Whatz Cookin Good Lookin'

Writing

2012-01-30T11:51:00.002-07:00

I have been absent from my blog for so long! Ben & I both started going to school so between work, school, the holidays and an adorable, but mischievous 19 month old, my blog has been severely neglected!

This semester I am taking a writing class, so occasionally I might post some of my papers on here. That's what I came to do today! I'm not very confident about it and doing this scares the crap out of me, but I've been wanting to try putting myself out there more, so please don't make fun and hopefully my writing will continue to get better as I practice more.

Here we go!

Starting out on aweight loss journey is as much of a mind battle as it is a physical battle. Formy nutrition class last semester, I had to do a book report. The book I choseis called Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink, Ph.D.,and it changed my life. It changed the way I view food and how I eat it.

I have beenoverweight most of my life but have never really believed in all of the faddiets, mostly because I’ve watched many people around me try fad dietsand lose the weight only to regain it faster than they lost it. I didn’t wantto be like that. I wanted to lose the weight, be healthy, and I wanted tochange the way I think while doing it because it was clear to me that doing afad diet would get me there in the short term, but wouldn’t keep the weight offlong term. I wanted a brand new outlook on life and my health. I want to be oneof those ninety year olds who still works out and has fantastic skin. So Istarted by deciding I would make healthier choices, without depriving myself ofthe foods I love because I knew if I threw out all my favorite things I wouldinevitably fail. The problem with thatplan was that I didn’t exactly know what the healthier choices were.

My nutrition classbegan the process of changing my thinking. It showed me where I could be doingbetter and how to help my family as well. Mindless Eating really sealed thedeal for me. Brian Wansink studies food psychology; a concept that seemsbizarre at first, but then you realize that it is used in our lives daily. Hesays that we make more than two hundred decisions about food each day. How manyof those two hundred times do we actually think about it? I would say almostnever. Instead of being focused on what kinds of food to eat, in what amounts,and what foods not to eat, this book gives you ways to change the way we mindlessly make food choices.

When I beganreading this book, I was immediately hooked because I knew I was lost in anendless sea of food and diet plans that didn’t work for my life. It didn’t have all the doom and gloom ofother diet plans. It wasn’t all about how you’re going to die if you don’tstart this amazing and fast diet right this minute. It was more of a list ofthings every person should know about eating and how marketing, environment andeven plate size affects what, when, how much we eat, and whom we eat it with.Normally I would have just started a work out regimen but because of a recentinjury that approach to reaching my goals was out of the realm of possibility. This book was a source of hope for me. Hope that I could lose the weight I want towithout dread. Hope that I could help my family live a healthier happier lifebecause of decisions I make in how I present food to them. Hope that I couldstill eat the foods I love so I wouldn’t feel completely deprived. Hope that Icould wage the mental battle of weight loss by making some small decisions.

What this bookreally did for me was take the battle out of the mental part of weight loss. Itchanged the way I think, thereby making it less of a battle, more of anobstacle course. Now when I go into ameal, I grab what used to be the salad plate instead of the dinner plate,because I know that I will inevitably fill the large plate with more food thanmy body needs. I drink more water, and I drink it full of ice because I knowthat it will burn more calories when cold. Each meal, snack, study session isjust an obstacle that I can now use the tools I’ve gained from Mindless Eatingto overcome. After a little bit, these tools have become habits for me and Irarely even think about the way things used to be. When I do think about it, Ithink about how amazing it was that I didn’t know how the size of my plate wasmaking me eat more, how the shape of my glass was making me drink more, andmany other things.

I’m a bit of acontrol freak so knowing that there was something I wasn’t aware of controllingmy decisions didn’t sit right with me. Idon’t like letting clever marketing be in complete control of me. That doesn’tmean I’m not susceptible to marketing. It just means that I can now betteranalyze and decide what I really want.

My little familyhas come a long way since I’ve read this book. It has changed the way I think.It has made me much more aware of the things influencing me and put me back incontrol.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T09:20:00.001-06:00

Happy Halloween from our little ducky!

Tuckered after all the dancing and trick or treating!

Summertime!

2011-09-04T10:55:00.002-06:00

It has been a wild and crazy summer around here! So busy, there were days we didnt feel like we even had time to breathe! But it was really fun spending good time with friends and family. Here's a summary in mostly pictures!

Sweet Pea's hair keeps growing longer and longer! If only I could keep it out of her eyes!

Drinking Daddy's root beer and Papa's birthday!

For our Independence Day celebration as a little family, we hiked to Ensign Peak. Its one of our favorite hikes because we know it doesn't take very long so we can always make time for it! It was Sweet Pea's first time up to hike with us and she loved it!

We went on a Kearney Family Trip to Southern Utah! It was so fun to see and get to know family that we dont get to see very often (We love you Richardsons & Thornleys!) as well as spend some good time with those that we do get to see! We stopped in Cedar City to watch the Green Show at the Shakespearean Festival. That was pretty fun! I had never been.

We stopped to look out over Cedar Breaks. Beautiful! And a little chilly for July!

We went swimming and jets skiing at Sand Hollow. It was Sweet Pea's first swim of the season! She LOVED it! She would kick and kick her legs until she could touch the ground and the run as fast as she could. Sadly, it led to many face plants because the water would get more shallow.

Swollen Diaper Bubble Butt!

We sure loved spending time with the Kearney Clan!

This spring, we planted a garden. I got a plot at a community garden and decided to share it with my parents and 2 of my siblings who don't have garden plots of their own. We went a little crazy and planted 4 rows of beans, 4 rows of corn, 20 tomato plants, 6 zucchini, and 8 misc. peppers. CRAZY! Here's a picture of our first bean crop.

Sweet Pea with our gourd from our rescued volunteer plants.

And our 1 & 2 ton tomatoes! Too bad it was too late to enter in the fair!

Ben wakeboarding! He's hardcore.

In the beginning of August, we had the Ed &Ann Smith Family Reunion. This year it was at Bear Lake! My brother and his wife set up a wonderful weekend getaway for all of us with lots of time on the boat and lots of time to relax and nap.

Sweet Pea would get so worried when her Daddy got in the water. She'd watch very carefully for him to pop out of the water, then get excited to see him and wave and clap for him.

Sweet Pea's first time on the boat!

Sunscreen Hair!

Just Chillin'!

We had a wonderful summer and as fall approaches we've got lots of changes beginning in our family. Ben just started a new job at a company called BodyGuardz. He is so happy there and comes home happy even after a long commute. Ben and I both just started school again so we're very busy. Ben especially since he is working full time and going to school full time. I'm so proud of him and all he does for our little family. I'm so grateful for those in our lives that help us have such wonderful adventures and opportunities. Change is in the air so we'll see where the fall wind blows our little family.

Sweet Pea's 1st Birthday Party

2011-07-07T06:58:00.000-06:00

Sweet Pea's birthday party was a success and she definitely LOVED being the center of everyone's attention! Sadly, her cake practically melted to pieces! It was 85 degrees! But here's some pictures of our fun celebration!

Hanging out with Auntie M&M's


Happy Birthday Little One!

Happy Early Birthday to me!

2011-07-01T14:01:00.000-06:00

Earlier this year, I told Ben that for my birthday I wanted family pictures done by our wedding photographer. Well, we just received our family pictures from Brody Dezember Photography and EVERY time they take our pictures I couldn't be happier! Randy always does an amazing job! And this time we got to meet Sheena and she was able to make our little girl smile and giggle! Thank you so much guys!

1 year

2011-06-22T08:08:00.000-06:00

To my Sweet Pea,

Happy Birthday, my sweet bug! I cant believe that a year has gone by so darn fast! We love you more and more every day!

Zoo

2011-05-15T21:16:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, we went to Utah's Hogle Zoo! We were invited by Ben's friend Blake to go with his sister's family. We were really blessed by some sweet lady who found us standing in line to buy tickets and gave us 2 extra that they had! So we went to the zoo for free! Yay!

Standing in front of the entrance-Grandpa's design! We're so proud to be related!

Sitting on the Rhino statue

My Monkeys!

Blake the Monkey

This is the first time Sweet Pea smiled at Blake the whole trip! When she first saw him, she started to cry.

WE LOVE THE ZOO!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-29T11:44:00.000-06:00

(Pictures by K. Torman Photography!)

They say that waking up is hard to do....

