I am famous!

Yes, I was one of the HUNDREDS of women who went to see The Pioneer Woman last night. we waiting in line for about 1/2 hour to get inside the gallery, where she would be speaking. My sister-in-law & I decided we were going to stand on the stairs to see better - and WHAT DO YOU KNOW!! We are in a picture on The Pioneer Woman's blog!

No, of course, unless you knew it was me, you wouldn't be able to tell, but we are on the VERY top of the stairs...

I will be signing autographs later...

I LOVE Boutique Season!

I love going around to all the different boutiques! I have been to a few today, and there is another one tomorrow that I want to get to!

Check out Seedlings blog to see some of their cute stuff!

Fairytale or Horror Story

Once upon a time, there was a young girl. She was raised as a Titan. Her parents met at Olympus High School, and all of their 7 children went to Olympus. They have a brick in the Olympus High auditorium with their family legacy at Olympus. (The 3rd generation Titan of the family is a sophomore this year)

Anyway...when this young girl was at Olympus, she met another fellow Titan. (She just couldn't keep her eyes off of his awesome mullet!) He played Football, and ran track for Olympus

She was in their Dance Club, and was a Cheerleader her Senior year.

They began dating, and years later, they were married.

Their love for Olympus never faded. He coached little league football for Olympus for 10 years. He was a good coach, many of their teams went to the championship (one team had lost every game the year before, and WON the championship the year He was one of their coaches).

His players loved him. He would dress up in his pads, and play against them. They loved when they got to tackle him, and put "the smack down" on their coach.

She would faithfully attend those games, even when their first child arrived. When their second child was on the way, he decided that he needed to take a little break. They now have 3 children, and were planning on living happily every after...

Flash forward several years. They had bought their dream home. It was in her "Golden Circle" They were close to family, in the area they wanted, going to the schools they wanted...or so they thought. The year their oldest child turned 8, SHE decided she was going to play football. So we went to go sign her up at Olympus. Filled out paperwork, purchased t-shirts, shorts, etc...Then the unexpected...our little house had been snatched out of the Olympus boundries...and to our horror...we were now in EAGLE boundries...we had to put blue & yellow on our daughter, and she even had an SKYLINE FOOTBALL sweatshirt! (although it was pink...) It was hard...really hard...

Flash forward several more years. There was an opportunity to coach again for Olympus Little League. He REALLY wanted to coach, but there was a problem...Their oldest was now playing competition soccer, and their firstborn son was now old enough to play football. The only way that He would coach football, would be if his son was playing for Olympus...(queue dramatic music).

But, alas, it was not meant to be...we are firmly planted in Skyline Little League football. He would have to spend his time watching his son play as an Eagle - or would he...(more dramatic music).

When they finally split the teams, and had their first team meeting, one of the parents who was helping coach asked the question "What does the X mean on their helmets" - WHAAAT? After observing more discussion at that meeting it was clear that to ensure their son had a good first year of little league football, He would have to help coach - (three things that He said He would never do...coach a Gremlin football team, coach his own child, and coach for Skyline). Oh what you do for your children!

To make things even more painful, our first game was the annual Olympus vs. Skyline fundraiser game. Skyline got KILLED by Olympus! But their son did a great job. He got to play several positions, including runningback & quarterback, and he looks ADORABLE in his uniform (even though it is the wrong color).

Let's Go Team... sigh...

Well, regardless of what school their kids end up going, they still are planning to live happily ever after.

And So It Begins...

It's a good thing we got all of vacations & fun in July, because fall sports are in full swing at our house...

Ash has soccer 3-4 times a week (next week 2 times a day for 2 of those days!!), and Nick has started football. He is sooo excited! He will have practice 5 days a week.

I knew what we were getting ourselves into, from when Ashley played football, but I think you forget about it until it starts up again, and smacks you in the face !

I just wish my kids weren't so timid and shy...

Like Father, Like Daughter, Like Son

I know I have been horrible lately about posting, and it's not for lack of material! We went on our cruise, and just got back from California, and I have a TON of pictures to go through, but this one makes me laugh...

