Val's blog

2011-12-30T14:02:00.016-07:00

I can't believe it's been a year since I have posted anything. Crazy how time flies.

It's been an eventful year. Here is a short timeline.
January-February - nothing much happened just normal life.

March: I took Missy to the Bon Jovi concert. I really had a great time.

April: My friend Joe found me on facebook. We have known each other for 35 years but hadn't seen each other for about 30 years.

May: uneventful

June: Art and I officially broke up. We really hadn't had that much of a relationship for some time. Mostly just loving friends.

July: Hollie and I went to the Joe Nichols/LoneStar concert in Evanston. Alex was great and got a us tickets.

Also Stacie and her family came and stayed for the 24th of July weekend. We took her two kids and Carson to the Carnival. We also participated in the concert in the park and the Street dance. It was a fun July.

August: On the 13th I went to the Josh Groban concert with Kori Graham. It was so great. I even got to touch Josh.

On the 17th the family, except Missy's all went to the Zoo. It was great being with family.

At the end of the month Sandy and I spent four days in Mesquite. It was so relaxing. We had two days of spa massages and just a good time relaxing and catching up with everything in our lives.

September: Went to the 1964 The Beatles Tribute concert with Art. It was really fun. Enjoyed it quite a bit.

October: Met Zakari online and we started to date. It is very difficult getting back in the dating scene at my age. I can't remember ever having such strong feelings for someone so quickly.

It's scary. We are still dating, but I feel we are on a roller coaster sometimes. He has a son Samir and his ex-wife isn't making things easy for us. I don't know if I can live with all the games she plays. Only time will tell if our relationship can endure.

November: Have hung out with sweet Misty Sayer a few times. Enjoyed going to the Restless Heart Concert with her on the 11th.

Had the family here for Thanksgiving. Alex's family was the only ones not here. I even got to have Carson.

December: Grandmother fell and broke a couple of ribs and bones in her hands and fingers. She is in rehab now trying to get better.

On the 15th Zakari came over and spent two days with me to celebrate my birthday. It was wonderful having him here. He brought me flowers, took me and Carson out to dinner and bought me a beautiful necklace.

My Granddaughter Kieva was born on my birthday 12/16/2011. She was 5lbs 13 oz.

Christmas Eve and Christmas I spent with Grandmother at her rehab. It was nice being with her.

The family also threw her a 93rd birthday party.

On the 26th Zakari came over with his son Samir and they spent a couple of days with me to celebrate Christmas. We had a lot of fun together.

What's in store for the new year? I wish I knew. Just hoping it's a good year with good health, love, & happiness.

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2011-11-19T17:46:00.000-07:00

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Christmas is over

2010-12-26T08:23:00.033-07:00

Well the last week has been quite busy. Here is how it went down:

December 16th, my birthday - Got up that morning at 3:30 am(I know crazy)worked on some Christmas tins, exercised on treadmill, showered and then Art and I left to head over to his office so he could give me a full chiropractic treatment. That's what I requested for my birthday gift. After the treatment we went to Mi Ranchito(my favorite)for lunch. Following lunch we went over to Hobby Lobby and bought some stuff. We then headed back to Art's office where I dropped him off. I then headed up to West Valley to pick up Carson. On the way to pick up Carson there was an overturned Diesel that blocked the freeway. I was stuck in traffic for 1 1/2 hours. It was horrible. Finally picked up Carson. Sammie and Ray gave me family photos, which were adorable. Carson and I then headed to Provo to pick up Art, so we could go to the mall and get Carson's photo taken with Santa. Before we got his picture taken Art rented a stroller that looked like a car. Carson Loved it.

We then went to where Santa was going to be. While Art waited in line I changed Carson into a cute little outfit for his pictures. Carson wasn't to Happy about being on Santa's lap, but the photographer was able to snap a good picture before he started crying.

December 17th - Woke up at 3:40 am(What's up two days in a row). Finished up the Christmas tins, exercised and showered. Carson woke up around 7:00 am, got him changed and fed. We then spent most of the day just playing with his new Christmas toys(had to give them early since I wouldn't see him on Christmas)

At 3:30 pm Raelynn came over to Watch Carson, so I could go to Salt Lake for a work Christmas party. I really had a fun time with all my co-workers, but by this time I'm really exhausted and it just started to snow. Made it home and Carson was in bed, yeah! Talked with Raelynn and bit then she went home and I hit the hay.

