its been a long year

It has been a long year.  I have not been dedicated to blogging.  Well I can feel the winds of change brewing.  Blogging here I come!

A lot has happened this year.  Our kids grew by one year, and so did we.  Our house is the same, our cars are the same (a little worse for wear).  One thing has changed... we are the owners of a new sub shop.  We opened on April 8th.  It has been a ton of work, but a lot of fun.  Adam has wanted to do this for a very long time.  We have had some really good feedback and hope to continue to grow our business.  This is a very hard economy, but you never know if you don't try right?

Some other happenings, some happy, some sad.  My dad left for Iraq.  He works there as a contractor.  You just never know how life will work out some times.  We miss him and worry about him all of the time.  Adam lost his mother this last spring.  The alarm on his phone still rings to remind him to call her.  It has been hard on them to loose both parents pretty close together.   We have 3 new additions to our family, they are african dwarf frogs, other wise known as Fish, Hovac and Julie.  Well we found out a few days later that fish is really fishette and julie is now jim.  I really did not see that one coming.   My mom bought a new condo and now lives about 10 minutes from me.  It is so nice to see her happy again.  I have started to run again only to be plagued with injuries.  So along with a new dedication to blogging, I am dedicated to a more positive outlook and look forward to finishing my 1/2 marathon in August.  The glass is half full, right?

its been too long

I have not posted for a long time. We have had a lot of fun the past few months. We had a great Halloween with my family. We took little maddon out trick or treating. he would go to the door and demand "chocate". He is so much fun. Adam and i went to Denver to see a football game against my steelerz. i was of coarse in my Pittsburgh colors and he was bronco'd out. people were stopping to take our picture. it was fun (well for me, sorry adam). Kaden had an undefeated football season and went on to win the Championship game. they had and 11-0 season. we are proud of his team and coaches. they had a great year. We had our annual thanksgiving with my grandma, mom and brothers family and Adam's brothers family. It was nice. Adam does a great job on the food. My sister and i hit the stores for black friday for the second year in a row. and for the second year in a row, we bought for ourselves and had a great time. Merry Christmas Everyone!

September

September has been busy as well. On September 3rd my brother Doug married the love of his life, Dani. They had a beautiful ceremony. Kaden played football against Bountiful, Stansbury, Brighton and Alta. They have won every game so far. The girls started dance and love it. We have had lots of birthdays, my dad and mine early in September and Kaden and my mom on the same day. Kathy and Jad both started school again and have new jobs. I am looking forward to the Holidays. I will add pictures later.

August

Well so far we have had a lot going on in August. We started out on August 1st with Camryn's 7th birthday. She had a cowgirl party with some of her friends. We had a great time, making bracelets, stick horses and learning the Hannah Montana shuffle. Later that night we got the news that my beautiful cousin Jackie lost her husband in an airplane crash. So, my mom, grandma, sister and I took a day trip to Boise, ID. Kaden has football every night. We have been school shopping. We also spent some time with my dad's family at the Phillips family reunion in Preston, ID. yes, i said it. the home town of napoleon dynamite. we did not eat any tots. but the food was good and plenty of laughs. We have a few more things coming up so i will update again soon.

The Adam's Family Vacation

So we were supposed to go on vacation this year the whole family, but it did not work out. So, we decided to go before all the crazyness starts with Kade's football, starting jr high and dance lessons for the girls. We had so much fun. Well the car breaking down outside of death valley was not fun, but everything else was.

Mom and Ed

I have been a blog slacker. I am committing to updating my blog more often. i enjoy seeing what is going on in the lives of my family and friends. I just wanted to take a minute to give a shout out to my mom. She had a tough week. It was 1 year ago on April 22 that she lost Ed. She loves him so much and continues to miss him. I hope that as time goes on she can continue to enjoy the memories of Ed and the pain gets to be a little less all the time. I heard once that the pain does not go away, you just get used to it. I am sure that is the case for my mom. I saw a different woman this past year and yet the same. She is every bit the strong woman that I have seen over and over in my life. Yet, this time she did not want to reinvent herself and so that has been a struggle. Mom, you are amazing. I know you don't intend to live by example sometimes, but thank you for teaching me, my sisters and daughters how to live and live well.

I love you!

tagged!

okay i have been tagged for the first time by my friend tammy. so here goes
Here is how it works.
First - post the rules on your blog,
Second - answer the six questions about yourself
Third - let each person you tag know by leaving a comment on their blog.
So here goes.....
1. My eight favorite shows
Survivor
American Idol
Top Chef
Criminal Minds
11th hour
Desperate Housewives
Clean House
Amazing Race
2. Eight things I did yesterday
Stood over the Glen Canyon Dam
Ate Breakfast in Page, AZ
Finally finished book 4 of the twilight series
Started on a mountain of laundry
ate lunch in Beaver, Utah
Watched American Idol with my girls (Go danny)
Sat in my car for 6.5 hours
unpacked (its hard to find 8 things when i was in the car all day)
3. Eight things I am looking forward to
Going to Florida
Summer (ditto Tammy-I hate the cold)
Redoing my bathrooms
Running again
Finishing the Host
Seeing my mom feel better
finally loosing my baby weight
buying new clothes
4. My eight favorite restaurants
Olive Garden
Asain Star
Typhoon
Chili's
Red Lobster
Cafe Rio
Zupas
Cafe Trio (near the old mill)
FireHouse Subs (coming soon to Utah-tried it in vegas-oh man)
5. Eight thinks on my wish list
trip to Hawaii
New bedroom set
Go to Italy
Lose weight
Lasix
To be debt free
for my mom to be happy
nice back yard (deck-things like that)
6. Eight people I tag
Kallie
Dani
Andrea
Alicia
Michelle
Kristin
And who ever else wants to play along