Mission Completion!

We did it, we got our t-shirt from Jazzercise. I would like to thank my partner Bobbie who kicked ass. Also would like to thank Jen the owner/instructor and the other instructors: Krista, Heather, and PJ. You guys rock! I couldn't have done it without the support of my awesome husband and our two beautiful kids. I do this for you guys! Thank you, really. Thank you! okay, enough with the acceptance speech. We are the first team to get our shirts and we are really excited! (If you don't know what I am talking about then I will refer you to my post titled "an amazing machine called.. my body.") My partner Bobbie gets most of the credit because she has gone 25 times since Nov. 12! I went 13 times. I missed a week for my trip to Utah. I knew I picked the right partner! Yeehaw!

I'm excited!

I guess I'm going to make a little confession. My Mom sent me home from Utah with one of my Christmas Presents. We were home approx. 2 min. before I ripped it open when my husband and kids weren't looking. It was a complete box set of the Harry Potter books. Hard bound! It came in this cute box that looks like a trunk. How cute is that? I guess I have no self control. It eats me up to not know what is inside those packages. I watched my three year old agonize over his cousins presents last Friday. I guess the only difference between me and my three year old is that he has someone there to make sure he doesn't open the presents. The next morning my five year old noticed the present had been ripped open on the side. " Mommy? Did you do that?" "Yeah." "Mommy! You need to wait for Christmas!" Even she understands the concept. When I was younger, I happened along my oldest brother carefully opening one of his Christmas presents without ripping the paper. It was a sweater. He then carefully wrapped it back up and swore me to secrecy. I guess that is where this all started. I haven't been surprised on Christmas Morning in YEARS! Just don't tell my Mom.

My trip to Utah!

After driving for a day and a half and staying in a nasty Super 8 in Parachute, CO, we arrived in Sandy, Utah a little after noon on Tuesday. The drive was pretty uneventful and the kids were only mildly annoying. We had some time to kill before my parents were going to arrive so I decided to hunt down some pennies. My sister let me leave the kids at her house and we headed up to This is the Place Monument. After I found my pennies we (my husband and I) decided to look at some of the statues. It's a long tradition for my sister and I to pose with statues. (There is a video somewhere with us in Nauvoo Il that is hilarious!) When I saw this statue I couldn't resist! My sister called this picture a "classic".




On Wednesday, Grandma, Grandpa, My sister and her husband, my husband and I, decide to take all the kids to a place called Bouncing off the walls in Sandy. It was a super fun place! They had those big blowup slides and bouncy things. I think we adults played as much as the kids and I was very sore the next day. This is a picture of my sister's family sliding down a huge slide together. Action Shot!

On Wednesday night, my oldest Brother (who is behind me with my sister in the picture) and his girlfriend invited his siblings to go play pool while Grandma and Grandpa watched all the kids. We played four games and it was really fun. Of course there was all sorts of shenanigans involving the chalk. We ended with a hand print on a shoulder and a bum and one blue nose. My sister lost all four games she played and I won all four games that I played except for the three that I was partners with my sister. Ha, ha! In the picture, my brothers and sister can get me laughing hard!
This is a posed shot of me at the pool hall. Don't worry, I changed my aim before I shot! Thanksgiving Day was really nice actually. The usual preparations and a last minute trip to the store. After the dishes were done we played games. It was really fun. Everyone except one of my brothers and his family was there. My oldest brother brought his girlfriend of two years and she fit right in.

Friday, I was able to go out and visit my friend Emily. Emily and I are old friends from the old ward. We would sit next to each other and talk on the school bus. I hadn't seen her in probably ten years! She was just as sweet, cute and smart as I remembered her! We had a good time talking and she even made us lunch! Of course I could not leave without getting a self-portrait for my blog. I had a wonderful time and I thought Emily's house was beautiful. It was good to see her again!

