THOSE WERE THE GOOD OLD DAYS!

As I sit here today thinking how hard it iwas to have 2 little boys. I remember thinking Oh If only they were old enough to do walk or talk, crawl then walk, go to school, thinking that each new pahse would surely be better maybe even easier than the one we were in. Oh don't get me wrong I loved each moment with each of them. But it was so exciting to reach each new milestone! I was finding it hard to wait to see what they could do and say that I just never imagined that one dayI would look back and say Those Were the good old days!!! Each phase is fun that is filled with laughter and happy times with some hard days that bring tears and fears. So if I could offer any advise it would be "don't wish away any day that is shared with your children, life is fast and fragile and the tiny pitter of little feet will be gone before you know it". soon you will be just like me sitting wide awake waiting for Landon to come home with the car wondering........why did I wish for them to grow up....I want my little boys back! I really am excited for Landon to have finally gotten his liecense and have some freedom from me having to take him every where, I think it has sunk in that he has been missing out for the last year that he could have been driving. Now he is almost a Senior in high school he is now realizing that he needs to find a job and take on some responsibilty, be able to provide for himself to an extent....here it is another phase that I could not wait for him to get to....Why do we do this? I am almost certain that in a few years I will be thinking.....Man those were the good old days! I guess I just need to sit back and take it one step at a time! I really am so happy that I have my two boys. Landon and Tanner I do love you! I think it really is amazing how each child is totally different. These two are as different as two can be but each offers me their love and respect in their own way! I am really happy that they are both not to old to tell me that they love me!

So now I can't wait to see what kind of men they will be? I know, I know.....there I go again!

AND THE SUMMER CONTINUES.........

Wow this Summer is going by so fast! I sit here and wonder.....why is life passing by so quickly...I remember when I was young and thinking that I would never get old enough to do the things I want to do like driving, dating, living on my own and having kids, buying a home and just being able to come and go as I please....Now it's here and I have acomplished all of these. Now life is just going so fast! I think man it was just Christmas and now the 4th of July has passed. I also remember my Mom telling me not to rush life that as you get older it goes by faster and faster....Now I am 44 and I want everything to slow down and my kids are wanting all of my dreams! It has been so fun watching them achieve what makes life so exciting! Landon love, love, loves being able to get in the car by himself and go get a drink head to a friends house and he even still likes to run errands for me! (even if it's to drop something off to the DI, haha) and Tanner is having fun with his first job, working at the middle school as a sweeper, ok maybe he is not having that much F U N but he is sure enjoying the $$$$$$ !! He worked all year long as a temp... and now he is working the Summer working 4 hours a day for 3 days a week and hoping to get on full time when school starts up again... tomorrow there will be lay off's for the remainder of the summer he will find out tomorrow if it's him or not! SCARY!!!

Our Car troubles have not ended..Our old Olds break lights were not working all the time. sometimes when we would turn on the left signal the right break light would stop working turn on the right signal and it would work! go figure!!! and just when we would think it was working and we would let Landon take the car we would watch him drive off and as he rounded the corner they were no longer working, we deceided to take it in to see what was wrong??? if you can believe it, it was NOT the break lights at all, but the signal....so they replaced it and WaLa it works GREAT! but it was another $400.00 dollars...Can anyone really ever get ahead with Finances?

Please Don't Pass Out!

I had all but given up on blogging....Why, you might ask? Good question? I myself are not sure... but at last I write again.

This summer is not going how I imagined it, I had dreams of Bear Lake, basking in it's sun, but two weeks before my dream was to be reality Bills truck made a big loud bang just a block away from home and luckily not on I-80 heading to Park City for Tanner's biking group ride. The loud bang was the trucks spark plug blowing up, blowing out the cylinder that holds the plug in. We took it to the dealer that evening to be told that the "repair" would be around $4,000. The "fix" would be close to $1,000. We debated for a moment....a very brief moment and deceided on the "FIX", we had already had another unexpected bill pop up that was putting this added bill over the top. Shall I say it was our vacation - play money! And on top of that Bill had already put money down on a trip to Whistler Canada for he and Tanner to go biking the end of July....So there goes the other planned or dreams for any other vacation.

There have been moments of Happiness! for 1 Tanner turned 15 his birthday was a Saturday, generally that would be a good thing....Not this year, why? because this year he was all ready to take the written test for his learners permit! and being a Saturday the DMV is not open! he had to wait until Wednesday. Wednesday could not come quick enough, we were at the DMV at 7:00 AM, 2nd in line, by the time we filled out the paperwork for Landon to renew his permit and Tanner to take the test and to actually take the test we were there only an hour. At this trip we had some good and bad news....I'll start with the good, Landon was able to renew his permit without retaking the test. I am sure at this point you can guess my bad news.....Tanner didn't pass his test, missed by 1 (ONE) question....Bummer! he comes back over skims through the booklet again and feels confident to retake the test.......Comes back over very longed face to tell me he had missed 4 more than last time. I felt so bad he had studied hard and was so sure he would pass. We go for frapacunnio's from Star Bucks, That made all of us feel a lot better!!

