Salt Lake City

On Wednesday, we made the drive into SLC while Ryan stayed at the hotel and worked all day. (That's a whole different story) Anyways, we took the Utah Trax into town and it dropped us off right in front of the Temple. We enjoyed the Joseph Smith Memorial building, visited and shopped the distribution center and watched the movie in the theatre. I was a beautiful day but I was extremely sore because I hadn't had my massage yet.

Seven Peaks - Provo, UT

Tuesday morning, we headed to the water park. That was crazy. They actually had a film crew there that day, filming for Highschool Musical a Disney Production. We had to wait in lines everywhere while the film crew tried to get the shots they needed. Trust me, I was never close enough that I have to worry about being seen in my bathing suit!
You see that huge orange slide that has a complete drop? Trust me....don't go on it, you will injure yourself in more places then I care to mention. I ended up having to get a massage the next day because I hurt my neck to bad. Couldn't move it for almost 24-hours. That's me going down the slide.
My brother David and daughter Maddie on the water slide.
For the price, we got our monies worth. Next time we'll bring our own food into the park. That's where they get ya.

Time with Lorrin and Wendy

So after the BBQ at David's we drove to Sandy, UT to visit Ryan's brother Lorrin. Can you see the resemblence? I've always enjoyed spending time with Lorrin and Wendy. We go way back. They used to be our neighbor's when we lived at the funeral home. They were newly weds back then. They now have 3-children, Ivy, Paige and 1-year old Jacob who was asleep when I took this picture. Good times. Love you Lorrin and Wendy. Thanks for a fun night;)

Family Vacation to Utah - Pre Reunion

We arrived in Utah on Saturday, July 26th. Arriving 1-week early for the family reunion so we could attend church and the blessing of my brother's new son, Sam. It was really cool to have all the family there to support this special day. Afterwards, we went to my brother's for a BBQ and enjoyed the afternoon with my grandpa. As you can see, grandpa and Kyle were having fun husking the corn. The photo with all the boys is a 4-generation photo with my grandfather, my dad, my brother and the first "Lassen" great grandson. Thanks David for carrying on the last name, we knew we could count on you:)

The other photo is a picture of my parents and all my siblings.

The Fun Begins Here!

So we're set. With the price of gas and the energy used to load up 12-15 kids to go on a field trip, why not bring the fun to daycare. Last year I purchased an Astro Jump for the business. Best business purchase ever! This year was the new playground and water slide. At any rate, I'm by far the coolest mom on the block. We seem to attract every stray child wondering the neighborhood:) My back yard is a disaster, but the kids are having a fabulous time. I'm glad Kyle's still young and small enough to enjoy the new toys as well. Unfortunately there's a weight restriction on the water slide, so I can't go on it. 80 lb. limit. What a bummer! Let's just hope for continuous nice weather so that I can get my monies worth!

Family Reunion 2008

So you've all seen the movie "Footloose" right? Back in the 80's.... Well that movie was filmed in Lehi, Utah where my mother was born and raised. After 25 years of not seeing my cousins or extended family, my mother took it upon herself to host a family reunion last weekend. It was amazing. My mom went over the top and did a fabulous job. My entire family made the trip from WA. There were over 200 in attendance. Friday's activities included bowling at Jack & Jill bowling Lanes in American Fork, UT. Needless to say, I had to use the bumpers and well as the metal roller that allowed the ball to stay in the lanes. I think my score was a whopping 62 points all together. It took us almost 3 hours to play one game since we were all too busy visiting. Later the evening, my cousin opened his office for us all to gather as we ate and enjoyed the music of a fabulous DJ that taught us all sorts of line dancing. He had no idea that Tessa could dance and when the swing music came on, she took over the dance floor. They DJ even danced with her. It was pretty cool.
The next morning was brutal. We had to check out of our hotel room about 5:30 AM so that we could be on the golf course at the base of the canyon by 6:15! I've never golfed before, but I played along for the fun of it and enjoyed it so much, that I think I'm going to take up lessons. I only lost 3 balls the whole day:) Immediately following the golf tournament, we all met at the Lehi Pool and park where we had all sorts of games and activities and fabulous food and fun. Seeing my cousins that I used to spend every summer with, just brought back hours of conversations and memories. It was so hard to leave that evening.

Ryan Dancing?