I don't know if it was because of poor sun screen application (impossible, since I am the one who did it!), or if it was because of aggressive beach activities, where their swimsuits slid down their bodies, but each of them got a sunburn on their backs about 2-3 inches high...Note to self for next year...they need to sunscreen their entire bums, and I will have NO part of that!

Look at Him Go!

So, last week, it was just Jon & myself at home. He was watching TV on the couch, and I was just doing my thing around the house. I heard Jon say "I want to take my training wheels off". I didn't really pay attention, and just kept doing my thing. He said it a few more times, so I thought, fine, I'll take them off, and then I will be putting them back on. (We have tried this a few times in the past few months, but mind you, it has always been someone else suggesting it).

So, with training wheels off, and helmet on, we ventured out into the street. It only took me about 10 yds., and he was off!

He was SOOOO proud of himself, he just kept giggling! (and when he wasn't giggling, he was concentrating really hard - thus the famous Denning tongue sticking out!)

We decided to venture around the block, so I got on my adorable bike, and off we went. Jon kept yelling "Whoohoo! No training wheels!"

Ashley had taught Nick how to ride his bike when he was 3, so we were starting to wonder if he was ever going to ride his bike without training wheels - for heavens sakes - he's 4 1/2!! What's wrong with him! He just had to do it when HE wanted to do it!!

It made me a little sad (and still does), to see him riding off on his bike. He's my baby, and I realized that he is not so little anymore.

Way to go buddy!

Laundry Helper

One FHE when I was about 10, my Mom passed out a laundry bag to each of the kids (there were 7 of us), that had our names on it. Then she taught each of us how to do our laundry. We each were assigned a day of the week to do our laundry, so if you didn't do it on your day, you were either out of luck, or you had to ask the person who's day it was if you could do a load, or put a few things in with their stuff.

I didn't love doing it, but I TOTALLY understand why my Mom did that. So, last summer, I taught Ashley how to do her laundry. It really is quite cute to see her piles of dirty clothes, and hear her in the laundry room starting up a load of laundry.

I also have had Nick sorting his dirty clothes for a while, and he is next to learn how to do his laundry.

Today is laundry day. I told Nick he had to sort this laundry, and to help Jon sort his. A few minutes after the boys went downstairs, Nick came up. I asked him if he was done, and he said yes. Then I asked if Jon's sorting was done, and he said, "I showed him how, and he wanted to do it himself".

A few minutes later, Jon was calling for me (a bum check - lucky me!), and when I gave my approval, I asked him if he was done sorting his clothes, and he said not yet. So I asked him if he wanted my help, and he said "No". We went into his room, and I was watching him sort. He was talking to himself as he went along "Shorts in this pile, shirts in this pile...I need to start a sock pile..."

So, even though he didn't get the real concept of darks, whites, etc., he was sorting his clothes. And one less thing for this Mom to do is a BIG deal in our house!

Not a Fan

I don't know many people (if anyone), who LOVES to go swimsuit shopping...I just don't think they ever fit quite right!

However this year, I am in need of new suits. My friend told me about a girl that makes swimsuits. She can come to your house, or you can go to hers. She has several styles to choose from, and you try them on, and if you want it a little longer, or a little shorter, higher on the neck line, etc., she will do that for you! She custom makes them for you, and they are CUTE! She has some really cute fabrics to choose from. Her tops start at $25, and her bottoms start at $12.

So, if you hate swimsuit shopping as much as me, you may want to check her out - it was painless, and I got to choose exactly what I wanted - plus she says it only takes about a week! I may have to get some more when I pick mine up!!

www.essentialswimwear.com

Like the Wind

I was totally shocked, and suprised when I opened my birthday present from my Mom & siblings!! How did they know I wanted a beach cruiser?!? Oh that's right...I sent them an e-mail with the link to the exact one I wanted...My family is the best!!

Thanks to Ashley, we have some pictures of me on it, but I am so fast on it (just like when you get new shoes, you can run faster, and jump higher), they are a little blurry...