2011-03-26T17:28:00.003-06:00

8 Months!!

2011-03-06T19:30:00.000-07:00

Sweet Pea is 8 months old now! She looks more like a little girl now than a baby.

For family, I've posted more on Sweet Pea's private blog! Go check it out!

Colorado!!

2011-02-21T20:49:00.000-07:00

So we made our first trip to Colorado the end of last month to visit Ben's sister Kristy and her cute family! We had the added bonus of seeing Dianna who was there to see the birth of baby Amelia! Sweet Pea LOVED seeing her Grandma, and despite her habit of screaming at people she sees all the time, she didn't scream at her Grandma once!!

See the love! (photo credit: Dianna

We had so much fun and we really lucked out with the weather being over 60 degrees!!! It was lovely! So lovely we had to go buy some clothes because we had packed all winter clothes! We started our adventure at 3am on Thursday and drove through Wyoming. Both of our families were concerned with the hour we had chosen to leave but it really was awesome because our Sweet Pea was such a great traveler. She slept practically the whole time!

The only thing we missed because of the hour was the Jackalope that sits somewhere along I-80 in Wyoming! But we didn't miss the giant buffalo silhouette as we left Cheyenne. I laughed so hard! Lets face it, we were a little delirious by the time we reached Cheyenne so I made sure we got a picture to prove it!

When we got there, we got settled into our hotel before going to see the Kristy's family and meet up with Dianna. When we got there, we had a good time catching up and playing Just Dance on Kristy's Wii.

We LOVED staying at the Embassy Suites. It was so nice! We had yummy made to order omelets every morning!

(Photo Credit: Dianna)

On Friday we went to the mall and I indulged by buying myself 2 Cinnabon cinnamon rolls! They don't have them in Utah anymore (other than the airport past security) and they are a taste of my childhood! It was amazing! After the mall we went and picked up Kristy's cute boys to go swimming at our hotel. So fun! Kimball kept snuggling into me because he was cold! Love those boys!

(all photo credit: Dianna! She was snapping pictures AND holding Sweet Pea when she would scream about being in the water!)

On Saturday morning Jared took us to hike Red Rocks Amphitheater. When he said "amphitheater," my brain immediately discounted the word "hike" and boy was that a bad decision! It really was a HIKE! I couldn't believe it! It was so beautiful and we were so astounded to see hundreds, and I mean HUNDREDS, spending their Saturday morning working out at the Red Rocks. There were lots of people actually running the seating and some working out on the stage. But when we got to the top, we got the biggest surprise of all: There were tons of hardcore people doing some crazy hard workouts. I couldn't believe it! Apparently its not that unusual though.

We love our Moby Wrap!!

Nimble little boys about to race up the steps! It was really hard to keep up!

Sitting on the steps

Denver from the top balcony of the Red Rocks

Ben & Sweet Pea in front of the largest Red Rock. If you look behind him you can see some of the hardcore people working out! The person on bottom is in plank position while the other person sits on their back for added weight!

Here is a model of the Red Rocks

And some cute little boys checking out the model

You can see Denver just over my left shoulder.

Walking back to the car (photo credit: Dianna)

When we got back, we were all so tired! Sweet Pea slept on Ben's shoulder all the way back to our room.

All the Cousins! (photo credit: Dianna)

We had such a wonderful time with family! We don't get to spend time with Ben's family as often as we'd like because we're all spread out. But we really really loved the time together! We just missed Abbey and Brett!

The drive home was pretty rough because we left later and it was a very long, boring drive. However, Sweet Pea did get a chance to drive in Green River! Just kidding! Ben did help her honk the horn while we were parked though!

We had a wonderful and safe trip! We loved seeing family and meeting sweet Amelia! A special thanks to Dianna for making our trip possible and so much fun! We really enjoyed our time with you and we're so glad that Sweet Pea got to spend some quality time with her Grandma!

First Tooth!

2011-02-04T16:58:00.001-07:00

Sweet Pea got her first tooth while we were in Colorado! Yay! She was so good about it! I thought she was crying from being overtired since she'd had 0 naps that day.

If you look really close you'll see it in her bottom gums!

(I'll have more pictures up soon of our trip to Colorado & Sweet Pea's 7 month pics!)

Happy Holidays!

2011-01-06T19:38:00.000-07:00

Whoa am I behind! I'll try to give a smattering of pictures from our happy holidays! As well as all my Christmas crafts! Lets start there!

This year I tried really hard to make a large portion of our presents. That turned out to be a TON of work! Wow! But I did take pictures along the way!

Woodland Animals for some cuties in Colorado! I made 2 raccoons, 2 owls and 1 fox!

Drumsticks and case for my nephew. Ben monogrammed them for him! No going to lie, I think these might have been in his top 5 favorite presents! He was banging the sticks on everything!

Drumstick case rolled up.

Silly, but I made mustaches on a stick for each member of my family and we had a fun family picture on the front lawn. Even my Grandpa took one! I thought they would think the idea was WAY too silly, but they loved it!

Miss Sweet Pea in front of the tree

Munching her presents.

This year I made Ben's biggest present. I made a Date of the Month club! (idea came from here) He gets 12 dates planned all by me as well as several other perks! I had to learn how to use Adobe Illustrator in 2 weeks! (I could get tips from Ben because I knew he'd have NO CLUE as to what I was making)

Opening

His letter introducing the club

More presents!

Mommy's favorite present!

She seems to love it too!

Here are the only pictures we got from New Years!

Sitting in the Big Girl office chair!

Brightly Beautiful

Hurray for Christmastime!

2010-12-07T14:44:00.003-07:00

Well its about darn time I got that yucky zombie off the top of my blog! :D
Here's some pictures of what we've been up to! I probably wont be posting much more until after Christmas! (I cant wait to share pictures of the present I made for Ben this year!)

Sweet Pea in the pool at the hotel.

This is how she really felt! She wouldn't let go of me!

"What's this fuzzy green thing?"

"Oh... Its our Christmas tree!"

"pretty....."

Christmas Dog! To get in this position, she had to walk straight into the tree, almost knocking it over, with her eyes closed (didnt want to poke her own eyes out of course!) then lay down as fast as she could... as you can see, she still didnt get very far!

Our Christmas Tree!

Here's the advent calendar that I made! Sadly the magnets don't work very well so it's gotta stay laying down so everything doesnt fall out!

Our Winter Wonderland.

These 2 would like to borrow your mistletoe!

And I just wanted to leave you with a little eye candy :D

Happy Halloween- a little late

2010-11-04T21:43:00.000-06:00

Ok so I know I just put the decorations away today, but I havent posted pictures yet of our cute family! Maybe next year we'll do the cute matchy matchy thing, but for now we went for cheap :D

Yuck Yuck Yuck....

Our little fairy! Thanks to all Ben's aunts for this fun costume!

And, since blogger is being stupid, no pictures of my costume! :D It was a fun holiday! Too bad it rained so much!

I cant believe its been 4 months!

2010-10-23T11:26:00.001-06:00

Cute as can be!

Happy Friday Giggles!

2010-10-22T15:22:00.001-06:00

Heehee this video was just too funny not to share even though it sorta screwed up my blog! I'll get it fixed sometime this weekend! Have a good laugh in the meantime!

2 months!

2010-08-26T15:03:00.001-06:00

I keep meaning to write on my blog but sometimes I just dont know what to say! So today, I figured I'd just start writing and hopefully something will come.

Ben and I are so blessed. We have family and friends who have taken great care of us and given us so much! Sweet Pea keeps getting present after present and we are SOOO grateful! I am especially grateful for family that is so close. Its fun to be a stay at home mom and have sisters to play with! Cant wait till Kate joins our ranks in late September-early October! Its been so fun to sit out by the pool and get a tan and some good talk time with sisters! I'm also grateful that since my family is so close, we have all of these willing babysitters as well as friends to laugh with and spend time with! They're so wonderful to be supportive in whatever we are doing. I am training for a 10K race in October and its really nice to have other runners in the family who have good tips and are always asking how the training is coming, as well as people to cheer for you to cross the finish line! We couldnt have better family.

Sweet Pea is officially 2 months old! She went for her 2 month check up yesterday and she is doing GREAT! She's nearly 12 pounds now and growing more and more every day. She hated getting shots, and frankly I hated making her get them too! She was so sad!

Its been quite a busy summer! We had Ben Boy's birthday!

His Cake

The spread! What a lucky boy! Meat loaf, yummy potatoes, salad, veggies, rolls & jam! Yum!