So I realized that after I blogged about Kenedee, I should mention that for Tessa's birthday the end of May, we enrolled her in more private dance classes. She is taking Salsa with Ryan. I thought it would be a good idea for them to take it together so that they could have some father/daughter time. When dancing, they get along fine, otherwise...not so much. Tessa is too much like her father which he doesn't see. At any rate, Tessa said that Ryan is a great dancer, but she herself isn't into the Salsa so much. It's only a 1-month class, so we'll continue with other types and see what she likes. Her favorite type of dance in Swing. In fact, at our daycare sock hop, she and a dance partner from school performed for everyone. I wished I could say that she got her dance moves from me, but that would be lying:(
She also did some dancing at her choir concert the other night, but I forgot my camera so you'll just have to take my word. She loves to dance but I wished we would have started her many many years ago.

Betty Crocker's Competition

Kenedee is my mini-baker in the family. She enjoys cooking, but loves to bake even more....wonder where she gets that from?
For her birthday a couple of weeks ago, I signed her up for a 4-week cake decorating course through Wilton. In order for her to take this class, I had to sign up as well, bonus for me!! The first week was just spent orientating us on the tools from our starter kit and explaining what we were going to accomplish during the month of June. Each week our assignment is to bring in a pre-frosted cake and we'll learn a new technique during class. We have plenty of class time to work on our creations. This is Kenedee's first cake. I think she's a natural and has already expressed interest in future classes. Hers definitely looks better then mine because she got to use MY cake turner while I opted to use a tray. I think I had better purchase another one so that mine turn out as nice as hers. Watch our progress over the next few weeks.

Brand New Kitchen 1-Year Anniversary

So you know I'm stretching for ideas to blog about when I have to come up with something from 1-year ago. Trust me, it was and still is a big deal for me. When we moved into our home April of 2000, we knew immediately that an updated kitchen was going to be forthcoming. It only took 7 years for us to decide to make that financial commitment to have a new kitchen installed. For us the deciding factor was when all the appliance stopped working, one by one. I was getting tired of cooking all my meals in my daycare kitchen downstairs and never able to spend time upstairs with my family. I'm sure we could have found a cheaper option, but we chose to use Kitchen Plus out of Bellevue because they guaranteed completion within 2 weeks. We had a few issue's like most people do with remodel work, but for the most part, I love my new kitchen. We've yet to have a party to invite all our friends over. Soon:)

So today marks the 1-year anniversary of the new kitchen.

My Annual Daycare Party

As many of you know, every year I host a daycare party for all my clients as a thank you for their business and loyalty. It's generally a huge undertaking, but I love to host parties and really enjoy watching the families get to know one another. This was my 9th year having one. The first party I held was back in 2000, right after we moved into our home. For the first couple of years everyone came to my place and we just BBQ'd and I would rent an astrojump for the children. Within a couple of years my business grew large enough that I was no longer able to accomodate the group in my back yard. Since then, I now reserve the church building and use all the facilities it has to offer. I'm always looking for new theme's so that I can change it up a bit, but since I invest in so many decorations, I do try to get a couple of years worth out of each theme. This year was a sock hop. I had 87 guests in attendance. I think it was the biggest turn out I've ever had. I always serve dinner and provide entertainment for everyone. This year my neighbor DJ'd for us and he did an awesome job! I also had a really good friend provide the photography so that I didn't have to do it myself. After it's all said and done, the planning starts for our next party!

Shannon's Twin.

So yes, this is the same old me, just trying to look younger. This is how it started, I woke up one day and realized that I have some serious grey hair. Not just a few stands, but several. And since the famous Melain (our hair stylist, speaking on behalf of many) decided to move to Maple Valley, might as well be Egypt, I had to do something in order to solve this problem. Also, I was just getting tired of the same old highlights, thought I'd go back to dark. I had it colored just like this the day before we left for Florida, but by the time we returned the sun had faded it. Anyways.... my natural color is really dark brown, so hopefully it won't fade to much. I think I'll keep it this way for awhile, Ryan loves it.

Tree Removal - First Step...