It really is adorable...the fenders have been ordered, and I am looking for suggestions for decorating my basket...

I Still Kinda Like Him...

Today is our 15th Anniversary, and yep...I still kinda like him!

I am active...I am spry...

My Mother's Day celebrations began Thursday...

When Jon came home from preschool, I looked inside Jon's bag, to see his "work", and I noticed a Mother's Day surprise in there. I told Jon I didn't see what it was. He wanted me to see it them, but I told him I wanted to wait until Sunday. He took it out of his bag and hid it. He came back and told me that I needed to find it, but I just kind of ignored him. That night as I was going to bed, I took all my pillows off the bed, and he had put his little flower he had made under my pillow...soooo cute!

I had heard for WEEKS about the present Nick was making me. He just knew that I was going to love it (which I did), and that he had worked so hard & fast, that he got to make me two. He too, couldn't wait until Friday, so I opened his present, and I had two string art pictures. He said he knows that I love Tulips and the Sun. He was very proud, and I did love them, but almost more than that, is the letter that came along with it...

spry (adj) - moving quickly and lightly

Why thank you Nick!

From Jon's other preschool, they made flower pens (flower on top, then wrapped in green florists tape), and a notepad, but once again, the letter is what made the gift.

First of all - he LOVES to draw/color, so he always colors EVERYTHING on his "work".

I think I will take my pretty self, and go have some broccoli & ice cream and cake..He is in the running for my new favorite these days!

Ashley made a cute heard dish that she mod podged some colored tissue to the sides, and her picture to the bottom - very cute. Troy bought me a tennis outfit that I REALLY wanted - I will be sporting it tomorrow at my tennis lesson.

I hope all the mother's in my life had a great Mother's Day!!

Before & After

Before Church...

...After Church...
Need I say more?

Easter Festivites, Part 3

Last year, we had the Easter Bunny come on Saturday. We wrote the Easter Bunny, and told asked him if it would be ok to come a day early, and he was nice enough to grand our request!

I really liked that a lot, that way all the chaos of eggs, candy, etc. was over, and on Easter Sunday, we can focus on the true reason for celebrating Easter.

This year, I couldn't pull it off, with sick people at our house, I just couldn't get my act together in time. And that was ok, but I am going to make it on Saturday from now on.

I am never very good about getting pictures of the actual "hunt" part, because they are running around so fast, but I love to get their pictures taken in their Easter outfits. (I was so thankful that we didn't have any boulders and dirt piles in our yard, like we did last year!)

Also, Sunday is the one day a week that Ashley looks like a girl, granted it is only for 3 hours, but hey, I will take it!

I was even brave enough this year to be IN some of the pictures! (Thanks to our neighbor, who happened to be driving by as we were taking pictures.)

Easter Festivities, Part 2.5

Saturday afternoon, Ashley & I had some girl time. We are different in a lot of ways, but my girl LOVES to get pedicures with me!

I always have hopes of pink toes, with a cute little flower on Ash, but who am I kidding!

She told me "Mom...green IS a spring color!"

Easter Festivites, Part 2

So, for Spring Break, I signed Ashely & Nick up for a 2 day camp at Rockreation. They loved it, and I LOVED that it was 4 hours of them rock climbing! Needless to say, they were EXHAUSTED each night.

In the meantime, my little tiny person decided to get sick. He wasn't feeling 100% on Thursday, and then that night woke up with croup...Fun Spring Break for him!

Saturday was our annual Easter Egg Hunt in our neighborhood. It is so much fun, but DANG it was cold this year. We were grateful that it was not raining during the hunt!

The kids had a blast, and of course, it only took them about 5 min. to find the eggs!
Jon-Jon was very particular about what he picked up. He ended up with 2 eggs, and a pack of gum! Nick was nice and put some of his eggs in Jon's basket.

Easter Festivites, Part 1

As Easter approaches, our kids are always so excited to color their eggs. We did the traditional egg dye, and then we also had some paints.

The painting started out very controlled, fun designs, stripes, faces, etc. Then Ashley started going a little crazy. She would put the paint on, and then roll it around in her hands. They looked a little bit like marble, they were pretty cool.

