Girls Weekend!!

WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!! GINORMOUS THANKS to melinda for hosting me!!!! She spoiled me terribly I must say--i will post more on that later..seriously she & jason are two of THEE MOST GENEROUS people i know..

So Thursday morning comes, Sandra arrives at 930am & time for me to head off to my girls weekend adventure--WHOOO HOOO--im driving off eliated and thinking to myself..enjoy EVER single second--which i totally did--heavenly. Made a quick stop off to the post office and away i went..

I made it to the airport in one hour-had plenty of time to check in, the security line took 40 minutes & the guy took my cleansing cream

DANGT! 30 bucks!! UGH! you can ONLY have liquids 3oz or less..mine was 4.3 BUT HALF EMPTY--he said he "understood" but quickly confenscated it anyway..rude.

I realized i hadnt had any breakfast so i swung myself into Mcdonalds for a combo meal, im sitting in line and who should appear?? this guy!

Joey from Nsync he ordered then turned around & i said "whats up joey?" he said "not much, how ya doing?" it was like we were in highschool--good times...

As i finished my grub i walked out to see this guy..

will.i.am from black eyed peas-not quite approachable so i didnt say hi this time--
they were both flying to NY--

I waited till EVERYONE loaded themselves onto the plane-that always makes me laugh..why HURRY to get in line only to HURRY and SIT ON THE TINY PLANE FOR 20 minutes while everyone else gets loaded on???? i always wait till its practically taking off before i go on it..i just walked right in, put my bag up and sat down..

I had previously bought my gossip magazines, but the man next me decided to talk my ear off--he did give me some good advice about having girls..one was to to tell the boy who takes your daughter out we dont do "curb side pick ups" & that he was EXPECTED to come CLEAR INSIDE into the livingroom, & to tell him he was to have your daughter back by 11:23 (always give some random time) & that we dont do "curb side drop off's"..& if she wasnt right in that same exact livingroom spot by 11:23pm, you arent going to go looking for her, you'll only be looking for HIM!! i thought that was hilarious--he said it worked like a charm--

We landed & off i went to get this:

but they upgraded me to this:


i was a little giddy that the speedometer went up to 140! I did take time to "test" it & it did not disappoint--

I brought my "boyfriend" as jon loving calls it-my GPS he got me for xmas:

to help me get around town--it was SO GREAT TO HAVE!!! i headed down to meet amie & melinda for dinner at Los Hermanos in Lindon--

After dinner-i followed melinda down to her house which was the first time i had seen it--SO lovely!! I got unpacked to sleep in the basement bedroom, only i was FREEZING!!! i asked for socks & a sweatshirt...she asked if i wanted to sleep in her sons room...um YES i was just too wimpy cold--i slept with socks, yoga pants, tshirt, sweatshirt, and blanket! ive been in cali too long im guessing...

Woke the next morning, quick shower & off i went.. i hit BYU for a class on raising righteous daughters...it was good--then i headed off to the Ashman Candle warehouse & met with the owner-we discussed business ideas, I then headed to my friend from HS days Jared Wingers office for a visit, he wasnt there but had me swing down the street to his house to visit--that was fun, then i swung past his sisters house Kelly for a visit--she has 7 kids the oldest just turned 9--her & her hubby brian are as cute as ever--sorry no pictures of these visits?!?! i didnt have my camera in good use till saturday!??!

After my two visits i headed to Orem to meet up with melinda & two of her friends at Outback Steak house--good grub--this is the beginning of melinda's generousness..she paid for my entire meal!! HOW NICE!! we then headed to the mall to catch the made of honor movie-but both showings were sold out..darn..so we opted for this!
--SO GRUBBILICIOUS!!!


We then drove home, I helped her download her photos into a memory book for her moms for mothers day--then off to crash in bed..woke up again, quick shower & it was now SHOPPING TIME! OH YA!!! who doesnt love that with NO KIDS!!!!!!!
First we went to the mall--i was on the look for jeans..nothing..then headed to ross and found dark denim jeans i wanted, a cute shirt and a jean skirt--Melinda paid for these items..then we headed to downeast basics, i got these two dresses-

in black

in red--SO CUTE!! i also picked up 2 cami's with lace for me, and two for rachel & some WAY cute sunglasses..

