For the 4th of July we went to the Saint Paul Rodeo. I was in a funk all day. The rodeo cheered me up a bit. We had a great time watching the bull and bronco riding. They had a huge jumbo tron this year which made it even more exciting because you could watch the riders while they were preparing in the chutes. What crazy men. You would have to pay me a whole lot more than $10,000 to get on one of those bulls. The clown again made the whole show. They always have a girl come in and pretend to be the "wild child" that is going to jump a truck and trailer on a motorcycle and he always ends up acting like he doesn't know what he is doing and ends up making the jump. Pretty exciting stuff. Not as exciting as the X games though. Blake and I were watching the highlights from that and WOW what incredible jumps they were making, upside down hands free layouts and then land them. Totally amazing stuff. I feel like I am riding the edge when I ride down a hill on my bike going 35, and I am actually on solid ground.

So here is Cason. He is such a ham. He didn't want to take pictures. I'm so glad I've started this tradition. We all love the ice cream but the pictures I treasure.

Birthday Portraits

Last year I decided that I was taking pictures of all of these other families but my own children didn't have any real pictures taken of then every year but the ones at school, which I don't think are the best anyway. So I took it upon myself to take pictures of them on or around their birthday. The key is that I take them out for ice cream afterward. The girls love it the boys will do it for their mom and the ice cream. I have a great time with them and enjoy the pictures and see how cute my kids really are. This last week I had Carissa dress up in her baptism dress again and took her a Cason for a photo shoot. I have only edited Carissa's so far. But WOW is she beautiful. This is at 8. I think I need to start to worry. Or maybe every mother thinks her children are that gorgeous. Either way they turned out nice. Here are my favorites. Cason's will come soon.

Father in Law and Lobster

Every year, it comes and I never know what to do.....Father's Day. Well this year I had know idea of what to get my Father in Law for Father's Day, like that is a big change from previous years. Anyway, somewhere tucked way back in the recesses of my mind was the idea of sending him a live lobster. Now, I don't even know that he likes lobster. My thinking was, he would get such a hoot out of watching his lovely wife open this pakackage and try and cook this live lobster. I thought he would have a story to tell for years to come. So he called me today. I now have the story...
Judy,MIL, left town sometime, not sure when, to visit Jeff's brother Paul back in Virginia. As she was leaving, or maybe she called and told FIL, Bill she would be having a couple of skirts arrive in the mail. So, the lobster arrived on Friday I guess along with another package. He put them both on the from room table. She had called and asked if her skirts had come. FIL replied yes, one from Dillard's and another from the "Lobster House". No clue yet. All is well at the Wight House. He enjoys his Father's Day alone. Jeff called and talked with him a bit and did all of the well wishing but didn't ever bring up the lobster. I guess not wanting to blow the surprise, or thinking it never showed. Today at 5:00 he calls me and starts by apologizing. He has been going through the whole house trying to find what was stinking so bad. He had taken out all of the garbage and taken several showers, done the laundry, cleaned the fridge, to no avail. Then he finally took a second sniff to the package from the "Lobster House". So for fathers day I gave my FIL a stink bomb. Not quite what I was shooting for....but I did get a funny story that I'm sure he will be able to tell for years to come.

"WW" Wonderful women the jewels of my life

I am at a great stage in my life. I no longer have small children. Though I am very lucky, and I'm not sure quite how, but I have a bunch a friends that are still in that stage of life. Getting pregnant, nursing, preschool, car seats, I remember that life. It wasn't that far away. But then I have another set of friends that are in the stage after mine, sending their children out the door and becoming empty nesters. I'm not sure how I have gotten to be their friends either. I feel like I am the link between these two great groups of women. The one has pulled me through my tough times, given me advise, hope, and care when I really needed it. The other is letting me enjoy their youthfulness and joy. I was able to go on a girls weekend getaway with this younger group last week. It was so wonderful. Half of the group still had little babies, so it wasn't nearly as long as we all wanted, but good enough. We talked and laughed and had the best time.





There is something so comforting knowing that these women are doing basically the same thing you are...trying to be good mothers and wives. Then today I was invited to a luncheon with this older group of women. Boy are they fantastic. They are wise and happy and a boost to my soul as well. I love to learn from their experiences. I just had a good youth challenged friend move. Lois left last week. I will miss her smile and friendship. I have been so blessed to have all of these wonderful women in my life. Thank goodness for friends!!

My first Blog

This will be my first attempt. I actually need to finish my budget and make a cheese cake. I have started something new this week in trying to keep the house clean and do a better job at being a homemaker. I have a list of items to do everyday and I stick with the items and ignore everything else until that list is done. It has helped me a lot. I usually and randomly do things that catch my attention.

I start with getting up and making breakfast for the kids.
Then I go work out and come back.
I wake the kids and we read scriptures.
I get the kids off to school and then I eat my wheat cereal for breakfast.
I clean up the kitchen, and that means doing all of the daily stuff and some of the weekly and monthly stuff. I am still trying to decide how often each thing needs to be done to keep it clean without doing busywork.
Next I check my e-mail. I like that part. I start to understand what I need to accomplish and add items to my to do lists.
Then I take a water bottle into the bathroom and take my vitamins.
By the time I reach vitamins I am really tired and want to take my nap, BUT I don't mind showering. A good hot shower is seriously one of my all time favorite things. But before I get in the shower I floss my teeth.
I know this must seem ridiculous to most people but I have a horrible time remembering to floss. I really put it off all day, every day. If it is on the schedule though, I do it.
After the shower I wipe the shower down with a towel and clean up the sink and toilet.
I have a bad time with my feet cracking and so I put that lotion on then too.
Then I finally take a nap. Yey!! It usually is about 1/2 hour.
When my nap is over I put on my makeup and make the bed.
I have trouble with getting dinner ready on time. I am really trying to work on this. So next I start fixing dinner.
Next I enter items into microsoft money and keep the checkbook up to date. I now have a budget and am going to stick to keeping all money accounted for.
Last on my list is paperwork. This is when I make calls, lists, and check my calendar for things I need to do.

After all of this is done it is about 12:30-1:00. I need to make up a schedule for the days the kids are home from school and Friday's. I don't workout on Friday. This worked really well this last week BUT I didn't have anything out of the ordinary scheduled. This week I need to get the jeep in to get the oil changed and VT and I think Blake has a Ortho appointment. I have a tendency to go overboard after I feel like I have failed. I hope I am not doing that. We will see if this takes. I do have to say I didn't feel out of control this week. Time will tell.