I'm It's BIGGEST Fan!

This is Arnica.

I owe a TON to my Aunt for showing me this 10 years ago. It is as important to have this in my medicine cabinet as band-aids.

It's little pellets you take to help you with trauma, bruises, and muscle soreness. I was just reading about Arnica, and it has SO many benefits. It really makes for a speedy recovery and is defiantly worth looking into!

In the CLEAR!!!

Yesterday, my dad got his results back from his brain scan. It's been 10 years since his brain tumor and the results came back perfect! That is a HUGE relief considering some less than ordinary things have been going on this past year.

Looks like we will be having many more Cokes form Chick-fil-a, drop overs, pocket treats, "sophisticated chats", plans to finagle our way out of sacrament meeting, ugly house drive by's, grilled zucchini on the deck, straws in every beverage, getting doctored up with a plethora of first aid supplies, fatherly advice you have to ask for, and good ole gut wrenching laughs!

The coolest part, was within a couple of hours, each of his brothers and sisters had called him to celebrate the results. I LOVE my Aunts and Uncles!

(picture of all of them singing to Granny on her birthday)

Christmas in July!

I've already been bitten by the Christmas bug! I love to do silly little projects that help me stay organized. I made this "Christmas planner" complete with a little pouch for receipts to do just the trick.

Holy Mocus!

The Hillan muggles were off to enjoy a lovely evening together making coxinihas (a delicious Brazilian appetizer that is fried, but my friends, the extra calories are defiantly worth 5 extra workouts to burn off!) and watching Harry Potter.

Making coxinhas is a family affair. Each person fills their dough balls with mozzarella cheese or a yummy chicken mixture. It takes a little while to form the tasty guys and while doing so it is best to have great conversation with the fam- yes, even tiny tots can participate in the fun experience.

All of us were so enthralled that we didn't notice our kitchen, dining room, and living room filling up with a thick, greasy, gray, smoke. When we looked up, the pan of hot oil was only moments away from a disastrous fire!

Justin, thinking fast grabbed the potholders and took the hot oil out in the front hall. I've never been so proud! The doors and windows flew open to ventilate the affected area and the fan was spinning full blast. We were almost on our way to enjoy a salvaged night of coxinha making and that was when I heard the earth shaking explosion. I ran out to see what had happened and my darling husband had thrown ICE CUBES in the boiling oil! Do you know what happens when you do that?

Apparently, he didn't know either!

I'm here to report that everyone is alive and there miraculously were no injuries.

The Toe Slayer!

Skip this post if fainting is a lovely talent you posses.

Justin and I, have both become victims to a light honey glazed changing table with golden knobs and a deadly base. Justin stubbed his toe and lost his toenail a year ago and I decided to follow in his footsteps, literally- only mine split open in 3 spots.

Needless to say our lovely piece of furniture will be on Craig's list before the week is over. I'm tired of our filleted toes getting blood all over the carpet:).

A Different Kind of Beauty.

This is a little hidden secret in Grand Junction. The Colorado National Monument. And let me tell you: It's grand. Sheer-walled canyons, towering red sandstone mountains and glorious valleys that host a beautiful myriad of wild animals. Yes, even snakes.

Lets face it. I'm a tree lover. It's a weird quirk that I have made peace with. That is one of the many reasons I love my home town: Farmington. When visiting I make Justin take the "scenic tree route". You will never find trees like the ones that live there. I have searched for 9 years up here in the Denver area and have found only 2 that come in a close second place.

This is an interesting specimen. Dead, but interesting.

The Dinosaur Hike!

There is surprisingly quite a few things to do in Grand Junction. For instance we got a bee in our bonet to go for a walk and we ended up picnicking and hiking on a prehistoric dinosaur trail. If Nathan can hike this in his flip-flops, anyone can do it!

These are some vertebrates! They're real:

This was the view from the top. It was worth helping the little ones trudge up the dirt trail.
This is Justin's brother and his cute little family with one in the oven I might add:).

Go Dads!

A beautiful desert lizard for lack of a better name. I can appreciate anything as long as it's NOT a snake.

I might mention that at girls camp, in the river that I was tubing in, there was a 6 foot HUGE snake next to me. That night I slept very safe and cozy lodged in between 2 of my girls. Yes, they even let me hop inside their sleeping bag with them. I owe them big, perhaps a trip to Belize. That should suffice.

A Little Slice Of Heaven!

This has been our view off our deck almost every evening this summer (when it's not raining). The kids eat Popsicles, Justin and I whip up a batch of frozen hot chocolate, and we try to savor the moment!

The Little Things...

I was at girls camp this week and it was the first time I've ever left my little guys. It was a blast but I can't explain the feeling I had sometimes. It was like I was physically craving to squish their little bodies, smell their hair, plaster them with millions of kisses, and I was DYING to hear their cute giggles!

I never knew how bad I would miss hearing Nathan belt out, "I Am A Naughty Child of God", or have a conversation that goes like this:

Nathan: Mom, my tummy hurts.
Me: What's wrong with it?
Nathan: I guess there must be lots of mustaches in it.
Me: eeewwwww! That's probably the sickest way I've ever heard a stomach ache being described. Are you going to be okay?
Nathan: Yea, but there's just lots in my tummy.

Justin's 30th!!!

We headed down to the Royal Gorge to do a little white water rafting and celebrate Justin's big 3-0! It surpassed all our expectations! I didn't expect it to be that beautiful!

At one point, we were going through class 4 and a class 5 rapid and an ex Guam fighter pilot, in his cherry red helicopter, was was loosing someones lunch in the canyon above us. Over to the left, a tram was coming down the world's steepest slope and the train full of passengers were going by on the tracks next to the river. Over to our right we almost slammed into a wall- peed our pants, died laughing, (when we knew we were going to be safe), and looked up to see the bridge hundreds of feet above us. It was breathtaking!

Half the fun was going with these guys! Brandon even made a great guide- who knew?! I've never seen anyone appreciate a gourmet sandwich the way Cody does and watch out- she 's got moves!

Nathan decided dad needed a tough crocodile cake but I think it turned out to be the worlds friendliest lizard!