"Let's get down to the Nitty Gritty"

Whidden blog~ written by the mother
about the children
the dad
and a lot of ramblings about life here in Utah.

A few things we love
Traveling
Camping
Fishing and Eating Nachos

11.04.2011

4-

  I will make this short and sweet because there are some people I know who don't like it when people get to mushy on blogs about their spouse. (I might be one of them, depends on the content though).
I have blogged a little too much about Ben for his liking anyway.
Here are some things I appreciate about him.

 1. He will watch Anderson Cooper with me.
2. He doesn't say "we'll see or relax" as much as he used to (because I asked him to:)
3. He likes me for me. 
4. He doesn't usually complain about things that I do.
5. He is kind of disappointed when Alivia leaves to go to sleep overs and her Grandma's house when it his weekend off.
 6. He is SO sweet to our primary kids, especially a little girl Jessie who comes into sharing time every Sunday crying and grabs her from her mom and sits her on his lap.
7. He laughs at my attempts to be funny.
8. He likes whatever I make him for dinner and hardly ever has requests, just goes with the flow.
9. He likes the music I like.
10. When he is excited, happy or has interesting news, I love it when he calls me to tell me.




11.03.2011

3

Today will be a little homage to some of the many small things that I am thankful for but don't necessarily want to do a whole post about.

1. Target (duh right?) it has been an great company to work for and I never get bored to just go stroll through the store.
2. My memory foam pads (2of them) that are on my bed, oh how I sleep so much better in my own bed than hotel beds.
3.A new moisturizer that I found, (it's a little pricey) but I recently bought a trial size and it was nothing short of A-mazing!! It is made by a company by Philosophy and is it called Miracle worker.
4. Costco.
5. My car, I am glad it gets us to and fro.
6. Lotion and chap-stick, I would be a crackly old more wrinkled person without it.
7. Sunglasses, I might have a small addiction to nice sunglasses??
8. Crushed ice, seriously I love that small little "half chewed" ice.
9. Humor, my life would be SO boring without it.
10. Cafe Rio.

11.02.2011

Daily Thanksgiving-2

Today I am thankful that I was born with 10 fingers, 10 toes, lungs, bones, skin, eyes that see, ears that hear a heart that feels a body that has worked helped me accomplish my goals and desires.
I may not have a perfect body and can remember when I was in middle school how self conscious I was of my body shape (but of course now think, man I would love to have that shape right?).
It has taken me a long time to be 'comfortable' in my skin, not satisfied, but we all have room for improvement.
I am thankful I have the desire to take care of my body as good as I can, sure I drink Coke, but drink lots of water, I eat Halloween candy, but eat apples, carrots, take my vitamins, exercise, I may not be a marathoner, but I am doing what I can do right now, will it change someday....I always want to improve.
Thank you for the air that I breath, thank you for the sun that shines on my face, thank you for the beautiful music and laughter that I get to hear. Thank you for the heart breaks that I have experienced and thank you for the love that I feel.

11.01.2011

Daily Thanksgiving-1

 It is that time of year again to blog my daily Thanksgiving, I hope any of you reading will want to join me and blog your daily Thanksgiving. It can be challenging but it has been worth it to go back and read some of the things I have wrote in years past.