One month past Tanners birthday Bill takes him for another try to pass the test to get his permit.........................and his PASSES! I get a text at work saying "I CAN DRIVE" what a good day!!!

Can I say that for the next week we are driving every night. He really does pretty well considering that he has only drivin in the church parking lot.

Today.....July 6th 2010 Landon finally got his drivers licence, he finally took Drivers Ed the begining of June it was only 9 days of class time, with 6 hours of driving and 6 hours of observation. and $250.00 later and he passed. When we got home from our very long stay at the DMV since it had been a holiday week and they had been closed for a few days there was to say the least a very long line. Landon wanted to go on a drive by himself so he went to the Sandy Skatepark, yes I made him call me when he made it there, What Kind of Mom would I be if I didn't.. We then had hair cut appointments and of course he drove us there, then it was back to the skatepark then to a friends house... back home by 10:30 safe and sound....People tell my FUN is just beginning.....I say I've been having FUN all along!

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO

I know it's been way to long!

Tanner and Landon paddling away

Landon and Brent eating yummy snowcones

Linda posing on the boat we actually put the sails up, put the boat in the water just for this picture then took the boat back out and wheeled it upon the shore. People just kind of looked at us like we were crazy!

We had just got to the lake on the first day so I made them all pose for this pic. Brent thought he was real funny with Jared's drink.

Just a picture that we took of ourselves at the pool!

The Thomson's, Bently, Tara and Jared

Shelby, Linda, Joyce (my mom) Dorathy (Bill's mom) at Temple square on my birthday




Flowers at the Temple.

For my birthday I wanted to ride trax and go downtown and do some shopping and wander through Temple Square. My Mom, Dorathy (Bill's Mom) my friend Lisa and her daughter Shelby all went. We had a great time! we walked through the area of the Temple that has the reflective pool and that is where we took the flower picture. Then venture back on trax and headed for the Gateway I was starving and I really wanted Mexican food so we went to Z tejas one of my favorites. Then off to do some major shopping. You know it's going to be a good one if Bill's Mom is around. She is "The Shopper" We had to hussle a bit because Shelby had a BMX race that she had to be home by 4 to be able to get to on time. (It was a state qualifier, I just tell you all now that she took first and dedicated the race to me......Oh yeah!!!) I got totally spoiled by both of my Moms I got 4 tops and 1 pair of capri's. It was a great day.

Over the 4th of July we headed for (you gussed it) Bear Lake where we stayed for 9 wonderful days. The Thomson's The cute little family in the above pictures came with us for the first 3 days. They are our neighbor's right across the street from us. Their little girl loves Tanner and Bill and they think she is pretty great too. Landon's friend Brent also came along and was a lot of fun. He is the one pretending to drink Jared's drink....(Jared is the neighbor) in the above pic. The pic of Bill and I took along time to get I must have taken 10 pics before I got this one (ok Bill had to use his long arm ) I just kept getting our eyes. The one of our boat is me pretending to steer the boat. Since redoing our frontroom we decided to put up pics of each of us doing something we like I think this will be mine. Bill and I actually went sailing it is the first time in years we have done that because the kids were to little to leave by themselves and we are usually up there by ourselves. This time I felt ok about leaving them, I guess so comfy that we sailed for about 3-4 hours straight. We had a blast. while we were sailing and the boys were canoeing and had a good time. We also went and got these giant snowcones they were delicous! It was just a great relaxing time. we all hated to have to come home.

A few weeks later we headed to Lava Hot Springs we went with the Spratt's (Wade, Lisa, Coldy and Shelby) the first day the kids rented tubs and floated down the river yes there was a few injuries but no casualties just scraps. They must have rode the river 4-5 times, the next day we headed to the pool which has 2 giant slides that make you go about 20-30 MPH! can you say Wedgie? Big time! but I guess not that bad I must have went on it 6 times. after a day at the pool and me diving off the divingboard and loosing my top (ok it didn't come completly off but bad enough) I am hoping I didn't tramatize any young person by that scene, I think Bill was able to block anyones view but who really knows? I knew immediatley what had happened when I came up out of the water and looked at Bill (and NO it was not a smile from ear to ear) he acutally had a look of shock! I was back under water in seconds. I have been laughing about that scene ever since. Thank heaven my boys and Colby had just swam away when I came up..Phew! Oh getting back to what we did after the pool, we headed to the hot springs where we were able to sit back and relax, we had been on the go all day. The next day was a repeat of the 1st without the swimsuit malfunction. but that evening Bill and I went and got a massage, that was abit of heaven! trust me we needed it. our ride home was a nightmare! we left on Friday around 10:30 by a little after 11:00 near Tremonton Bill looked out the side mirror and seen SMOKE! it was coming from the trailer we pulled off onto the emergency lane thinking we had a flat tire......oh how we wished! we actually had a broken leaf spring it is the thing that holds the 2 tires on the same side up and turning when it broke the tires feel into each other causing us to really burn rubber! can you say "New Tires"? well if you can't don't worry they are not new now. There was nothing we could do, here we are on I-15 we cannot go any further. we call a tow truck which shows up an hour and a half later and we are being charged $150.00 an hour. The driver measures our trailer only to tell us that he cannot tow us we are over the heighth restrictions. NOW WHAT TO DO? they deceided to take one wheel off and rig up the spring and have us drive ever so slowwwwly off the freeway just about a mile. SCARRY! we make it off and drive to this farm house and park the driver then takes the spring off and tells us he will go get another and come back out and relace it. It has been nearly 3 hours. (X 150.00) Bill is really uptight wondering how much this is going to cost us but what can you do. They come back ath 4:00 and put the new part on and we are back on the rode by 4:30. have you stopped to do the math we are 600.00 without parts and labor when the guy handed the bill to Bill it was not even 400.00 for everything. Wow what a relief! they had not been charging us the towing rate.....Thank You! we finally made it home at 6:00 WOW what a trip glad this all happened on the way home.

