Oh BABY!!!

31 Years of love, friendship, commitment, happiness, togetherness, fun times, lets be honest trials and sorrow too but mostly just being in love!!

Oct. 4th was our 31st Anniversary! Wow I am still thinking that I am only 31 years old. Where has the time gone? Ok, I dug deep and pulled out these pictures from the Wedding Album! I thought we might all get a little chuckle from them hmmm.....how times have changed!

Mark proposed to me on a lake up in the Uintahs......(which I should write a whole separate post on someday) we actually won the Great Engagement from OC Tanner which gave us $300.00 to spend in their store!

I thought this invitation might give Amy a fresh new idea for designing some Wedding Invitations.....ha ha ha.

What did we do for our anniversary? Well.....

A Hunting We Will Go! Yep, I married Jerimiah Monsen!

If you know the Monsen's it goes without saying that October is the month of hunting no questions asked. I am pretty much a hunting widow during the month. Hmmmm...not sure how we picked this month to get married. Mark is usually so good and arranges to be home for our anniversary but this year he drew out a special permit that started on Oct. 4th. I decided to suck it up and go with him on the hunt. It is always fun and exciting, the mountains are absolutely beautiful and full of color! However, the weather did not fully cooperate with us...... it rain and rained and rained some more. Did this stop us? Nope, Mark just kept going and going. He did have me prepared for anything......before we left on the hunt he took me to Cabela's and outfitted me in Camo. He was being nice I'm sure, but also in years past when I have gone with him you learn real fast that you have to be sneaky....very sneaky! My levi's would swish as I would walked and often he would turn around and give me that BE QUIET look! So the new camo really helped.

I have learned to tip toe ever so softly through crunchy leaves and brittle sticks. This year I was prepared...my pants did not swish, I was Camoed out and I was SNEAKY.... VERY SNEAKY!! he he he! The night of our anniversary it had been raining all day, we were soaked to the bone. We left our clothes by the wood stove to dry and went into town for dinner. How about that...A Steak Dinner in Delta Utah on our anniversary!! You spoil me Honey! he he he I really am married to an amazing person that I love and cherish very much! He is a wonderful Dad, Grandpa and Husband! I couldn't ask for a better eternal partner!!

Love you tons Mark!!

A Day of Beauty Anyone??

Sara has taken a big step and moved into a darling salon in Holladay.

Sara has her cosmetology license and is anxious to get up and running. She is still working part time at her other job while she is trying to build a clientele. Sara has always had a knack for style. She was know at her Cosmetology School as the Color Diva. She is so good working with color. I went into see her the other day and sat down and told her to give me a new look. She did a great job cutting and coloring. Sara used a fun new technique on Megan that she called shadowing.

Megan's hair turned out so darling, it gave her some fun different color. Grandma has been going to Sara for quite sometime!! This cute little guy wiggles and giggles the whole time he gets his hair cut!!

So if anyone needs a day of beauty give Sara a call...633-6936 or even if you know someone that needs a "DO" she would love to have a few hookups for some new clients. There's nothing better than family to help get something going!!

Reaping The Harvest

I absolutely love everything about this time of year! Life seems to slow down somewhat with school creating a natural schedule. The weather is perfect! The nights are cool , you can just feel Fall in the air and the mountains are starting to come alive with color. This time of year brings the harvest of all the seasons produce. It brings a great sense of satisfaction to open your freezer and see jars of fresh jam, bags of frozen raspberries, corn off the cob and bags of fruit. I feel ready for winter to come. It seems like the raspberries and peaches come and go so quickly. One of our favorite things to make is fresh fruit cup. It's always a good excuse to pull the girls together for a girls night.












This year we whipped through 3 cases of peaches and I wish I would of done more. I may sneak another few batches. I thought I would share this recipe, it is easy and pretty quick, one of our favorites. There is nothing better than serving your guests a medley of fresh fruit in the dead of winter.

Fresh Fruit Cup

2 Quarts of cut up peaches

2 Cups of sugar

1 can crushed pineapple (20 oz.)

1/2 Cup lemon juice

1 1/3 Cup fresh orange juice

3/4 Cup green grapes

Add all ingredients in a large bowl and stir for about 5-7 minutes until the sugar is dissolved. Put in bags or containers and freeze.

When this is taken out of the freezer to use, you can add anthing to it. Blueberries, bannanas, strawberries, etc. I always usually add a bag of my frozen raspberries and fresh bannanas. Also with the grapes, I have started to use both green and red. It just adds some color to have the red grapes in it. This is meant to be kind of slushy when you eat it, not fully thawed out! YUMMY!

