What~A~Weekend

This past weekend the girls went to Justin's house. (even the girl dog, genevieve!!)

Friday night Reid got to come up and hang out so his mom could get some much needed studying done!

Justin & the girls stayed over for a while and all of the sudden there was a knock~knock~knock at the door. I went and answered it, and on the doormat there was a note... it said, "Dance Party - 8:00 pm - next door - get FUNKY & BE THERE!"

Justin was trying to finish up some work in the garage and told the girls to have fun! They put on a halloween costume from last year and ran next door. Reid wanted to hang out with Uncle Justin, so he went out to the shop to play in the wood!

(don't worry merkley's, it was unplugged!)Then he thought it would be fun to go check out the dance party! He was not too sure about the Hannah Montana music, but still tried to enjoy himself!


All that rockin & rollin wore him out!
The girls had a super fun time with Justin. They hung out in loungy clothes and watched movies all weekend! They both liked how relaxing it was! (I'm sure Justin did too - first weekend not working in a while!) That's the kind of "daddy time" I think they'll remember and maybe even enjoy the most!

Birthday Boy

Today is Justin's birthday. Now he's OLD! He came over this afternoon to pick the girls up for "daddy's night out".
{I must say that it was weird watching him leave with the girls. Birthdays have always been such a big deal to me. It felt so wrong to not be baking a cake or taking him out to dinner! I guess that's something I'll have to get used to.}

They were going to bake a cake & watch a movie. I am certain it will be a birthday to remember.

Before Justin opened his present from Tika she wanted him to read the card she made him. It was so funny...I must share.

So he reads the card out loud:

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! YOU CAN PLAY IN THE SHOP ALL YOU WANT! (IF YOU CALL US FIRST!)"

Funniest part is that I had no clue what the card said. Now look at his face below...I don't think he was too amused! :)

Happy Birthday Justin!

Canyoneering Slideshow

Okay, now if you have not read the MASSIVE update I promised you all, you need to scroll down a bit & catch up! There is the massive update w/ pictures, there is a post about our day @ Zion and a slideshow of Zion pics and now the canyoneering day story and slide show (top slideshow)

Justin took the girls a few weeks ago to Provo and took them to Hansen Mountaineering and played on the rock walls. They learned how to rappel...they LOVED it! Justin got them each a harness, so now they are all ready for any adventure!

Justin & Jon were going to take the girls for the day on Saturday (Carsy's Birthday) Justin's other friend Kyle also tagged along with his two kids. They went to a place in Southern Utah called Yankee Doodle. I don't do well with this kind of stuff. So, since it was Justin's weekend, I just made him promise to take lots and lots of pictures! and he did:)

The girls had a great time, and said they only got scared a little bit! :) I am just happy to look at the pictures! I think if I'd have been there I would have had a heart attack!

I didn't even put a quarter of the pictures Justin took in the slideshow...if you want to see more, check out Jon's website. There's a link to it under my "fun blogs to visit: Jon's adventures" Once your'e on his mainpage, on the left hand side under "canyons" it says "echo/ yankee doodle - sept 08" His slideshow puts mine to shame. He has music and an explanation with each picture. He even put who took the picture! (time on his hands? yeah... he's a bachelor!) Enjoy...and now you are all pretty much caught up on what's going on in my life!! Hopefully I can keep up with it now....(we can hope, right?)

Zion Slideshow

Okay, I am tired tonight, but not as tired as I was last night! I am usually pretty emotionally drained on therapy days. The girls had counseling today. And I have not been sleeping well since all of this hit the fan! I sleep really good from about 9:00pm to about midnight and then I am usually WIDE awake until about 4:00am. So for those of oyu who have DirectTV I want you to know that you are paying your hard earned money for info-mercials for at least 3 hours of the night...there's NOTHING on!! Anyway, that's not supposed to be the reason for this post!

I am telling everyone about the slideshow...(above: bottom slideshow) On Friday (the 12th) we spent the day in Zion. We hiked up Echo Canyon. It is a slot canyon that was absolutely beautiful. Jon is a very avid hiker and knows Zion like the back of his hand. We went through a pool of boob-deep muck that smelled like cow-crap. It was kind of black and thick. It stunk so bad. (yes I was gagging...) Jon calls it a sess-pool. Anyway , it was super cold too! I could not believe how COLD it was! you know how when you go to the lake and you think the cold water is going to feel oh-so good and you plop yourself in and it about takes your breath away? Well the sess-pool muck was so cold it knocked the wind out of me, made me have to pee super bad and I felt like I wanted to scream and cry at the same time. (but maybe not in that order!!) Justin was shocked that I had the guts to go through it! It was something I'll probably never get the chance to do again - I had to do it! And besides, Justin didn't think that he would be able to carry me on his shoulders like he did for the girls! It was such a fun day and the weather was perfect! After our hike we went to the Zion Pizza Noodle. mmmmmmmmm.......BBQ Chicken pizza was to die for! We all stunk so bad I'm sure people all around us were either hurling their meals or loosing their appetites pretty quick! After dinner we went back to the hotel to swim. Justin jumped in fully clothed...why you ask? I have no clue. But then he had an asthma attack (or something to that effect) and we literally thought we were going to have to make a mad dash to the hospital. He ended up being okay in the end. It was a lovely day.

and the winner is...

