Lucky #7

Morgan had her first soccer game today. I know that I'm a little biased, but I have to say, SHE WAS AWESOME!!! Her team, THE BLUE BUNNY CRUSHERS (how funny is that?) won 4-0. She played nearly the entire game and ran her little heart out.  Here are a few pictures. 

I asked her what her favorite part of soccer was and she said, "I got new soccer shoes" HAHA She's soooooo my daughter! 

Preston's first game is on Wednesday, I'll post pictures then. 

Andrea's New Shirt

Catching Up

It's been a busy week. 

Friday- we took the kids to the 24th of July parade in Cedar. It was really a lot of fun and the kids had a blast. After that, Chris' mom took the kids for the weekend. SWEET!!!

Saturday- we went to Escalante for their celebration. I'm a total sucker for small town celebrations like this. Big cities, just aren't the same. I think the kids got more candy at the parade than they get at Halloween.  After the parade, we had Chris' family reunion. We didn't camp this year, but that was perfectly fine with me (I'm not really a camping kinda girl).

Sunday-Chris has apparently decided that he's tired of living like we don't have a dime to spare and went on a shopping spree. I always get a little worried when he heads north to Beaver (the largest gun store in Southern UT is there) He bought his DREAM gun. He was so excited!!! I love seeing him get so excited about things like this. He works sooooo hard and deserves to get fun things every once in a while.  After his purchase, he decided that I needed to get something too so he got me a freaking MACBOOK PRO!  No I'm not kidding!!! I LOVE THIS THING!!! I also totally used my sister and got a new iPOD touch for FREE as a student promo. 

I got a MacBook! I got a MacBook! I got a MacBook! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! (It's from Little Rascals.....Charon will get it lol) 

Monday-we took Shane down to Vegas to return to OH. He was a lot of fun to have around. Preston ADORED him!! 

Tuesday- I spent 6 stinkin' hours auditing the PTA books. Morgan got to play with all the farm animals while we did it. (We were at the new PTA presidents house) She was in HEAVEN. They have a little pony and she played with that thing non-stop. I think the only time she really stopped was when she was gathering eggs. It was adorable!!!

Then, we got a conditional approval to close!!! Just a few more papers and it will finally, officially be ours. So, say a prayer, rub Buddah's belly...whatever you're into, for us. 

We also got letter from the girls' teachers. Shelby got Mrs. Fuson and Morgan got Miss Hunsaker. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE both of them!  They also have their 2 best friends/neighbors  in their classes. FUN!

New Beginnings

Today, my boss called me and offered me a full time position at one of our sister facilities. The offer also included a pay raise and benefits (after 90 days) Obviously, I couldn't refuse the offer. I start in August and I am soooooooo excited!!!!!! We think this will be a really good thing for our family if for no other reason than the fact that I will be much happier over there!!!

Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the kitchen. It needs a little more filler around the edges, but I like it.
Today, Andrea took my kids to the Renaissance Fair (these people put NASCAR fans to shame!) just so that they could ride the camels and I could get some sleep. She's such a great aunt and little sister!!! I tried to get Andrea to let me post the video of her camel impression, but she won't let me. hahahaha It's great!! Here's one of the kids along with a picture. Preston came home saying, "Camels is really hairy mom. Look, it got hair all overs me."

Realization

We're finally in our new house and I LOVE IT!! We're still living out of boxes and the house pretty much looks like a bomb went off, but I'm working on it. By the way, if Charlene, Auggie or Britt know where some of the bathroom boxes might have been put, could ya let me know. I can't find any of the hair stuff, so Andrea and I have been looking GREAT! hahahahahaha
I've managed to get my kitchen unpacked and decorated with the help of Andrea and my friend Sonda. I'll post pictures later. We used chicken wire as a garland to create a background for my farm decorations. Chris was a little sceptical at first. I believe his exact words were, "Alright fine. Give it a try. When it looks like shit I guess we're only out 10 bucks." I LOVE the way it turned out! And I'm happy to report that 1) Andrea and Sonda escaped with only minor cuts and scrapes from the wire and 2)Chris liked it when it was done!
One of my favorite things about the new house is that there aren't any stairs!!! I've been able to tuck my kids in and read books to them every night! I love spending those few moments with them every night!!!!
You know how they say that guys marry their mothers? Well tonight, it hit me that 1) Chris' mom and I have almost identical wedding rings 2) we have the same couches 3) we now have almost the same color of carpet and 4) I have her dining room table. When I pointed that out to Chris tonight he busted up laughing and said, "I wondered how long it would take you to realize that about the carpet and the table." Seriously????? lol Now that I'm thinking about it, we used to have basically the same car too. I had a Grand Am and she had a Malibu (they're the same car just with different trim). Obviously, we both have good taste. lol