Opening presents!

Snuggling with Papa Great for the first time!

Then getting to know Grandma Drawe!

Then we had my birthday (nope, no pictures!) and Sweet Pea's blessing! It was a special event. We had it on a Sunday evening so all our family could come. Grandma Kearney spent months crocheting the most beautiful blessing dress.

Sitting and waiting for everyone to arrive!

In her Daddy's Arms.

Admiring her BEAUTIFUL dress! Thanks SOOO Much Grandma Kearney!!

Front Left to right: Grandma Giggey, Dianna, Me, Grandma Kearney with Sweet Pea in her arms, Ann, & Grandma Drawe.

Aunt Marcell's first time getting to hold Sweet Pea!

Our little family!

We've really enjoyed our summer as a family. We've spent lots of time with different family and friends and lots of time just being "The 3 of Us". Here a just a few more pictures of the fun we've been having!

(last 2 photos by K.Torman Photography)

Sweet Pea

2010-07-04T16:33:00.000-06:00

Well, She's here! Its been almost 2 weeks now and we've really been enjoying our bonding time! Now we're feeling so much better and ready to get that cute face out there! She was born on June 22nd at 2:32am weighing in at 8lbs 4oz...But thats really only the end of the story.

We went into the hospital on Father's Day evening to get induced because the doctor was worried about my high blood pressure. We were shooting for a completely natural birth through Hypnobirthing so I wasnt especially excited about the induction but I was confident that I could still manage our natural birth even with the extra medicine. We went in at 8pm on that Sunday and they started the first round of medication to get things going. I was doing GREAT! I was working with my contractions and helping them increase in size and length, eating tootsie rolls and watching The Rocker with my sweet Ben! I even slept a bit.

The next morning they started the Pitocin. We went for some walks and everything was going well, except for the fact that I wasn't progressing very quickly. Around 11am my doctor wanted to break my water since I was still only at 3cm. When she tried, our sweet girl wouldn't get her hand out of the way, clearly informing the doctor that she was not ready to come into this world and that she really wanted to come on her own terms. The doctor came back around noon and was successful in breaking my water and thats when everything spiraled out of control.

My body started reacting to the combo of pitocin and having my water broken so badly that my
whole body was trembling uncontrollably. I got in the bathtub but that didn't help all that much so I ended up moving to the rocking chair and stayed there for a few hours. My reaction to the pitocin was so excruciating that I begged them not to up it and would beg them not to check my cervix because I was shaking so much and the contractions were back to back. I was having major back labor and the pain was so unbearable that they gave me fentinol 3 times but it really wasn't helping the pain, just helping me sleep in between each contraction.

Around 5pm, we had a talk with my mom who convinced us to see what my options were at that point since I was already at 7cm. We talked with our nurse and decided it was time for an epidural even though that wasn't what we had planned for me or our baby girl. I'm so glad we got the epidural because by that point, we had been in the hospital for nearly 24 hours and both Ben and I were completely drained, emotionally and physically, so it really was the best decision at that point. So the nurse rushed the anstethiologist in and I felt almost immediately better, but it was still almost another 9 hours till our little girl was born. At this point i hadn't had anything but a few crackers and water since they started the pitocin that morning and had only slept an hour or so during the night so I was pretty lethargic. We started pushing at 9pm and pushed until 2:32 when our little girl was finally born.

Moral of the story: Try your hardest not to be induced! The synthetic hormones involved in the induction of labor block the natural hormones and can make it really hard on your body. But I'm so glad our girl is here safe and healthy! I'm also glad that we had her early (despite everything) because if she hadnt been born 2 weeks early, we very well may have had a 10lb baby on our hands!

She is so sweet with curly brown hair and what a chunk! I mean check out those cheekies!

Little Miss Sweet Pea!

Sunbathing in the window of our hospital room with Ben after we found out she had jaundice.

Tasting those hands! YUM!

Her shirt says "Big HUG!" Its one of the 5 onsies that fit! Thanks Lib!

Check out those curls! I'm so glad she got that gene from Ben's side of the family! I'm praying that it stays!

Waiting at the doctors to get her bilirubin checked again to see how her jaundice is...

Jaundice free snuggling her Daddy with a full tummy.

So, its been quite a busy 2 weeks with jaundice, eating struggles, on top of recovering from 31 hours of labor. But we're bouncing back and LOVING life! Loving all the gas smiles and snuggles (Even the snuggles in the wee hours of the morning) and all the sweet things Sweet Pea does!

Of course, there will be more pictures coming! We've got a shoot this week with K. Torman Photography! Go check them out! You can see more on their photo blog here!

Our girl is very dear to us, so we won't be calling her by name on our blogs or Facebook, and we would ask others to not post her name or other personal details on the web about our little Sweet Pea so we can keep her safe.

Thank you everyone for all your help and support!

Crazies

2010-06-18T07:50:00.000-06:00

I know I havent posted on here in like 3 months, but life gets crazy that way sometimes. I'll hopefully be back in not to long with some sweet pics of our new home, new baby, and the beginning of a new adventure!

"I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!" -Mugatu (Zoolander)

Baby Pictures! (much cuter than the first one!)

2010-02-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

"Pirate Eyes" as the doctor called it. This baby wouldn't let the doctor get a good classic profile shot, so creepy pirate eyes will have to do!

Here's the right arm up by the face.

And my personal favorite! TOES!

I'm not going to post the private parts picture, but........

Drum roll please........

ITS A GIRL!

Its a New Year

2010-01-01T12:54:00.000-07:00

This is whats happening at our house today! Isn't my hubby cute?! We're just sitting around relaxing and he decided to make a "M" out of his stocking MnM's for Mary. He's so sweet!

I was reading one of the blogs I like to follow for cute ideas, A Beautiful Mess, and she is doing a giveaway. To enter the giveaway you had to list one of your goals for this year. I've been thinking a lot about my goals for the next year over the last few months and I decided I wanted to put them out here for the world to read, then maybe you guys can help make sure I do them! :D

So here it goes:

1. Get ready for our sweet baby on the way by learning to better enjoy the moment and do less worrying about what is coming up next.

2. LEARN TO SEW! With my awesome new sewing machine I got for Christmas from my parents! I'm so excited to sew some cute clothes for our baby and hopefully some for me and Ben too!

3. Bake bread once a week. Hoping it will quell my need to bake fattening delicious desserts and replace it with something that will hopefully help us be healthier in this next year.

4. Learn to knit! There is a super super super cute hat I desperately want on Red Velvet Art and hopefully I can make mini one for Baby too! (See it here)

What are some of your goals for the year?

-M

COMING SOON.....

2009-12-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

TO A FAMILY NEAR YOU!

Expected in our home July 6, 2010.

-M

Happy Anniversary Love!

2009-10-30T07:00:00.000-06:00

I cant believe its been a year already! I just love that Ben boy more each day. Its so amazing how love works. If you let your heart go, your love for someone can just grow and grow and grow! I never knew my love for anyone could grow so much! Its been quite an amazing year. Here's a smattering of photos from our wedding day a year ago today.

A little Early Halloween fun-Part 1

2009-10-23T22:46:00.000-06:00

Made homemade sweet pork quesadillas tonight for dinner.... Ben cant stop salivating over the pork! Its pretty cute! In fact, I couldnt get him to listen to a word I was saying because he was too busy going on and on about the pork! Heehee what a cutie....

Then we made homemade caramel apples that turned out delicious!!! SEE!

Hope your Friday night was wonderful!!!! Sleep tight!

The Cone of Shame.........

2009-10-18T12:42:00.000-06:00

Apparently Dora is allergic to natural foods. We bought her a natural treat at the farmer's market yesterday and now her eye is swollen and red. (Not to mention another dog peed on her head... thats what you get for sniffing around the wrong places!)

So all around its been a rough weekend. She cant even get into her favorite places, namely under the kitchen table because she cant fit between the chairs!

the face of shame..... :(

Hurray! New computer so I can blog!

2009-09-05T18:53:00.001-06:00

Hey there! Missed me?
Ben and I bought a computer so I can finally blog whenever and have easy access to all our pictures! Hopefully it will be quicker than the last one! I felt my blog needed a change... this new background is temporary though. As soon as we get photoshop running it will change again because I'll be able to make a new header!

So here we go! I promised it would be a long one! I think I might do it in parts so you dont get totally bored!
PART 1: May 2009

The happy boy getting ready for building! See the Zwick construction shirt?