Party In Powell

For Nate's birthday each year he loves to go to Lake Powell! Who wouldn't? We packed our stuff up one last time and celebrated his birthday in Powell. I always find it hard to get excited about another trip. I feel like summer is over and it is time to move on. However...this is always one of our funnest trips. September is a great time of year to go The nights are cool, the perfect weather to sleep in. The days are not quite as hot, you can actually enjoy the sunshine without feeling like you need to jump in the water every 10 minutes to cool off. It is less crowded, and the water is smooth most of the day. This year we literally spent hours playing and perfecting our surfing abilities. We finally got our boat to produce a giant wave which gave us endless entertainment. We were happy to have Cari and Jess join in the fun!!

Can you believe our 85 year old grandma is still riding a wave runner!!

Since it was Nate's Birthday I wanted to say what a great dad he is.....

His boys adore him! He is a hard worker although this picture would seem otherwise, he provides very well for his family. He is a great example to them and makes sure that his boys are respectful to their mother. We have loved having him in our family of girls, girls, girls! He has been a great friend to Mark and has become just like a son to us. He tries to keep the sensitivity of girls out...meaning he is always ready to tease and make us, mostly Megan tough. He is very handy and can fix anything and everything. He has a stash of tools that would put Home Depot to shame. he he he! I love his dedication, his spirit, and the strength he brings to our family!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Lake Powell always seems to bring us closer and gives us memories to hold.

Until 2009...let's plan a big Powell Party!

Homecoming

Oh remember the days.......High School football games.....crowds of people, parents and students yelling, loud music, school songs, painted faces, socializing kids oblivious to the game, mascots, drill teams, cheerleaders........

Skyline Homecoming 2008

Megan is having so much fun cheering and meeting new people. When the invitations for Homecoming Dance came she had to be strong and say no!! Dang that is hard...Megan doesn't turn 16 until April. For now it has to be one big hang out!! Thank goodness for fun friends!
Oh to be young again!

Skyline Homecoming 2008

Happy Birthday Katie

September 11^th! Today is a historical day……. its Katie’s 28^th birthday!

What a day to share with the world. As a tradition Katie schedules both her and I a pedicure on her birthday! How lucky for me to share a relaxing morning with her. While we were there she had endless visitors. Her dad brought her flowers, her friend brought the whole salon breakfast, Sara was doing Grandmas's hair and dropped in for a visit, Nicole and Sam brought her a Zuka juice, and a few of her clients dropped by to bring gifts.














She then spent the rest of the afternoon with
friends inside skydiving. Kind of a fun thing!
We went to dinner as a family and then she was off for a party at her house with a bunch of friends. She certainly did not lack attention. Katie is so much fun to be around! She has not only been a great daughter but also a good friend. Katie is a perfectionist. Give her a project or an assignment and it is done perfectly. This is probably why she is such a super nail technician! When you walk out of her salon your fingers and toes are perfect.!! Her clients love her and they will wait in line for an appointment! She is a good listener and friend, she has such a big heart and is a very giving person. Katie is very organized and everything in her condo has its place…especially if you look in her closet. Her clothes are hung by color..... I tried to copy her but somehow my hangers keep getting lost and can’t find their way to the right color. She loves shopping and is sometimes hard to keep up with. Katie has that sparkle in her eyes that tells you she is living the way she believes. Someday Katie will make a great catch for a man……that is if she allows herself to be caught!!

This was Katie's gift...a quilt for her bed in her new condo. Sure love you!

Happy Birthday

Garage Sale

Butternut Road is known for its fabulous garage sales!! Mom has the perfect location to draw people in off of 45th South!! It has been a few years since we have had a family garage sale. After remodeling our house and many years of gathering junk it was time! I knew I had lots of stuff to get rid of, Cari said maybe she could come up with some stuff and Nicole said she would bring a few things! Good golly Molly!!!! We had a huge sale! The yard was overflowing.
Nicole made us some great signs so it was up to Cari and I to hang them! Oh geeze, I hate doing that in the middle of the day...someone might recognize me! he he.....This is when it is great to be the older sibling! I drove while Cari diligently hammered, taped and stragetically hung the signs. We had a great crowd, a steady stream all day! The biggest problem we had was buying each others items. Some of us spent more than we made.....Mom was redecorating her house with her purchases the night we were putting stuff out....so funny! We had to be sure and beat Pat and Ann Manning to the punch....they always love previewing our loot!!



Cute Lexi had freshly baked cookies, cold soda and water to entice the shoppers! She made a bundle!! Our Garage sale was so good that we even had out of town people attending and shopping the buys! he he
I couldn't help but think of Dad......The Garage Sale King....he was our biggest supporter! The best salesman of all, always visiting with the customers and luring them into buying our stuff! If you needed something sold he was on it.....we could of used him today! Sure miss him! All in all it was a fun day, and better than that I was able to get rid of alot of stuff that was taking up needless room in our house! Thanks mom for being the hostess house for a Great Sale!