December 18th - Woke up to a quite a bit of snow and it was still snowing. We were suppose to go up to Grandmothers, but Carson wasn't feeling well, I was exhausted, and with the weather, I just didn't think we she go. Called mom to let her know and she agreed. She called Grandmother and let her know we would be up another day. Poor little Carson was just not feeling well at all. Stuffy nose, runny eyes, and rash. I tried to comfort him as much as I could. We mostly just chilled out for that day.

December 19th - Carson didn't sleep well during the night, so we are both pretty tired. Sammie and Ray came to get him around 10:00 am. We exchanged Christmas gifts since I wouldn't be seeing them on Christmas. They gave me a gift card to Bath and Body works, which I really love.

December 20th - 23rd had to work. Can't believe how busy I was Monday - Wednesday. You would have thought more people would be on vacation. We also had a ton of snow starting early Monday Morning and it finally stopped after about 36 hours of snowing. We ended up with 20 inches of snow.

On the 22nd Mom and I went up to Grandmother's house. On the way we stopped at Michael's, because Missy and her family had given me a $50 gift card and I had 20% off entire order coupon. I really stocked up on stuff. I found some wonderful votive candle holders, so I bought those and then some other jars and containers. Got to Grandmother's house and Darren and his family were there along with Jen's kids. It was really nice seeing them and loved chatting with them. By the time we were headed home mom and I were quite hungry, so we stopped at KFC and picked up supper for us to take home. Mom dropped me off and I went in and ate, loved and fed my doggies and then crashed big time.
On Thursday it slowed down, so I quit work earlier then I had planed.

December 24th - Hung around the house working on my puzzle and trying to decorate the wall in my bedroom by Carson's bed. I'm trying to make it look inside the ocean, but not sure I'm doing such a great job. Jon, Stacie, Jadeyn, & Jessie stopped by to visit and exchange gifts.

Raelynn came and picked me up at about 4:15 to go down to Mom's for Chili and scones. It as yummy as always. We then played their new family game called "Would you rather" It was really fun. Mikelle was the winner. Jon and Mikelle took me home. I watched a bit of TV and then went to bed.

December 25th - CHRISTMAS - Woke up about 4:30 am. Had to sneak into the bathroom with the dog's treats and fill their stocking. Didn't want them to know what was going on, after all I do have three hound dogs with really good noses. I managed to get the treats in the stocking and the stocking returned to his hanging place. It only took a few minutes before they were sniffing around for the treats. Penny could actually reach the stocking with the tip of her nose. It was really cute watching them.

I ended up locking them out of the living room until Art came home. Once he got showered then I video taped the dogs as he gave them their treats.

After the dogs ate some treats Art and I exchanged our gifts. We had set a $25 limit for each other. I gave him some goodies, plus a $25 gift card for Olive Garden. He gave me my favorite hand lotion, Shea Cashmere and also Shea foot cream. He then had another gift, which was a beautiful Crystal Lotus flower.

After relaxing a bit I headed over to Mom's at 9:00 am. Raelynn and Lori gave me an awesome Dolphin Pillow Pet, Jon and Mikelle gave me a Michael's gift card, and Mom gave me some candy and $100. After playing Monopoly Deal, we at lunch - turkey, ham, rolls, jello salad, olives, chips, celery with cheese spread - overall wonderful meal. I left mom's at about 1:15 to go change and pick up Art at the house.

We then headed over to Aaron and Heidi's house. They have a cute little house and two wonderful dogs. Would have loved to steal Oscar and bring him back home. Stephen and Amanda were also there. We stayed for a bit and exchanged gifts. Heidi got me some really great smelling Twisted Peppermint lotion. After that we headed home where Art went back to sleep for a few hours. I fed the dogs, watched TV and worked on my puzzle. Went to bed around 8:00 pm.

December 26th - Up at 5:00 am - just chillin today and updating my blog.

