Happy Halloween

Hope everyone has a great Halloween....

My favorite halloween pic of Danaka. This was back when we were in North Carolina...I will post pics of this year tomorrow.

11 Months!

1 year ago yesterday this was my sweet Jayci

And this is her now....

I can't believe my little Jayci Jo is 11 months today. Time flies. It is crazy to think that next month at this time my baby will be 1.

RIP Stuart Little

I know that you were worried about my little friend, I have mixed emoitions in letting you all know that my little friend Stuart passed away last night. Good-bye my friend, I am glad that you got two traps worth of peanut butter as your final meal.

Don't I Wish it was Stuart Little...

Okay, so I am posting this because a blog is not all good right? So last night I pulled in my drive way and noticed that my cat was having some fun on the porch with a little visitor that I will call Stuart Little. It doesn't bother me as long as he keeps his "toys" away from me and actually it is very nice that in the five years that I have lived here, have never had to worry about mice. Well noticing that there was no way to get in my back door without interrupting game time, I tried to call Danaka to tell her to come open the front door (I had left my house key for her), she being the great daughter that she is, thought that I just needed her to come help me get things out of my car, so what does she do, she opens the back door and Ozzy (that's my cat) runs in the house with Stuart in mouth. I still don't know this is happening when I am standing on my front porch trying to get Danaka to come and open the door, well when she finally does she has this look of, of, of "Oh Crap"I opened the door. I walk into the back room and see ozzy swating around stuart. Me being so brave jumps on my kitchen counter with Jayci and calls, who else my dad. He comes down and as soon as he opens the door Stuart runs behind my entertainment center and has not been seen since, well at least not by me, Ozzy sat in the same spot for about 3 hours last night, and the peanut butter in the trap disappeared, but we still have not captured him.

I am a little freaked out, I have 2 traps set and wear my shoes all over my house. I even put my shoes on my nightstand last night just in case.

Please pray that our little friend soon goes to Heaven, I can't handle this anymore.

I will keep you posted.

To my friend...."Stuart, come out come out where ever you are...don't you want some yummy peanut butter!"

Bump, Dig, Spike????

CONGRATULATIONS DANAKA! Danaka made her Jr High Volleyball team. I am so proud of her. It will be fun to learn the sport, and I have a lot of learning to do....I have never played volleyball, so this should be fun. I am sure the best part of this for her, is i have no clue so I will just have to sit back and watch :-) I look forward to watching her play.

GREAT JOB DANAKA! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU.

This Is The Place...

Okay, before I get in to our day of fun, I just have to share this funny story. For whatever reason I enjoy doing hair. Since Danaka thinks "She's too old" for me to do her hair all cutesy and Jayci doesn't quite have enough I love when my nieces come and stay with me, perfect time to do someones hair. Anyway a couple months back I had the girls and I did Kandace's hair. She told Angela that "I really like the way Mindi does hair, but sometimes it just hurts", I must put the ponytails in a little too tight! So Saturday I was getting Kandace ready I was trying to keep that in mind. I made sure the ponytails at the bottom were very loose. Well Ms. Kandace being her funny little self, looks at me and says "I would really like my hair better Mindi, if only I could look down". I guess I still had the ponytails a little too tight. I promise to work on that, but it does make for a funny story.

So this past Saturday, I was able to take Danaka, Jayci and my 2 nieces to "This is the Place Heritage Park". I had never heard of it before, but every year around the middle of October - Halloween the kids can dress up in their costumes,(we opted not to, because the girl's costumes were way too hot, so Angela found these cute, cute Halloween shirts for them to wear instead.) and go trick or treating to different parts of the park. They have arts and crafts, a corn maze, face painting, pony rides and halloween stories told by a not so scary witch :-). We had a great time. I love being able to spend any time I can with my nieces and my girls. Hope you guys had as much fun as I did. Thanks for a great day!

Tribute to my girls

To My Sweet Sweet Girls....

I love you both from your head to your toes,
I love you in your jeans and t-shirts and oh so much in ribbons and bows.

I love watching all the new things you do
Everyday the two of you teach me something new.

I love watching Danaka and little Jayci play
and oh how it melts my heart with a book on the floor you lay.

My sweet angels as each day passes and I watch you grow
I know this is the greatest love that I will ever know.

To Danaka and Jayci....you two are my world and there are days when life seems tough, but all I need is a smile or laugh, a mommme or mama and everything is perfect. I feel so blessed to be your mom and I hope that you will always know just how loved the both of you are. Thank you for making my life filled with more joy and love then I ever thought possible.