Funny things for the week:
Preston: Aunt Andrea!
Andrea: What buddy?
Preston: My muscles look sexy when I skateboard down the hill.

Preston:Pwetty pwease wiff a cherry on da top
Me:No
Preston:no (whining) dat means you're supposed to say yes

Preston's New sayings:
"What's your angle?"
"What's the big idea?"
"I said WHAT?" (sing songy)
"Pwetty pwease wiff a cherry on da top?"

KRUMPETS

So, I've told several of you about my new fave store (thanks Tara) it's called Krumpets. It's pretty much the mecca of cheap decor!! I love it. It isn't nearly as big as Tia Pan (aka. "Decorator Heaven") but they have cuter and cheaper stuff!! Everybody has been asking what I got, so here are a few pics.

I also finally found Morgan some horse sheets (WOOHOO!) and got a screamin' deal on the hall bathroom decor!!

We're supposed to move in on Friday!!! Hallelujah!!

Still Waiting!

We had a pretty good weekend. We had some friends from out of town come to stay with us. Then, after they left on Sunday, we went to St. George for a nice Fathers Day dinner. I thought Chris was going to fall over when I begged him to take me to Sportsman's Warehouse. Poor guy was sadly disappointed when we got there and all I wanted to look at was the home decorations (Preston's room will be a lodge/hunter theme) lol..... No..... he's trying to decide if he wants a new gun safe or a new grill for his FD present. For the record.... Chris is the most amazing husband and father. I can't even begin to say what I would have given for a Dad as great as he is! I'm so grateful for the example that he sets for our kids. Nothing would make me prouder than for our kids to turn out just like him. He works incredibly hard to provide for our family, yet he also does everything he can to "be there" for us. He often drops everything he's doing to run pick Preston up from Preschool because I'm stuck somewhere; attends every school function, dance recital, etc that he possible can; snuggles the kids to sleep nearly every night; picks up my slack on the weekends; helps with homework....the list really does go on and on. Babe, YOU'RE AMAZING!!! WE LOVE YOU!

Moving along.....We thought that we were going to get to close on the house today and move in this weekend. No Such Luck. We're still waiting for all the paperwork, so hopefully we'll get to move in next week. FRUSTRATING!!!
This week Andrea and I took on the task of painting my entertainment center. We got the side cabinet done and it looks pretty good. I was going to let (ok, make)Chris do it, but he kept putting it off (as if he doesn't have 10 million other things going on) so I told him that Andrea and I would do it. He gave me the "Yeah Right!" look and when I said, "Hey what's that 'yeah right' look supposed to mean." He laughed and said, "Yeah Right". Oh, it was game on then! We got it done late last night and then he said, "Well if you would have been a little more patient I would have showed you how to use a paint sprayer and it would have been a lot easier." Apparently, in the almost 10 years that he's known me, he hasn't figured out that patience isn't a virtue that I possess. No worries, we left the big one for him to help with...hahaha

I Swear She Has Manners!