Hauling in the tools through the backyard then through the window...
Boogie man in my basement! :D

Daddy shooting screws through the concrete so we can build shelves in the storage room! It was a surprise for Brett & Dianna! They nearly cried when they saw it! My daddy, husband & brothers are so awesome! They knocked out all the shelves for this room in one Saturday, and you know what they did when they were done? Took the extra supplies, went to my brother Pete's house and built some more shelves!
Once the shelves were built, we emptied the room that would become our bedroom to make room for FRAMING!Wood for framing! lots to haul!

Kevin working hard on the framing!
The promised wysteria in bloom.(sorry... we're sorta late! better late than never!)

The Family Reunion! The family reunion is like a box of chocolates.... ya never know what you're gonna get... this year
It rained....

And rained...

And rained

And RAINED until there was 6 inches of mud. We almost couldnt get out of our campsite. It was so bad that when it did finally dry up a bit, we didnt take a chance and went home a day early. Here's some pictures of the muddy fun!

Beard watch day 1!!Beard when we got home!There was lots of pretending to take big sisters for rides on four wheelers...

Carharts, cowboy hats & flip flops
We had decided to go on a ride as a family only to discover that the road was too muddy and if we went, we probably wouldnt be coming back to camp. To fit my whole family, it takes 3 cars. Unfortunately, the car at the end of the caravan got the message and raced off to catch the first car but we were too late. So we had 1 car all the way to the road with little hope of making it back to camp, one stuck at the bottom of a hill, 6 inches in mud, because they had chased after car 1, and one car at the top of all the hills. The lack of cell phone service made things difficult.
Ben & I were in the truck at the bottom of the hill and we finally decided the best and safest bet was to send someone on foot to catch up to car 1. Guess who went? Ben! So I sat and worried for 20 minutes as he ran through the mud to catch part of my family. Ben caught them JUST IN TIME and made it back to the truck safely. We then walked all the way back to camp in the mud to get four wheelers to rescue those stuck.The muddy rescue trio off to save the day.

My cousin Stu aided in the rescue by driving car #1 back. Now Stu has the most wonderful and obedient dog named Sister. She literally runs circles around Stu everywhere he goes. He's even run her over with a four wheeler on accident and she just hopped up and kept on running in circles around him!
So... when Stu drove down to drive the car back Sister followed, of course! She even followed him into the car!The after math! And the reaction?AH!
Mud makes boys happy!

What would camping be without songs around the fire? Nothing my dear friends! Nothing!

Then we said fair well to the mud and the foreboding sky...and the Bountiful sunset welcomed us home.

Dear blog

2009-07-23T16:11:00.000-06:00

Dearest Blog!

No I haven't forgotten you! I've got 3 months of pictures and fun and updates to put up that I'm still compiling and trying to find the time to wait for each picture to load. When I DO finally get everything compiled and loaded it will be the longest in history but SOOO worth it!

Don't give up on me quite yet!
Love,
Mary

Garden Update

2009-05-28T18:38:00.000-06:00

Lets start with my recent frustration!
SNAILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Last night I went out into my beautiful garden that is supposed to help feed a family of 5 this summer to weed. As I was going along, I looked down at my prized beans, that I grew a WHOLE row of so I can have lots and lots to bottle and eat all winter, and noticed they were looking a bit weird. Upon closer observation... THEY'VE BEEN NIBBLED, MUNCHED, GOBBLED!!!!!!!! SO I began to investigate! Turns out its not just my beans! They've started working on my zucchinis too!

Exhibit 1.1

Exhibit 1.2
Exhibit 2.1-zucchini

So I had to take matters into my own hands...And I did...
I was so so so so angry about the snails that I grabbed my garden claw (If you have any sort of flower bed, let alone a garden, this is a MUST HAVE! Buy it here! or here! (I bought mine at Home Depot and they have a little different brand than the original claw, but still just as good, possibly better because its one piece and the original claw isnt) and I started tilling to get rid of every weed in sight.. and forgot my gloves first! I WAS MAD MAD MAD! Those snails messed with the wrong lady!

There are consequences to seriously tilling without gloves....

So it was time to really address the problem... those SNAILS!

and make my husband help me!
How do you say I addressed the problem? ("Hello problem!")

... well it involves a substance I am not yet old enough to purchase on my own ...............................brewski, lager, BEER....

Yes I know that seems strange. We're faithful LDS church members but I swear, its only to kill the snails! That's what my Nana (My Dad's Mom) would do to kill the snails and keep them out of their garden and orchards. So, beer it was. Better than some sort of chemical around the crop I'm planning on eating all summer, right?

Not so fast Mary & Ben! The cashier at Walmart wont let Ben buy the beer because Mary isnt 21... crazy right?! He wanted to ID me! I wasnt even buying it! I was just standing next to him! And I swore to him we just wanted it to kill snails (Which I'm sure just made him think we were lying more) so we had to go to a gas station! When Ben told the cashier at the gas station the story he just laughed and sold him the beer! Dumb Walmart clerk!

I'll have you know that the beer in my garden worked a bit over night! There are probably 10 tiny baby slugs in those small plates of beer. They over-intoxicated themselves... Serves 'em right!

More Garden pictures!(Click on the picture to see what we're growing!)The Twins!

Sickies!

2009-05-13T12:43:00.001-06:00

So this weekend we've been working fast and furiously on the basement build out. My Dad, my brother Kevin and my Ben got all the framing done in 5 hours! Hot Dog they are cool! Tonight we're getting the electrical put in and we'll be hanging sheet rock by Saturday!

During the framing excitement on Saturday, Ben got a call from his Dad letting us know that Dianna was in the hospital and Abbey was horribly sick. They found out on Sunday or Monday why Dianna and Abbey were so sick.... They have Salmonella! They had eaten some raw cookie dough... doesnt sound like they ate much, but even eating the tiniest bit can give you a food bourne illness! (There's no such thing as the 5 second or 1 second {etc.} rule just for the record! It takes less than a second for a piece of food to get something nasty like E Coli on it and give it to you if you eat it! anyways! I'll get off my Serv-Safe soap box now!) So Brett rushed Abbey to the hospital to be checked in too! We've been waiting for word everyday that they've been able to go home and finish moving to their new villa, but Today is Wednesday and the latest news is that Abbey & Dianna get to share a hospital room in the Pediatric wing "complete with pink and purple hearts on the wall (the pediatric unit does things right)."-Dianna

If you could pray for them and keep them in your thoughts we'd really appreciate it! We love them very much and we really want them better in time to fly home to Utah for the summer!

A Date that Paid!

2009-05-07T13:53:00.000-06:00

Hello There!

For starters, where is everyone? I check blogs everyday so I can keep in touch with family and friends and it seems no one is posting much these days! I miss reading from everyone! Now granted there are some blogs I wish I could see but you have to be invited to (Hint Hint Aunt Heather! I don't have your email to ask!) But please blog more and I will work hard to blog more often even if its just short!

I wanted to tell you all of Ben's and my date that we actually got money BACK on! I keep forgetting to tell you about it and Ben reminded me today during our $2 KFC lunch!

2 weeks ago Ben took me to the What a Woman Wants Show put on by FM100.3. We got in free because Ben's work had a booth there (He works for a skin care company as a graphic designer). As we were driving around trying to decide on what to eat we remembered a gift certificate he's been carrying around for months and months because we never get to the Crown Burger in West Valley (where it said it was good at) but we decided to eat at Crown Burger and see if they'll take it... They did, and NO JOKE, it was a $20 gift cert. and we only spent $15, so THEY GAVE US $5 CASH back!

Wahoo! Thats the kind of date we like to go on... so the low down:
What a Woman Wants Show tickets: $0
Dinner at Crown Burger with 2 burgers, fries, a drink and shake: $-5
Watch a movie we already own: $0

Today for our lunch date we went to KFC thanks to Oprah! It was free with a coupon and UNFORTUNATELY can no longer be printed, but we sure enjoyed our 2 piece grilled chicken with 2 sides and a biscuit at the price of a Large drink for Ben and I to share!

If you want more offers to save, check out this blog that I love! I read it all the time and there are updates sometimes up to 5 or 6 times a day with different things, reminders of deals, etc.!

Hopefully I'll see more from you guys soon on your blogs!

