Mom's 50th ELVIS Birthday Bash!

So on Sept 26th we drove up to Utah and surprised my Mom the next day. We went because she was having a major neck surgery on 9/29 and her 50th Birthday on 10/1 so that next morning on Sat. the 27th she was so surprised when she walked into Brandy's house to find us there. It was so cute she jumped up & down and screamed for about 10 solid minutes. Anyways she knew that Brandy was making her a birthday dinner that night since she would be either in the hospital or recovering on her actual birthday. Brandy had gone all out for a surprise party for her! So it was a surprise party and all the guests were suppose to be there at 6:15pm however I guess they all ran on Mormon standard time (30 minutes late) so I was a decoy and went over to Mom's to have her show me all of her new plants in her garden & her flowers etc. My Mom loves to garden so that did the trick. We then walked over to Brandy's and when she came in everyone surprised her.

The party started off with pizza, veggie trays, fruit trays, drinks etc but then it really got started when Elvis showed up! Brandy hired the guy to surprise Mom and it was hilarious!!! He doesn't really look the part but he sure sounded like him and was so funny! He had all sorts of details about Mom and made her participate in his little act with song and all. She was surprised, embarrassed and most of all entertained. I thought ole Jim Pops (my step dad) was going to have to punch him when he kissed her not once but twice as part of his act! He was a great sport though and remained seated. :o) She told us not to give her another surprise because her heart wasn't able to take anymore that day!

After Elvis left we had to keep the party going so Brandy had a great game...who can eat the donut off of the string in mid-air without using their hands...

Can you tell who won??? Yep Birthday girl!!! (I came in 2nd)

You didn't think just us girls made fools of ourselves did you???
Brandy's husband Tyson was the winner out of the boys! (Will took 2nd)

McKenna is always right by Grammy's side and Grammy is so cute to always love on her.



Happy 50th Birthday Mom! You are as beautiful as ever and I absolutely LOVED being with you to celebrate it! Brandy you put on an awesome 50th party...you know mine will be right around the corner. ha

Our Pets...

This is the female Amber, she is somewhat head down & sideways

Here's the male Manti, he is much smaller & tan he is on the green leaves in center of picture.

Their dinner a couple of crickets...yuck!!!
Their beautiful pickle jar home above and the female again below. So since we've been home Calvin has been begging for a pet...amazingly enough he settled for a Praying mantis actually he has two a female who is large and green and a small male that looks more tan like a twig. We are so state of the art that we have them in the best of environments...an extra large Costco pickle jar with screen material for the lid. Each day he and Will catch crickets to feed them and it is actually very interesting to watch them catch & eat one. Gross but interesting. Calvin has named them Amber and Manti, McKenna considers them our family pets and Will says it is better than watching the Discovery Channel. :o) We have had them for over a week now well at least the female the male was just added 3 days ago but he has an injured arm and we have yet to see him catch a cricket but he tries so we shall see.

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UPDATE: We only have one female praying mantis now she ate the males and she has laid 2 egg sacks!

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Mom comes home from Hospital 9/30/08

If I didn't blog tonight I think I would have just exploded! I have been so busy that I've not had time for like 3 or 4 weeks and it's been eating me up inside. :o) I still have lots and lots more to post but this is a start. We got back from the funeral last night and I will post about that but want to keep things in chronilogical order or as close as possible.

Thank you to all that have helped me in some way or the other through the last few weeks as we've had so many things happen with Kent's sudden death, Mom's surgery & 50th birthday, my Grandpa in the hospital and then passing away...so truly thank you for your prayers, kind words and kind deeds. :o) My Mom is staying in Springerville with my Grandma & her siblings for about a week and then coming back here to stay with us for a week. My Grandma seems to be hanging in there and doing pretty good through all of this. More pics to come as soon as I get time.

Kyah can ride a bike!

Kyah so proud that she can ride a bike before she's even 2 yrs old!


Brandy making sure she the foam cushion was on the handle bars.

Back in August when my Mom & Sister where here along with Brandy's two little girls Adia (6yrs old) and Kyah (20 months) Kyah learned how to ride Calvin's bike. The kids would ride it inside because it was way too hot to ride bikes outside! Anyways she kept wanting on so my Mom put her on it one night and she took off riding! It was so cute! So Mom or as Kyah knows her Grammy went to get the camera and Brandy came down stairs to witness herself. So cute! Mom took some pictures and we all clapped and said yeah Kyah! Kyah is a little squirt anyways so tiny at only like 20 lbs and short too so she looks like she's about 11 months old and here she is riding a bike. :o) Gotta love it!

