Excuse Me?

So I ran that My Heritage celebrity look-a-like thing.... and I guess I always wondered if I look like a man, but I had no idea I looked the MOST out of ALL the celebrities out there, like an Asian man I have never heard of! And out of ten celebrity faces that it did match me to, I had almost more men than women!! Del and I laughed our HEADS off over this! I am not feeling particularly butch lately, but I must be making people wonder if I am in drag if I am to trust what My Heritage has to say about it!!
I mean, I wasn't expecting them to tell me that I look like Angelina Jolie or anything, but come on! Does this thing have something against me? Shigeki Maruyama, Michael Schumacher, Gerard Depardieu, and Courtney Love?

So I better go. I am going to look into being a stunt double for Shigeki. Still laughing... so hard I am snorting.
Jessie

P.S. All of you out there should run your picture through this thing. It is really good for your self esteem!!

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Free family history - Family photos

Day At The Pool

We took the kids to the local pool for one more family dip before school starts. We have to keep a close eye on Georgia, as she thinks she can already swim and crouches down and puts her face in the water. It was so cute, and the life-guard told me we have to get her in a class. She is a little pro. And note Wally in his goggles. He looks like some kind of bug. He loves those things. It was a fun day for all of us!

The Reason Costco Is Dangerous...

Because this was just a "quick" trip!

Our 2008 Summer Utah Trip

We loaded up the car and drove to Utah for the second summer in a row.
It was a VERY long drive, only aggravated by my stupidity, when I took a wrong turn in Des Moines and almost drove us to Kansas City. So after the recovery from the realization I had just cost my kids even more time in the car, we zipped right through. We set a new record for ourselves on the way home by making the drive in 20 hours straight through. Our kids really were so good for the amount of drive time we put them through.
We had so much fun seeing family and great friend on our visit. It is always so nice to be surrounded by the people we miss the most!



Fun in Grandma's backyard with the cousins.

My parents took us to the Dinosaur museum in Ogden. The boys loved it, and are now absolutely fascinated by dinosaurs. It is all we hear about around here.


We also stopped at Hill Air Force Base and let the kids look at the airplanes.

We like to take the kids up to Gateway to let them run through the fountains. It was especially fun this year because both my sister Emily, and Del's sister Renee came with their broods.


Love that crack!

Od To A Vacuum

This post is a plea to all those out there who have found a vacuum they love.

I'll start by saying that I have been through at least three vacuums in this past year. They are all starting to blur together into one disappointing memory. I will admit that I have not shelled out the big bucks for any of those vacuums I have seen advertised as miraculously high powered and clog free, because my experience so far has been that no vacuum is able to escape a fate of being rendered useless after entering my home. So far, the vacuum I have now is the worst of in the long line of bad Bissels, Hoovers and Devils. I am left to wonder if there is anything invented, short of a massive ant colony, or serious industrial vacuum that can keep the floor crumb free in my house. The vacuum makes at least two or three major appearances a day with my kids, so this is an emergency.

So here is what I need... an industrial strength vac made for use in the home. I may have to resort to a ShopVac, and just crawl around on my hands and knees to get everything up. I need a vacuum that will not shy away from sucking up an entire box of spilled Teddy Grahams off the floor. A machine that has hose sucking power that will leave my licorice caked stair case fluffy and looking new. A vacuum that will pick up dust I didn't even know was there, and still clean up the clumps of mud left my my boys shoes. I need some help getting the walked on, BBQ potato chip orange haze off the carpet, and making the entire bag of rice spilled on the kitchen floor disappear. A tall order, I know, and if there truly is a vacuum invented that can take care of the needs of my obviously incredibly spill prone household, I would be willing to make a worthy investment. So please for the sake of my carpet, if you know of one, share your secret! Thank you!

Thanks for the picture Mandy. You and your photography are great! You are a super-duper friend, so don't let me hear you say otherwise again! I'll crack the code and email you!

Happy Anniversary Del!

We are celebrating our 8th anniversary on the 26th of July.
My, how the time flies! I love you Del and I am so blessed to have you as my husband for ever, and ever!
We have learned a lot together this past year, and hopefully we only get stronger.
The primary got it right when they declared, "Eight Is Great!"