Saturday Plans

2010-12-11T05:55:00.003-07:00

First off, I'm tired of waking up between 3:00-3:30 on the weekends. What's up with that?

My plans for today are to decorate my goodie cans and make goodies. I think I'll throw some exercise in there too. I didn't really get any in yesterday.

What a day Friday was!

2010-12-11T05:33:00.006-07:00

My day went like this:
3:30 - Woke up and took a shower.
3:50 - Logged into my work PC and actually worked on my day off. I deleted Brenda's ID and recreated it, so that she can now take care of GroupWise issues.
4:30 - Browsed the internet, read emails and checked out Facebook.
5:30 - Started working the little buckets I was making for Missy.
6:45 - Fed dogs and myself breakfast and watched a little TV
7:45 - Went back to work on buckets and finished them up
8:30 - Made Fiona a birthday card

9:15 - Finished my grocery list
9:45 - Got ready to head out
10:35 - Headed over to Mom's
10:45 - Arrived at Mom's
11:00 - Set up wireless on Mom's new PC, gave her some instructions on accessing internet and getting to Mikelle's blog. Also setup some book marks for my favorite crafts sites
1:00 - Went to Shopko. I had a 10% birthday coupon that was going to expire, so bought Carson a couple of things and a glass jar of nuts to etch for my work party.
1:40 - Went to post office to mail Fiona's card and package to Missy
2:10 - Went to Macey's because mom said candy bars I need for goodies were on sale. They weren't, but I did get some Caffeine Free Diet Coke for $68 per 2 liter
2:40 - Headed over to Wal-Mart to pick up the rest of my groceries. It was really busy so I was there a while.
4:00 - Arrived home brought groceries in, fed dogs, & then put the groceries away
4:30 - Relaxed for a bit
5:20 - Fixed dinner and watched TV
8:05 - Went to bed.

I'm exhausted!

2010-12-08T13:42:00.005-07:00

Last night Art and I met his kids and their spouses to celebrate the belated birthdays for Aaron and Heidi. We all went out to Olive Garden and had a very nice time. When I came home I still need to make six more Christmas cards. On this card I made little Santa Clauses and so I had to glue them all together and of course add glitter. I think they turned out cute, however, I'm worn out. Didn't get to bed until about 10:45 and was up at 4:30 to get ready for work.

Christmas Cards

2010-12-06T15:40:00.004-07:00

OK, next year I'm not doing such an ambitious Christmas card. I love making cards, but I think this was a bit much to handle since I'm making 23 cards this year. The thing that took the longest was painting the Santa. My niece Stacie came over yesterday and we spent about 6 1/2 hours working on my cards and her gift tins and tags. It was nice to have someone to talk to while doing crafts. Here is a picture of the finished product for my cards.

I just received my free Trim the Tree Cartridge - Yippee! Always love something that is free.

Wow it's been over a month!

2010-12-04T19:50:00.008-07:00

I'm not very good about blogging these days. I'll try to catch everything up. Thanks giving was fun, but Missy and her family couldn't come down. Their van broke down and it cost a fortune to replace the engine. We only had seven for Thanksgiving this year. Instead of playing Bingo for prizes this year we played "House Rules" version of UNO. It was quite fun. Mom and I got on the internet and got her some really good deals on Cricut Cartridges. After shipping and taxes it worked out that each cartridge was less than $20. Now that's what I call a deal! Another great thing is that I had ordered a couple of storage boxes for my Cricut cartridges and it had been over two weeks since I ordered them and they still hadn't shipped out to me. Decided to email the company and let them know I was very dissatisfied with their service. They called me up (on Thanksgiving can you believe it)and told me they were very sorry and let me select a special edition Cricut cartridge for free. Awesome, right!

The day after Thanksgiving Mikelle and I went to SLC, took Trax, and went to see HP 7 part 1 at the the Clark Planetarium on the IMAX screen. It was awesome!
After the movie we went out to eat and then picked up Carson. Mikelle also stayed over and helped with Carson.

Yesterday Art and I talked about getting a small Christmas tree for our home. We decided it was a great idea and Art gave me money to go pick out the tree. Just down the street from us is a tree lot, so I bought a tree that is about 3 1/2 ft tall, perfect! I had a blast decorating it. When Art came home from work this morning he was so excited to see it. We both love the smell of the fresh tree.