Friday Night we went to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate my nephew's second birthday. We ate pizza and played games. My daughter danced with Chuck E. Very Cute! My other nephew who is eleven, thought it was fun to torment Chuck E Cheese. You know those video's you see on the news where the amusement park caracter is beating a kid down? I think we were getting close here. The birthday boy opened one of his presents to find pajamas. He cried! How funny is that? Here he is with his Daddy. He got a tickle me Cookie Monster too.

That night we went to visit my BFF and her mother in Salt Lake. We were there for two hours when my husband made me leave! He is so mean! I guess it was late and they did look tired. I love being there. It is like home. I hadn't seen them in two years! I decided I need to take another trip to Utah soon just to see Val. I haven't seen her for more than a few hours in 5 or 6 years. That is not near the amount that I require for laughing and eating and getting free therapy and fashion advice. The kids thought Val's dogs were awesome. When I woke up my little boy in the morning, there was dog hair on his sheets! We left Utah the next morning. We drove all the way to Burlington, Co and stayed the night. The next morning, my husband locked the keys in the car and we had to track down someone who could open it up in a small town on a Sunday morning. Then my husband spilled coffee everywhere. Then when we were less than ten miles away from home, he was turning around and didn't see a storm drain and drove right over it. It slashed one of our back tires. It is going to cost $90 to repair it. If my husband didn't have bad luck, he wouldn't have any luck at all! It just wasn't his day! But we finally made it home. Home is nice.

This is the Place!

We made it to Utah with minor incident. I'm glad we made it! We already hit this is the place monument and a candy shop in Valley Fair Mall for elongated pennies! We got some salt water taffy too! I can't wait to see my friends. I'll be calling you soon Emily!

Flash Back Friday!!!

Okay, so I totally saw this on somebody else's blog and I thought I would steal the idea. That's okay right? So up above is me in kindergarten. Don't you just love the pretty plastic charm necklace? It was the height of fashion I hope you know! Below is my husband in preschool or Kindergarten. I don't know, I wasn't there! He is so cute and dare I say pretty even?

So Leslie plus hot husband equals gorgeous little daughter who just happens to be in Kindergarten in the present! Normally I can't get her to brush her hair, (she gets that from her mommy, not her Daddy!) but she wanted it done special for the pictures.

Isn't she just so beautiful? So who do you think she looks like?

An Amazing Machine Called... My Body!

You know, our bodies are pretty amazing for the things they can do. Growing up, I always considered myself the "fat" girl and really by all accounts, I was. All the girls around me were always size 1. I'm sorry but a Whitney is never a size 1. (Well, maybe if you married in but it's still not likely.) I guess that is one of the drawbacks of growing up in Utah. Everyone is beautiful and skinny. But I digress, my point today is that I am truly amazed and proud of myself for what I can physically do. I am a Jazzerciser. I am a Jazzercise addict. I Jazzercise all day and I Jazzercise all night. When I started Jazzercise 34 months ago, I hadn't attempted to do anything that could remotely be called exercise in over 18 months. I was fat! I mean really this time. Not that stupid teenage girl just thinking she was fat. I was really fat and I don't mean the "ph" phat either. So I drag my fat arse to Jazzercise one day. It was February 1. They were running a special. 3 Months for $99. I just happened to have $99. It was like it was meant to be. (Like that one time I was running around saying I need dollar bills! I need dollar bills! and I happen to go get the mail and there is a birthday card for me with 7 dollar bills in it from my brother! What are the chances!) Anyway so I take my first Jazzercise class. I don't talk to anybody but it doesn't matter. They are adults and it feels good to be around other adults. I start to sweat and I turn just bright, bright red. I was super embarrassed by the amount of sweat that is pouring out of me. Disgusting. I didn't think I held that much water. Then I can't hardly breath. But somehow by the mercy of god I make it through. It was rough. But I continued to go. At first just 3 times a week. I really thought I was going to die every time I went for probably 2 months. I just knew if I held on long enough, eventually she(the instructor) would have to stop, right? Slowly I built up to going 5 or more times a week. Hey, any chance to leave my kids with my husband, am I right Amy? So now we have a little incentive contest going on at Jazzercise here in Gardner. Between Nov. 12 and Dec. 31, attend 38 classes between you and your partner and get a free t-shirt. While supplies last. And let me tell you my friend, competition can get fierce. There are mild mannered women accusing other women of cheating. I was accused of cheating the other day. I said "Nuh uh! I have been coming twice a day and my ass hurts! Don't you be accusing ME of cheating!" Then I walked away massaging my butt for extra emphasis. I love Jazzercise. I have been going twice a day. I have gone to 7 classes in the last four days and I am going back tonight. I am doing this because I am missing a week for Thanksgiving. I didn't want to let my partner down. I was actually really nervous but it is not that bad. The first 2 days were hard and I took it easy, but all of a sudden on the third day it just didn't matter. I can kick your butt and not even breath hard. Now were getting to the title of this post. After two days of being tore down, my body has built itself stronger and does what it needs to. Like a machine! How amazing! I think God knew what he was doing when he made our bodies. Do I think I've reached my physical peak? Definitely not. Do I think I am stronger or better than others? Heck no! I am proud of what I have been able to accomplish after attending 529 Jazzercise classes. I want to do more. If I can do this, what else can my body do? And I'm not the only one either. I have watched amazing women work so hard and lose weight and gain confidence. It is awesome!