I'm going to start this by saying that Shelby is probably one of the sweetest, most tender hearted little girls you could ever meet. She's generally very conscientious of other peoples feelings, and if she does offend or someone, she's ALWAYS willing to apologize!
That being said:
Yesterday, Andrea took her to Wal-Mart. As they were getting ready to check out, they saw 2 groups of polygamist women (or fundamentalist for those of you that are into political correctness). Now, Andrea not being from Utah, is quite fascinated with these women. So, Shelby yells at the top of her lungs (while pointing mind you) "Aunt Andrea. Look! There's a polygamist. Take a picture." Suddenly, Andrea had an entire group staring at her, giving her the evil eye! She said that the cashiers were doing everything they could not to laugh but there was a guy standing nearby that was in tears! Andrea was MORTIFIED!!!
I swear she really does have manners! And I promise I've taught my kids not to do EVER say stuff like this in public!

MacGyver has nothing on Chris!

WOW! Today was an adventure. We decided to take a family trip up to Panguitch Lake for an last minute fishing trip. We had a lot of fun and the kids were so cute.

On the way to the lake, we hit a giant rock. When we got ready to leave, the car wouldn't budge. NOT GOOD! Apparently, the rock punched a hole in the transmission pan or something like that and all of the transmission fluid leaked out while we were fishing. Poor Chris had to walk a couple of miles to a store with all 3 kids in tow. When he got back, he fixed our transmission with duct tape and tooth picks. I kid you not!! He rocks. (No pun intended)

On a funny note: Andrea took the kids to the the store. Preston wanted some cookies, but Andrea told him that we have cookies at home. He said, "Those cookies are cheap. I don't like them. (pointing to a Crunch bar) But I like those!" haha

IT"S A LONG ONE

I'm warning you now... I have lots to tell and lots of pictures, so this is going to be a long post!

Where to start, Where to start... Ok, my little sister graduated from high school this past weekend so I flew to Ohio to be there. Chris' mom watched the kids all weekend, so that Chris could have the weekend to himself (did he relax.. Uh NO! He worked all weekend) Anyway, I hopped on a plane to OH and by Friday afternoon was hanging out with my sister.

WARNING tangent coming up: Can I just say, I never realized how completely co-dependant I've become until this trip. Hello, I came all the way out here all by myself without knowing a single soul. And found my way to my roommates house in Vegas at 11:00pm a week after I got here. (BTW.. Thanks Ariane!) Now, I was a nervous wreck having to travel all by myself. I've gotten so used to Chris handling things like rental cars, airlines, and hotel check-ins, that I was scared to death. So much for Miss Independant. But, no worries, I put my big girl pants on and handled things quite well if I do say so.

Anyway- Friday, I arrived in OH and managed to find my way to the hotel only to discover that my makeup had shattered all over my clothes! ( I put everything except my makeup in a baggy. None of it exploded... figures!) I was NOT a happy camper, but dealt with it. Once my clothes were clean, Andrea and I ventured into Columbus to eat at The Cheesecake Factory. (for the record we don't recommend the Carrot Cake Cheesecake! It's not yummy at all!) It took us 2 hours to go 20 miles because apparently, Andrea has never paid attention to where she's going in the 8 years that she's lived there! Oh well, we had a blast!

On Saturday, she gave me the tour of Heath. Then we went to the Longaberger Homestead. This is a picture of their corporate offices. How cool is this building??

My sister even gave me 2 little Longaberger baskets! I was so excited! Happy Little Sisters Graduation to Me!! lol

On Sunday, she finally graduated! This is Andrea and the BF, Shane. (I REALLY like him!!)

Andrea Thinking!

Andrea and I after the graduation

I just think she looks cute in this picture!

Me and my little "Mini Me" ("She's fun to play dress up with. She's like a doll.")

One more just for the heck of it!

On Monday, we packed up all of her stuff and mailed it to my house, got on a plane and come home. She's staying with us for the summer. I'M SOOOO EXCITED TO HAVE HER HERE!!

On Tuesday, she got to drive "the Hoopty"! She'll be driving it until we can find her a car of her own. (It's not a problem since I'm a snob and refuse to drive the thing!Not that my car is much better) I don't think I've ever put pictures of the Hoopty on here so here's one.

She has a blog going now. Check her out at http://www.hooptilicious.blogspot.com/. She'll be documenting all the fun things we do out here and as well as her adventures in the hoopty.