Jon of course, loved to color them, and then use stickers to decorate some of his.

One of the favorite things to do is use a white crayon, and create a design, and then put it in the dye, and see how your design turned out. Nick made a unicycle, and of course a "U" on one of his. Troy even got into it, and designed a funny face for Jon, and one egg with all 3 of the kids names on it.

Then we started to notice some eggs with a subtle messages on them.

Our kids started putting things like "Mom is the best", and "Dad rules" on their eggs.
That's right...they are trying to butter us up...I wonder what they want from us...

Birthday Bike

I have wanted a beach cruiser for a while. However, someone in my house, who shall remain nameless, thinks they are dumb! Not to mention that I just got a pink road bike. I told this person, that I LOVE my road bike, and can't wait to ride it, but I can't really go for a bike ride with the kids on my road bike. Soooo....I need a beach cruiser too!

I was told about this website (thank you Shawna!) that has beach cruisers for around $100, and they are soooo cute! Now I am just trying to deside what color I want...I am thinking vanilla...

So, you know how when you were little, and you would ask your Mom & Dad for a new bike for your Birthday?

I guess I am going to have to ask MY Mom for a bike!

One Word Answers

Give one word answers with no explanation, then tag five bloggers

1. Where is you cell phone...bed
2. Where is your significant other...office
3. Your hair color... brown
4. Your mother...best
5. Your father...missed
6. Your favorite thing...technology
7. Your dream last night...forgotten
8. Your dream goal...peace
9. Room you're in...office
10. Your hobby...tennis
11. Your fear...cancer
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years...sane
13. Where were you last night...home
14. What you're not...uptight
15. One of your wish-list items...furniture
16. Where you grew up...Utah
17. The last thing you ate...Hootenanny
18. What are you wearing...jeans
19. Your tv...on
20. Your pet...no
21. Your computer...which?
22. Your mood...tired
23. Missing someone...Dad
24. Your car...VAN
25. Something you're not wearing...lipstick
26. Favorite store...Target
27. Your summer...full
28. Love someone...many
29. Your favorite color...red
30. Last time you laughed...today
31. Last time you cried...Thursday

I tag Annemarie, Christa, Emily, Erin, Jacque, Lisa, Rees, Susan, Tracy and Marci...surely one of these pepole will do it...

One Out of Three's Not Bad

One of the things that I dislike most is making Valentines Boxes. I do not like coming up with an idea, I do not like spending the money on something that will last for 6 hours (they end up ripped apart to get all the treats inside), and I do not like feeling like I have a homework project that I don't even get graded on!!

This year, I was lucky enough to only have to do 1 box. Jon & Ashley made their boxes/bags in their classes, (which is the way it should be if you ask me). When Nick told me he had to make one, I really tried to ignore that fact, until Thursday evening, when we really had to get serious.

I tried to talk Nick into buying a real mailbox, and then decorating it with vinyl (we did this several years ago with Ashley, and it was the best money spent, and we can use it over & over again!!). But, he had something in mind. He said "I want kind of a biggish box, that's red, with a U on it and Nick".
Easy enough! I have some shiny red wrapping paper, we used the box that his snowboarding boots came in (complete with carrying handle), and I have my vinyl machine!


In a matter of 10 min., we had this work of art (the U is on the back, he saw this awesome skull and crossbones and wanted that for the front)

Happy Valentines Day!

Dog Groomer

You know how after you take a dog to the groomers, and they get all shampooed and their hair cut, and if you have a girl dog, they put cute little bows in their hair???

My friend, who cuts our hair, begged Ashley to put a bow in her hair (notice that it's cammoflage). Ashley was fighting us on it, but when I when I told her that I would pay her $2 to let us do it, and wear it home for Troy to see, she finally gave in.

And doesn't she look happy? I am sure that most dogs feel the same way.

The Big Baptism Day

Nick was VERY excited about getting baptized. As soon as he turned 8, he asked Troy to practice, so he knew what to do.