In the picture: The lady in the back row in the green shirt is Judy Shepard Missett. She is the CEO and President of Jazzercise inc. She is in her 60's and I'm not joking either! And that guy next to me was really super sexy too.

In Blue

Okay! This is my current cross-stitch project. My biggest one to date. It is called "In Blue". The finished size will be 17 1/8" by 14". I would say at least 85% or more of the fabric will be stitched in. That's alot of work! I plan on giving it to Gail. She is the one who gave me the concert tickets. She is very kind and loving and I wanted to do something for her. When I saw the pattern I knew it was perfect for her! Does anyone want to use there imaginations and guess what it is they are looking at in the pictures? Of course I can see clearly what it is but I have seen a picture of what it will look like. Can you tell what it is? I think I will periodically post pictures of my progress. Feel free to pester me and harass me for more, than maybe I will work on it more often. This might take me awhile!

Garth Brooks KC '07 I was There!!!

So, last night I was able to go to the Garth Brooks concert! It was so fun! My friend/cousin gave me the tickets. She is awesome!!! She actually tried to give them away to two other people but they said no because the seats were not together! I even had a friend tell me no for that same reason. So my wonderful husband who hates country went with me so I could go. He could appreciate that this concert was a big deal but he didn't like the music. Too bad. So we get there and there are 4 empty seats next to me so we were able to sit together after all! Ha HA Suckers! I was willing to sit by my lonesome and it paid off! Whohoo! If you don't know, Garth Brooks hasn't done a concert in 10 years. He is putting on 9 shows here in Kansas City and then he is done till his girls are grown up. I think they are even going to tape one of the shows and pipe it into theaters. I wouldn't be surprised if a DVD was released later. People are flying in from all over the country and world even. The crowd was awesome. Everyone was singing and dancing. But I do have to say that the country concert goers in Utah dress far more country fancy than they do here. I was really surprised! Sure there was cowboy boots, hats, and flannel shirts but where were the fancy rodeo wear with the bright colors and the fringe? I haven't listen to country in a long time but that didn't matter because he played all the old stuff and I was reminded of songs that I had forgotten I liked. Can I just say that it was killer to hear everybody sing along. It was a giant sing along and you could tell that Garth was really eating it up! Sometimes when you go to a concert the performer says it's a great crowd but you know they say that everywhere. Garth really seemed genuine. I thought he was going to cry a couple of times. My husband went out to smoke and came back with a sweatshirt for me! He saw I was having such a great time singing and dancing that he wanted me to have a souvenir! I thought that was really sweet! So Thank you to Gail who gave me the tickets and also volunteered to babysit! What an amazing gift! (We didn't get home till 11:30!)Also, thank you to my hot husband who went with me even though he didn't want to!

