more {extended} family...friends

This post is a shout out to some very important people in my life, my friends!

You know who you are, or at least you should. You have done something, at some point in my life to be my friend. Maybe my mother made us be friends when we were little. Maybe we were neighbors. Maybe we were in the same class. Maybe were related, but more like sisters than friends. Maybe we worked together. Maybe our children are friends. Maybe, just maybe you don't even know what you are to me, but I will call you my friend.

To my oldest, and dearest friends - Becky and Kaehla - I can't imagine what life would have ever been without you. My childhood and who I am today is because of you.

To my cousi-ster - I still love you even if you made me play horses when we were little.

To my favorite neighbors EVER, and my "other" family - The best three years a person could ever have, on the corner of 9100 south. I still wish Steve would have just burnt the house down, and we would have stayed!

To my high school bestie, Tammy - Every good story about getting in trouble involves you! :) Thanks for always being there, even to this day.

To my old roomie, and the best damn hair stylist - Lacee, you are the BOMB.COM!

To my co-workers (past and present) - this ones for you Miken - I love what I do because of people like you. You make the everyday interesting.

To my fellow blogging buddies - I can't thank you enough for the love and support a simple comment shows. KarKar and Jess, I'm sad we waited till after HS to make this friendship, and feel so lucky to have it now.

To the parents of my sons best friend - THANK YOU! I love having you and your family in my home. I love that we have become such great friends all because of 2 little dudes. I can't wait for the adventures and future that we will share together!

To my future daughter-in-laws parents - I can not express enough my gratitude to you. I am who I am today because of you! You were brought into my {and Jaysons} life for a reason.

I feel SO BLESSED tonight to have wonderful people in my life. I am full of such emotion and gratitude. YOU my friends, are AMAZING!

I have an amazing {extended} family

I LOVE my family - husband, children, parents and siblings - but this post is about the {extended} ones.

AUNTS AND UNCLES: I was blessed with these wonderful people the day I was born. Growing up, I spent a lot of summer months living with my aunts (moms sisters). My cousins and I took turns exchanging families. I gained such a great bond with my cousins, and we are still close because of it. We spent many hours riding bikes, playing in the canal, and even delivered newspapers one summer.

My Dads sister, Judy, has become another mother to me. My children love her, we love going to her home, and we love having her family in our home. We went to see Gnomeo and Juliet with her, and she surprised me with a cute little frog and gnome statue for my spring decor. She is so thoughtful, and always doing things {making cupcakes for Jayson, because they are his favorite, taking doughnuts and chocolate milk to the barn on Saturdays, having princess parties for the neighborhood, and the infamous Easter Egg Hunt} just because. I love you Judy. Thank You!

{detour......after my mother passed away, I gained better, stronger, more valuable relationships with quite a few people. I wished I would have done it sooner!}

My moms sisters call often, just to check in. I LOVE talking with them. As most of my Beutler cousins can attest to, they (the sisters) have the most genuine, sweet, kind spirits. They speak only of good things, and with a positive insight.

My GREAT Aunt Onie, will be 94 next month - but if you ask her - that means she will be in her 95th year. She lives just 4 blocks from my corporate office in Salt Lake. I enjoy visiting with her when I am in Salt Lake, after my meetings. You would never think she was a day over 29. I admire her strength in life, and am so grateful that I have her.

COUSINS: My mother had four sisters, and my father had two brothers and two sisters - so - I have a large family, with LOTS of cousins, and I love it! I also love that facebook keeps me updated with them since we have all gotten a little older, and busy in our own lives.

We celebrate the 24th of July in North Logan with my moms family. The cousins {Michelle and MaryAnne} decorate a float for the parade, and then all of our children get to ride, and throw candy. The North Logan 24th of July parade is the best! Wonderful community floats, and not so much advertising. We then have a fun filled afternoon in A. Maries backyard. Last year, we had a bounce house and a snow cone maker. Great memories are made, lots of laughter, and even games of family history.

IN-LAWS: I've only got one set, and I couldn't ask for anyone better. My in-laws are AMAZING. Jayson comes from a home with three sisters, therefore, I am the favorite daughter in law. :) Jay and MaryLou welcomed me with open arms, and have never made me feel less that one of their own. We are so very blessed to live so close to them, and have a strong family bond. Jaysons extended family is not as close as mine - but when the sisters get together, it's a blast. Lots of laughter fills the room, and we pack 'em like sardines so we can have giant sleepovers. Christmas Eve is usually spent with Jaysons family. We ALL get together, and have one great big sleepover. Nothing like thirteen kids opening presents on Christmas morning.

I just wanted to write a little note about how grateful I am to have these people in my life, the {extended ones}. Each and every cousin, aunt, uncle and my in-laws has done something, said something, or given me something that I hold very close to my heart. I am so blessed to have been brought into such a wonderful family.

whoa nelly

My blog sucks - I mean seriously. I just looked at the past few posts - and let me tell you - don't bother.
I do not usually think of myself as a "seasonally depressed" person - so I'm not sure if it's the season, day, time, month or year - but I'm just not 100%

I went tanning this past week - twice - IT HELPED!! So, I went again, and bought a 10 punch pass. Something about that hot bed makes me feel better. I was turning a little albino for my own liking. I feel better bronzed. My job doesn't allow for a lot of outside time, or sunny days at the pool.

My house - dirty. We've been somewhere every weekend for the past month - and I can't keep up on the house. We finally stayed home last weekend, with NO PLANS. I made home made pop tarts (so yum) and THE BEST BREAD EVER! Time consuming, but delish! I used to cook a whole lot more - but not latley. and baking is my detox. I should bake more.

Weight - I hate it when my fat pants wont fit! I mean seriously - I HATE buying anything bigger than what is in my closet right now. SO - I should prolly get my a*# to the gym! Weight goes on, it comes off, pants fit, pants wont zip up. BLEHHH! I hate body image. I hate buying "bigger" clothes, but I hate not looking good in whatever I am wearing. I refuse (and would get fired) If I wore sweats all the time. so - I bought 2 new "bigger" shirts. I HATE big boobs! And every time I gain weight - It goes there first. How I wish I could be a nice size C. I found the cutest shirt at Maurices, and couldn't have even fit ONE boob into it if I had wanted to.
Today is Mardi Gras - Jayson asked if he gave me some beads if I would show him my boobs- bleehhhh. Who even wants to look at them?

Kids - Jos is enjoying life, and is happy - but her grades SUCK! So - do I let it slide, because It's not worth the fight? Do you take away what makes them happy? (We have tried that NUMEROUS times, It didn't work).
Addy - shes a mini me - bossy, in charge, mothering - and she is loosing friends because of it! She cried last night because "everyone makes fun of Addy." I don't know what to do. YES - she is dramatic! YES, next week it will be something else, or someone else. But how do I help her NOW?
Ashton - too young to have problems :) and "he's a man."

Marriage - I have decided that Jayson is pretty wonderful! Yep - after 11 years of marriage, I am admitting out loud that I think he' s great! I usually don't tell him, because his ego swells. He is actually pretty amazing. I do wish SOME things were different, but I love what I got! :)

so - a few personal comments later, I'm feeling better. whew, thanks. My bestie told me that she thought she was negative - because she was negative for a month - a bad month - and now that I think about it - IM FRIGGIN NEGATIVE! I should really stop! I have so much to be thankful for. okay - Im done! Only happy thoughts - we'll at least for 24 hours.

any cheap, overnight, fun, exciting anniversary ideas?