I've been tagged

Three characters I would like to be....

Jordan Cavenaugh (Jordans Landing):she's smart, brave, and sticks to her convictions.
Eve Dallas (Death series by J.D. Robb): She's courageous, and strong.
Blonde girl on friends(can't remember her name at the moment) she is fun, quirky, not worried about what others think.

Three characters I would like to meet....

The Steele family from Work and Glory series.
Roarke (Death series by J.D. Robb)
Any character played by Meg Ryan or Sandra Bullock (I love both actresses)

Three character that scare me....

Can't think of any. Although the Umpas from Willy Wonka scared the dickens out of me when I was 4.


I will tag April, Heidi, and Holly B. (Yes Scott, your daughter).

Price of a pretty smile

Well it happened. I officially had a heart attack. As many of you know my little Trent has an interesting smile. So like any good mother I took him to the orthodontist to see what could be done. The heart attack came when the good Dr. told me we would be fixing that interesting smile in two phases. Phase one: which includes braces on the front teeth only and an interesting head gear, at the low price of $2400. and then on to phase two. That is the actual braces in say about 5 years or so which will approx. be $4500. and by the way half of phase one can be the down payment of phase two, so actually by doing phase one I am saving money. Because without phase one he would probably have braces for a very long time. On a more positive note Trevor, who was blessed with the Brenchley mouth and Kortney as well, will only need phase two and therefore will only cost approximately $4500. each. All I can say is start saving now. Who would have thought that a pretty smile could cost as much as a used car.....

friends and family

Last week we had a friend move in with us for a few weeks. She is finishing up a job and didn't want to renew her lease. We have loved having Emily here. The only confusion seems to be whether we treat her like a guest or like family. At first she was a guest but after a few days she was a friend. What's the difference? At first I hated to go in and get something out of my bedroom when she was here. She is staying in my room. A few days after she was here I would go in when she was sleeping and getting ready for work. Now she is family. The kids go in to talk to her, I go in anytime. I wonder if she would rather be considered a guest again.

We love having Emily here. Kortney loves to sit and talk with her. She, after all, is an adult that is not mom. They talk about fashion, boys, and music. You know all the important things. The older boys love having her here. She took them to opening day of Spiderman 3, they went to the 12:20 am showing, no thanks. I enjoy the company, but more than that, she cooks!!!!!

Wendy was right, you can't choose your family but you definately can choose your friends, and if your lucky they become your family too.

Sun, Sand, and Surf

We just returned from a quick trip to sunny CA. Unfortunately it was only sunny on one day. We went to the beach. I love the beach. It is so soothing listening to the waves crashing and the kids squealing. It was sunny but cold. Too cold to get in the water and of course I left the camera home and did not take any pictures.

The boys flew out early, a deal made over good grades. They both had a great time with their friends. Both attended Dodger games, Trevor went to Disneyland with the band. They actually got to record some disney music and played it to the movies. Corbin went to Magic Mountain. Neither wanted to come home. It is always hard. One thing I noticed is that some things never change. I was amazed at how natural it all felt. I felt as if I was going home. I guess that is what good friends do.

I also learned a few things about the night Denton died. What I remember and what happen are so different. My very good friend Becky and I spent the night talking about it. It was all brought back because Matt, a friend of Trevors, mom died on the Tuesday before we got there. She had been fighting Breast cancer for the last 5 years or so. It amazes me to listen to Becky. She is so strong, and a wonderful friend to Matthew and his family. She pretty much helped Matts dad get the funeral together, even though he has plenty of family. They all left him to handle it and there was Becky to help. She was a lifesaver for me and I know she will be for this family as well.

Back to the trip. There were no highlights for the rest of us. It was a quick trip and we spent is running from one house to the next, visiting.

The drive home was tollerable with Corbin giving me a break. He did great, and he even got experience with wind, rain and a little snow. Got to love the Utah weather in the spring.


By the way, I believe I had 5 In -N-Out burgers in the three days we were in California!!!!

Spring is here!!!!!

