"...yeah but, can you sing and dance???"

I think I am officially loosing it and I just thought I would let you know that if you hear of an earth quake taking place say in the Spanish Fork City area tonight - never fear - it was just ME Peter-Pan-ing myself off my roof!!!!!!! I am SOOOOO sick of job searching it is making me crazy!! I seriously have considered renting/borrowing one of Mindy's Princess Party outfits, oh I forgot, as if that would fit me - oh wait, but one of her suits would fit a finger puppet though - oh good I am not at total despair yet!! :) I swear she is so stinkin' cute and small - she could be mistaken for Lily Tomlin in The Incredible Shrinking Woman. Each time I see her she seems smaller (or I am getting bigger - it's the latter I'm sure...damn) Anyway, I was thinking of taking one of her adorable outfits to my next interview and do a little "show." It seems that is the ONLY way I will be getting a job is by entertaining people and NOT based on skill level. In one of my last interviews the interviewer questions consisted of "suppose the office is having a bad day - what could/would you do to "liven" things up a bit?" First thought, lap dances all around. Next thought, (remembering that is why I am out of a job in the first place) my own redition of Shirley Temple's - On The Good Ship Lollie-pop? I mean what the hell!??!! Who bloody cares if I can be entertaining or not don't they care if I can type and use a pencil sharpener???? The questions were ALL like this - the next one was: "you have several things to do on your desk when you get in...which of these things would "excite" you the most?" I answered in what I thought was a well thought out answer "I would complete each of the tasks by order of priority" of course???? NOT...the man actually wanted to know what would be "exciting" for me to do first. Um, let's see I really get off on filing - I think I would do that first!!! Yeah, yeah, yeah - please give me LOTS and LOTS of filing please!!!!! This interview was a second interview that had been preceeded by an interview in which I had to give a 20 min. PowerPoint presentation "selling myself" to the team, so when I was invited back for a second I was expecting some really pointed questions as to my skills etc., gosh was I un-prepared!! Needless to say - I came in...second. Evidentally the girl that got the job does a 12:00 PM daily contorsionist show. Anyway, I just needed to vent a bit. If you can't reach me in the next few days, no worries, I've headed to Vegas. I've heard that being able to "entertain" is quite important in that area so I thought I would give it a shot!!!!!! TTFN

I've never done this before...

