WHY????

You KNOW why!
Actually I really don't know why. Why won't blogger let me get rid of these huge spaces in my posts? I've tried everything I can think of numerous times. Blogger is really giving me fits as of late!

Chicago, Chicago, Chicago

All roads lead to Chicago. At least that is what it seems like lately. Everywhere I turn there is something about Chicago. I turned on the news.....Chicago (Thanks Blago!). I turned on a movie..........its in Chicago. My kids turned on some dumb Disney show.......Chicago. Two of my friends are going on vacation this week and where are they going??? You guessed it Chicago.

So I decided to finish a project that I've been working on FOREVER. Again.....Chicago. My sis sent me some pictures of Chicago in the 1920's. They are awesome! The problem is that I wanted them "just so" and I was having a hard time figuring out exactly what I was going to do to make that happen. For the record, photo texture rocks!

I finally finished my "Chicago wall" yesterday. Doubt these pictures will do it justice.

The top is our family name spelled out with photos of objects from downtown Chicago.

And the rest are pictures of Chicago from the 1920's. Even though the pictures are old I can still recognize Chicago. And I can't lie, it makes me a little homesick.

So is Chicago really the center of the universe or am I just feeling a tad homesick? Probably a little bit of both. But can ya blame me? I left behind the most fantastic ward EVER. Seriously. I mean it! Here are the ladies at my goodbye dinner. Sorry about the surprise pictures ladies. Just too hard to say goodbye. sniff sniff. And then there are my Young Women. Cutest, nicest, smartest, girls ever. Really. They are.

So I felt a little nostalgia, and I went with it for a few minutes.

Then for some reason I checked the weather in Chicago. Cold and rainy. So I grabbed my new lawn chair and my book and went out and sat in the sun for a few minutes.

Wow. The sun sure can cure a lot of ailments.

And last, but certainly not least

Our Israel pictures. At least what we have of them. Wouldn't you know it, the only roll that I forgot to request a cd for has most of our Israel pictures on it. I swear I can hear my mother screaming in horror all the way from South Jordan.

Not sure why we found it necessary to take a picture of Conal at a McDonalds in Israel, but hey, here we are in McDonalds in Israel.
At a Discoteque in Tel Aviv 24 hours after a suicide bombing that killed several young Israelis.The Jordan River.In Haifa at the grave of one of Conal's anscestors who served a mission in Israel.And my favorites.............because this is what its all about.

Yet another round of reasons to laugh at Co and Mo

This picture is screaming for a "then-me, now-me" do over.

The "Return of the Norway" cruise. Feel free to insert Norway cruise jokes here. At least there was no "Norwalk virus" on this cruise.

Kirtland temple. Man it looks different in Kirtland now.
Here is proof that my hair has gotten darker with each kid:

More Pictures from the olden days

More oldies:

Conal graduating from the Salt Lake County Sherriff's academy.

Conal and me at the Palmyra temple. Con, did we get married when you were in high school or something.........because you look like a kid in this photo. Niagra Falls 2000. Can you guess which temple this is? BTW--Conal informed me that he wore this shirt to work the other day. ha ha.

Our first apartment and my college car: Nice sideways pic of me before my work Christmas party. Thanks for the snazzy hairdo Rach!

Stay tuned for more........if.........you............aren't........bored..........out............of..........your.......mind........yet.

Buried Treasure part 1

Before we moved, the moving dude came to estimate how much our personal belongings weighed so they knew how big of a truck they needed. He told us that we were over the amount the the Bureau would move us without charging us. So we started going through things to see what we could get rid of.

We found 8 undeveloped rolls of film and we didn't know what was on them.

So I took them all over to Walmart.

FYI: Walmart doesn't develop film in-store anymore. They send them out to a lab and it takes awhile to get them back. It's pretty pricy too.

I forgot that when we used to take pictures the "old school" way, we used to get a lot of bad pics. Ok, so maybe I'm the only one that got a bunch of bad pics............but there were a few treasures here and there:

Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympic games. Oh yeah! Garrison reminds me so much of Sienna in this picture. The male version of course. =)
And this is a classic. Way to run with the torch Con.

And I may or may not have shed a tear when I saw this picture of my eldest child.

And dang I forgot how little Garrison was when Hailey was born.

Stay tuned for more...............

Back in the West Texas town........

Back in El Paso and hopefully back to blogging a little more.

So the question is--where do I start? Do I try to catch up on the last couple of months or do I bag it and go on from here. Maybe a little bit of both. But who wanted to listen to me thinking out loud anyway?????

No one? I thought so. Moving on.

So my parents, my sister and her kids came down last week. Man we had a good time (more on the fun stuff in another post.) They drove the big white van down here (aka the Burton Party Bus) loaded with tools and stuff. Why anyone would want to come to my house to help me do projects is beyond me. I guess they love me THAT much. (insert the super-gooey-sweet-Halmark card message here).

Ok, that probably isn't it. They just feel THAT sorry for me that I don't have the slightest clue as to what I am doing when it comes to this stuff.
Anyhow, I really didn't care for my kitchen island................but after the mini-makeover, I love it. Just add a pretty color of paint and some fluted trim and ................

ta da!!

Next we (and I use that term loosely since I really don't know what am I doing) made this beautitful table for outdoor eating.

Eating on this beauty may even make one forget how bad my cooking is. Um, probably not.
Also, my sweet/over-protective father (just kidding about the over-protective part Dad!) brought me this as my belated birthday present. They weren't allowed to give it to me in Illinois since its.........well.......illegal there, but its not here, where you can buy your gun in Walmart.

Oh yeah. A stun-gun for my morning run. oooooooooo. That rhymes! Get back doggies! Yeehaw!

And another gift for me (what? Moi? You shouldn't have.......but I'm glad you did =)). My awesomely creative and talented sister made this birth announcement/shadow box for me. I love it!


I think my sister and Dad should teach a class together.........with one student...........me. ha ha.

Thanks so much Mandi and Dad! You guys are the best!

Love, Your #1 fan

P.S. THANKS Mom, for hanging around bored while Dad and Mandi were spoiling me!