What day am I on now???? Oh yeah, Wednesday. You ready for this??? Drum Roll Please........ We got our Certificate of Occupancy for our house!!!! Now, we're just waiting to close so we can move in! I'm so excited!!!!

OK.....now we're up to date!!!! Oh, Chris got a new air compressor while I was gone, so he's been working on some side work at home! YAY! YAY! YAY! I love having him home, even if he's still working!

AS SEEN ON TV

I've never been one for infomercials! I've always been of the general opinion that most of those AS SEEN ON TV things are crap and a complete waste of money. I may have to change that now. A couple years ago I bought one of those Smart Spin storage container sets. I love that thing. It comes with 20 or so containers that all share the same lids. It also has a space saving plastic holder that spins (Hence the name Smart Spin). The containers are the perfect size for most left overs and awesome to put things in for the kids lunches! LOVE! IT!

The other thing that I've become a fan of is the PED EGG. Now I have to admit that it's probably the grossest thing I've ever seen, but this little gem works like a charm! First you use the little cheese grater looking thing to get off all the dry skin. I thought that it would hurt, but it doesn't at all. Then you use the "buffing" side to smooth everything out. I can honestly say, I think you get better results from this thing than you do from a professional pedicurist (is that what they're called?) My feet are as smooth as a baby's butt (for some reason this expression CRACKS my kids up! lol)Now granted this doesn't come with the drinks, snacks,and a massaging chair like the professional ones do, but it's also not 30 bucks a pop either!! Mine even came with a nifty handle attached to it so that all of us old, crippled people can give ourselves a pedicure without even bending over! (You know a pregnant woman thought of that!)

SO I guess since I'm batting a thousand with the As Seen On TV stuff, I should probably quit making fun of it so much! I told Chris that since I'm having so much luck with it, maybe I'll buy him one of those "Gator Grip" sockets and then he can just throw his thousands of dollars in tools away. He won't need them anymore! He looked at me like I was on crack! hahaha

House pics

Sorry Charon but when I say "tonight" I mean the middle of the night! Patience dear child patience!!

Ok here are not only pics, but VIDEO! (I know I'm a little too excited but hey, if you don't like it, don't look!)

This is the view from my front door! (ignore the porta potty right there in the middle, we decided to upgrade to indoor plumbing...apparently some of the neighbors did not heehee)

MASTER BEDROOM

BRIEF TOUR OF HOUSE

OUTSIDE OF THE HOUSE

Here's the drama we had with the paint. Last week we went over to talk to the contractors about our laundry room. He told us then that the painters had gotten half the house painted before they realized that the drywall wasn't ready! Then, on Tuesday I got a call saying that the house was painted, but it was painted THE WRONG COLOR! Ethan had me go out and look at it to see what I thought. It wasn't a bad color at all, but I told him the only way that I would keep it is if the interior decorator could guarantee that it would match the tile, granite, carpet etc. She said it would look just fine, but it wouldn't be her first pick. So, Ethan decided to repaint it no matter what. In the meantime Ethan had me go look at another house to see if I wanted them to upgrade our paint job from 2 tone to 3 tone (as compensation for the screw up). I went over to the house and decided that even though it was an upgrade, I didn't like it. He said, ok we won't do it then. Well, the next day, I went over and they had redone the color and done the 3 tone paint. When I called Ethan he was LIVID with the painters. I decided that I'd live with it so that things didn't get slowed down another day. Luckily Chris went over and LOVED it!

One a happier note: I'll take pictures of the house today and post them tonight. It's getting down to the wire!!!!! YYYYYAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!

Are you kidding me?

Ok, everyone knows that I have A LOT of time to play on the Internet at work. Tonight, there was a headline on MSN.COM that for some reason caught my attention. I was a little shocked when I read the article. It an Interview that Brooke Shields did with US magazine. Here's what I have a problem with:

Brooke Shields: I Regret Losing My Virginity at 22USMagazine, May 26, 2009
Brooke Shields says she wishes she learned to "love the way" she looked "earlier."
Why?
"I think I would have had sex a lot earlier!" the actress jokes in the June issue of Health magazine. "I think I would have lost my virginity earlier than I did at 22."
"I had the public and this pressure, and I wish I had just gotten it over with in the beginning, when it was sort of OK. I think I could have been much more in touch with myself," Shields -- who was a child model continues.
If she had sex earlier, "I think I wouldn't have had issues with weight -- I carried this protective 20 pounds [in college]," she says. "It was all connected. And to me, that's a health regret."