so forgive me if this sounds a bit out of my character, because it will sound that way to a lot of you (and me) that know me well, but here goes. I just wanted to share something with you that I don't share that often, if at all, to anyone. I am SOOOO saddened by the passing of our Prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley and I have been feeling so upset by the fact that I didn't outwardly express my love for this man to my family, my friends and more importantly people that I came into contact with that I could have shared a wonderful message with - and chose not to. As well as I have not been so good to share other thoughts/feelings I have about...well a lot of things. So, a little too late now, but here goes. I KNOW that President Hinckley was/is a true Prophet of our Lord and Savior. I KNOW that he has touched my life in such a way that will never go away. I truly love this man and one of the many reasons that I love him is because he never made you feel inadequate. He always made you feel you were "ok" no matter where you were in your life - what race or religion you were - he always had a smile and a wonderful word/message. You always knew that as long as you were trying to do better each and every day you were doing good and if you weren't that was "ok" too. He was the most accepting, loving, caring, non-judgemental person I ever "knew" and every time I heard him speak - I ALWAYS came away feeling great, with a smile on my face (who are we kidding he was hysterical!). Today, I ask myself why didn't I put myself into more situations/opportunities to hear him more often???? I guess that's another thing to add to my "to do" list (wow, that's getting big). I will miss you "big" guy and I thank you for it all!! :) Ok, why stop there - I think I need to say a few more things. I KNOW that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints IS a true church. I KNOW the power of the Priesthood and the wonderful blessings that can come from having the Priesthood in my life. I KNOW (although sometimes tough to remember) that my Heavenly Father loves me and KNOWS me individually and KNOWS my heart-aches and is with me in my darkest hours. Again, something really hard to remember sometimes, but deep down I KNOW this to be true. I am grateful to the members of my ward, who continue to not "leave" me behind - who continue to visit me and send me cards in the mail, who bring me new manuals, who seem to know when I need a pick me up and who haven't given up on me when I have given them every reason in the world to give up - I am not such a great pupil!! I am grateful to the many, many people in my life that love and accept me for who I am and the tiny little steps of progress I TRY to make each day. I am grateful to my grandma - I don't know that I told her that very often - but she was more than a grandmother she was also a parent and became my mom's "partner", if you will, after my mom's divorce and the 3 of us were still so young. If it weren't for my grandmother, I am not sure where we would all be in regards to the LDS church - she was the stepping stone to it all and I love her more than I ever expressed while she was alive. I am grateful to my mother who has been there for me through everything and I can ALWAYS depend on her. She may not agree, but she has done some AMAZING things with her life and knowing where we came from, the situation we started in, statistically we should have NEVER made it - and we did because of her. My mom will say that we "made it" because of grandma, but that just isn't true - once again, I love my mom SOOOOO much and I don't know what I would do without her. I am so grateful for my sister Tina. She is an amazing person and has done some amazing things with her life and she too has been able to rise above circumstances and situations that statistics show she shouldn't have - she has been there for me in so many ways and I don't know where I would be without her in my life. I am so grateful for my brother Ron and his wife Cindy. Once again, I am not sure where I would be without them - and I shutter at the thought. They too have been there for me on so many levels and have done so many things for me. I hope that each of these people know how much I love them, because I am sure I have neglected to share it. They are not just my family but my friends as well!!! I am so appreciative and grateful to Megan - my monkey - gosh I can't even begin to put all of those thoughts into writing, MNVL where would I be without you!?! JaNell, Vicki, Ash, Jen etc. I hope that all of you know how much I love and care about you and how each of you have touched my life. I hope/know that all of you know what you mean to me! Thank you! Lissa - wow, where do I begin - I can't there is too much, Thank you for it all! I am so grateful for ALL of my extended family: Aunt Theresa, Uncle Rick, Aunt Cynthia, Aunt Pat, Uncle Phil and their individual families - all of them have have done SOOOO many wonderful things for me and my family that I can't even begin to list them all - it's everything you can imagine and more!! Once again, I hope each of you know how you have touched my life and that I am truly blessed to have you not only as family members but so much more - Thank you!! I am grateful for Mario's family - ALL of them and how awesome they are and how they accepted me from day one and have loved me like their own. I appreciate them as family but the friendships I have gained being a part of this wonderful family. I know that I have a second mom with my wonderful mother-in-law and I love her dearly. I know I am leaving people out and it is by no means intentional - please know that. I guess that is the problem with naming-names. Just know that just because your name is not written in this particular blog that you ARE written permanently in my heart and mind and I love each and everyone of you for who you are and what you have done for me. To all of the above, I hope someday I can "return the favor"!!! :) I am so grateful for my husband, Mario. we have been together for a long - long time and been through SOOOOO many horrible, heart-wrenching, devastating, incredible, wonderful, amazing things and I wouldn't trade any of it. If I had to do it all over again, it would be with you. I am a stronger person because of what we have accomplished together and it brings us closer each time. I love you with all my heart! Last but certainly not least, Dominic. My little moushka cake, angel boy. I will sum it up by saying that I can not imagine my life without him in it and I don't want to. It took SOOO long and it was SOOOO awful/painful - expensive for him to get here, but he made up for it the minute they placed him in my arms and he opened his little eyes. I was done - he had me at "hello"!!!! :) Seriously, he has made every single horrible, heart-wrenching, devastating, incredible, wonderful, amazing thing absolutely 100% worth it. He is my life - I love him more than words can express. Ok, there you go - this is a HUGE post (sorry) but I just felt that I really needed to do this. I haven't expressed these feelings in a long time, if ever, and I feel much better having done so. I don't know maybe some of this can be considered a "testimony." I don't know, do I have one of those???? TTFN

"...girls are fairy tales"

I just wanted to share this with everyone because it made me stop and pause for just a brief moment when my sweet, adorable, innocent little boy uttered the following out of his chops: "Boys are soldiers and girls are fairy tales and girls can NEVER be soldiers because they are just plain fairy tales" Hmmmmm....and oh that's right...hmmmmmmm! I am not sure where he may have picked up this tid-bit-o'-info. or what exactly that means - it has been my experience that fairy tales are fictional and I am pretty sure we are no longer living in 1952 where a "woman's" place is in the you know where. Hmmmmmm, I really am trying not to read too much into this little comment, afterall 3 year old children (especially the ones that are good at it) say all sorts of things - right??? Whose kidding who - clearly I have some work to do!

