Happy Birthday MaKady!!

My beautiful sweet MaKady turned 11 on August 29. She has grown so much and is turning into such a nice young lady. MaKady was born August 29, 1997 at 8:01 pm. She weighed 4 lbs. 10 oz. and was 17 1/2 inches long. She was so small and fragile. We've had several scary moments with her, but she is a fighter. We are so grateful to have her in our lifes. Happy Birthday!!! We love you bug.

First Day of Kindergarten

Paige started Kindergarten on Wednesday August 27. She got to ride the bus for the first time. Our next door neighbor Isabelle is in Paige's class and they are really good friends. It was so much fun to see them acting so grown up. We let them ride the bus to school and then we met then at the school to show them where their classroom was and make sure that they were going to ride the bus home. Paige loved her first day of school.

Back to School

MaKady's first day of school was yesterday. She was so excited to start 6th grade, and I am completely relieved that 6th grade is still in elementary because I am not ready for her to be out of elementary yet. Paige starts Kindergarten next week. (notice they have matching shoes, they picked them out together).

I cried as usual because my girls are growing up, but they are turning into such nice ladies. As a side note, MaKady got braces the day before school started, if you look closely you can see them.

I tag Candi, Sami, Dani & Amanda

1- What is his name? Jared Golden Mangelson
2- Who eats more? Jared, most of the time, but I'm a close 2nd
3- Who said I love you first? I honestly can't remember, I think he did
4- Who is taller? Jared!
5- Who is smarter? Of course I like to say I am smarter because I can multi-task!
6- Who is more sensitive? me
7- Who does the laundry? That would be me again
8- Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do, I have to be closest to the door
9- Who pays the bills? me
10- Who cooks more? I do, however Jared is really great at making mac n' cheese, raman noodles, and most recently shepherds pie
11- What meals do you eat together? dinner everynight, and all three meals during the weekend
12- Who is more stubborn? me
13- Who is the first to admit they are wrong? Me, I get mad first so I am usually the one to apologize
14- Who has more sibling? I do, I have 2 brothers & 7 sisters
15- Who wears the pants in the relationship? This one is debatable
16- What do you like to do together? Watch movies at home, hang out with the girls
17- Who eats more sweets? Neither of us. I usually make something sweet and then we hand it out to all the neighbors
18- Guilty Pleasures? Turning the ringer off on the phone
19- How did you meet? We met dragging main street in Nephi. We had lived a block away from each other for 4 years and never met because he was out of high school by the time I went in. I tease him that he wouldn't have liked me in high school.
20- Who asked who out first? He asked me out
21- Who kissed who first? I kissed him
22- Who proposed? Jared proposed in front of MaKady and she said yes so I agreed
23- His best features? His personality
24- What is his greatest quality? He is good at everything. He is so mellow all the time it's nice for all the times that I flip out.

Changes

MaKady when I dropped her off at camp

Paige lounging in her pool

This week has brought on a few changes for us. Jared has changed jobs, which I'm hoping is a good thing. So far it has been. MaKady went to girl scout camp on Monday for the entire week. I can't call her and she can't call me and I think I had a harder time letting her stay there by herself than she did. Paige is finding out that she loves her sister and even though they don't get along all of the time she is good to have around for several reasons 1. Dad is not good at playing barbies, 2. Our nightly game of UNO is much more fun when MaKady is there to play with us, 3. She is sooooo bored!!! We can all hardly wait until Saturday when we pick MaKady up from camp.

St. George

A couple of weeks ago we went to St. George to visit my sisters who still live there. We did a little bit of back to school shopping and we had the opportunity to go the the new Washington City Community Center and play in the pool. It has a lazy river, a place for smaller kids to play, the big playground (pictured above) and a water slide. We spent almost the entire day there and the girls still didn't want to leave. It was so much fun.

Work

Matt Hughes & Me

Matt Hughes & the gang at Fort Knox

I like my job. I like the people that I work with, the time off that I get and just the environment in general. Everyonce in a while we have some really great people stop in and it just so happens that this week we had Matt Hughes (9X UFC World Champion) come in and speak to some of our dealers who where in town for training. He is an amazing person and it was great to listen to him tell his stories. One thing that I thought was great was that when we asked him to come in he said he would but he needed to leave early enough to be home to tuck his kids into bed. How cool is that?!!!