Refinishing the Dungeon

2009-04-23T14:12:00.000-06:00

So as many of you know, my Ben and I are house sitting for Ben's parent's while they're living in Qatar, which is a country that isn't commonly heard of. It makes up a peninsula of Saudi Arabia in the Arabian Gulf (More commonly known as the Persian Gulf).

They have made the decision to stay there for another year while Brett teaches at the Virginia Commonwealth University of Qatar. They're having some really cool experiences. We miss them greatly but we're always excited to hear of their adventures being famous on the beach, going to the "Saloon" for a haircut, going to the camel races, and playing with friends from Egypt and many other countries! Even their cat CiCi has a passport and is having quite an adventure. Want to read more? Check out Dianna's Blog! She's an amazing writer and photographer and is documenting this crazy adventure they're on so WELL!

Now all our family that reads my blog DONT PANIC! They are coming home for 2 months (Not sure on exact amount of time! Ask Dianna!) for the summer before they go back, then will be back again for Christmas!

So for the last 6 months, Ben and I have had the WONDERFUL blessing of staying in their house. They've given us such a wonderful gift as newlyweds! And we really enjoy living there and the natural birth control of teaching a 6 yr old primary class and beginning to be more than just the Kearney's kid's in our ward (At least in the Primary!)

Since they are going back, Ben and I arent getting an apartment and we are staying in the basement.... formerly known by me as the dungeon. I have always called it the dungeon because it is unfinished and dark( and I'll openly admit that I'm more scared of the dark than most 5 year olds) and there are spiders (probably just in my head) and since its unfinished there's not light switches readily available for me to flip at every turn. So as long as I've lived there, I've pretended that it didnt exist (except for when I'm doing the laundry and see the black doorway and call for Ben to come make sure I'm safe from whatever boogie man, murderer, robber that magically got in there when I had my back turned).

So, I'm begging for help! Help me take one thing off my list of "To Do's and Figure outs" We're working on getting that dungeon to be not so dungeony (at least the dark & spiders and me growing accustomed to being down there) and more of a sanctuary where Ben and I can go and be together when we need OUR time and a place for relaxing. (We've become very Zen like {if thats how you say it} these days. Listening to meditation music and all that! Really REALLY helps! Try it out!)

Any CHEAP and TEMPORARY decorating ideas? We'd like to set up a tiny living room type space so we dont have to always be sitting on our bed. We just bought a new TV so we can have our alone movie time when we want but I'm trying to come up with some space saving, great storage, fabulously cute ideas. Here's some pictures of styles and rooms I like!

Here are some paper lanterns. I bought 3 for lamps in our room. I thought they'd make it feel very feng shui!I guess it helps to mention that All of our room stuff is Chocolate brown and Sage Green and all of our Living room stuff is Red & Black... Any ideas on that? I'd also like some rug ideas!

Thanks for any advice you've got for me! We're SOOOO Excited to have Ben's family home this summer and I'm especially excited to get to know them even better!

Busy!

2009-04-05T13:59:00.000-06:00

Hello Again!!!

I'm back posting! Lots of pictures this post! So lets get started!

I made chocolate chip cookies last Sunday for Ben and his home teaching companion and our new friends JC & Hailey! JC loved them so much as he was saying "I'm going to take this one back with me for Hailey" he starting eating it!

The next day, Ben ate 4 of them for a snack then felt sick the rest of the night!

So here's some pictures of them! Sorry! My secret recipe and my specialty so there will be no recipe posted! Just thought I'd let you drool
So maybe next time I see you I'll make my favorite cookies!

Last Saturday I got sick of the dust on and behind the blinds in our room (since I'm super allergic to dust mites). I couldn't clean them very well because they were old and if you pulled them up you could never get them back down. So, I "broke" them. *smiles* So Ben had to fix them! Unfortunately Home Depot didn't have the wooden blinds that we needed so we went without blinds until TUESDAY! We just didn't turn on the lights in our room after dark so our neighbors couldn't see us!

When all was said and done we were SO excited we cuddled up on our bed and just enjoyed the blinds! We soon realized that Sophie was trying to steal our camera! Here's a video!

On Wednesday this week, much to our surprise, Ben received a raise! His work had told him that because of budget cuts he wouldn't be receiving a raise so we were VERY VERY excited! So I took him out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner! Here is a picture of the happy boy about to eat his country fried chicken!YUMMY!
Ben and I have been SOOO blessed lately! On Friday, I got a raise as well. We went to our favorite bakery for dinner to celebrate but forgot to take pictures.

As those of you in Utah know, we had a winter flashback this last week. On Friday there was the most BEAUTIFUL full rainbow! I could only get a picture of half.

SATURDAY! General Conference! Ben and I had tickets to go to the Conference Center to watch the Saturday morning session and since our ticket source was a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy (My boss's dad) we were on the floor, in the section just behind the families. It was great! After conference we walked around Temple Square for about 20 minutes and enjoyed the crowd.

Temple Square!
The BEAUTIFUL house I'd love to have someday across the street to the East from the Conference Center.

Our Temple on a stormy Conference Saturday!Me!At my house its been a tradition to have "Conference Brunch" together as a family in our jammies. So I made Ben and I delicious crepes for our first Conference Brunch together! Dont they look YUMMY!

They had a cream cheese, strawberry & blackberry filling topped with homemade whipped cream and more berries!

Then on Sunday in between the two sessions, we went for a motorcycle ride! It was a beautiful 50 degrees and sunny! (50 is only acceptable when its been 30 all week!)
Check out my new motorcycle jacket!

And here's Ben making a silly face as usual!

Hope you enjoyed the update and the pictures! What have you been up to this past week?

Help Save Babies!!!!

2009-03-25T08:58:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone! I dont have much time so I'm just going to post short one today! Ben and I have been sick all weekend and quarantined inside our house. As I'm sure you can imagine we've got lots of house work to do to clean up from being cooped up all weekend!

MY post today is about saving babies!!! On April 25, 2009 my whole family is Marching for Babies! It is an annual event that the March of Dimes does to raise money to help prevent babies from being born premature. As some of you know I had a niece born too early! She probably wouldnt be alive and a happy age 9 if it werent for the research that the March of Dimes does with the money they raise!

The money goes to:

- support all-important research offering preventions and solutions for babies born too soon or with birth defects

- educate women on things they can do to increase their chances of having a healthy baby

- provide comfort and information to families with a newborn in intensive care

- push for newborn screening and health insurance for all pregnant women and children

Please help by donating today!

You can donate by clicking on my link on my cool new banner at the top right of my page! or go to Team Annie Mae's page!

HELP US SAVE BABIES!!!

Missing my blog and Cooking Fun!

2009-03-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

To start, we went to a funeral today. A dear family friend passed away on Wednesday. Dear Ruth Mitchell has adopted us as her grandkids. She never missed my birthday and always had interesting treasures that she would give me! My favorite 2 were a beautiful silver locket and my elephant cake topper (or thats what I'll use it for)! The elephant is so cute and fat wearing a party hat and holding a cake with wilting candles. She was always so sweet and thoughtful. I'm so happy for her to be reunited with her husband and son. She has longed to be with them for a very long time. She will be dearly missed.

This week I worked so much at the begining of the week I got to take a half day on Friday! Hurray! It was so delightful because desperately missed cooking, so what better day to cook?!

By the title of my blog you'd think I'd have a lot more about cooking on here. And those who know me know that my blog got its name because I'm a culinary arts student and someday hope to open my own restaurant. Cooking is just my outlet, a wonderful way for me to relax and enjoy watching my husband drool over my creations. So I've decided I'm going to try to cook more and blog about it!

So what did I cook this weekend? A wonderful array of things. In fact I'm cooking right now! I've got a homemade chocolate cake in the oven right now! (I got a new cake plate so I HAVE to use it!)

Thanks to my sister-in-law Kristy, I'm hooked on a blog called Smitten Kitchen. It is a delightful website with TONS of fun recipes!

With no further ado.. Gnocchi

In the making....

Hand rolled with care.

small pockets of potato love

Boiled, then

SMOTHERED in basil & garlic pesto and freshly grated parmesean!
Delicious!
(I had to take Ben's bowl away from him when he still had a few left because these are EXTREMELY filling and he was struggling to stop on his own and making himself sick.)

If you want to try this recipe on your own it was actually VERY easy and cheap (us newlyweds LOVE that!) You can find the recipe here!