This year in review...

Since I just started this whole blogging thing 4 days ago, I didn't have a chance throughout the year to share some of my favorite photos/activities from 2007. So, I thought I would give you all a brief review of some fun things we did. I wish I could post every single thing/detail but I am pretty sure "Blogger" or "Google" would kick me out of the game - and I just got started. So here we go, it's mostly pics of Dominic because he is so flippin' adorable but also let's be honest, he IS the highlight of the year - and oh that's right - our lives!!

Ok, these are not necessarily in order but oh well.

We had our family reunion this year, held in Utah. This is not the best picture to capture those good times or all of the people that were there, but I can not find any others - which makes me sad because I'm not sure what happened to all of the great shots I got. Regardless, we had so much fun laughing, talking, crying and just being together as a family! I have the best family in the whole world!

"Open, open, open." We went to Lagoon again this year and it was really fun. This is Dominic waiting, ever so patiently, for his turn on the kiddie Tidal-Wave ride. Dominic is at the age where now when we go to Lagoon, or any amusement park, we spend the entire time in the kiddie section! Dominic had so much fun, and honestly it was more fun watching him then riding the "Fire Dragon" 25 times in a row!! For those of you that don't know, Lagoon has made most of their new rides so that parents can go on the ride with their child so they are not as nervous. This worked out quite well for most of the rides but when we went to go on the kiddie dragon ride I whispered, or so I thought, to Mario "gosh, I hope my big butt fits in those seats." Well as we approach the ride to get in, I went first and was going to lift Dominic in after me. Well, in just the biggest voice he could muster and just as everyone else was all settled in, my wonderful little boy says "mom, is your big butt going to fit!" Yep, out of the mouths of babes!!!

This is the kiddie Tidal-Wave ride. It was really fun! This is a picture of Dominic at Orem Community Hospital in his little surgical gown before he went in to surgery. Unfortunately Dominic had to have a couple of minor surgeries this year - NOT good times! There were no after photos taken! :) Gosh, he looks so little to me!

For the past couple of years we have gone to the pumpkin patch in Springville to pick pumpkins right off of the vine. We really had a good time and got some good ones! Carving up Pumpkin-Head-Harvey!! Dominic really did most of the work, I started the cuts for him but he finished them and got out the majority of the seeds. Good job baby!! "I really like this guy mom" My cute little (well not so little anymore) cousin Greg came home off of his LDS mission in August. He served in London and he still has the greatest little accent ever! Welcome home Chap!

Dominic & Greg for the first time in 2 years. Dominic has sure grown since Greg left - they are practically the same height! (j/k greg)

This photo is just plain adorable. We were just sitting around and Dominic said "mom, take one of me" So I did & I love it! Gosh he looks so big to me!

For those of you that do not know, my awesome brother - my only brother, Ron (next to my mom on the far left) is a Producer for Fox News Channel (no, NOT Fox 13 - the other guys :)). He gets to travel all over and has the opportunity to rub elbows (and then some) with amazing people such as President Bush, Jay Leno, Oprah, Dr. Phil and the list goes on and on including Paris Hilton where he was in People magazine standing behind her (that's really the only reason I mentioned her). He has covered amazing courtroom trials, been involved in several high profile cases, been to amazing places all over the world and covered history making events such as 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Scott Peterson trial and Elizabeth Smart just to name a few. Let's also not forget American Idol - I mean that is huge. I was able to speak to Chris Daughtry on the telephone due to his connections and Paula Abdul is really that "interesting" in person!! Some of the amazing places he has traveled include Jerusalem, Equador, Tokyo once again just to name a few. I almost hate to name people, places and things because I know I am leaving out some huge things he has done but oh well, if this is all he had done that would be amazing enough! Well, long story short (too late) he was here in Utah covering the Crandal Canyon Mine disaster and we had the chance to join him on site while he covered this terrible event. It was amazing to see him at work, he is so talented and I am proud to be his sister! Wow, that was long is this really Ron's blog??? :)

We had several visits from family this year and we were able to celebrate birthdays of a couple of visiting family members. First, my cute little Tori - she is an official teenager!!! (insert screaming) She turned 13 this year and we were excited she was here to celebrate!

