Shawnee and her birthday from a month ago!

Well, apparently it's been a looong while since I posted. I should check my camera more often as I really had things I could have put on here. Here are pictures from Shawnee's birthday---she has been 16 for a whole month now! She got her very own first cell phone. 16 is the magical age for that at our house---and she had been waiting (im) patiently for her birthday. She is also driving all over the place and I'm getting a LITTLE used to it. I worry about all the idiot drivers out there---Shawnee is very cautious. I've even had her run a few errands....ahhh.....

One bird...no...make that 5,6,7....and a NEST!

Friday night got a little chilly here---so we decided to turn on the heat and warm up a little. We didn't realize that it really never came on until we were going to bed. We decided to take a look on Saturday morning. When we woke up it was a chilly 62 degrees inside! BRRRR! Poor Garrin worked on the furnace for 3 hours before we called a repairman to take a look. The guy didn't work Saturdays, but gave him some help as to what to look for. Garrin tried all that with no luck---so we decided to call repairman #2. Well....he was so busy he couldn't come out--but based on what Garrin was telling him, he thought maybe some kind of animal had gotten down in there.

Well---sure enough....first there was 1 bird. Garrin put it all back together and fired it up. It didnt' work long before it was obvious there was another blockage. He pulled down more of the pipe and out came bird number 2,3,4,5,and 6. A little air with the compressor brought out #7. Whew...what a lot of birds....yuck! And yes...they were all dead! AND...there was a really "FOWL" smell...hehehehehe.

We thought that was it and hurried to leave as we were meeting friends for dinner. Had a great time with Robert and Wendy--it had been a long time since we had gotten together and we talked & ate for 3 hours! We came home and I told Garrin that it didn't seem like the heat was working again....so he finally had to cut the pipe apart to see more of it. He put a smaller PVC pipe inside and pushed it all along to see if there was any other blockage---and out plopped a large nest...yep---inside our 3 inch pipe. I guess they flew in from the exposed pipe on the outside of the house. Yep--the one that is now covered with screening.

I'm happy to report that here we are...24 hours later...and we are still warm and everything is still working! Yippee! Thank heavens! We got our first snow last night!

DRIVING!!

Can ya'll believe i just got my license!! It is so amazing. I already drove kaylee to the school to pick up something she forgot. It is really weird without a parent in the front seat. Anywho...stay off the roads...jk im a good driver and i promise i wont hit anyone!! :)

A Pretty Darn Good Day

Had a good day today....busy as usual. I worked but we had a mandatory team building activity. In other words...I got paid to eat and play kickball for 3 hours. I know...a rough life...but somebody has to do it. I was really worried since all the Physical Therapists are in great shape--but it was really fun. We were sweating as it was really HOT today and then had to change and go back to work slightly stinky. :) I was on the BYU team...we also had U of U and TCU and umm...the other of the top 4 teams...I can't remember who. True to REAL LIFE....we (the BYUer's BEAT the U of U). LOL!


Devin went up flying with his friend Devin. Here's the picture he emailed me while I was at work...about scared me to death knowing he was flying with a 21 yr old pilot...yep..just the 2 of them. He had a video of his phone flying up.

Shawnee babysat the Hansen's like she does 2 days a week, Kaylee went to play practise from 3-5 and then had a soccer game from 5-7 and went straight to YW Standard's Night after that. Kaylee's game ended in a tie 2-2 and it was the final game of the season. I'll post a picture of her team when I get them. Jaycee hung out at Hansen's after school until coming to the game. Whew...another day down! I have to get up at 5:30 in the morning to take Shawnee to ball room...so better get to bed!

Mascot Bowl

Before the Mascot Bowl they had 2 people parachute from a plane carrying the game ball. The picture on the left is them hitting the field...although you can't see too well since the sun is in my lens. Imagine how I felt with the sun in my EYES!

For family night we decided to go to the Mascot Bowl in Lehi. That is where all the mascots from local (and some not-so-local) sports teams play football against our 8th grade boys' foot ball team. The 8th grade boys won (sort of----it was kind of given to them). Barney---yep--the purple dinosaur was also among the "mascots" and it was funny! One time they tackled him and his "head" fell off!

The Jazz Bear The Owlz Owl Pioneer Pete (from Lehi High)

Cosmo...from BYU. This fox came and stood right in front of me so I tried taking the picture...and as you can see....yep...silly string all over me and the camera.


Grizz...from the Hockey team The U of U mascot

Jaycee is the only one that posed for pictures as the others were running around with friends. After the game they set off fireworks which were really fun until the ash started falling on our heads.

Shawnee's Photography

Shawnee was taking pictures over Labor Day with my new camera...well...it's a few months old. I got a Canon Power Shot SD 1100IS. It's not the best/most expensive camera on the market---but it works just great for what I need it for and I love it!

This is Kennedy--my niece with her brand new build a bear (that has her pacifier INSIDE to help her give it up) She just turned 3.


The pictures below were taken using the Color Accent feature....I think we'll have fun with that. The flowers are my mom's for her anniversary (good thing I documented that for ya, huh Dad?!) 46 years and counting!

Boring sounds good.....