Today 12/4/2010 I woke up at stinkin 3:15 am in the morning and it's now 8:20 pm and I haven't dropped dead yet. Earlier today I went to Michael's and picked up some containers to decorate and fill with Christmas goodies. Then Mom and I spent the day with Grandmother. Carson wasn't able to come down this weekend, because he is sick. I won't get Carson again until on my birthday the 16th. By that time it will have been three weeks since I have seen him. I haven't gone that long without seeing him for a long time.

Today was also the memorial services for a great friend Sherrie Ferre. I'm sad that I was unable to attend, because the service was in California. She sure was a fun person to be around and will be missed.

2010-11-07T06:06:00.005-07:00

On Tuesday, November 2nd my nephew Noah Ryder was born. He was 7lbs 13 oz. He is a beautiful little boy. The only problem is that he lives in Texas, so it will be a while before I get to meet him. I can't wait.

Yesterday I took Carson with me to Kira Case's baby shower. They had good food and fun games. In two weeks it will be Charly's baby shower.

I'm excited for Thanksgiving to get here. Missy and her kids are coming down, so that will make it a lot more fun.

2010-10-20T14:11:00.002-06:00

Well I did it! I worked it out with Sammie, so I could have Carson three weekends a month. I'm excited. I just love him and love playing with him. He is such a joy!

Friday I'm going to go out to lunch and movie with co-workers. We're going to Mi Ranchito(my favorite place) and then to see the movie "Red" at Jordan Commons. I think we'll have a great time!

Saturday I'll be going up to Grandmother's house and Sammie will drop Carson off there for me to take home. YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Cindy (Ferre)Christensen sold me her glider/rocker with ottoman. Sammie and Ray will bring that down on Sunday when they come to get Carson. It will be nice to have something to rock him in.

I also have a few projects I need to get done this weekend. Brenda want's some Halloween stuff cut out of the vinyl and I need to make a pig lunch tin for Mckenzie.

2010-10-16T08:20:00.002-06:00

This past week as been a pretty good week. Started Sunday when Art, Carson, & I went over to the Bodine's for a family dinner celebrating Art's mother's 80th year on this earth. It is always fun getting together with the family.

Work was great on Monday, really slow on Tuesday & Wednesday, & just right on Thursday. Yesterday I finished up the crafts I was making.

Heard from Mel today and baby Noah could be coming any day now. I'm so excited to have another nephew. Raelynn and I are going to Stacie's craft/yard sale today hoping to sale some of our crafts. I'll post pics of crafts later.

Tomorrow I need to make a Birthday card for Colton and my Halloween cards

Here are some pictures of Carson from the last time he was down 10/10/2010. I miss him so much when he isn't here. Sammie said I could have him every weekend, but I told her just every other one, but now I'm regretting that decision. I think maybe I'll tell her three weekends a month and then that gives me one to myself.

It's been a while

2010-08-12T08:11:00.003-06:00

Well it's been awhile since I last posted. Since my last post there hasn't been any major changes in my life.

Art and I attended the Fiesta Days parade on July 24th. We've also been making Friday's our movie day and it's been a lot of fun.

I talked to Mel the day after her birthday and she said that she had a good day. Baby Noah is doing great and so is Mel. She is going to move back to Texas at the end of this month, so that she can have family support when Noah is born. I'm excited for him to be born. I'll bet he'll be a real cutie.

On Sunday Raelynn and I went up to West Valley and picked up Baby Carson. We tended him until Tuesday night. He was a really good baby. There were only a couple of times that he got real fussy. The second night he was here he slept really well. Of course I didn't because I kept waking up to check on him.

June 17th-24th 2010

2010-06-30T05:47:00.009-06:00

Had some very wonderful times with Missy and her family being down and with Jon and Mikelle. We went to movies, bowling, Wii family day, played board games, visited Grandmother Simpson, Sammie, & baby Carson, attended family swim party and just enjoyed each others company. I was really sad to see them leave on the 27th. Mikelle is also gone. Jon took her to Arizona to see her mom and brothers. She'll be back at the end of July.
Here are some pics from swim party. As soon as I can upload video of other pics I'll post.