AGAIN melinda picked up the tab--i figured out what was going and said "were done shopping! no more paying for me woman!"

We then raced back to her house & quick redress to head to the blog party--no photo of our cuteness darnt!!?? It was a fun event--i KIND OF know some of the ladies there, but really havent kept up on their blogs..there were some HILARIOUS times--good ideas, some tears, and of course good food--i did manage to get a few photos..me & melinda, me & a "new blogger friend", me & kristi cutler-



we stayed clear till 2am--some of those girls just kept us rolling on all night!

Got home, slept in..then quick shower & off to visit more friends & family...
my 1st stop was some friends of ours that are older..the garretts,


then to see becca dulgarian-i love this girl--she is outrageously creative as well--she organized ALL my online buddies from MC to make me a quilt after jons injury..she has a really big heart..her house is reallllyyy cute--she decorates like i do..very simple and no clutter--it was fun to see it for REALS and not just thru her photos...i purchased some of her loot from her to give to my girls--melinda also handed me a bunch of fun things for the girls when i got home too-

its going to be like xmas for them!! thanks ladies!

then off to hang with the Bytheways-- John was off to a fireside (i know shocking huh), but kim & her brood of 6 were there, her parents, one brother, & kims sister tiffany & her brood were there..SO SO FUN!


At 8pm I headed back to the airport, got all checked in..i sat this time next to a cute couple (not LDS -they were AMAZED that i actually had 4 kids!)we played trivia game on the plane (delta now has screens to watch movies, games etc)your SUPPOSE to play ONE seat..(you play against other people on the plane) but all three of us were playing as one seat..we were losing the WHOLE time but were close, then on question 20 right before we landed we got the right answer and WON! all three of us shouted YES and threw our hands up in the air-realizing we probably looked like TOTAL dorks and now the ENTIRE plane knew we won!! hahah

I landed, and headed out to retrive my car which i COULD NOT remember where i parked it!! lovely at 11pm AT NIGHT IN LA!!! i kept pushing my unlock key..finally i saw lights blinking..must me mine, whew! I didnt get into OC till almost midnight, picked up my crew & got home a little before 1am..my house was totally picked up and beautiful---sandra was BUSY BUSY BUSY the entire time jon said..she never stopped..she cleaned up my garages, & REDID MY WHOLE pantry!!! i will have to post a photo..its amazing..she cleaned out my freezer/fridge & cleaned it, cleaned out my cupboards & drawers--everything is amazing!!! she ALSO bought NEW tires for my truck!! im really really lucky to have her...BIG THANK YOU TO MOM for making this trip possible!!!

All in all a GREAT time for me!! Looking forward to next year!

What have we been up to!?

I work with Albertsons and collect all of their food they would THROW AWAY that day and bring it to my house, I get food from every department, meat, deli, fresh deli, bakery, produce, floral, & dairy--I typically will get 18 banana size boxes of food--my denali is PACKED top to bottom, front to back & thats WITHOUT the 3rd seat in--quite often its overflowing to my 2nd seat even!

I do it every day except wed/sun--i leave my house at 9:30am to pick up tracy and we drive 12 minutes to get there, load my truck up and get back home by 930am to my driveway lined with friends/families that need the extra help with food-we quickly unload it then tracy & i get to go thru it 1st to pick out what we want for our families then i open it up to everyone else who is there...
THIS WAS TUESDAYS RUN:









I ask them to donate 2 dollars to cover my gas going back & forth--everyone is SO good about paying and often want to donate more--you typically will walk away with ATLEAST 30 dollars worth of groceries EACH PERSON if not more...