This picture is taken by this cute little old man who is in charge of getting the font ready for each baptism. Doesn't Nick look thrilled!

It was a great day, with family & friends there to support Nick. He looked so dang cute in his little blue blazer & tie!

It had been a crazy week, and when I mentioned that we could go OUT to eat after his baptism, he jumped right on that idea. We (along with about 25 other family members) went to IHOP! You gotta love that boy!

Another Example

I had mentioned here that when the Dennings concentrate, their tongues stick out. Here is yet another example of that. This picture was taken by Troy's sister this summer. Their boys had built a half-pipe in their back yard, and Troy was trying it out, and obviously, it took A LOT of concentration!

Memories...

Troy's parents have been scanning old pictures, so we can all have digital copies of them. It has been fun to see pictures of Troy when he was little, and pictures of our kids that I haven't seen in years!

Here is one that his Dad e-mailed me just the other day. Hard to believe that it was almost 15 years ago.

Look how dark Troy's hair is, and how BIG mine is!!

Grandma Farr

My Grandma Farr has been sick for a while, battling ovarian cancer. At the beginning of December, she got much worse and we knew that she wasn't going to be around much longer.
My Grandma passed away on December 30, 2008. I have no doubt that she was waiting for Christmas to be over, and for Nick's birthday to be over, so it wouldn't affect anyone's celebration.

She will be missed. She was the perfect Grandma. She was funny, kind, hard working, and ALWAYS had a positive attitude.
She remembered each of her grandchildren and great grandchildren's birthdays, (She is the Grandma that always sends $5 in the birthday card, and makes sure it arrives ON the actual day. (Nick's birthday was no exception).

She remembered your favorite cookie/candy and made sure she had them on hand at Christmas time.

As a wedding gift, she made a quilt for each of her grandchildren, and a baby quilt for the first baby of each grandchild.

She really was amazing, and I hope I can be half the person she was!

Happy Birthday Bud!

This year was Nick's turn to have a Birthday party, but the poor boy was born 4 days after Christmas. This year, the Holidays were such a crazy time, and with being in Primary and getting ready for the next year, I talked to Nick about having a half birthday party. He thought that was a great idea, and I was so thankful to not have to jam ONE MORE THING into my week!

On the day of his birthday, we invited some friends over to have a snow party. We had pizza for lunch, and they spent HOURS out in the snow building forts.

These are two of Nick's buddys from the neighborhood - they were on one team

This formidable duo was the other team...notice the tongue, it's a Denning attribute whenever they are trying to concentrate on anything, you will see another example in a moment...

The battle was long & I am happy to report, there were no serious injuries

It ended peacefully, when Nick & his army surrounded the other fort.

That night, we went out to dinner with Troy's family. Nick chose one of his favorite places to go - Red Lobster - that boy can put away the shrimp!! We came back to our house after to open presents, and much to his excitement he got

Once again, he immediately wanted to put them together. He dumps them on the floor into piles and gets out the instruction book

It takes a LOT of concentration...

Happy Birthday Bud - to my most favorite Nick in the whole wide world!!

Christmas

We hosted Troy's family on Christmas Eve. We had delicious food - fondue (a new family tradition), and my kids of course LOVE to open presents. We go youngest to oldest, so Jon went first

Shouldn't their be some sort of rule that the present should NOT be bigger than the person? Troy's parents gave him a remote control car racetrack that he had been wanting - he was very excited!

Nick had a very LEGO Christmas...so I had to put in this picture, because I think it is the one of the only non-lego presents he got. It's a fishing pole. He and his buddy go "fishing" in the creek (aka irrigation ditch) that runs along Neff's Lane - he was very excited about it!

Here is my beautiful daughter in her darling Christmas outfit...yep...her Utah beanie & a ringer t-shirt...Anyway, she has been DYING for the Playmobil house. She has outgrown her doll house (mostly because it is pink & purple & girly). She was one happy chick when she opened this!

I was so glad that we had everyone over to our house. Our kids ripped into their presents immediately, and we had Legos, Playmobils, and racetrack ALL over the place!