Turned 22 on the 22nd of October. . .The Magical Birthday

Sunday, we had a birthday dinner for Danton. He requested Hawaiian Hay Stack and no cake, but I made him a cake anyway. I have always made the boys a homemade theme cake, and this is what Dan and I came up with. A head stone with hands and feet coming out. Woo scary. Last year, he got an eye ball.


Who attended the gala event: grandma Balls, Brady and Jess, Dana, Jason, Taylor, Konnor, and Baylee, Ethan, and mom and dad, and the birthday boy. . . Pootis. I nicknamed him that when he was a wee little boy and I'm the only one that can call him that. . . I wonder why?

By each plate was a pair of eye ball glasses. You will see a lot of them in this blog. I guess people just loved wearing them.

Taylor with the gummy hand, still deciding if she wants to eat it. That's a no brainer for me!

Grandma was such a good sport to dawn the glasses. There's a crazy person in her just waiting to get out. Grandma is so sweet and we love her.

At every dinner, Konnor insists on sitting between Brady and Jess.

I think it's good practice for them to feed a toddler. They are very cute about it too. They love Konnor Bird.

My Great Find at the D.I.

I no longer need to steal a shopping cart. We found a great jogger at the DI. I think Dan was inspired to look there on Sat. while we were doing our weekly grocery shopping. Dan is so great to go shopping with or without me. He's the man.

I love my jogger. Dan put a round piece of cement in the seat for weight and it's perfect. I'm good to go and get walking down 8th East. Any ideas on what I could put in the seat to make it look like something human is sitting there? I don't want to be known as the crazy lady that walks with an empty stroller. The rumor will spread that I once had a child or I never had children and was never able to get over the trauma, so I walk with my invisible baby. That sounds good to me.


Seriously, this jogger is a blessing to me. I struggle to walk unsupported, and my back pain is too much. All I need is soemthing to hold on to. I feel so fortunate to be able to walk with support. Things could be alot worse. I need to walk and get some exercise to help my back, to lose weight and so on and so forth. A lesson. . . never give up. There's a solution for every problem! ! !

Baylee and the Beanie by grandma Jan

I saw a beanie for sale on a friend's blog and thought to my self, "well heck, I could probably make one of those." So that's what I did. The one of the blog had a cute butterfly crocheted on the hat and I haven't as of yet, figured out how to do that. It turned out pretty good, not professional by any means but good enough. It turned out to be a toddler's size and on the only head it fit was Baylee's. It's Skyview colors and she needs to wear it to a football game. . . yeah right. I've been crocheting and used a cool loom to make Skyview colored beanies right and left. That's another blog in and of its self.

Cute little Baylee, my Guinea pig

( 9 mos. old)

These are samples of some of the beanies, I have given out to Ethan's friends. The first two were made by the fabulous loom. You can make one in just over an hour. I completed one while waiting in the doctor's office just yesterday. I could have made one for the entire staff due to the outrageous amount of time I've spent in various doctor offices. The last beanie pictured, I crocheted especially for Ethan. It's a wonderful way to pass the time since I'm not able to do much. Sigh

The fabulous looms. Alot of people make beanies and donated to the Humanitarian efforts for the church.

A Nail Bitter of a Game

OH MY HECK, what a game! Skyview vs Mt. Crest (valley rival) Alot was riding on this game for both schools. The game was neck and neck the entire night. SV made a touchdown, then MC would make one. It went on like this until the score was tied and the game went into over-time. Nail biting! ! !

SV had a chance to make a touch down from like the 25 yard line and could only make a field goal ( I think that's what you call it). I have to ask Dan what's going on the entire game. Next, it was MC's turn at the 25 yard line and "dog gone it", they made one. The score was 41 to 38. We froze our baguettes off for that! ! We love supporting Ethan, even tho on games like these, he doesn't get to play.

Megan, Jon, and Livi Kenney came as well. They are great to support Ethan.

The night before, at the JV game at Mt. Crest, Danalin and kids came to see Ethan in action. I'm told that Ethan is Konnor's hero because he's a football player. Danalin and Jason both went to MC and it was hard for Dana not to cheer for the bad guys. I had some duck tape and told her I wasn't afraid to use it. . . .lol.

Words of "finding joy in the journey"

I borrowed a portion of Pres. Monson's concluding talk from General Conference from my sweet sister-in-law, Teresa's blog. Teresa is inspiring and I admire her. She is so blessed to be married to my younger brother, Russ. . . (lol). I like to call him Russell Floid Whippersnapper. They have a great family and have had their share of challenges and trials, and yet, there's always a smile on their faces. They are survivors. I love you guys.

Now they are camera friendly

" His message was a reminder to embrace CHANGE, and to "Finding Joy in the Journey"! To make the most out of TODAY! Be the best person you can be… move forward and make happy memories! Life is very difficult right now and I know things in the future are very unstable but we know that we can live with our Heavenly Father, his Son Jesus Christ and our Families forever! That's how I'm "Finding JOY IN THE JOURNEY! "

My dad, Allie, Andrew, Ashley and Allen Warner

( Russ and Teresa's kids) on Conference Weekend, my dad's home in Layton.

No More Braces

Ethan got his braces off today. What a $2,000 SMILE!

Where's Waldo?

Can you find Dan and Jan in this photo? One clue,

we aren't sitting in the student section. Ok another clue. . . we are to the far left, a few rows down from the press box, Dan has a hat on,

I'm sitting down and have dark hair and glasses.