Did I mention that these gnocchi were accompanied by Cherry limeades? Super easy! Buy some Limeade from concentrate, add a little cherry Grenadine and some fresh limes and Voilà!!

Goodbye for now! Hopefully some more delicious posts to come very soon! Things on my list: Armenian Cracker Bread, Chocolate cake on my new beautiful cake stand!

Enjoying Nothing To Do

2009-02-16T10:41:00.000-07:00

"The art of doing nothing is really something"

Some times its nice to have nothing to do.

In this world where there's always an enormous "To Do" list, its nice to feel a sense of accomplishment when you've reached a point that you have absolutely NOTHING that has to be done NOW NOW NOW! Its a rarity and usually lasts under 5 minutes, but its nice to enjoy those 2 or 3 minutes when they come.

Usually my list looks something like this:

"Work

-send out contracts
-answer phones
-distribute faxes
-arrange lunch meetings
-arrange lunch
-get someone on the phone
-print and fill out pay applications
-enter invoices in 2 different systems
-and much much much more!"

Then I go home and it looks like this!

-love the kitty so she'll be a tiny bit more quiet
-do the constant laundry
-try to do the dishes before Ben
-clean the bathrooms
-try to find something for dinner
-vacuum
-fold the laundry
-make the bed
-try to keep the house we live in looking like a home
-grocery shop
-write thank you notes (I know I'm bad! I'm sorry! They are coming!)
-Pay misc. bills that aren't on auto bill pay
-visit family
-attempt to make it through organizing the mail
-and on and on and on!

Who knew that being married would give us an endless to do list!! Haha! Its so great! We love it! We also enjoy taking those moments to just enjoy being together and relaxing playing our Lego Batman video game or watching Sophie chase her fish or watching some old movie!

Dont forget to take time to enjoy those little things and those quiet moments when no one (including yourself) is expecting anything of you!

Yay!!! No broken PCL! But No more Yoga Either.... :(

2009-02-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

YAY! So Ben and I took the day off on Friday and went to Park City! We enjoyed sleeping in and making french toast then going on a small road trip! We did some shopping then went to my knee appointment.

They had me change into these strange little short things, draw on my knees, and do some X-rays. Shortly after the X-rays the doctor came in and took a look at them and started playing with my knee. It was really weird to watch him push my knee cap to about 1 inch off my knee... Then they told me that my Posterior Cruciate Ligament wasn't torn or broken like my family doctor had said. He said that a 300 lb. lineman would have had to hit my knee like that to injure it! So hurray! I did injure it but not as serious and I just have to take care of the swelling.

The sad thing is that the doctor and his PA said I cant do yoga anymore.... in fact his PA was a bit disturbed when we told her that that was one of my favorite things. They said that I'm capable of hyper-extending my joints all on my own because I'm so flexible! (Dont worry I'm not one of those people that can put my foot behind my head....) So no more yoga. ... :(

Posterior Cruciate Ligament & Single People

2009-01-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

This is the ligament that is keeping me from walking normally.

Those of the Kearney family that read my mother-in-law's blog know that while she was here in Utah we had a Snowman Building Contest with my family. That's when the injury occurred.

My sister Kate and her boyfriend Kyle were in a stale mate wrestling match, where neither could get the other to the ground. So Ben and I thought it might be fun to interfere and take them BOTH down in a big dog pile.

Just as I arrived at the scene and was about to make my move, Kate came tumbling down head on into my left knee.

So I just made an appointment with Dr. Tom Roseberg (Picture at right). He is on the Board of Directors for Zwick Construction (The company I work for) so even though he is hard to get into I'm going to see him on February 6th. He is the Orthopedic Specialist for the Utah & USA Olympic Ski teams and one of his bigger clients is Tiger Woods... So he's going to take good care of me.

The quandary I have, though, is would it cost less to fly me to Virginia to go see my new uncle Nate who is an Orthopedic Surgeon as well? Ben says probably not unfortunately!

I wonder if I'll run into Tiger Woods in Park City at my appointment. Anyone hear if he's had any knee injuries lately? hahaha

Single People
So Ben and I have suddenly discovered that we are no longer the same people we used to be when we were single. Little did we know we've been changing into Fuddy duddies.

We had two of our single friends over last night and realized that single people are CRAZY! The things they worry about, how late they stay up, and much much more! Little did we know we suddenly dont have quite the stamina to stay up as late anymore. We both end up sick every time we try. And the worries that single people have are just so lame! When you're worrying about cleaning a house, feeding the cat, paying lots of bills, little things that they worry about seem like such small things.

I KNOW! I was there not long ago... so you'd think I wouldnt notice these changes in Ben and I but I DO! Being single is such DRAMA! I'm so glad I'm married! haha

Even though there's a lot of drama and craziness in our single friends' lives we LOVE them! and Love to have them over! As long as you dont stay till after 9pm! haha jk

Empty House

2009-01-18T13:40:00.000-07:00

The house is down to Ben, Sophie and me. Even now that everyone is gone I finding myself still closing the bathroom door, keeping my music down, and even putting on clothes when I leave my bedroom! haha I know, CRAZY! Who does those things regularly? No one at the newest Kearney's house, thats for sure!! Not even Sophie! She likes to bath in doorways, in front of the TV and many other inappropriate places.

Though having people in our house 2 weeks in a row prevented us from a little of our normal day to day activities, I am so very grateful for the time I've been able to spend getting to know Ben's family. I know that sounds strange considering we've been married for almost 3 months, we dated for 2 before we were engaged and were engaged for 4 months, I still dont know Ben's family very well, especially his extended family.

Most who read my blog know, Ben's sister Kristy and her family live in Denver, Colorado, so I havent gotten the opportunity to get to know her. Some dont know that 3 weeks after Ben and I were engaged his Mom, Dad and little sister Abbey left for Qatar and my family sorta adopted Ben because he was here alone.

All of that changed a bit over the last 2 weeks. Though we will all miss Grandpa Drawe and Kearney very very much, I'm so glad that through this experience I got to actually get to know the people in Ben's family, not over Skype or over the phone, but face to face, living in the same house as well as sharing a sadness.

My favorite example of getting to know Ben's family is all explained in this picture.... (Dad Kearney playing his first ever round of guitar hero!)

And this was his score on his first time EVER playing Guitar Hero! He did AWESOME!

I am just very grateful that I got to meet so many more people in my new family and get to know some of those people better. Some of those people are Mom Kearney, Dad Kearney, Kristy & Jared Robinson, Grandma Kearney, Marcell Kearney, Brooke & Rod Thornley, Heather & Nate Richardson (Nate told me all about what could be wrong with my knee that got tackled into! Hurray!) Aunt Kathy, Aunt Shirley, Grandma Drawe, and many many others that I've been so glad to spend time with.

So Thank you all sooooo much! Dont be strangers! I really want to get to know you all more!!!!

SORRY! & the Sophie Diaries

2009-01-10T13:00:00.001-07:00

So I know I havent posted in a month and I'm in trouble with my family but here it goes! I'm going to try to post more on my blog about Ben's and My wonderful life together.

The Sophie Diaries-

Meet our kitty. Her name is Sophie.

She loves her pet fish.

She clearly hates her Christmas t-shirt! Bah Humbug!
She LOVES to cuddle and when we're not interested she finds other outlets, like our poor fuzzy blanket.

She thinks she's the Queen of Everything, ESPECIALLY our bed."Thank you for coming today"

She may be silly, think she's sneaky (though she cant be with her shiny blue bell), WHINY, and a bah humbug when it comes to my plans to dress her up...
But, WE LOVE HER!
And life wouldn't be the same without her welcoming us home every night after work, nuzzling and biting my head when I pick her up after a long day of being away, running up the stairs with extreme speed and noise for some bizarre reason, and coming running when I call her.

Thanks Mom, Dad & Abbey Kearney for letting us keep her here and leaving us someone to love us in your place!

San Francisco!!

2008-11-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

Ok so I finally got to it and here is my debut movie!!! I know its been a month since we were there... but this is our movie of SAN FRANCISCO!!!

Kids say the DARNEDEST Things!