Cause you know, girls that have random sex at a young age are notoriously happier and healthier... ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? Ok, 1) I realize that it's Brooke Shields so, who cares? (the woman dated Michael Jackson for heavens sakes, obviously her judgement isn't what it should be) But as a Mom of 2 little girls and someone that works with messed up girls, I have to say: that this is NOT the message we should be sending!! I'm not saying that we should teach abstinence only (that's probably going to get my UT Resident status revoked) but you don't say, "Hey, if ya have sex you won't be 20 lbs over weight and you'll feel so much better about yourself." (My words not hers)
I can only hope that this was taken out of context and this is not how she intended it to sound!

WOW!

The girls have some friends that dyed their hair pink for the summer. Of course, my kids being the followers that they are, had to do it too. Um..... Shelby's kinda bled into the rest of her hair! OOPS! Oh well, it's summer. Good thing I only left the color on for a couple minutes instead of the full half hour!

Ha...take that Momma!

You know those "How Well Do You Know (insert person)?" quizes on Facebook? Well, I was looking over one this morning. The question was "What is my middle name?" This person's brother had left a comment that said, "Since when is your middle name "A." ?
It suddenly occurred to me that my LEGAL middle name is no longer "Elaine". It hasn't been for 9+ years now, and I never realized it. My legal middle name is "E."
For those that don't know, my great grandmother, Granny, Momma, both sisters, me and both of my girls ALL have the middle name "Elaine". I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate... and when I say "hate" I mean LOATHE the name Elaine. The only reason that I named my girls "Elaine" is because it was a HUGE deal to my mom. (sometimes after your parents are gone, you do weird stuff that would have made them happy)
I remember when I was little (really little), I used to try to change my name. Momma would always say, "you can change your last name one day but you're stuck with both Jana and Elaine." So, I have to admit I got quite the little chuckle out of this realization.

My little horse nut!

I always love watching little kids pay for stuff with their own money. Besides the obvious reasons (it's not me paying for it) I love the way that they walk up to the counter and throw every dime at the cashier. Morgan decided to spend her bday money at Gamestop. She was able to buy 2 games for the DS. For some reason she was totally excited about the big fuss that the guy made over the $2 bills that she used. When we left, she said, "He thought I was really cool cause I had $2 that really looked like $1."

Here's a picture of her with her big purchase.

Big Day

Morgan has had a big day today. She had her Kindergarten program tonight, PLUS it was her 6th Birthday. She was so stinking cute!! Here are a few pics. Our friend recorded the program, so when she emails it to me, I'll post it. It's kinda long so it's mainly meant for Grandma and family!Right before the program

Morgan and her little friend before the programWalking into the programMy little public speaker!

After her program, our friends joined at Chili's for dinner. (Morgan's pick) We had a couple waiters come out to sing and all!! Morgan didn't mind since she got free ice cream!

When we got home, Morgan quickly opened her present. (Here's my bad mom thing: I really didn't want to try to throw together a big party so I told Morgan she could get a Really Big, Expensive present and not have a party, OR she could have a party and get a cheap crappy present.) So, she decided that she wanted a Nintendo DS!