Uta Stampede

The Parade

Uncle Mike in the old HP car

Last week was the Ute Stampede in Juab County. The whole thing lasted from Thursday - Saturday complete with a rodeo. We aren't big rodeo fans so Jared took the girls to the giant parade on Friday afternoon while I was at work. My sweet sister-in-law taught Paige how to run halfway down the block after the other kids so she could get some candy because she wasn't getting any candy just standing in one spot. Paige decided that she wanted to take her easter basket to the parade to put her candy in and I can tell you that that thing came home completely filled. MaKay got just as much if not more.

Friday night we took the girls to the "City of Fun" carnival and they had a blast. FYI - if you are taking your kids to a carnival and you have the option of buying tickets or getting them a wristband, I would go with the wrist band. I figured that after 4 rides I had the wristbands paid for, and the girls got to go on as many of the rides as they wanted, as many times as they wanted. It was great entertainment. I think their favorite ride was the slide. MaKady went on some of the big kid rides by herself and she didn't throw up. I was so proud of her.

One thing about coming from a small town is that you know just about everyone which can be good, but you always run the risk of bumping into a few ex girlfriends which is awkward even 10 years later. I won't go into details on this as it's just my raging jelousy, but believe me that once a year is just plenty for me. Lot's more fun next year. Oh, on a brighter note, Jared ended up working on Saturday so we didn't have the pleasure of going to the bathing beauty parade. If you don't know what that is then you are very lucky!!!

Bear Lake

Me and my mom

Paige and I

MaKady and her cousins roasting starburst & marshmellows.

Me and my sisters Tabi and Mary

My beautiful MaKady and her adventurous spirit. She caught this frog and wanted to take it home, but I told her we could take a picture and then she needed to let the frog go. What a good sport!

More campfire cooking

"Jordan's" Castle


My sister Hannah and her husband Bryce

Jared in the canoe. He is so silly. :>)

Beauty Queen Paige!!

Me and my Dad

We went to Bear Lake with my family last week. We camped at Cottonwood campgrounds and rented a boat. We took turns cooking meals and watching all the kids. It was really great to see all of my family, cousins, aunts, uncles and even my Grandma Elaine. The girls had so much fun playing in the sand and playing in the water. They even went "frogging" and MaKady caught a frog (I didn't let her keep it).

Paige was scared to go on the boat so my sister convinced her that Sponge Bob lives in Bear Lake and it helped her calm down until we got her off the boat. I'm not sure why she is scared of boats, but she said she would try it again next year. We went tubing behind the boat and the highlight of the trip was watching my sister Tabi and my cousin Jacob do a barrel roll off the tube and skip across the water. Those of us in the boat couldn't quit laughing. Tabi said it was fun but she was done with that.

We played games and hung out and learned that roasting starburst is really, really good. I can't wait for next year!!

Pure Talent

We went to the Springville Art Museum on Saturday. The art was incredible. We went to see one piece of art in particular. Our friend Cortney Carter did the above piece of art work. It is a scene of Adam and Eve and it is made entirely out of ripped magazines. It's a giant collage 4' x 7'. He has such amazing talent. For Christmas we had him do a charcoal sketch of Jared's Grandpa who passed away a couple of years ago and we gave it to his Grandma. She hung it proudly in her living room. Cortney is an amazing artist, unbelievably talented. Good Job Cortney!!!

Independence Day

We had a great 4th of July this year. We started out our day by going down to the Nephi City Park where the girls got to play games, which included things like the giant blow up jumping houses and slides, shooting paint balls, skeetball, the train (which is pulled by a 4-wheeler) and of course the good old fishing pond. It's also fun for Jared because he gets to run into people that he grew up with and occasionally I see someone that I went to high school with. It's really like a giant reunion. Later in the day we went to our friends house for a bbq and fireworks. We had 4 boxes of fireworks because everyone brought their own and we spent 2 solid hours watching them. It really was a great day.

Babysitting Bunnies

This past week our friends went out of town and we had the unique opportunity to babysit their rabbits. The girls had so much fun. Paige was a little scared to pick them up at first, but as soon as she got the hang of things she really enjoyed them. The girls were really good at getting up every morning and checking on the rabbits and making sure that they had enough food and water.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Jared. He is 32 today. For his birthday his boss and some friends got together and took him out to lunch, then they went back to one of their houses and they had a giant spiderman cake and party hats and masks for everyone. I laughed so hard when they sent me the picture. Happy Birthday Love...