Busy again

2010-06-13T07:49:00.003-06:00

OK, another busy days, but fun days.
Friday Zach and I went up to Boondocks for day and had great time. However, I'm realizing I don't have as much energy as I thought I did. We played two rounds of miniature golf and of course Zach beat the pants off me. We raced on the slick track, played the arcade, ate, Zach played laser tag, and then we went on the virtual roller coaster ride. By that time it was really raining outside, so we headed home.

Saturday Zach, Mom, & I went up to Grandmother's house. After I got all her pills in her pill box and put receipts and stuff away, Zach and I headed out to visit more people. First we went to Mom & Dad Hill's house. We took Mom her birthday present and Dad his father's day presents. It was great to see them. I'm also planning on going to the Fullmer reunion and the Hill reunion. I've always loved going to the reunions and have really missed them, so I'm glad I get to go again. We then headed over to Sammie's house and visited briefly with her and Carson. She gave me some wonderful pictures of him and I have her the graduation card I had made for her.

Today I think will be another easy day around the house. I do need to get some house work done, but other than that just relax and watch some NASCAR, college baseball, and NBA finals with Zach.

One sad note: On Thursday night T.J.'s baseball coach was killed in an auto accident. T.J. has had this coach for three years and I fill very sad for him. Also for Alex, because he was close with the coach too. I had talked to Suzette and her and the girls are hurting too. My love, prayers and thoughts are with the Alex Morrill family. I love them!

Busy weekend

2010-06-07T17:29:00.003-06:00

This past weekend was quite busy. I drove to Tremonton on Friday to pick up Zach,yipee! We watched a great move "Forever Strong" that was filmed here in Utah. Based on a true story.

Saturday we left my house at 9:00 am and headed to Roosevelt to watch T.J.'s game. We left Roosevelt at 2:15 pm and headed to Midvale for steak dinner at Lone Star Steak House. We had a great time with my co-workers. It was fun to introduce Zach to them. We left the steak house at 7:00 pm. We had to stop at Shopko on way home and pick up some aloevera for Zach. He had an awful sunburn on his legs and arms. We got home at about 8:15 pm.

Sunday was really a good day of rest. Zach went down to Mom's for a visit and I just vegged on the couch.

This morning I took Zach to BYU to register for his Basketball camp. He is going to stay the night with his friend Blake at Blake's grandparent's home.

Memorial Day

2010-05-31T12:37:00.004-06:00

Art and I walked down to the cemetery today for the Memorial Day program. It was really good. They had a 12 year old boy sing the National Anthem and he also sang a song that Orin Hatch wrote. Both performances were excellent. They had a couple of speakers and then they did the 21 gun solute and played Taps. I'm going to make this something I do every year. It's great to honor the people who fight and have fought for our freedoms.

Memorial Day weekend

2010-05-30T21:24:00.004-06:00

This weekend has turned out to be quite a nice weekend.

On Friday mom and I went to the gravesides in Salt Lake area and put flowers. We were able to visit Granddad, Aunt Delma, Uncle Dale, Leonard, Grandma and Grandpa Morril, & Aunt Marilyn. I was thankful that Sammie was with us when we went to the cemetery on 41st by winder. For some reason I just couldn't find the graves at that cemetery this year.

After we put out the flowers Mom, Sammie, Carson, and I all went back to Grandmothers and ordered pizza. Earl was in town, because he had gone to Andy's(Jeff's boy) graduation. So he visited with us and ate pizza until he had to head back up to Idaho.

After we ate Sammie, Carson, & I stopped over and Nina and Dale's to visit and help Nina with her PC.

Saturday Mom and I headed up to Evanston for T.J.'s graduation and then to Alex's for a BBQ. It was great fun visiting with everyone.

Today, Sunday, was an easy day. Just did a little house cleaning and then relaxed. Nina, Dale, Marrissa, & Dusty came down to put flowers on Dad's grave, so I met them at the cemetery and then they came over to my house for a visit. I really loved having them come over. Just wish they could have stayed longer, but at least now they know where I live.