I just wanted to say it is a beautiful day today. I love the spring. My tulips and daffodils, by the way did I tell you that daffodils are my favorite flower, are popping up and some are even blossoming. I need to plant one of those trees that have the pink blossoms as well, they are beautiful. Life is wonderful in the spring.

Good news for Trevor. He got his grades up and now gets to fly with Corbin to California for a week to hang with his friends. He is very excited.

Not much else has happened. I am now going to take my book and sit in my lounge chair on my deck and soak in the sun.

Vacations over

It is true my vacation is over. It always amazes me how time flys when you are on vacation. You work so hard getting ready to go. Making sure each child is going to be taken care of by someone. Taking care of pets, food, schedules, ect. Then it is off to vacation. This vacation was even more stressful as my purse was stolen, right out of my garage I might add, the Tuesday before I left. I luckily had my passport handy so the airport wasn't an issue. I am still wondering if I should have called the Police and reported it. Anyway, once I took care of the necessities, canceling credit cards, ect. The rest was a breeze. April left on Wed. By the way we went to Arizona to visit Wendy. Heidi and I flew out Friday morning. The flight was uneventful, except it was Heidi's first flight. She did ok for the most part, only a few hysterics as we were taking off.

Once in Arizona it was all about us. We pampered ourselves totally by haveing a terrific Pedicure, heated stones and all. Later we all received a massage, curtesy of Wendy's massage place. That was the best. Talk about starting a vacation out right. The next day we took it easy, just layed around for the morning, oh ya Wendy colored my grays, then it was off to a ball game. Unfortunately the Angels got beat really bad. Not a good game. But the sun felt good and the food was ok. On Sunday we took out the boat. I will say that was the highlight of the weekend. I really need to get one of those. We found an area to float and just layed in the sun, reading and visiting. It was great. The best kind of vacation is one you can spend laying in the sun and reading to your hearts content.

Thank you Wendy and Jay for putting up with us. I only wish I could return the favor. Maybe someday.

week in review

what a week it has been. If you have read Aprils blog you know we bought a car. Although it is not my dream car, that would be a silver, convertible bmw, I can't remember the make. I pulled in behind one at a McDonalds. But I regress, anyway, we ended up getting an older Toyota Corolla. I spent more than it was worth but still within my budget, and after spending three months looking I am greatful just to have found one. Corbin is driving now and can you say car sick. It has been a few years since I have been a permanent passenger. With all of the jerking, speed up and brake, I tend to spend afternoons with a headache and nausea. The car we bought has a manual transmisison and Corbin is not liking the clutch and gas buisiness. I keep telling him it will come, and he is improving.

After the car, it was off to Sprint to get new phones. I was tired of dropping calls and not getting service, I dropped my phone a few weeks ago and broke the antennae. The new phone is great and has all kinds of bells and whistles, now I just need to figure out how to use them.

Kortney's baskeball season is over. Her team finished about even. She played her heart out and I think she had fun. We need to work on the difference between offense and defense, but other than that she did great. Corbin was the referee which means he is done as well. Which is a good thing because he is starting track. Between that and conditioning for football he will be one busy kid.

Trevor turned 13 this week. Unfortunately his grades prevented him from being able to celebrate with his friends. Sometimes it sucks being the parent. We did celebrate by going out to dinner at Tepanyaki's and having family over for cake and ice cream. I now have two teenagers. I am amazed to watch my boys grow up. I don't know if it is because their dad died and they had to grow up or they are just amazing boys, but what a great help they are to me. Corbin is a wonderful young man, and I see him changing daily. He is really trying to limit his teasing and verbal trashing of his siblings and when it comes to discipline he is really trying to lower the volume of his voice. I know it seems unusual that he would be required to discipline, but being the oldest he spends alot of time babysitting for me. It really is fun to watch them grow up. By the way, a little bragging is necessary, Corbin is currently ranked 48 in his class of 750. Way to go Corbin.

Enough for now, I will try to update more often so they aren't so long.