Crazy Eights

Crazy Eights :

A little something I stole from Heather....Feel free to steal from me :o)

Eight Things I Have a Passion For:

• My family
• My Beliefs/Faith
• My tried and true friends
• Watching my kids play sports
• Running with my ipod blasting or hiking in the quiet mountains
• Football
• Peppermint Patties
• History and historical US flags

Eight Things I Would Like to do Before I Die:

• Go on a mission with Joe
• Travel to Jerusalem


• Travel to Peru and hike for 3 days to see the lost Incan city of Machu Picchu


• Travel to Rome


• See all of my kids go on missions


• See all of my kids happily married


• Understand Isaiah


• Love on grandbabies

Eight Things I Say A Lot:

• DUDE!


• Seriously!


• Do it again...I dare you!


• Fabulous (This was pointed out to me after 18 days of being with just Joe)


• Why are you so cute?


• What, Babes?


• Please do (whenever the kids ask if they can do something)


• Who loves you? MOMMY!!!

Eight Books I Have Read Lately:

• Book of Mormon


• Amelia Bedilia


• President's and Prophets


• The Journey of Lewis and Clark


• The everything book of Juvenile Diabetes


• 1776


• Jungle Jeep


• Ten Apples up on Top

Eight Movies I Have Seen Eight Times:

SHEESH! I am not a movie person but I do have a few fav's...NO LAUGHING!!

• Remember the Titans (all time favorite movie!!)


• Bing Crosby's White Christmas


• My Big Fat Greek Wedding


• Rainman


• It's a Wonderful Life


• My Fair Lady


• The Sound of Music


• Anything from Roger's and Hammerstein

HOLY CHERRY TOMATOES, BATMAN

I groom my garden and pick my veggies on Mondays and Fridays. I was out there Friday and cleaned it all up and got all the veggies but I missed Monday because I had to drive Michael to Flagstaff for EFY. Since the garden is heavily watered on Tuesday I waited until Wednesday to go out to the garden. Who knew that so much could grow in 5 days. I know the pix don't make it seem so plentiful but that white bowl is the largest bowl that Tupperware makes. I can put 10 lbs of potato salad in that bowl. Can you say SALSA! Everyone in the neighborhood is getting a bowl of my salsa today :o) MMMMMM!

The cantaloupe are so small and cute, but are so sweet. I cut them in half and each one of us gets a half. They are perfect snack size. And, the zucchini are finally slowing down. They have been massive huge. Like over a foot long and probably 3 lbs. each. CRAZY! There was a time we were saying HOLY ZUCCHINI, BATMAN!

Our onions have been really sweet. The watermelon should be ready to pick in the next week or so. I hope I can at least get one before heading to TX. next week. If not I guess the extended family will literally enjoy the fruits of my labors.

The greatest man I know

I wasn't blessed with a great dad that showed me how to respect myself or have pride in myself. I didn't get the dad that would help me instill self confidence in myself or help me find my way through those awkward teenage years. I didn't get a dad that would teach me gospel principles through example. I, in fact, got quite the contrast.

Having come from this I am not bitter but very much the opposite. The childhood that I had has made me realize even more how blessed I am for the man that The Lord gave me to be the dad for my kids. I couldn't ask for a better man to share my life with as well as the great example that he is to my kids and to me.

Joe is my best friend, my confidant, my example, my eternal companion. On this day I celebrate the man that has taught me more than anyone else. Who stands by me through thick and thin. Who I laugh with, cry with, celebrate with and have enjoyed life with for the past 16 years.

But mostly today I celebrate the man that helps me raise our children in the gospel. The dad who prays with us, teaches us in family home evening, blesses our kids when they are sick. The dad who takes the boys camping for the annual father and son's activities, plays hide and seek around the house just to hear Jenna's cute little giggle and has monthly interviews individually with the kids just to make sure he is involved in their lives. He is the perfect hubby and dad for our family!!!

My kids will never know how lucky THEY are, but I do...and how grateful I am for that!


Happy Father's Day, Joe!

To be a kid again

I heard someone recently say that it would be great to be a kid again if we could know all that we know now. I totally and quickly agreed. I have been thinking about this for whatever reason, maybe I really don't have enough to do, and then maybe I would rather sit and ponder life's mysteries than fold that same towel I have been folding every week for the past 16 years. Who knows, but as I sit and watch my kids be kids there is a twinge of bitter-sweetness to this idea of doing it all over again with all of my "wisdom".

If I could go back and do it again as a 30-something year old in a kid's body what would I gain and what would I miss. I am sure that I would have a better understanding that boys sometimes hit you because they "really like you" and then sometimes they hit you just because they are mean. I would better understand that time goes so quickly and we should soak it all up and enjoy every minute while it is here. I would better understand that I truly should not care what others think of me. Maybe I would get that a size 2 is not fat just because there is a size 0. Honestly if zero is truly the lack of existence then in reality NOBODY wears a 0. It's just Liz Claiborne's way of having something to amuse herself with.

I would know the reasons that drugs and alcohol are such a taboo. I would have spent more time going on dates with whatever guy asked me and my really good guy friends and less time with a boyfriend. I would have asked Donovan Bushman out on one date, after all he was one of my best friends and we would have had so much fun. There is so much that would make more sense if all kids had a 30-something mind and a kid body.

BUT, as I watch my kids play with the uninhibited nature that they have, I realize that life is simple for them. They have a true innocence that I can only dream of. They don't understand and know all that I know. Instead, they love life to the fullest because they have not had the pitfalls and hurt that make us learn all that we know in our 30's. They are so pure and trusting in what they do.

It is then that I realize that I wish instead that I had just a little more kid in me! Maybe as a 30-something I take myself and life too seriously. Oh, to be a kid again....no thanks...but what if I could just love with all my being, play with all of my heart, trust with all my soul and have as much fun as if I were a kid again!