Annual Spaghetti Dinner

I don't really know why I am posting about this, but I guess because I decided there are great perks to being in a small town and I love having traditions. Yesterday was the annual Spaghetti Dinner. For those of you that have never been you have certainly missed out, and you must make plans to go next year. For those that have gone am I wrong in saying it is so YUMMY!!!

Not only is the spaghetti the best ever, thanks to Coloissmos sausage and sauce, but it is so fun to see the same faces every year! It seems like no matter what time you go, the same fun people are always there.

It is so neat to see the support that people give each and every year. So many people lined up from 12-7, yes even with the snow this year, there were just as many people as usual. We have been going to this every year since I can remember, but my mom and dad were talking yesterday and they went before they were even married. My gramps had lots of friends that lived out that way, so the tradition began it has probably been almost 40 years that my parents have gone.

I can't wait until next year, just another reason to love fall & the month of October!

Turner Girl Update!

Wow...it has been a very busy and fun few months. Here is just a few things that we have been up to....

- Danaka started Jr High....Wow my baby is in Jr High. She wasn't as nervous as I thought she would be. I think the way that they introduce 7th graders to Jr High is great. They do a 7th grade back to school night, where they can go with their parents, walk around the school to find all of their classes and their lockers. The 7th graders actually start school on Friday. It is just them and they go to all of their classes, meet their teachers and just get a feel for the school. I so wish they did that when I started. I think it would have eased my fears! She really has adjusted well, ad I couldn't be prouder of her.

- Annual Labor Day Homestead Trip. For the last several years on Labor Day we go up to Midway to stay at the Homestead. We go to Swiss Days and just hang out. We always have a lot of fun, and it was so nice to just get away, even if it were just for a few days.

- Girls Night Out to the State Fair. We had a great time. I took the girls and went an enjoyed a night at the fair. Jayci had a great time looking at everything. She absolutely loves her stoller so it makes that so easy. Danaka enjoys all the rides, one ride she went on, I had to put my head down. Those rides SCARE me....I just think they are put up way too fast, but that may just be the over protective mother in me. She also loves the bungee ride they have. They get harnesed in and get five minutes to jump and flip and just have fun.

- Yummy Yummy Greek Festival....For those of you that have not ever been to the Greek Festival down town, you must go next year. It is such good food, very much worth the wait and the money.
I feel like for the first time since Jayci was born my life is in a great rountine. So hopefully that means that I can update my blog at least once a week if not more.

The girls are both doing great.
Danaka is a typical Jr High girl. She is dancing again this year, and is, I think enjoying it more than ever! We had to make some changes this year, and they seem to all be working out. I am really looking forward to watching her grow in dance again this year!

Jayci is growing like a weed. It seems like she went from newborn to baby over night. She is into everything, she is crawling, she is talking. It is so fun to watch her, but I can't believe how fast everything has gone by. She is almost 11 months. I can't believe this time next month I will be getting ready for her first birthday.

Gramps!

Today marks 15 years since my "gramps" died. It is crazy to think that he has been gone longer, than I knew him here on earth.
My "gramps" was an amazing person. He was so involved in everything that we did. He was at all the dance performances, softball, baseball, basketball football games (the list could go on), that there were.


There are so many funny stories that we all tell about grandpa....one of my favorites was he always would tell us grand daughters when we said something that we shouldn't or were sneaking around the corner to watch his old war movies with him that"pretty little girls don't do that".


We were talking the other day about memories of staying at my grandpa and grandma's (nana's) house and the distinct smell of Old Spice and Aquanet hairspray that would flow through the house when my grandpa got ready to leave for work. It is amazing that the mind can still recall that exact smell, and you swear that you can smell it.


My gramps was Sheriff of Salt Lake County for years. We had so many opportunities to be in parades and other things with him. I also got to be in a "Buckle Up" poster with him and my cousin. I can still remember that day, our new t-shirts, meeting the other kids that were going to be in the poster with dad's, uncles and grandpas. I remember getting to spend a lot of time with him that day. And by the way not to distract from the post.... but to my aunts and my mom if you are reading this...I need a copy of that!



I was thinking back to his funeral, and I remember the one person that spoke stated that he remembered a time that my grandpa was interrogating someone and the other person sitting by his office door, waiting to go in was so scared listening to him that he peed his pants...but when my grandpa walked out of his office, he just smiled and acted like nothing!!



My grandpa was a hard worker, he love to hunt everything he could, he loved to fish, but I think he loved spending time with his family the most.


As time goes on, I wish more and more he were here. I could use his strength and knowledge on so many things in my life. I could use another 1lb meatball, instructions on how to fish, and the big bear hugs with his scruff that he use to give. I know that he is with me and that I will get to see him again, but today proves that the heart never really heals, it just learns how to go on.
Here are just some pics of my gramps and things he enjoyed doing. I love you gramps.....