We Are Blessed

I am just getting into digital scrapbooking a little, mostly for my blog, dumb I know, but I came across this lady's blog that posts free digital kits once in a while and they are really cute. I checked it to see if she had posted anything recently and she had a really long post, and I read it. I'm sitting here in tears thinking how trivial our everyday problems are that we complain about. We are all healthy, we have jobs, and our little boy is perfect. This lady's baby had brain surgery earlier in the year, now her friend's 7 month old baby was just diagnosed with cancer and it's in a couple different places throughout her body, and her oldest son has down syndrome. You can read the story here. It really made me stop and think how blessed I am. I don't know either of these people, but the girl that made the post about her friend is taking donations to put something together for this family. Feel free to make a donation. Even 1 dollar would help or make a post on your blog so others will see it.

Parker loves eating otterpops at his grandma's house. All he has to do is ask grandpa, and he'll give Parker as many as he wants. Even 5 right before dinner! He doesn't even care that it's cold out. Parker loves going to both grandparents' houses. He is so lucky to have them both so close.

Girls Get Together!

On Thursday I got together with some girls I went to Dixie with. It was a lot of fun to catch up on things and see what everyone has been up to. Reece was Elk hunting so I asked his mom and dad to watch Parker for me. They were watching him on Friday for me too while I was at school, so he just had a sleepover. Thanks so much so I could enjoy an evening out with no husband or kid. We're going to try to get together bi-monthly, but to avoid the holidays we will do it in January for anyone that wants to come. Thanks Jess for putting it together, and Kenz (Jordan really) for opening your home to us all night. I tried a new recipe and it was really good and easy so I'm going to post it here.

Chocolate Chex Caramel Crunch
8 cups Chocolate Chex Cereal
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
6 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup white vanilla baking chips

Into large microwave bowl, measure cereal. Set aside. Line cookie sheet with waxed paper.
In 2 cup microwavable measuring cup, microwave brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup uncovered on High 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute, until melted and smooth. Stir in baking soda until dissolved. Pour over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Microwave on High 3 minutes stirring every minute. Spread on cookie sheet. Cool 10 minutes. Break into bite-size pieces.
In small microwave bowl, microwave vanilla baking chips uncovered on high about 1 minute 30 seconds or until chips can be stirred smooth. (Bowl will be hot). Drizzle over snack. Refrigerate until set. Store in tightly covered container.

Conference weekend (Better known as Marthon weekend for my family)

October 4, 2008 St. George Marathon. The St. George almost always falls on Conference weekend, and it has become a family tradition of ours to watch at the finish line. This was the 9th St. George Marathon my dad has run in. His time was 3:03. He did such a great job. His fastest time is 2:56 which he ran last year. This year he expected he would be slower because he didn't run any speed work, there was a south wind, and it rained the entire race. For those of you that don't know, a marathon is 26.2 miles long. The St. George marathon starts at Central on highway 18 and finishes at the Worthen park on 300 S. 500 E. St. George. We wake up each year around 4:30 am and leave around 5:30 so we can get through Central before 6:00 when they close the road. Then we go down to St.George and burn time until we go to the finish line around 8:30. This year we went shopping at Walmart. That is the best time to shop at Walmart because there are no lines. Around 8:30 we went to the finish line to wait for the finishers to start coming in. The race starts at 6:45, so the first place runners usually come in around 9:00. It rained on us the entire time. Good thing we went to walmart so we could get us all some ponchos. The first place runner came in at 2:22:22. He was 25 years old, and it was his first marathon ever. Amazing to me!!! Reece didn't come because he was Elk hunting with his dad, but we all had fun. It is so emotional to watch the runners come across the finish line trying to beat their personal bests. It is basically a race against their previous best times. We cheer for all the runners as they come in, some look like they could run another, and some look like they aren't going to make it 10 more feet to cross the finish line. They are the ones that always get me crying. My dad is 47 years old and has type 1 diabetes, and still finished in the top 3% of the racers. He is such an inspiration to me. I think if he would have been running 20 years ago he could have been one of the very first finishers if not the first. Running a marathon is one of my goals to do someday. I always get so pumped to run, but when it comes time to start training I'm too lazy. One day I will run the St.George marathon. I'm waiting for my dad to get old enough that he will run slow enough to run with me, but I don't think that day will ever come. He'll probably still be running sub 3 hour marathons at 75. Thanks dad for being such an inspiration to us all!!

Kenzie's Bridal Shower 9/27/08

Kenzie's Shower was September 27th. It was fun to have our family come down for it. My grandparents, aunt, and cousin all came down. After the shower we all went down to St. George and hit Krumpets Swiss Day's sale. We got some really cute fall deco. Then we went out to dinner and came home. Reece and Parker didn't go with us because they were muzzle loader hunting with grandpa Orrin. They didn't end up getting anything so that means we are still hunting during the rifle hunt. Reece is a dedicated hunter so that means we have to hunt from the middle of August until the end of October with all the deer hunts plus an Elk hunt. Reece loves it, but by the time October 21 comes I'm ready to have a husband home again. Although once the deer hunts and Elk hunt end then its just time to start Coyote hunting again, it never really ends. Anyways, the shower was fun, and Kenz had a lot of people come support her.