The food is stuff that is out of code, ie close to the due date, stuff they've ordered too much of or it has a dented box etc--its all GREAT EATABLE food! I tell people to just take what they will eat for dinner that night, what they will have for lunch and anything else like milk, bread, eggs, cheese, yougurt etc..it works really well..I tell everyone to be done by 10:15am so I can go on with my day--

This program is called Fresh Rescue & was started only with Albertsons in 2005..you have to have a NonProfit Organization with at Tax ID # to do it--all of the stores in Cali are taken & they are moving the program eastward--
THIS WAS THURSDAYS RUN:





It really is SUCH an easy thing for me to do everyday--it doesnt take a lot of my time and i LOVEEEEEEEEEEEE helping all these families--i have about 25 families that Im helping--1/2 of them arent LDS--just friends of LDS families that come because they heard about what I was doing--

I havent even gone to the grocery store since i started this--Im not even using the church food program either--that gives you an idea of seriously HOW MUCH food im getting--

i wanted to take a photo of my ALWAYS STOCKED fridge--

EVERYTHING literally was free from albertsons...the food run has just been fabulous!

we drove to lake hemet on saturday to meet up with some friends-here are a few photos from that..the girls didnt catch anything only our friend russell did--the guy with the white hair is our friend named jeff--he taught them how to fish..so he had the girls reel in the SAME fish for each girl--too cute...





jeff bbq'd us some burgers & hot dogs, it was complete with smores too--its about an hour drive from our house and was WAY WAY fun for the girls--

Is it cute or what! Jon wants me to now get a license plate that says "Beauty & The Beast"--




We are STILL WAITING to see if we get any bites on jons book-so far about 7 or 8 no's...patience...patience...patience...

LASTLY --you may remember last year how Rachel was nominated to attend the National Young Scholars Program (a camp like thing that you have to have excellent grades, be a leader at the school & be nominated by a teacher..she was able to go to a LA college for a week & earned a full ride scholarship to go)-she was nominated AGAIN to go this year to Washington d.c!! it will be in June--we tried for a scholarship but she didnt get it this time (probably because she got one last year) so we will have to work on raising money for her to go..its not cheap 1880 for her to go & thats JUST the camp part...
on top of that a few weeks ago she was ALSO nominated to attend a program in which she will get to go to the 2009 Presidential Inaguaration!!!! As an Inaugural Scholar and special guest on the National Mall, Rachel will not only bear witness as the President of the United States is sworn into office, she will also meet a major presidential candidate, White House officials, congressional staff, political experts and special VIPs such as Lance Armstrong. Ive already spoken to a few of our friends here that own their own business to see if they can help sponsor her to go..I've got 1k so far (its 2500 to attend)--again we're hoping we can pull this ONCE in a lifetime opportunity for her--we keep telling her SEE what happens when you work hard at school!!

SO this is what we have been up to!

Still waiting

to hear back anything on Jons book--but in the mean time Robert (jons dad) had his 60th SURPRISE bday bash last weekend..here are a LOT of photos from that--ENJOY! Mom did a GREAT job putting it on!!!
getting ready to yell


SURPRISE!!



Robert's Reaction


Chad,Kelly & Cameron (the youngest of four boys)


Jon, Christina


Todd, Celene


Kristi & Chris


Scott, Kellie, Esther (their 1st)


Mark, Jennifer


Katie, Seth


Kellie's family The Wilsons (some of them!)


Seth's parents The Goodmans (also the Orange Stake President!)


Brother Christensen


Uncle Mike, Aunt Diane (Robert's sister)


Hal, Colleen Williams -Celene's parents(also in the Orange Stake Presidency)


The Wilburs


Anna/Becca dancing


these were just a FEW of the guests!!

the next day was "family picture day":
Before the BIG photo-do we look THRILLED to be doing this or what!?!??! too funny!


After!


MOST of the grandkids (there are 17 of them and PLENTY more to come-NO THIS IS NOT ANY FORM OF ANNOUNCEMENT FROM ME!!)


Im certainly blessed to be part of this fantastic family!

Waiting...

Its been a while since Ive updated. Mainly because not much has changed. Jon still goes to Project Walk twice a week, girls still in school & cheerleading. Me still running the house!
Jon has finished his book he's been writing. Its hopefully the next harry potter type series. He wrote up his 2 page synopsis & cover letter along with the 1st 50 pages of the 350 that he wrote for the 1st novel and sent it in.
So now we WAIT to see what happens...keep us in your prayers & pray that those who read his words will be prompted to move forward & act.
Thanks to all those that continue to pray on jons behalf & continue to render service to our family-we're so grateful!