Can you find us? Megan and Jon Kenney are by us too.

Ding Dong MY Brain is Dead

"I'm 50, for a moment, caught in between 40 and 60 and the sun is getting high and I'm moving on. . . . I'm 50. chasing the years of my life. Fifty, there's still time for me. . .there's never a wish better than this, when I've only got a 100 years to live." (100 Year by Five For Fighting)

I'm chasing the years of my life and some days I'm losing the race. Case in point: the other day, I purchased some things at Hobby Lobby. Later that night, I was going through the items, and thought, "Oh my heck, I have been charged for three things that I did not purchase. I'm going to march right back to the store and let them know. I even checked everything off the sales receipt and yep, I was charged $7.43 for three invisible items.

The next day, I took all my purchases back to Hobby Lobby and explained my dilemma and that I had no idea how this could happen. They were very accommodating and totally took my word for this mistake and refunded my $7.43. What a great store! !

Well, the day after that, I was sitting in my bathroom straightening my hair, listening to my MP3 player. I was listening to the Book of Mormon. It's amazing that I didn't fry the ear thingies with my straight iron. Anyway. . .it really doesn't matter where I was but it matters what the Holy Ghost brought back to my memory. The thought flashed into my mind. . . Danton's Birthday and the cute napkins, plates and table cloth that I just bought earlier this week, and had hidden away shortly after I had gotten home from ? ? ? ? ? Yes, Hobby Lobby. Crap! (excuse my French) How could I have forgotten this? I'm 50, is there really time left for me?

This began on Thursday, and today, Saturday, I went back to Hobby Lobbyand re-bought the three items that added up to $7.43.

Our SV Football Hoodies

Ethan and I got a football hoodie. Mine has Balls #62 on the back of the hoodie and Ethan's has Big Balls #62. Too bad, it's too short for Ethan's long torso and arms, but he still wears it with pride.

My New Exercise Equipment

In order for me to get my exercise in, I need a shopping cart. And since Dan won't allow me to spend hours shopping, I need to either buy or steal a cart. I actually like a small cart that Lee's has, it would be the perfect size. I'll try and get a picture of it.

To be able for me to walk for any distance, I need to be able to hold on to something in front of me. I could buy a stroller, that's another option. Just think of the things I could fill the cart with to display as I sashay down the side walk. Let your imaginations go wild.

If you see any shopping carts for sale, please let me know. Or if one just shows up in my yard, I would be ever so grateful.

Kiss Kiss

MRI Update

Thanks for the offers to take me to my appointment. Dan planned on taking me and I failed to mention that. Wow, it was a breeze. NO panic attacks, no yelling to the tech to "get me out of here", which happened a previous time. I was able to look up and see light behind me, a cool breeze was flowing, my favorite music was playing in my ears and I was slightly drugged. Now, I wait another week to find out what's going on. All is good! ! !

OH MY. . .What have we done!

Due to the state of the economy these days, the Treasury Department has redesigned the
dollar bill

Billy is SICK

I just hate it when Bill gets sick. He's my anchor, but I'm being selfish. He went to the doctor today and was diagnosed with Bronchitis.

Another MRI

I went to Dr Felix, yesterday, for my two month and one week post-op check up. For the amount of time doctors spend with their patients, how can they know anything about them. I've spent more time with the produce man at Lee's. My cute Billy Bob, showed up for my appointment. He's such a dream. He entertained me, as he always does.

Felix asked me some questions, checked my reflexes, had me stand on my tip toes and said, "Let's do another MRI". That's the solution to "not knowing" what in the crap is wrong with me.

When scheduling my MRI, they asked me if I was claustrophobic. Oh my heck, am I EVER! ! ! The good news is that there are drugs for that and when x-raying the back, they no longer make you go into the long, narrow tunnel, head first.

I will need a driver, as I plan to take a boat load of sedatives. Please don't think ill of me.

62, Our Boy in Blue

Ethan told me the other day that he just hates his picture taken on the side lines. He doesn't like the way his bUttom looks! Yes, you heard me correctly. The issue of weight never escapes us no matter our size or age.

General Conference

The afternoon General Conference session, Danton and Cricket are getting a lot from the messages. Danton is laying on his new love sack, which has found its way into our family room. . . like we have room for it. . .does he? ? not!

Conference was wonderful. I was touched in many ways, and answers to my prayers were revealed. I am so grateful for a Prophet of God on the earth today, to lead and guide me. To inspire me to want to do better and be better. All the talks were inspirational.

Brady, Jess, Dana and kids came to dinner at 5:00. We tried something different. We cooked a very easy dinner, one that seems to be popular among the kids. . .TTC (Tater Tot Casserole). I'm not a big fan but I have to admit that it did taste good to me. I made homemade brownies and hot fudge to have with ice cream. YUM! ! ! !

Around 8:30 p.m., when everyone had gone home, Dan, Danton, Ethan and I laid on our bed and floor and read the Book of Mormon. This doesn't happen often, but I loved everyone minute. I think the boys did too. I didn't hear any snoring until after the last verse was read and the pray was said. . . .that's a good sign. It feels so great to read the Book of Mormon together as a family. The blessings promised when we do so are unbelievable and undeniable.

Donation to Locks of Love

Dana cut her hair on Sat. to be donated to "Locks of Love".