GUESS WHO HAS THEIR PERMIT?

I took last Monday off being it was the first day that the kids didn't have school. I had to make a run to the DMV to renew my drivers liecense. While I was going I decided to let Landon try to take the test to get his learners permit. We got to the new DMV in Draper and there was only a few people in front of us, when it got to be our turn we found out that we had forgot to bring all of Landon's idenification. Back home we went we got Landon's SS card and his birth certificate filled out the form and headed back waited in line again only to find out that the birth certificate I had bought when he was younger is no longer considered a valid form of ID. It is the "mini" birth certificate, it is the size of a drivers license. So no test for Landon, I renew mine and on my way home I decide to stop and see what I needed to do to get a valid Birth Certificate for him. There is a vital stats offices in Sandy so we go there and they gave it to us on the spot, I look at Landon and ask are you up for another trip to the DMV? he replies with a why not! ok so trip number 3 we go back it is almost 2:30 and now the lines are a lot longer and nearly all the seats are filled oh well at this point I am here for the duration! It only takes a surprisingly 20 mins. He takes the test while he is doing so I sit as close as I can. After he finishes he stands up and shakes his head "NO" which means he didn't pass. I ask him if he wants to try again and since he just took it and was able to review all the questions and it showed him the correct answers that he missed he figures why not. he missed 5 and he can miss 3 so whats he got to lose? he gets back in line and gets another computer and starts over. This time he stands up and shakes his head a big "YES" he has passed. Now my thoughts are what the heck have I done???? now he wants to drive home, am I ready for this? I decide that I'll let him drive half way home and once we are closer to home it is nearly rush hour and we have to travel on some pretty busy roads. Once we hot 10th East and 12300 S. I feel a little safer to allow him to take the wheel. And he does pretty well. I have never let him go over 20 MPH so 35 is a big deal!

Now that a week has gone by he has driven about 2 hours and he is getting better, But still needs a lot more practice! Funny I remember being a great driver right off the bat! Right Mom? I really know I wasn't but it really feels that way to me....

The Start of Summer

On Wednesday June 3rd I received a text from Landon he wanted me to see what he and his friends had been doing. I often wonder what that group is up to and seriously nothing much surprises me. Today was a different story.....It took forever for the picture to show up on my phone and when I did I was totally shocked! I never dreamed that Landon would ever do this to his most prized possession, he had been saying his was going to do this but I thought he was all talk. Most of all I couldn't believe he let his friends do this to him. One thing that Landon forgot that day was that he had an orthodontist appointment and had to go looking like this. He said that the Dr Young took his hat off and fell off the chair laughing so hard he wanted Landon to know that he was in no way laughing at his hair but just merely laughing because he was so surprise to see it in Mohawk form.... After his appointment Bill dropped him back off at home while he was waiting for me to get home he waited outside, I am most confidant that he wanted as many people in the neighborhood to see what he had done, he likes to get a rise out of people and he got it that day. I was certain that he was going to cause a wreck. He had many people driving by with their mouths dropped open and couldn't take their eyes off of him.. When I pulled up all I could do was laugh. I really couldn't believe it was Landon. It is truly the craziest thing he has ever done. Later that night he went back to his friends and finished it off!! It was fun while it lasted but I have to say I am glad it's gone. Tanner decided to go with him and he came home with no hair as well. Landon's friend Charlie decided it would be cool to do the reverse Mohawk, that being shaved down the middle leaving the sides long. then in the back he left a long squirrel tail. For those of who who have boys but not teenage boys this is what your in for! The best advise I can give is to just roll with this kind of stuff, there is a lot more other things to take seriously. It's just hair and it will grow back, not only that but he cut his hair himself which I am not all that sad about. I really can't wait for the Shag look to go out. So for now I'll enjoy the buzz! I hope I was able to give you all a good chuckle. Just think of it this way this was before school eneded I have a whole summer ahead of me!! The first picture was taken just one week after he totally shaved his head. We having bets on how fast it will grow back....Who wants in on his bet? He thinks it will be back to his shag before school starts...I guess we'll just have to wait and see.