Well, those towels won't fold themselves.... so off to the real world of the 30's :o)

Jenna's bedroom.

It's a little embarrasing but after 3 years we have finally done something with Jenna's room. She picked EVERYTHING. Even what went on what wall. She and I had a great time putting together the dollhouse bookshelf that she is using instead of a dresser to store her favorite little things and her unmentionables. I think she did a great job and it was so fun to spend that time together creating her own personal space. Even Hayden stopped in everyonce in a while to see what was going on and to give a helping hand.

The curtains have the cutest little "gems" that alternate in pink and purple that hold the curtain up. It is actually a shower curtain but is making a cute bedroom curtain. The outside of her door has a bright pink wreath that her grandma made out of a boa. I wish the colors were a little better but the lighting is bad in the hall.

All in all Jenna is very happy with it. There are few tweaks she wants to make and a few things she wants to add, but she loves having a little corner of the house that is girlie. Even I have found myself retreating to the "softer side of the Estes house".

Joe and Trecia's dream vacation

I am not sure where to begin. Joe and I went on vacation for 18 days. I guess the best place to begin is by giving the hugest thank you, which doesn't give justice to how grateful we are, to Jared and Hollie for coming and staying with our kids the entire time so that we could make this dream possible.

Joe and I have been on many trips and getaways but never in our 16 years have we been able to do anything like this. It was so fun and rejuvinating. I was a little afraid that we would get sick of each other or just get on each other's nerves, but it was quite the opposite. We had a fabulous time and reconnected as we cruised the Eastern Carribean.

We started in Georgia by visiting Fred and Steph Lewis. They knew we were coming, but what they didn't know was that Joe got extra time off of work and at the last minute decided to add 4 days to our trip. Joe thought it was be "funny" to surprise Fred by just showing up on Sunday afternoon. I made him at least call his wife. Joe left a message on her cell phone. Steph was so busy as the Stake camp director that she didn't get the message until we were already there. Fred was surprised, Joe was laughing and I was mortified by the whole thing. We went to a hotel there in Cummings while Fred and Steph got over the shock. We stayed at their house for 3 nights and had a fabulous time.

Their kids were fun. I felt like I deserved visitation rights to the kids when I left. It was so funny when Caleb (11 yrs) asked if they could keep Joe. Haleigh is the oldest and Ammon is the youngest. Sweetest kids. They have all sealed a sweet spot in my heart.

We spent a lot of time hearing stories from Joe and Fred's youth....am I glad MY kids weren't around to hear some of them :o)

Atlanta Georgia

While in Georgia we went to the Atlanta aquarium, which is the largest in the world, and to the Coca Cola Factory. Fred and Steph took us hiking and to see some great Georgia sites. There was a telephone pole that everyone puts their gum on so since I happened to have gum in my mouth so I decided "when in Rome...". Joe, however decided to take a different route :o) Steph told me that they have pictures of their kids pretending to lick the pole.....I am pretty sure that I told Joe he was suppose to pretend :o)

The large carving of the confederate generals was donated by the KKK. Who said they never did anything productive for society? As disgusting as the donators are the carving is magnificent. I was told that a grown man would fit in the nostil of one of the carvings. How amazing is that?

The Okefenokee swamp

On our way down to the cruise ship Fred told us about a place called the Okefenokee Swamps. We detoured through there, where the mosquitoes are more frightening than the alligators. What I couldn't figure out was where the deer or beautiful flowers came from in the middle of the nasty 'ol swamp. It was a great way to wrap up our first week of our vacation.

The 8 days we have been waiting for

8 days touring and cruising the eastern carribean. We had a great time and the boat was beautiful. We were so excited to finally get onboard. The ship had so much to do. Of course there was all of the food you could imagine 24-7. We had several pools and a water slide. A running deck, put-put, a great gym that we actually used (ok, only once, but we did have a lot of off shore excursions). The shows were pretty good and we met some fun people at dinner. All in all it was a really nice boat.

Puerto Rico

We hit San Juan, Puerto Rico first. We were only there for a few hours so we spent that time just walking the cobblestone streets. We thought it was odd that there were so much traffic and that so many streets were shut down, then all of a sudden we looked up and there was Hillary Clinton speaking to a small ( and I do mean small) group. What a way to start your vacaton :o)~ I won't get on my political soap box, but I will say so much as we didn't let it ruin our vacation. lol It was an old city, but charming. There was so much vegetation. I found myself fascinated by what grew there. I had never seen some of it so I picked what I found so I could later ask the locals what it was. Looking back at the pictures and seeing the historical site sign where I picked from I sure hope it was nothing that was protected by the government :o) It ended up just being almonds and a local grape that grew on trees. They grew on bunches like grapes, just not on vines. Joe of course found the most interesting thing there the local "law school". It was fun!

St. Thomas

In St. Thomas we went power snorkelling. What a new idea. I had never been snorkelling so the whole concept was new to me. We had these little propeller run devices that we help in front of us to propel us through the water. It was so fun. The water was so clear you could see forever. It was very salty. Much saltier than Mexico. We spent some time on the beach doing some unguided and unpropelled snorkelling as well. Joe has found a new love!

Along the beach there were iguanas everywhere. They were HUGE. Like 2 feet long. The funniest thing we saw was a little cliff over a small pond of water. The iguanas would literally jump off the cliff into the water. Most of them would tumble down the rocks on their way down. We laughed so hard watching these iguanas do the suicide dives. We had to take a water proof and under water camera to these areas so I am waiting to get those pictures and disks back so you can see the fish. Hopefully they turn out well.

There was a lot of history through the islands, which I loved. There was an old fort and barracks on a small island that is who knows how old. It was so cool.