Mommy Tag

1. What is something mom always says to you? I love you

2. What makes mom happy? Give mom a kiss

3. What makes mom sad? Kicking your sister

4. How does mom make you laugh? saying jokes

5. What was mom like as a child? loved her grandma

6. How old is your mom? 16

7. How tall is your mom? 48 tall

8. What is your mommy's favorite thing to do? play nice

9. What does your mom do when you're not around? go to work

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? for choosing the right

11. What is your mom really good at? riding a two wheeler bike

12. What is your mom not very good at? saying the "s" word

13. What does your mom do for her job? work

14. What is your mom's favorite food? spaghetti

15. What makes you proud of your mom? funny jokes

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Dora

17. What do you and your mom do together? go to the park

18. How are you and your mom the same? we got the same skin

19. How are you and your mom different? we aren't wearing the same thing today

20. How do you know your mom loves you? because she gives me hugs

We tag Trinity P., Nathan B., Isaac L., Aubree P., Aspin C.

Pictures

I had the opportunity to take some pictures of my sister's kids over the weekend. It was so much fun. They were really awesome to work with.

Slip-n-slide

We bought this slip-n-slide for the girls a couple of weeks ago. They have used it a ton. It makes me miss my brother and our summers when we were younger.

Poor Jared

You know the old saying "three strikes" well that was how Jared's week was last week. He got hit in the face with a metal pipe thus resulting in his black eye, he smashed his hand at scout camp, and his truck rolled out of our driveway and into the neighbors van. I can only hope that this week will be better. It has been so far, but I will keep my fingers crossed.

"ABC" Tag

ABC's "getting to know you" TAG. Complete the ABC's of you. Then, each player tags 3 people and posts their names, goes to their blogs and leaves a comment letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
A- Attached or single: Attached for many, many years now
B- Best Friend: Shannon, and of course Jared
C-Cake or Pie: Any kind of pie, I do enjoy cake, but I usually scrape off all of the frosting
D-Day: Saturday: I get to spend time with my family and not surfing the internet at work. LOL
E- Essential Item: Chapstick & gum - always
F- Favorite Color: Green
G-Gummy Bears or Worms: Gummy bears are the best!!
H-Home town: I don't really have a home town, I have moved way too many times.
I- Indulgences: Magazines & chapstick
J- January or July?: July - 4th of July, Bear Lake, & 24th of July, need I go on??!!!
K-Kids: My beautiful girls, MaKady & Paige
L-Life is incomplete without: Trials, & Triumphs, Chocolate, Family, Friends & Fun
M- Marriage Date: July 28, 2001
N-Number of Siblings: 7 Sisters, 2 Brothers
O- Oranges or Apples: Either one, would prefer strawberries or pears
P- Phobias or Fears: Fear of enclosed spaces, snakes
Q- Quote: You get what you get and you don't throw a fit (sorry it's the first one that came to mind)
R- Reason To Smile: my kids
S- Season: Fall, I love the seasons changing, school starting, not to mention Halloween & Thanksgiving!!
T- Tag Three: Dani, Mary, & Naomi
U- Unknown fact about me: I am addicted to Magazines, you know the celebrity ones, i cannot go to Walmart and not buy one
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Oh I really love a great big juicy steak
W- Worst Habit: I am really opinionated and often have to put my foot in my mouth
X-Rays or Ultrasounds: What kind question is this??
Y-Your favorite food: I Love Food in general, I'm an amateur chef and love trying new things
Z- Zodiac Sign: Virgo - Modest and shy,Meticulous and reliable, Practical and diligent, Intelligent and analytical. On the dark side....Fussy and a worrier, Overcritical and harsh, Perfectionist and conservative- this really does describe me.

Jordan

October 11, 2005 - June 12, 2007

We love you and we miss you.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

I have been really tired of the rainy weather lately. For several reasons, but one being the fact that Jared does concrete and if it's raining they can't pour, which means no work. The rain makes me feel really down and just plain grumpy. However, I have been trying hard to come up with some happy feelings towards the weather. Here is my list so far:

1. I don't have to drag a hose out and water the lawn.
2. I don't have to wash my car.
3. Everything is nice and green
4. The weather has stayed nice and mild, instead of the regular summer heat

5. Pictures turn out great when you have an overcast
6. The angels shine down (there is a story behind this one)

A couple of weeks ago I took my girls and my niece to the red barn. It was on a Sunday afternoon so it wasn't open, we went for the sole purpose of being able to take pictures with that beautiful background. Anyway the weather was cloudy, but not raining and every once in a while the sun would find a hole in the clouds and shine down. I was taking pictures of the girls when all of a sudden they all stopped what they were doing and looked at the sky. They just stood there in amazement and I asked them what they were looking at. My niece "Trinity" said, looking at the angels. There's my brother, he's with the angels.

I am always truly amazed at the minds of kids. Instead of seeing a sky full of black clouds and hoping that the sun comes out, they see the miracle and beauty of the moment.