Show me Grammy!

My Grandpa passed away tonight

Here's another picture of my grandparents.

(I borrowed this picture from my cousin Rachel's blog it's the most current pic I could locate)

I just got a call well actually 2 calls. I heard Will's cell phone ring and thought who is calling him so late? Then my home phone rang and it was my Mom less than a minute later I had a beep in from my cousin Heath both telling me that Grandpa Charlie died tonight at about 10:30pm this evening. Heath was the last one with Grandpa this evening and left the hospital around 7:15pm and sadly prior to that Grandpa told him that he was hurting and very sick and that he didn't think he was going to be around much longer. Heath said he didn't know what to say and had a lump in his throat so he told him he loved him and stepped out to get a nurse to give him some pain medicine. When Heath went to leave they told each other they loved each other and Heath told him he would see him tomorrow and Grandpa said ok. After talking to Heath I clicked back over to my Mom who was crying. While talking to her Grandma called her on her cell phone so I hung up so she could talk to Grandma. Poor Grandma has really had a hard time with all of this understandably.

I'm very sad but I know he is in a better place and not suffering anymore. He had honestly gotten a little better, at least he was more coherent & was talking more and knew who we were etc. so I actually had hope that he would heal up and be ok...but Heavenly Father took him home tonight. I love you Grandpa

I finally did it...Coupon Sense Instructor

So after all of these years of doing Coupon $ense I finally became an instructor last week. Living all the way out in Maricopa my instructor didn't want to keep driving out here to sign people up and demonstrate how it works. I told her as long as I don't have to push it, meet any quotas or go to meetings etc for it that I would help her out. So far it's been really easy!

I used to think that using coupons was embarrassing and meant that you couldn't afford to pay full price....yes I know silly! Now I know that I would be wasting my money to pay full price and even the richest of people use coupons probably how they stay rich. ha ha I also used to think that if I went to Costco or Sam's Club that I would save more money buying in bulk but I've NEVER gotten anything for free from either of those places. The best part about C$ is getting things for free such as tooth brushes, tooth paste, deodorant, lotion, shampoo & conditioner, razors, hair spray, ketchup, mustard, bbq sauce, salad dressings and so much more. Makes it easy for me to help others out because I have so much and I know I got it for free so everytime we feed the missionaries I let them take whatever they might need what a great feeling! C$ makes it easy and for me that is perfect!

So many posts and not enough time

This has been a super crazy week...with birthdays, general conference, becoming a Coupon Sense Instructor, work training classes in Tempe, kids out on fall break and my Grandpa being flown in to a hospital here in Phoenix and not doing well and taking my Grandma to visit him...I've just not had one single second to post. I have a ton of new pictures and am hoping to post soon!

My Step-Grandpa is really the only Grandpa I've known since he's been married to my Grandma for almost 28 years now. :o) He's been sick for awhile and been on dialysis for a couple of years but he got a major infection and isn't doing well at all. I won't go into the details because it is heart breaking and it's 11:30pm on a work night for me but needless to say it is very sad to see him suffering so much. My poor Grandma is extremely sad of course and now is dealing with health issues of her own...she has had skin cancers removed over the years many times however last week when she had some removed they biopsied them and discovered that they are the bad type of cancer that will require radiation treatment and more removal immediately so she's starting that today. Seems like we've had one thing right after the other in our family lately. Seeing those you love and care for suffer in any way is so difficult and getting older is so painful, it makes me feel so grateful to be so healthy right now.

I've barely seen my husband and kids this week but lucky for me they are troopers and understand. I've got brain overload from all of this work training classes and looking forward to going back to a normal day tomorrow. We've gotten to work 4 10's so we can have Friday off with our children who are on fall break this week. I think this weekend Grandma is going to come and stay with us for a few days so I can drive her to the hospital etc easier and that will be fun she is such a sweetie and I just love her so very much!!! We're praying for Grandpa and as soon as life allows I'll post some new pictures and updates...not just sad stuff. :o)