A Christmas Story

I hate that Christmas has already started. Doesn't it make you sick that you walk into a store the day after Halloween and are greeted by Christmas ALREADY? I hate that aspect of Christmas. I was thinking yesterday of a Sister in my ward who at first I could not stand. She is an older lady, (older than me.) She has a very loud voice and sometimes I swear she thinks the relief society teacher was there to have a personal conversation with her. During the hymns you can hear her because she is the one singing hopelessly off key. Then she showed up without teeth one day. Can I tell you it is not attractive to bear your testimony crying without teeth? But then I had a visit from my visiting teacher. She started telling me a story of a sister who bugged the heck out of her. I, of course, knew exactly who she was referring too! Then my visiting teacher said " But you know what? She is better and more righteous than me!" Wow! Talk about inspiration. From that day forward I saw this crazy sister in a new light. I love her! I can't wait till she bears her testimony because she teaches simple truths! How inspired is that? For the simple things are truth and without them we can't understand or gain the "big" picture. Does that make sense? Anyway, every year my Relief Society does a progressive dinner and an ornament exchange. Last year was like any other except I got to witness the funniest sweetest exchange between two sisters. The ornament exchange was over and we were helping ourselves to dessert when the sister was I just talking about wanted to know who got her package. Another "special sister" in the ward said "I did!" and proceeded to open the package right in front of me. Now remember, this was an ornament exchange. She opened the package and pulled out a pair of winter gloves. This special sister was so excited! "Yea! Gloves! I needed these!" the other sister says "The Gift of Warmth!" They were both so excited and seemingly oblivious to the fact that it should have been an ornament instead of gloves. I turned to look at my friend I was sitting next to and we just started giggling. If anyone else would have opened that package they would have been like "Gloves? What the heck?" So I am really convinced that our Heavenly Father was in on that one. I still crack up when I think of this story. These two "special" sisters can teach us so much about being Christlike. So the next time you want to disregard someone because they bug you or they dress a little funny, maybe you should stop and find something you didn't see before. Who knows? This person may end up teaching you something or maybe even changing your life. And I guess that's all I've got to say about that.

My life in cross-stitch

Today I thought I might share some of the cross-stitches that I have completed. You know that part in little women when Jo comes home and she has sold her hair? Her little sister Amy exclaims something like " Your one true beauty!". Well that is how I feel about cross-stitching. My one true talent. I do other embroidery too but I will focus on cross-stitch today. I think I will break then up into categories too. I have done wedding samplers and birth samplers I love them. Today however, I will post just random ones that I have done. Later I will even post pictures of my current project and then you can track my progress. Now, won't that be fun? Oh, and I didn't take the time to iron them before I took the picture, if your wondering!

Halloween

Well, we survived another Halloween. This year my 3yr old finally figured out the whole trick or treat thing. Last year he was upset because he couldn't go into peoples houses. This year he was all about the candy! He doesn't talk very well so he would get his candy and say "buh bye do do do do!" It was so cute! Maybe he was saying thank you or maybe he was saying see you later suckers! I don't know. But I got to say that the changing of daylight savings was not a good thing for Halloween. It didn't get dark till after 6:30pm and by the time we finished trick or treating and went to the Grandparents houses, it was almost 10pm! Not good on a school night. We all had a hard time getting up this morning. It was nice to meet some of the neighbors and we even got invited in to someones house for a minute. I love getting to know my neighbors. It is something I miss about Utah. So overall it was a great Halloween but I'm glad it only comes once a year. Now onto the rest of the holiday season. Let's pray we make it through again this year!