The Three's Tag

Three Joys:
1. My family
2. A Good Book
3. Summer Evenings

Three Fears:
1. Any kind of situation where my kids are trapped in my car in an emergency. (water, fire, cliff...)
2. Bad dreams. Thank goodness I can smoosh next to Del when I wake up from these.
3. Heights

Three Goals:
1. Re-memorize the Articles of Faith. (It has been a while since I graduated from primary.)
2. Read the Doctrine and Covenants.
3. Be better at having a "House Of Order" (Getting the whole self-reliant thing down pat.)

Three Obsessions:
1. My new swim suit from ModBe. Isn't is cute? Too bad it doesn't look as good on me!


2. Shannon Hale's books. This one was my favorite so far. But I really enjoy all her writing.


3. Scrap booking supplies from "My Minds Eye". They are a company of guys out of Utah, and their paper and supplies are irresistible! Even for a "scrappy" challenged girl like me!

I especially love the "Wild Asparagus" line.


Three Surprising Facts About Me:
Seeing as I am neither mysterious or exotic, I am skipping this one for now. I can't think of anything and when I asked Del for help his answers were either down right pathetic, or bordering on TMI. Surprise, I'm pretty predictable. How sad.

Three People I am Tagging"
1. Staci
2. Kelley
3. Shelley

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Today is Lauren's birthday. I hope you have a great day! I love you, and think that you are an amazing person. I admire all your energy and your love for everyone in our family! I still remember when you were born, and how excited we all were for another sister. You had lots of dark hair, and when Grandpa Clark held you for the first time he sang a silly little song that made us all laugh. (It is driving me crazy that I can't remember the words to his little tune... help Emily or Mom?) Anyway, I also remember your first steps and how I didn't want to go to school because we all thought is was so cute that you were trying to walk. I remember when at one of your softball games a fly went straight in your mouth and you swallowed it. (I don't know why she swallowed that fly, perhaps she'll die.) I have lots of memories of you being a sweet little sister and you still are. It is even nicer now, to have someone that is a friend and not just a "little sister," I love you, and wish you another great year!

(p.s. I stole this picture from your blog because most of mine older pictures are still on my other computer. But you and Hailey just look so good in it.)

Nauvoo

Over the Fourth of July weekend, we decided to take a family trip to Nauvoo. Del needed to make a drive to Missouri to work with one of his reps, so I followed him down with the kids, and we spent a couple of nights in the City of Joseph. It is always such a good experience to get a feel for all the pioneer heritage, and a boost to my testimony to walk the streets of Nauvoo. I love this city, and hope that my kids will have a glimmer of a memory of the times we have spent there.
On the way down, we ran into lots of flooding from the Mississippi, so we were driving on some "way back," back roads to get there. It is not like there is a direct route to Nauvoo to begin with, so we were in the middle of nowhere. I was nervous about driving back by myself after that, but good old Miss GPS got us home safely.

We went to a musical put on by the BYU summer entertainers, and President Uchtdorf and his sons came in and sat behind us. Of course we had to leave in the middle of the show, so hopefully we didn't disrupt him too much, but it was so fun to see him in person!
Nauvoo has endless favorites for me, I got pictures of only a few. It is a definite must see place to visit if you get a chance. The Nauvoo Temple is absolutely beautiful! Thank you Del, for watching the kids while I attended a temple session!

The early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints were truly and amazing people. The sacrifices and endurance of being denied all rights in this country, and still continuing on faithfully, really puts a lot into perspective for me. They built and organized again, and again, and always answered the call of our Heavenly Father. I want to live my life in keeping with their spirit. They have established the way, and I need to follow after them. This tiny city of one for reflection and definitely for appreciation of those who came before!

The Nauvoo Temple.


Our kids LOVED these log cabins. There was a lot of crying when we had to leave. The service missionaries warned us we wouldn't get Georgia out of there without a fight, little did they know how sad our boys would be to leave!

Little Mama Georgia. She kept putting the baby in her own stroller. It was so cute, and surprised me how observant she is. We went and got her a little baby stroller when we got home, we thought it was so sweet.

Making dinner, taking care of babies and cleaning up? Whose children are these?


Carthage Jail


Wilford Woodruf home.


Heber C. Kimball home.


The Mansion House.


The Red Brick Store.