Today, Morgan got a couple of cards in the mail as well as a way cute dress and this purple shirt from Grandma. She also got some money. Here's a little back story: Shelby has been saving all of her tooth fairy and allowance money in the hopes of buying a big item. She's constantly rubbing it in Morgan's face that she has money and Morgan doesn't. Well, after getting B-Day money, Morgan has more money than Shelby! When Morgan realized this, she let out the most evil little cackle. I thought I was going to fall over! haha She's going to use it all to buy a new DS game.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MORGAN ELAINE

Laser Tag

Today was the reward field trip for the reading program. The PTA took the top 2 classes for the entire year to Laser Mania. They got 2 hours of unlimited laser tag, bumper cars and mini golf. They could also play in the arcade if they brought money.
I decided that since Preston has had to tag along to all of the meetings, "help" set things up, and follow me all over the school while I picked up calendars, he deserved to go.
I knew he'd be too little for the laser tag, but I thought he could probably do bumper cars. When we got there, we found out that he was too little. HE WAS BROKEN HEARTED!!! I felt so bad! I was eventually able to talk him into playing mini golf with me. He was soooo cute. He tried so hard to hit the ball in the hole, but just couldn't quite get it. Finally, he picked up the ball dropped it in the hole and then yells, "Hey mom! Look! That's a lot easier!" It was hilarious. From then on he ran around dropping the ball in the whole. I kept telling him to use the club and he said, "No! Dats to hawd!"
We spent most of the time in the arcade! He had so much fun. He hit the jackpot on one of the machines and won like 200 tickets. You should have seen him jumping up and down, squealing in excitement as the tickets made a huge pile on the floor. He had to call Chris at work to tell him "I hit the jackpot!" When all was said and done he walked away with the most expensive $1 remote control car you've ever seen! lol Oh well, he had a ball and that's all that I care about!

As a side note: Today, Chrysler released its list of dealers that will be closing. They closed a total of 789 dealerships, nationwide. Parkway will be losing its Jeep franchise! They are closing 10 dealers in Utah including all 3 in Cedar City and 1 in St George! Truthfully, Parkway loses $ every month with their Jeep franchise. They were only keeping it in the hopes of expanding at some point in the future to a full fledged Dodge dealer. Ford is the bread and butter of that place!! Chris was actually kind of excited (well, that's probably not the best word to use) because he HATES working on Chrysler warranty! Their warranty pay is pathetic!Sooo.. if you own a Chrysler vehicle in Southern Utah, good luck getting any warranty work done. They kept the one in Richfield open, but other than that, you'll have to go to either Vegas or Salt Lake for any warranty repairs! Not Cool!

Monster Truck Spectacular

As promised here are the videos that we managed to get of Preston at the Monster Truck Spectacular. It was definitely a generic version of "Monster Jam" but he had fun and that's what matters. I think he got a little overwhelmed! Truthfully, the girls had just as much fun as he did! My stupid batteries went dead after just a short time, and of course the others were in the car, but here's what I managed to get.

Mothers Day and the House

Yesterday was a very bittersweet day for me. I missed mamma something fierce, but it's hard to be sad when you have such sweet kids. (She wouldn't want that anyway!) My day started out with 3 VERY excited kids giving me their homemade presents. Morgan gave me the butterfly, Preston the flower and Shelby the cookbook. The cookbook is hilarious. Here's Shelby's contribution:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

You need chocolate chip cookie dough (notice she doesn't even try to pretend that I make it from scratch) Put it on the pan. Put the stove to 100 degrees. Put them in the oven for 1 hour. Then take them out and put it on a cooling rack.- by Shelby

After gifts, we went to St. George for my Mothers Day lunch and a little shopping. I made it through 2 stores before I was done with walking! We came home and went to the new house. They are prepping for stucco right now and hanging drywall. Here are some updated pictures.

Front of the House

Back of the house and the future back patio

From the living room looking into the dining room

Master Bedroom and the toilet room (yes there's a separate room for the toilet)

Also, after looking at the house yesterday, Chris thinks that the garage is tall enough to put a lift in the 3rd garage. Suddenly my new dining room table and bed set got bumped to the end of the line! Oh well, if he has that, he'll be able to do all of his side work at HOME!!! How awesome will that be? We're currently taking donations for the cost of a new lift! lol

As a side note, Preston LOVED the Monster Truck Spectacular. I got a couple short videos that I'll post when I have better internet. But here's my favorite picture!