2008-11-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was a lot of fun for Ben and I. We went to my sister's ward to watch our nieces and nephew in their Primary Program! One of my very favorite church events of the year! We giggled and giggled as we watched each child come up and show off their personality. One had a plastic guy that probably belonged to one of his GI joes and was shooting people in the audience and some of the children that came to the pulpit until his big brother came to the pulpit and took it away. Another had a lisp and was absolutely adorable singing "If you don't walk as most people do, some people walk away from you... but I wont! I wont! I'll walk WIF you I'll talk WIF you! Thats how I'll show my WUV for you!" Another who was probably 2 or 3 got up and had the most expression in his voice he sounded like he was acting & we couldnt help but giggle. Then there was the one who came up with his scriptures and scripture bag that he swung onto the pulpit and dropped his scriptures on the pulpit loudly, flipped through the pages and pulled out a piece of paper to read. Then there were my 3 favorite kids! Emma did wonderful as per usual. Annie Mae read her whole line ALL BY HERSELF which is so amazing for my favorite legally blind child, and Ryan was a ham as usual, unfolding the paper he cant read and flattening it out on his chest as he walked up all while being VERY serious about his presentation.
After the meeting and giggling had let up a bit, the kids came off the stand and Ryan and Annie came RUNNING to Ben & I. It was so cute! Annie proceeded to tell Ben and I that we couldnt kiss... so of course we kissed and we tried to explain that it was ok for Ben & I to kiss because we're married. She said "NO! No you're not! You're not married!" It wasnt until later that night at dinner we would find out what her silliness was about. Ben gave Ryan a piggy back ride to the car and as we were walking away to get in our car Ryan yells "WAIT!!! MORE HUGS MORE HUGS!!!!" Who could deny such a cute boy more hugs?! So we of course ran back for more hugs and kisses from all.

Dinner was the best of funny things kids say. Annie continued on with her trying to convince us that we werent married and couldnt kiss. So finally I told her to ask her mom if we were married. Rachel tried to remind Annie of going to the temple and taking pictures and the party we had that night and Annie remembered... but she wasnt about to believe we were married because of all that... so Rachel asked her why. Her response was "Because I want to marry Ben!!!!!" She came over to us and asked Ben the funniest Annie question of the night....
"Can you have 2?" Meaning "Can you have 2 wives?" Yes.... dear Annie asked her uncle Ben if he would be a polygamist to marry her. We all burst out in laughter and Rachel called Annie back over to her. Rachel explained that Annie couldnt have Ben as a husband but she'd still get him forever as her uncle and asked her if that would be ok and told her to go ask Ben if he'd be her uncle to which Ben replied "of course!"

Later we were playing Apples to Apples with the family and having a ball. Kevin was up to draw a green card and he got the word Bold. Sweet Ryan was sitting next to him and playing with the discard cards and chimes in "BALD! Ben's Bald! I know that!!" Funny little Ryan thought that Kevin had said bald. And we all burst out in laughter as he insulted his new uncle while trying hard to be a part of the game. It was the one liner of the month!

Kids say the darnedest things!

Covert Op Kitty!

2008-11-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

So Ben & I have begun getting settled and getting moved in and its been really great but TIRING. All of you who have been married know how hard it is to get used to sleeping in the same bed as someone else, and living with someone besides the family you grew up with.

Its been quite the adventure needless to say. But, the biggest adventure so far I would have to say, is the Covert Op Cat that lives with us. Her name is Sophie and she is as sweet as a cat could possibly be. She used to have a kitty friend, menacing and troublemaking CiCi, who went back to Qatar with Mom, Dad & Abbey Kearney after our wedding and Sophie has been distraught ever since. When Ben locked her in the laundry the night after we got back, she was so upset she actually threw up after making herself horse from meowing all night long. So we decided that we're going to get her a little bed and let her stay in our room and roam the house during the night. Since then she's been much happier and quieter (if quieter is a word you could use about whiny Sophie). All of this has lead to her newest nickname as the Covert Op Kitty.

The other night at about 2 am I was awoken not by the usual snoring or moving that comes from the other side of the bed, but from a strange feeling on my toes. It really scared me because it was furry, then I realized that somehow Sophie had worked herself under our covers and by our feet while we were sleeping soundly and when I moved she got scared she ran out. Covert Operation 1.

Her Covert Operation 2 happened this morning about 2 am again. I woke up because Ben started to roll over and I was suddenly aware of something furry cradled in right arm and Ben was about to roll right on top of it. Now I don't know how sneaky little Sophie got me to make a spot for her with my arm or how she even got into that spot under the covers without waking me up, but she did it, And she loved it and was purring like CRAZY!

So where Sophie will turn up being sneaky again, we'll have to see and I'll keep you updated, but for now she's just our sneaky Covert operation kitty who acts likes she's in the military while we sleep!
More about wedding and honeymoon later! Waiting to get pictures and my movie done! hurray!

Over and Out! heehee

Wedding!

2008-11-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

Ok... so its all over and Ben and I are home from San Francisco safe and happy to be able to relax together! I'll post more when I get a chance but wanted to put a picture that I stole from my sister-in-law Kristy's blog because its my favorite so far! Its me and 3 of my nephews and seeing now I dont know why Connor didnt get in that picture! I wish he had been.

A big thank you to all of our family and friends for all of their help! We cant possibly thank you enough!

Marathon

2008-10-21T15:37:00.000-06:00

So I just got off the phone with my sister Rachel and was reminded of a line from one of my favorite movies The Wedding Date. This movie is also one of my friend Libby's favorite movies. We watched it the other night and I realized that almost everything that comes out of her mouth is a quote from that movie :D ("I dont even know ya hunky dunky and I love ya already!" , "RUN YOU SEXY LITTLE MONKEY!", "Gorgeous!, I was insane to let you go" {Keep in mind most of these are in a British accent}) Heehee
ANYHOO!

The quote that came to mind was from the part of the movie when the main character Kat arrives at the cocktail welcome party with her male escort and her mother drags her into the main room and says "This is a marathon! NOT a sprint... and since you so foolishly left no room for jet-lag I NEED you to hydrate!"
It just cracked me up because as I was going through my different appointments with my sister that line just kept running through my head because this really has been a marathon! Some would say its been a sprint since the would would spend a year engaged (I would shoot myself).

That line also reminded me of my in-laws coming in from the middle east who have just barely gotten used to Qatar time. They say it takes the same amount of days as there are hours in the time difference to get over jet lag. My poor soon to be in-laws will be here for 10 days. The time difference is 9 hours. Then they head back to Qatar to have to adjust again.
So "I need you to Hyrdate!" heehee

So I just looked at my calendar... & I get married next week.. weird!

2008-10-20T16:23:00.000-06:00

Ok so I'm sorry but I'm warning you all now.. in the next 15 days I wont be blogging much.. I'm very sorry! As things are winding down until the wedding, life is getting crazier and crazier!
Here's the breakdown!
3 Days until Sam Simons' birthday! (One of those days is today! HURRAY!)
3 days until Ben's Parent's arrive... at 4:45 pm
4 days until Ben's sister Kristy & her family arrive!
5 days until Ben and I go to the temple and receive our endowments! Very exciting!
We just got our recommends last night and they'll be ready after 1 more signature! Hurray!
9 days until me and my mom's and sisters and bridesmaids go get pedicures!!
9 Days until we all go eat tasty food at the JSMB overlooking the temple!
10 days until Ben and I are sealed for time & all eternity!!! Hurray!
11 days until we're in San Fransisco!
14 days until Ben & I are back in Bountiful setting up our house! and loving our very lonely Sophie Cat!

So as you can imagine... things are going to be a bit nuts over the next little bit! But Ben and I are VERY excited and cant wait to be sealed and get to spend even more time together and to not be living out of 2 houses anymore!

We love you all! Thank you so much for the support you have all given us!

Going to the Temple and we're... gonna get maaarried! Gee I really love you and we're.. gonna get Married!

2008-10-14T13:29:00.001-06:00

So today! We got our Marriage License! Its official! Ben and I can legally get married! Pretty sweet! It was a wretched experience getting it though... and the list of reasons why!
1. noisy small children
2. noisy small children with stinky stinky stinky diapers
3. Other couples that were as crabby as could be (Why they were applying to get married when they treat each other that way is beyond me)
4. air filled with the stench of pooey diaper that the parents didnt seem inclined to change

Thats about it! Other than that... it was WONDERFUL! Its really fun to know that Ben & I can legally get married and now all we've gotta do is wait for the temple! ok... thats not all we've gotta do. There's a lot more planning to do but luckily we've got a great.. do I dare say committee!

We love you all! And Thank you so much for your love and support in this stressful time!
(ps... that isnt our marriage license! :D That is courtesy of google images)

Stuck Finger :( , Sleeping Beauty & The Best Fiance EVER!!

