special to us this year. It was bought by Okland Construction and they put it in their office building downtown. I always love meeting the people who buy it and giving them a little hug. Then sending a piece of my Mom out into the world. Sounds strange, but I can hardly wait for next year! (The funky colors to the left is the tree next to us )

Maren making gingerbread at Mimis. We do this every year. It is such an awesome tradition that Dave's Mom does. Love it!
The kids for Halloween. Maren was a witch, Will (probably self explanatory) a frog, and Matthew was Vader. Third year in a row Matthew has been some form of Star Wars. I wonder how long this streak will last.
My kids with my sister Catherine's new twins. It was too cute!

Dave as the "Devils Advocate" for Halloween. It was too funny. Ask him about his "Top 10 Reasons to Go to Hell"
Here is Dave with "Precious". Look at that face!!!

This is our yearly trip to the Alpine Loop.
The kids at Engh Floral. We do this every Halloween too.
Will doing our families favorite signature move that we got from Toddlers and Tiaras. Too hilarious!! If you have seen that show this will particularly funny.

This year Matthew got the only pet that Mom could handle.....a fish :-) Matthew loves taking care of it. He is now a fixture on my kitchen counter...sigh... His name is Muncher.
Maren was a munchkin in her dance recital at Kingsbury Hall. I think she does it every year just to get the flowers.
There you have it. And I'm sure much more excitement is to come in 2010. Yay!

2010

Yes it has been forever since I have blogged. Not do a public flogging of me (haha flogging for my blogging!) but I want to get caught up. I guess life got the better of me the second 1/2 of the year. Seems like every free minute I have is doing something other than for myself, or for something I like... like blogging! :) I'll have to post a whole slew of pictures so I can get caught up as well. Let's see though.... life in general just went south there towards the end of the summer last year. Dave was laid off along with thousands of other people from American Express. He had worked there for 10 years. It was a rough time. But interestingly enough we were feeling very calm and definitely had the presence of our Father in Heaven in letting us know we would be taken care of. For the first time in our marriage Dave's frugal abilities truly paid off. We had a good severance and enough savings to get us through several months. We were so blessed to have Dave get a new job with a company called AdvancedMD in September. He really LOVES this new job! He loves the people, being at a smaller company and the job that he is doing so much better. It is nice to see him happy again and excited to go to work every day. Oh and Dave got the most exciting thing of all, a new car! He has never had a new car in his life and he totally loves driving it the full 10 minutes to his new job! lol In our household we call it "precious". I'll have to post pics of Precious coming up. (See I'm reeling you in with my teasers). Matthew turned 9 and started 3rd grade this year. Maren went off to Kindergarten in the fall which leaves me and Will at home. He is still my fun loving (super challenging :-) Mr. Willis. But we have fun together. He is getting a little more mellow, if that is possible. Although he still jogs to everything rather than walking. Whether he is in the house or outside he is jogging. He doesn't have a slow button. I'm still doing Primary Presidency and I absolutely LOVE it! I have wonderful presidency that I adore. I really love the kids and I just love the Spirit I feel in there. I also ended the year with doing another tree in my Mom's honor. It was entitled "The Bells of Ireland", for various reasons. It was an all green themed tree and I think it was one of our best masterpieces. It was one of the neatest things that I have done in life. It's an honor to do it for my Mom and it is a joy in knowing that the money is going to all those kids at Primary Childrens. Also the added bonus is doing it with my sisters who I absolutely love! What would I do without them?! We had a great Christmas and are enjoying the new year. Except for the fact that we have already (and yes this is true) paid out 1000 dollars in medical during the month of January for a lovely sickness that went through our house. I don't think the inversion helped, but everyone but me was having major breathing issues with many in office breathing treatments and 3 ear infections! Oh the joys! But we are all healthy now and doing much better. And yes, how can I even forget this topic...American Idol. I look forward to the upcoming season and you know I'll be commenting on that frequently. Although, with my track record thus far, not sure if I'll be having a weekly post. Anyway, shoot me a line to let me know if you even still read this blog! If not, me and the crickets I hear chirping will enjoy still writing it. More updates and pics to come!