Day number one is something that has been on my mind for over three years. When I found out I was pregnant with Kessler I was sure that if he was a girl, {I thought} I would feel that my family was complete if it was a girl. Well he wasn't a girl.
When I was in the hospital with Alivia I knew right after she was born that I would have more children and even thought I would be okay if it happened sooner than later, I know it was my Heavenly Father preparing me for Cooper. (it doesn't mean that I did not cry when I found out I was pregnant again when Liv was only 5 months old).
I have often wondered if the veil is thin right after you have a newborn, because I remember feeling that peace of knowing there was more kids out there for our family after each delivery.
I really appreciated hearing the talk given in conference on Saturday afternoon by Neil L. Andersen, I remember thinking I don't think our family is complete, but knowing I am happy and have been happy with each new chapter that has been written.
I recently went to my Doctor for my annual womanly check and he commented your uterus is large....I wanted to say, yeah I hear that all the time :) but he sent me down for an ultrasound and I then found out the reason why I haven't been able to get pregnant for that last two years. Nothing deadly or horrible, just annoying and not surprising.
I haven't commented much to anyone really about how I really feel about having another baby, because I think I have been confusing myself with thoughts of freedom, expense, sleep, travel, but also knowing when I see a baby I would love my other baby girl that I have been thinking about for years. I have heard from other mom's it would be nice if you got a letter from Heaven telling you your child bearing days are complete, well done.
So with all that confusing information my daily Thanksgiving is about being Thankful to be a Mother. I didn't grow up thinking I wanted to be a mom, but I also didn't think that I didn't want to be a Mother. I just know there is nothing.....NOTHING...I would rather have done in this life.

10.30.2011

Punkin' shopping

 We went to our favorite pumpkin patch on 9000 south and 2200 west. Schmidt's.
They have an awesome selection of pumpkins and cute scenery for pictures.
I told the kids the only rule was they could each have a pumpkin but they had to be able to carry it themselves.
 Kessler started out with this pumpkin, good size I thought.

 Then he decided it was too heavy.















Alivia is the only one that stayed with the original pumpkin she chose.

 Kessler found another pumpkin a little bit more his size.


 The final product, except for Kessler as we were walking up to pay, he put his down decided it wasn't worth it:)



All the other kids got theirs carved out, I didn't take any pics of them though. This is Bauer's.

10.27.2011

Miss Liv

Liv is in 3rd grade this year and loves it, she loves art and computers. She told me recently that she wanted to start her own blog, if she does that should be interesting what she talks about.
She is excited for Halloween she even tried to make a costume for her hermit crab Nancy.
She is super excited for Christmas, her list is a mile long and we have told her you are going to have to narrow it down. She still adds something to it every other day.
She is still in choir and is having another great year.
She loves re arranging her room ( I have no idea who she gets that from).She is really sweet when she gets the rest she needs, if not she still arches her back, rolls her eyes and moans and complains sometimes.
She still wants to be a labor and delivery doctor or nurse she says, she wants to be around babies.

10.22.2011

A new marketing ad....

 I would like to preface with it bugs me when people come to Utah or other places that I love and they will either complain or speak negatively. I think to myself if you don't like it here, don't come here.
So with that said my new slogan for Vegas is......"sinner's, winner's, chicken dinner's, cruiser's, looser's and boozer's"
Not really the top destination for a vacation, BUT it is cheap, close and HOT!!

 A few pics of Hoover dam, (the boys love this place because of Transformers....don't know what I am talking about, you should watch the movie)
We walked across the new bridge, just a tad bit of anxiety with the height and little kids not knowing what on earth they would do.
 We took a little friend/cousin with us, it was fun to have her. She balanced out the boy crazed situation we usually have.
 I love me some Lake Mead, maybe not as much as I used too, with the quagga mussels and everything.

 Our agenda, sleep, eat, swim...repeat.

 Kessler trying to push Ben in.

 A short walk down the strip to the Bellagio fountains, sadly Alivia and Kyleigh commented on the inappropriate attire some ladies were wearing.
 Ben practicing some poker skills...for his some day dream World Poker Tournament.
(he made 50$, half tank of gas?)
 Cooper was glad to see the blue M&M, he told me last time it was green one....glad he remembers.


 Love this picture above, we were just walking back to our car and I had my camera hanging around my neck and snapped a photo while I was walking.

Our hotel was pretty nice, customer service was pretty crappy. Oh well. They had a nice workout room I used a few times, I watched the republican debate one night...it was pretty cool it was held in Vegas hosted by my beloved Anderson Cooper ( I thought about stalking him at his hotel, but 5 kids with me wouldn't have been so discreet). Also our hotel was very close to the airport so all day we saw airplanes landing and taking off. Kessler was in heaven.
We had some special visitors one day, it was so fun to hang out at the pool and let all the kids play and get some quality mommy time!!