2008-10-09T08:35:00.000-06:00

So Its officially official... I'm blonde and accident prone.

Last night when Ben and I were at Costco getting our hot dogs for dinner I tried to throw away a napkin without touching the garbage can.. and well... I got my right hand middle finger STUCK in the garbage can lid and because I was trying to be fast I got stuck and tried to pull my hand away fast and lifted the lid off the can and cut my finger open on BOTH sides of my finger at the top joint of my finger. It was sad. It didnt hurt for awhile... but it really hurts now. The springs on the lid of those cans are STRONG! wow! So watch out... they should have big signs above things like that that say DANGER!!! (not like I would notice a sign about something dangerous :D) Mom's beware of Costco garbage cans! They may try to eat your children's fingers... and having a chunk of your finger taken off with plastic doesn't feel nice.

On October 7, 2008 Disney released Sleeping Beauty from their vault for the very last time. It is the 50th Anniversary and they've remastered it and did all sorts of wonderful to it! Sleeping Beauty is the best movie of ALL TIME! Ben , that sweet man of mine, bought it for me on October 7th brand new from Graywhale with lots of his leftover credit there (and a Harry Connick, Jr. Christmas CD). Then when we didnt get to watch it that night we planned to watch it on Wednesday. He agreed to have a PJ party with me with treats and coloring in Sesame Street coloring books! It was GREAT! He is so sweet to me! He didnt even laugh at me when I started to tear up in the opening scene because I was so excited! Then when I was fed up with coloring because it was keeping me from watching the movie, he cuddled me until the movie was over even when I fell asleep as the 3 good fairies were going to save Prince Phillip. He then cuddled me while we listened to the music on the main menu about 15 times and finally convinced me to go to bed. Then he CARRIED ME TO BED and sang "Once Upon a Dream" to me over and over until I was pretty much passed out!! He is so dang sweet! I couldn't ever dream of finding someone better or sweeter than him. I don't think that such a person exists!

Thanks Mom & Dad Kearney for raising such a sweet tender hearted boy!

BACON!!!!

2008-10-07T16:25:00.000-06:00

Oh if every day could just be spent Frolicking! I wish life were that simple and relaxed!! Oh to be a kid again! Chewing on paper like little chubby Kimball, or getting a firetruck for "going pee in the toilet" like Thomas.. or Frolicking and not caring who sees or who is taking pictures like this young Benjamin!
Occasionally I take the time to get all silly and color in my coloring books with my crayons, dance in the rain, and play "BACON!!!" with the love of my life! I need to do those things more often. So tonight! I'm going grab that handsome fiance of mine and we are going to color in my seasame street coloring books! And We're going to LOVE IT!

I really think the whole world should just lighten up and have some real true good clean fun!

Blogging my little fingers off! Missing my Sparkley

2008-10-06T15:09:00.001-06:00

So, I guess I never realized how truly difficult it is to keep track of 6 blogs! Holy Moly! 3 of which I'm supposed to be posting on! Its officially difficult.. but I'm determined to keep posting and checking even if I end up with carpel tunnel some day because I've been blogging my little fingers off. :D

Things in good ol' Bountiful are good. Very very busy as Ben and I are counting down our last 24 days until the wedding! We cant wait for all the family to be back in Utah with us and to be married! We're missing all of our family far away as it seems to be birthday season in the Kearney family! We've missed celebrating with Kristy & Mom Sept 20th & 21st, and now Thomas' birthday yesterday turning a big 3 years old! We would have loved to have been in Colorado with Thomasito and given him hugs and kisses and snuggled because "I love to snuggle too..." (Quote from Thomasito in June 2008 during Kimball's blessing) We cant wait to squeeze Kimball's chubby cheeks when the Robinsons come to town!

About a week ago Ben got me a sterling silver band to wear until the wedding because we made a deal that on Sept 30th if he bought me said band I'd give up my ring to get re-dipped and polished and all prettied up and make sure all the diamonds were sitting securely and that he'd get to keep it until the wedding. Thought it would be sorta fun to have a simple band until the wedding when I get my real sparkley ( I know thats not a word :D) wedding ring back. Little did I know it would be sheer torture! We havent had time to run to the jeweler to drop it off until today. And let me just tell you how absolutely HARD it was to see that lady take my special sparkley ring (that I havent seen for a week) out of the box and not be able to hold it or wear it and know that that was the last time I'd see it for another 24 days! WOW I miss my ring! This sterling silver band is great and all... but I want my ring back! I think I'll probably cry tears of joy on October 30th... not only because I will be married to the sweetest kindest man I've ever met... but because I'll get my sparkle sparkle back! Its just such a beautiful reminder of how much Ben really loves me that I hate to be separated from it especially when I am separated from him ALL DAY LONG!

Anyways.... I think my fingers have had enough blogging on blog 1 of 3 :D
Hope everyone is having a good night and a special Happy Birthday to my favorite 3 yr old Thomas!

Sicky Poo & Our Song

2008-10-03T21:30:00.000-06:00

Being sick is the pitts. So is throwing up at 3am. So is spending the whole day at home alone feeling terrible with no one to take care of you and no food in the house to take care of yourself. And no thermometer. And no Ben to cuddle me :( I missed him so bad all day. I felt so much better when he got here after work and held me... but he could only stay for like 20 minutes because he had to go the temple without me. Unfortunately I'm still feeling yucky and it doesnt seem to be getting better. But at least now I have Ben to hold me and watch The Office with me. So hopefully I'll be feeling better soon especially since Ben has to leave me to go to bed... but I'm sure like usual he'll be super sweet, carry me to bed, tuck me in then stay with me until I'm sound asleep. He's the sweetest, cutest, coolest boy I've ever met! I cant believe he decided to marry lil old me!

Oh! and Ben and I have a SONG! I know.. a new one. The one that most of you have heard on our website. The new song is called Beautiful by Jim Brickman & Wayne Brady... yes Wayne Brady. I've put the link to the YouTube video on my sidebar! Check it out! We're pretty excited!

I'm out!

MY First lots...

2008-09-30T19:41:00.000-06:00

My first blog!!!
My first visit with Ben to get stitches (Apparently it wont be the last time he cuts himself on a can)
My first membership!! to Costco anyways!
My first One Tree Hill episode (Talk about soap opera.. wont be watching it again if SMLK doesnt make me)
My first time not getting queasy over stitches.
My first time really preparing to move in 13 years.
My first last 30 days of being legally single! Hurray!

So I need to explain a few of my firsts.
- MY FIRST BLOG!!!
I discovered a link to my soon-to-be sister-in-law's blog today on my mother-in-laws blog and I decided to be a good soon-to-be Kearney woman I've gotta start keeping in better touch with my family across the world. So I'm starting
-MY FIRST VISIT WITH BEN TO GET STITCHES
Today I had to stay at work for lunch because there was no-one to answer phones, so Ben came to eat lunch with me. He brought a can of chili for his lunch and he opened it then promptly cut his finger open on the lid.... badly... it started gushing and he worked to get the blood stopped while I had to run to answer phones and kept running back to check on him bleeding over the sink. Luckily I had some gauze and tape in my overly large purse and we bandaged him up hoping he'd be alright without stitches. After about 10 minutes we discovered we'd done the bandage too tight and had to undo it only to discover that the flap of skin hanging off his left pointer finger was much larger and deeper than we thought. So I attempted to get a hold of my boss while Ben called his and the insurance company and once I finally got a hold of my boss we rushed out the door to the doctor. He got stitched up and that brings me to my next FIRST!
-MY FIRST MEMBERSHIP!!
Ben and I got a Costco membership and proceeded to walk every isle of the WHOLE store! hahaha we discovered some WONDERFUL things!
-MY FIRST ONE TREE HILL EPISODE
Wow... LAME...
-MY FIRST NOT GETTING QUEASY OVER STITCHES
I sat with Ben through his WHOLE stitching up!
-MY FIRST TIME GETTING READY TO MOVE IN 13 YRS
Weird... moving into my first new home since I was 7 yrs old... I've been such a pack rat!!! geez!
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY
-MY FIRST LAST 30 DAYS BEING LEGALLY SINGLE
Its a great, scary, amazing, wonderful, crazy, stressful, AWESOME feeling in the world! I'm so excited for Ben and I to get married! There's only 30 days left now.. and I'm CRAZY excited!