So...how old do you have to be before you get to have a boring life???? I'm ready for it! I think I need a weekend now to recouperate from my weekend! :)

We started off Saturday actually getting to SLEEP in...if you call it that. I could only sleep until 8:00 and then my eyes were wide awake...gotta hate that! We had a soccer game in Orem for Kaylee...so we ran down and watched that. I asked Garrin if I needed a jacket and he said...nah...it's warm out. Hmmmm.....guess I should check out the weather myself next time. It started out pleasant enough..but then it RAINED on my head...and then got rather chilly. Glad nobody took a picture of me with the Esmeralda blanket (from the Hunchback of Notre Dame) over my head peeking out. lol!

We had to run get groceries....I can't remember the last time we did that. Between Macey's and Costco---about $400...ouch! Of course---that means that we also have to clean out the fridge and pantry when we get home, right? At least it was Saturday so I had help carrying the groceries in and putting them away! I got 40 lbs of chicken for $1.39 a lb...so I had to rinse, trim and re-bag all that fresh chicken so I could freeze it.

Next came....hmmm....oh yes...how could I forget....picking and then canning 20 quarts of tomotoes from the garden. I know I'll appreciate those down the road. Lots of work though!

We ran to the ward party/emergency preparedness fair and stayed long enough to eat Chili and scones (it's Garrin's one time a year to eat chili since I don't like or cook it)! We also stayed just long enough to know that we need some serious help in the Emergency Preparedness department. Guess I should put that on a goal list....or something.

Came home to work on my talk...again....that seemed to be taking up my "extra" time this week. I say "extra" because I ended up working about 33-34 hours this week..so there wasn't much of that. Plus spent my "day off" at the accountant's for our car business....so I really didn't get a day off this week...but that's a whole other story...and one that I'm unhappy about...so we won't go there :)

While working on said dreaded talk...we got a call that Devin had been in a car accident. He and his friend Jamie were in Provo and a girl slammed on her brakes. Devin did too..but still ended up rear-ending her. Besides his car being pretty much totalled (or so we are guessing at this point)...he also got a ticket for improper lookout. Even though all the accidents we've been involved in that were someone else's fault never resulted in tickets....the Provo police said they are required to write one out if an accident is involved. I'm sure that'll be costly for Devin! He's pretty sore...I'm hoping that is temporary. Jamie is also hurting pretty good today--but won't go to the dr...so I hope she's ok. They were both wearing seat belts...and they are really fortunate...although it's hard to look at it that way sometimes!

Anyway---got the talk done today....yipee! I have to work again tomorrow on my day off....so I'm looking forward to boring someday...................I'll let you know when it gets here. (ps..don't hold your breath waiting for it though)

What's new??

Well---I haven't been around at ALL!!! I think we're running around crazy as usual! I've been working on Garrin's books a TON....just got them done and ready for the accountant to pick up today! YEAH!!! I spent 55 hours on them last week on top of my "real" job...so it's no wonder that I'm sick this week. I have that little bug that's going around---headache, sore throat, and upset stomach. I have to work every other day this week---so today is my only day off!

We watched over the weekend for Hurrican Ike to hit land. Most of the filming I watched was talking about Clute, TX (where I went to High School) and Lake Jackson (where I lived). Thank goodness they seemed to have weathered it ok (although a lot of our friends there evacuated). We also have family in Houston and Dallas....so we were hoping they'd all be ok. Glad it's over!

Here's an update on everyone else:

Garrin---just working and trying to stay on top of everything. Nothing much new with him.

Devin---was home this weekend and spent most of it with us and Jayme---his girlfriend. He went back to Colorado this morning

Shawnee---busy as usual with babysitting and hanging out with friends

Kaylee---sick as of Thursday with the same thing I have. She made the school play " The Comedy of Errors" as Luce and also a "player" whatever that is. It's going to make us all crazy as she has 4 soccer games this week and 1 practise and then with the play she has 3 rehearsals. No wonder she's sick too!

Jaycee is about the same. She's sad that her Primary teacher was released yesterday.

Nothing else new around here.....we're all just tired and need to clean this messy house! Guess I better get busy!

Tonight's Dinner Brought to You By.......

The Ellis Family garden!!! We had a dinner that was mostly from our garden....potatoes, corn on the cob, tomatoes....and for dessert----our very first EVER watermelon! It was actually really good flavor but not very big. Devin can usually eat a whole watermelon himself---so we need to plant more next year! It was fun to see the "fruits" of our labors...and show the kids that it was fun to have fresh produce out of the garden. Hopefully that will make weed pickin' a little less grumbly (although I seriously doubt it!) We also had grilled chicken and homemade rolls. YUM! Devin wasn't thrilled that we took a picture while he was trying to eat...guess he was a hungry boy!

Soccer Craziness!

Well....Kaylee has been having TONS of games! That will continue for awhile as she has 2 games on Tuesday and 2 more on Saturday this week. They've been doing really well---only losing 1 game so far and that one was literally played in the dark. We didn't get done until after 9pm and I couldn't even tell which one was Kaylee!

In the top left picture--you can tell which one is Kaylee because she has a white tshirt on under her red jersey. This is her Rec team...most of which are also on her competitive team. They just got their new uniforms for the comp team and they are dark blue....I'll have to get some pictures on.