Homesick

My friend Charon inspired this blog. I've been feeling a little homesick lately, so I thought I'd make a list of thing I miss about the south. Trust me, the town I'm from in Florida is definitely southern!
1) Football- More specifically, GATOR football. I get a kick out of going to SUU football games because my high school stadium is bigger than Eccles Coliseum.
2)Grits- Grits are a staple at our house. For those of you that don't know what they are, it's basically ground hominy. There are really only 2 ways to eat grits: WITH or WITHOUT cheese along with butter, salt and pepper. You do not add fruit, milk, sugar, syrup or any other "yankeefied" concoction that you non-southern folks may have come up with.
3)Magnolias- MMMMMM! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the smell of magnolias.
4)Chicken on the bone- You CANNOT make real fried chicken with boneless skinless chicken breast.
5) "Mamma" "Daddy", "Granny", "Nanna" etc- I don't think I ever called my mother "mom". She was "Mamma" . I didn't really have a dad, but for those that do, it's not uncommon to hear a grown man call his father, "Daddy". Everyone has a "Granny" "Papa" or something similar. We southerners differentiate between grandparents by giving them different nicknames. It doesn't matter who I'm talking to, I call my grandmother, "Granny". At first people look at me like I'm nuts, but then they get used to it. I used to tease Mamma by telling her that I was going to have my kids call her "Mee Maw". She swore that if I did, she'd slap me. She would have done it too, cause "mamma's" aren't afraid to slap their kids hahaha
6)"Ya'll"- I didn't know that you could hold a conversation without using the word "Ya'll"
7)Horse Farms- Here's a news flash Cedar City: Having a 1/2 acre lot does not mean that you have "horse property".
8)Boiled Peanuts- you take fresh peanuts (shell on) and boil them in salt water ALL DAY! They are so yummy!
9)"Bless Her Heart"- you can say anything you want about someone as long as you say, "Bless his/her heart". It the magic phrase that makes everything ok. Ex. "Her baby is the ugliest thing I've ever seen, bless his heart."
10)Southern Women- there are 2 very different kinds of southern women. There is the debutant. Then there is the hick. Ex. Steel Magnolias vs My Big Redneck Wedding (I have to admit, I love this show. Chris turns his chair so that he can watch ME watch the show.)
11)Watermelon- I grew up on a watermelon farm. Nearly every year, my Granny and Grandpa would lease out their fields to local farmers. As part of the deal, we got unlimited watermelons. I remember busting the melon on the ground, eating the heart out, spitting the seeds at each other for fun (Yes, Celeste, I actually did this), then throwing the rest to the cows. It's really the only way to eat watermelon. lol
12)The Accent- I've lost most of my accent. However, it only takes 2 things to bring it back.. 1)Watching Paula Dean on TV or 2)make me mad! Trust me, it'll come back full force then! (I can use this to my advantage with Chris though. He can't argue with me if he can't understand a word I'm saying.)
13)The Food- Southern food is good. Why? Cause it's fattening. There's just no way around it. I miss foods like collard, mustard and turnip greens, black eyed peas, banana pudding. strawberry shortcake, BBQ, baked beans, and okra. I try to make them, but it's just not the way Mamma made it!
14)Water- and not the frozen kind that we get here. I miss all of the lakes, beaches, ponds, rivers, springs, etc. Heck you even have to breath water in Florida!
15)Tradition and History- I know that Utah is rich with Mormon Pioneer history, but that doesn't apply to me. Most of my family history isn't exactly politically correct nowadays, so I won't go into it (Hello, it's the south). However, I love visiting my Granny's family in South Carolina and seeing all the Civil War landmarks. Where else in the world do they proudly reenact a war that they lost?!?!?!

I've lived in Utah for 10 years. It's my home and I love it here. However, sometimes I really wish that we could make it back more often. Maybe one day we'll be in a position to do that. Until then, I'll just have to enjoy all the things that make Utah unique! (I'm trying to work up the nerve to take a picture of a polygamist at Wal-Mart for you folks back home)

Before I forget, we're taking Preston to the Monster Truck rally tonight. He's going to be SOOO excited. I'll take lots of pictures for Grandma Charlene!!!