Well everyone, we are related to a sweepstakes WINNER! HOORAY JUSTIN!! This year the girls and I entered nothing into the fair. Justin on the other hand entered 3 things and got 2 blue ribbons and ONE SWEEPSTAKES! It was for a thimble he had made out of wood. Good job Justin! After looking around at all of the fair stuff, Justin had to go back to work, so the girls and I went and walked around the fair. All I did was let them get a treat. NO rides...mean momma huh? Tika got a sno-cone, Carsy got an italian ice, and I got one of those yummy Texas Twister drinks. Anyway, I just thought everyone should know that Justin won a purple ribbon at the 2008 Wasatch County Fair!!

DADDY ~ DAUGHTER FISHIN'

Justin decided that he wanted to have some daddy-daughter time with Tika & Carsun. Last night we got the boat all set up and set the girls' alarm clock for 6:00am. (They were not "bright eyed OR bushy tailed") They took some cereal in a baggie and off they went to Deer Creek! They had a super fun time, and they even brought some fish home to eat for lunch! (better luck than last week!) I sent the camera with Justin in hopes he'd take pictures for me to do a post and lookey here... He did a great job!! (I think the girls helped out taking pictures, too!) They caught 4 walleye and Tika was oh-so proud of her perch!

Do you like the "pose"? eeewww....fish guts...:)Justin is quickly becoming a pro at filleting fish!

easily replaced!

Last night after we tucked the girls in bed, Justin went out onto the deck and talked to Jon. For those of you who know Justin & Jon, their phone conversations can last HOURS! And on the same token, if you know me, you know that I don't even have to hit the pillow & I'm OUT! Well when Justin was done talking to Jon, he came upstairs and realized that he had been replaced!! I just looked at the pictue a bit closer...look how my mouth is all open and the SHEETS DON'T MATCH! Oh Lordy, I cannot believe that I am putting this on the blog! I can see Justin putting it on here as blackmale...oh well. You've gotta make it fun-right?

S'more FUN

Last summer we bought a portable fire pit for our back yard. We have loved having it. Last weekend, Justin, the girls & I decided to hop on our bikes and ride to Day's Market to get stuff for S'mores. When we got back our neighbor's the Titcomb's and the Naylor's were all outside so we invited them all over for some marshmallow roastin' fun!

It was a late night... but way worth it! mmmmmm....s'more's ~ one of my ultimate favorites!

Crusan + MAY 15th = 7 years!

Okay - all of you know that I have a pretty good memory. Like, what I was wearing the first time I met Justin, my phone # from Price, names....anyway, I remember things. So I am congratulating myself on something.
7 years and 7 months ago, when Justin and I were smokers, he got up one morning (October 24th to be exact) and said, "I'm quitting today, are you?" I said "probably not". And he went to work. I went about my day, went to the gas station, got a 44 ounce Dr. Pepper with extra ice and a pack of Marlboro Lights. (My usual...every day) When Justin got home from work I was out on the back porch smoking. He came out and said, "did you quit?" I remember looking at him with a burning cigarette in my hand like, "DUH!" and said, "No." He took my "smokes" off of the counter, got our scissors and CUT the ENTIRE pack in half. Okay, I guess I quit. (I kept thinking, I just opened that!)
So 7 months went by and my brother was in a horrible bullett bike wreck. He was mangled and it scared me & stressed me out. (I was very close to my brother then) I ended up having to pick up one of my parents' cars so they could just drive one car home from the hospital. On my way home I broke down and bought a pack of GPC's.
I'll never forget the feeling of disappointment in myself. With shaky hands I sat on the front lawn and smoked one. Ugh, did it hurt! I was MAD at myself. I don't even think I smoked 1/2 of that cigarette. I decided right then I had to start over. So Justin and I celebrate our "Non- Smoker" Anniversaries on seperate days.
I just wanted to announce that I am a 7 year NON - SMOKER as of May 15th!
(**I was going to put a picture of Justin's "non-smoker" cake I made him last year, but I can't find it...it was 7 twinkies that I frosted to look like cigarettes and in frosting I wrote "7 years & counting..." so I guess y'all can use your imaginations!**)

Smart Guy

This guy I married is SMART! (don't tell him I said that though!!!!)
For almost a week now I have been having a panic attack because I am not good with computers! I have asked fellow bloggers over the past few days how to get the "title" to come back. See, somewhere in my fiddling I must have un-clicked something. Well, my hubber, Justin sat down with me last night and did a post in Hindi. After doing so, he went to the settings, or something...might I mention it was something I had already been to 1,000 times...and VOILA!!!!! He done good. (as they'd say in Heber) So thank you my love for saving the BLOG from getting too confusing!