this is my GOOD friend beth. as you can tell in the above photos. i missed her birthday last week and i feel bad. especially since beth is so good at remembering my birthday and a million other things. she is superwoman! no lie. i think she is the only person that has more on her to-do list than oprah. really. and oprah doesn't even have kids. so there. those pictures make me laugh because, hey--you can really tell how much beth wants me.! shhh, don't tell her husband. beth--it's ok to have a girl crush. really. seriously--if i got the chance to get married again--i'd marry beth. i'd have no worries. except she would have to teach me all about sports. like how come the superbowl is in AZ again after it was just here a year ago! sheesh.

beth--happy belated birthday. next time i see you i will lick your ear again. i promise...L

shout out to k-dawg who took these lovely photos!

you know why there is a cliche "sick and tired?" because it isn't a CLICHE! it's solid gold truth. wha' happened? i turned 45 and my body shut down on me. i am so not kidding. i haven't been feeling well since around saturday night. i am complaining non-stop to dave about how i am falling apart. our conversation went something like this yesterday:
me: i have to start taking care of myself. i only have a few short years left.
dave: i heard that if you haven't done anything before you are 40 that it doesn't matter--the damage is done.
me: shut up! who was talking to you anyway! ( i deleted a few swear words for my young readers!)
then i thought about it and realized--dave doesn't read, he doesn't watch the news. all he watches on tv is "Dog: the bounty hunter" and "Cops". so i'm pretty sure my get healthy plan will still work and i might live to see my grandchildren. {insert big sigh here}.

another reason dave is slipping on my popularity list is because he dared to ask IF I MIGHT BE PREGNANT! i dared to ask if he had a passport because if i was pregnant {insert trademarked maddy intake of breath here} i would kill him dead. then i would kill him all over again. just to make sure the first killing took. then i would kill him again. just for the sheer fun of it. then i would chop off his head, hang it on a pole in town square and attach a note that this is what happens to men whom refuse to get a vasectomy and then their 45 year old wife gets pregnant. BE AFRAID!

in all of these very traumatic {and i am not one for the drama usually} events i have at least tried to accomplish some goals. no exercising but i am eating healthier--i went off soda AGAIN, for the 100th time, i have taken some pictures--note the very lovely and animated haley--and I SWEAR she is a double in that top photo for brianne. it gives me chills. i finished a layout. at the moment though i can't remember my other goals. that is probably the alzheimers beginning to kick in. well, i must sign out now and go take my geritol and eat some prunes. later...L

happy birthday to me. and it's been a good one so far. breakfast in bed (buttermilk pancakes with apple cinnamon syrup) and turkey tacos for lunch. just trying not to think that 45 is about a half century old. bloody hell. i'm old. i think we might go to sedona for the rest of the day. and maybe look around for a wheelchair. peace out...L

just a few images from some random things last week. first, went down to mesa on friday to "scrap" with my girlfriends. which really was just a cover for a surprise baby shower for shanna. we went with the traditional "balls and nuts" theme. HA we did get a little carried away with decorating the gingerbread men. and embellishing them. and using them for our entertainment. my favorite was the napkins--which showed a pic of a baby with the saying "you're kidding! i get both nipples?" (brianne--i saved some for your shower!) of course no scrapping got done and when i went to leave my car was filled with balloons. crazy girls. they always do something fun for our birthdays--and since i don't live close they always get creative. i drove all the way home with those balloons. i wanted to show my girls. about 15 minutes from my house one of the balloons popped and gave me a heart attack. so i opened the back windows to let the balloons go and instead they all got sucked to the front of the car making it terribly hard to see out. i am sure if i would have studied the law of physics back in high school i could have avoided that. but then i let my windows down and balloons just flew out of my car. i wish i could have driven behind myself to see that.

this week has not started good for me. i came home from church at 2 and went to bed until 5. then i went to sleep again around 9. i have just been struggling with being tired this week. it is killing me.

but i have a few funny things to post. things my girls have done. tonight for example. carson shows me a beautiful drawing of new york, complete with the statue of liberty. i comment on how lovely it is. she tells me that "the eiffel tower" is a little crooked. i say "it's the statue of liberty." carson''oh, whatever." yeah--cuz the two are very difficult to tell apart. LOL then anna is working on apostrophes and possession. she is supposed to re-write "the queen of the colony is very important." so i ask anna how she could write this with a possesive noun. anna's response--The queen rules!. i love it. how very true.

and the card--one i did for a challenge on a website. it helped fulfill one of my resolutions. to make a card and a page a week. i actually made two cards. plus our family has had family home evening, read scriptures and had family prayer. love it. the only thing killing me right now is the diet/exercise. and i got a little scared tonight when i called my daughter and she told me she had gone to a step aerobic class tonight. i need to get my butt in gear. now it's time to see if american idol has ended so i can get my girls in bed. later...L

happy new 2008. we spent the last weekend with the girls in flagstaff. where it snowed all day. we had a blast. we found a sledding park and went and had a great time sledding down all the hills. taylor and i caught some air on the big hill. but anna is destined to be a snowboarder. she literally didn't want to leave, even though she was soaked to the skin. i didn't get many pictures because it snowed the entire day on us. but we did drink lots of hot chocolate and watched movies in our hotel room. we ate really well too.

i really don't make new years resolutions. they're so cliche and just something i don't do usually. but this year i changed my mind. i decided i needed some concrete goals and what better time to set them into place but january. so here goes. my new years resolutions.

1) eat better/healthier.
2) get kids and husband to get on board for goal #1.
3) get in shape. i want to lose weight too, but my main goal is to get in shape through exercise and eating healthier.
4) read at least one book a month. (this goal has been accomplished already as i just finished "twilight" last night.)
5) be more outgoing/socialize more. I am such a hermit/loner/nerd.
6) scrap a page and a card a month.
7) enjoy my other hobbies: reading, beading, sewing, photography.
8) read my scriptures daily.
9) morning and evening prayers.
10) do #'s 8 and 9 as a family also.
11) get a grandbaby!

so i will be doing a monthly check on myself as i try to focus on keeping these goals. i also have others but those are little things that i can do monthly. feel free to share your goals with me and your progress also. i do have a really good incentive for getting in shape. when brianne left at christmas time we challenged each other to lose weight and i told her that the loser has to get pregnant. so as i am SO NOT going to get pregnant i figure that if i get goals #1 and 3 done then goal #11 will happen! peace out...L