Here are some pictures of Carson. Isn't he getting big! Also are pictures from T.J.'s graduation.

Tomorrow I need to see if I can get my creative juices flowing and make Aubry's birthday card. I already warned her that it's going to be late.

Another Rainy Day!

2010-05-22T07:34:00.002-06:00

Well, today is Jadeyn's birthday party and it looks like we'll be indoors. We were hoping to have it outside, but we did make sure we had indoor games just in case. Jadeyn has grown so much she is a little 5 year old now and will be going to Kindergarten in the Fall. Before you know it Jessie will be all grown up too.

I'm going to take my camera and will post pictures.

2010-05-09T14:50:00.002-06:00

Friday night Jadeyn had a sleepover with me and we spent time on Saturday playing on the computer, making crafts, & playing Barbies.

This morning I received two wonderful texts. One from Sammie and one from Ashley both wishing me a Happy Mother's Day!. I'm very thankful for Sammie and it made me feel wonderful that she remembered me this year. It was also very sweet of her friend Ashely to remember me. Stacie called and wished me a Happy Mother's day. It's nice to know that even though I'm not anyone's "real" mother that they still think of me on Mother's Day. Jon, Mikelle, and I all went out to Breakfast with Mom for mother's day. Jon and Mikelle gave me a wonderful Mother's day card.

Even though I received Mother's Day wishes it's still the hardest day of the year for me. It was wonderful of everyone to think of me, but they're all spending today with their "real" Mothers and not me and it hurts. I've wanted nothing more my entire life than to be able to have children and that just didn't work out for me. I'm very thankful for Sammie and Stacie being in my life, but it still really hurts that I don't have any children of my own. I hope every mother out there realizes what a blessing it is that they have kids and to never take them for granted.

RAINY DAYS

2010-04-21T14:08:00.004-06:00

Wow can't believe how rainy it has been today. Hopefully April showers will bring wonderful May flowers. I have some new pictures of my crafty stuff. I'm going to send the white tins to Jack and Fiona. The bud vases I made to sell at Pony Express days in Eagle Mountain. Stacie had asked me if I wanted to sell crafts with her and I'm so on it. Will post as I get new stuff.

I also took off early from work today. Wasn't in a working mood and it was really slow.

2010-04-11T08:33:00.002-06:00

Today is mine and Art's six year anniversary. Even though he was gone for a whole year to Delaware we stayed together. He is a wonderful man and treats me like a princess. I'm very lucky to have him in my life. Here is a picture of him giving the dogs a treat. Of course it's really the dogs that take up the picture, but if it weren't for him giving them treats I couldn't have got this great shot.

Love you Art!!

2010-04-06T18:12:00.002-06:00

On Easter I went out to brunch with family and had great time talking with everyone. I hid Easter eggs for the dogs again this year. They were so cute hunting for them. Millie is my best little hunter. Hope you enjoy the video.

2010-03-24T22:23:00.002-06:00

After my meeting and visiting with Sammie and Carson, I went to Michael's and bought a bunch of supplies. I had a coupon that was for 20% off my entire order. Can't wait to make more stuff.

Another cool thing is that I decided to join Silhouette Machine:theCREATIVEplace on Flickr. I uploaded a bunch of the stuff I've made and actually got a couple of nice comments. It's a fun place to be for crafty ideas. Here is the link:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/silhouettemachine/

It's going to be nice to chat and share things with other people who share the same interests as I do.

2010-03-24T22:18:00.002-06:00

Today after my meeting in SLC I stopped off to visit Sammie and Carson. Isn't he the cutest. He as grown in just the 12 days since I saw him last.

More Craft Stuff

2010-03-23T16:01:00.002-06:00

Here are a couple of new things that I made. The first is a glass etching of the Chinese love symbol. It's for Aaron and Heidi's wedding gift. I'm going to put in some rocks and Lucky Bamboo. I might add a ribbon around it, but will decide that after I see how it looks with the bamboo in it.

The second is the Easter card I'm sending out this year. I made it in four different colors. Green is shown here, but also have it in pink, purple, & blue. I made 20 cards, so took me a while to do.