This is my Aunty Pat! She was visiting at the time of her birthday and we got to celebrate with her. She was turning...(well, we don't really talk about it once it gets that high) j/k Aunt Pat! She wanted to have a princess party, and her wonderful children granted that wish - it was really cute & fun! We had several other family members come to visit and I wish I had remembered to bring the camera to capture those times - but memories always have film so it's ok!

We went to Hogle Zoo, a couple of times, this year and had a great time - boy was it hot though! In case you were wondering, the Elephant is behind me not vice-versa!! This is one of the Zoo trips, we went with Ricky and Tori (who was visiting from Cali) and my friends Brad & Lissa and their family. Once again, very fun and very HOT!!

Insert photo of Tom the Turkey!

I had to work on Thanksgiving and so it was kind of a blur. I didn't have to bake one single item of food thanks to my amazing family. I basically showed up, ate myself sick and went home!! Like I said kind of a blur.

Cooling things down a bit. This is Lindsay, Matthew & Dominic building a snowman outside our house during their visit over the holidays. How cute are they??

Boy did the big SC come to town this year!!! You can't really see the presents because Tina found these really cool, ginormous stockings at All-a-Dollar and she gave one to each of the kids - Santa stufted them to the absolute brim and the kids loved them so much, what a great idea she had!!

A hunting we will go

For those of you that don't know, I am job hunting...again!! I can hardly believe it myself and I hate it even more! So, if anyone is aware of anything out there, or if you know of a job that I would be great in but someone else has it, please do not hesitate to run that person over with a car and let me know when it is done so that I can slide right into their job!! :) That would be great. I knew I could count on all my chums!! TTFN

Here she is!

This is Nikki - our new yellow lab puppy at 7 weeks. She is now 10 weeks. This is Nikki chewing on her keys. Boy does she like to chew!!!

I could be in trouble! :)

Ok, it hasn't even been 2 hours since I started this stupid thing and I am posting again!! I hope I can control myself. Well, because I am a little late in the game - I just wanted to say that I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and that your Christmas was Merry!! Ok, hold the cheese please!! Sorry, I am just a little bitter because my holidays were not so merry & bright this past year & so far my new year isn't looking so hot either!! I have had some terrible news come my way from both friends & family members as well as my own personal issues, things were/are not that great! Wow, who is going to read this pathetic blog!?! But, on a happier note - and just to catch everyone up - I decided to surprise my husband & little baby boy with...wait for it...A PUPPY!!! Which translates to...Wendy is a new dog mommy! Who is kidding who, puppies/dogs are just like babies/humans and require just as much attention & love - boy does she need attention!! Not only is she a puppy but she is a GIRL puppy and wow is she high maintanence!!! But, she is stinkin' cute and my husband is very happy & my little Dominic LOVES her to pieces. My husband has always wanted a dog and I have put it off and put it off and then something hit me...Dominic. No, it's just that he will most likely be an only child - considering hell will not be freezing over anytime soon and my singing voice is not so good, oh and I'm BROKE - so I figured he needed a playmate. They really are cute together, it's fun. That about wraps up Christmas etc., that was the highlight.

Here goes nothin'!!

Ok, so I clearly am not even close to being in the 21st century - on so many levels really - but what is all this non-sense with "blogging"?? I mean EVERYONE is doing it - except...ME! So, I have conformed - what choice did I have, really?? Everytime I go to catch up with someone (especially someone I haven't seen in awhile) they say "you should really check out my blog" or "let me give you my blog address" or "hey, do you have a blog?" I mean it's becoming out of control!! Ok, who am I kidding - it's awesome!! It is the best way to stay in touch especially for someone who is really bad at keeping in touch! I have wanted to do this for awhile and just haven't done it, but I had some time and thought - why not. I have been looking at all of my friends blog's and they look so fun and handy and like I said, for someone who has a hard time sending out Christmas cards (if you didn't get one, it's cuz I didn't send them - don't feel left out!) this will work perfectly! Well, ok - maybe "great" is a better word, I still have to keep the damn thing updated!! Baby steps right!?!