Before the new structure gets installed, the first step was to have a massive tree removed from my backyard. It continues to drop sharp shavings of pine cones that will cut you if you're bare foot. We've experienced this from outdoor water play, trust me on this. No bare feet in my back yard, how sad! Also, my lawn service will not mow back there because he said it will ruin his blades. Anyways...it's also in the way of where the new structure will be. So down it came.
It now appears that I have a larger and brighter backyard. Yeah! Maybe with more sun exposure we might be able to grow some grass back there. Time will tell.
After observing the trunk of the tree I was intrigued to learn that the tree was 40 years old. Just as young as me:)

Coming Soon to Daycare Near You!

For quite some time I have had my eye on this particular play structure at Sam's Club. I knew I would have to budget for it and convince Ryan that we needed it. Our other system was purchased from the Little Nickel Want Ad's 12 years ago. It's served it's purpose and been well loved, but it's time to upgrade. With as many children that we have here in my daycare, we need something that offers more variety.
I felt the price was very reasonable. Since I've been saving my 2% rewards check from Sam's Club just for this purpose, it will be even less money out of pocket:)
Ryan gave me the okay a couple of months back and said this could be the year for the new system. If I didn't have a new kitchen last year, then it would have happened last summer instead. (Trust me, I'm not complaining. I LOVE MY NEW KITCHEN)!
Our first step to the process of this new playground was to have the tree service come out and take out a massive tree in my back yard. That happened yesterday.
I can't believe how entertained the children were. It was great. Probably the easiest day we've ever had with 10 children. All lined up in a row staring out the window. It was the cutest thing. Now the tree is gone and the backyard looks so much larger. I'm hoping with a little bit of sun exposure, that maybe we can get the grass to grow now. It should also be more comfortable for outdoor playtime in the mornings.
The stucture gets assembled on June 28th. I know its still a ways away, but for those who know me well, I'm a planner. I'm trying to recruit daycare dad's and friends to help with the assembly. I plan to BBQ ribs and put on a feast for anyone willing to help us out that day. (Anyone interested?) Hopefully with enough help, we can have it up that Saturday and then Ryan and I will make many trips to get new woodchips on Sunday. I know it's Sunday, but we have to have them in place before the children can play on the structure. I just don't think there's enough time or daylight in one day to do everything all at once. It will be a busy weekend, needless to say.

The Loss of a Loved One

So tonight our family experienced the death of a Kyle's hamster. It's pretty pathetic when the only thing I have to blog about is this occassion, but Kyle's heart is broken and he is really hurting, so I thought I would do a eulogy for "Shadow".
Shadow was a dwarf hamster given to Kenedee back in October. This rodent (I mean hamster) was given to her FREE of charge. Shadow came with all the necessities of life, which wasn't much. (Wasn't expected to live very long) but we reluncently gave in and told her that as long as she brought home good grades she would be allowed to keep him. She also had to keep the cage clean and take care of him, that under no circumstances was I going to take care of this hamster! She knew the rules going in to this right from the beginning. If the grades didn't meet our standard, dad would take care of it. (He's not a family pet kind of guy!) Anyways, when the first report card came back, without even complaining, she graciously gave her hamster to Kyle as an option instead of letting her father put it out of its misery.
Since then, Kenedee lets herself into Kyle's room many times a day for visition rights. She feels she's owed this since it was originally hers.
For Kyle's birthday when we realized this rodent (I mean hamster) was going to live longer then we thought, I gave in and we bought "Shadow" a new condo with accessories. Trust me, one accessory cost more then buying a new hamster!
Kyle was so excited. He and Kenedee spent days trying to make Shadow's new residence a comfortable enviroment. At last, Shadow had moved in to his new home. Life was good for this little rodent. He was never neglected, infact there were times that Kyle had to tell Kenedee to get out of his room and leave Shadow alone because it was his hamster not hers. Often there were moments of contention as Kenedee would remind him of who the hamster was originally given to.

This past Saturday morning, Kenedee, Kyle and Ryan had all left for baseball jamboree. Tessa was sound asleep and I was just getting out of the shower. I heard a sound coming from my bedroom but couldn't figure out what I was hearing or where exactly it was coming from, when all of a sudden a hamster came running out from underneath my bed. Mind you, all I had on was a towel and I was running around screaming as loud as I possibly could. Tessa, who could sleep through an earthquake, never even budged. I tried to capture this hamster with Kyle's hamper, but it didn't work. This darn rodent crawled underneath both Kyle's and our closed bedroom doors to make it's way into my room. He was out to get me I just know! I ran downstairs woke up Tessa and she came to save me from this fierce hamster that's about the size of a small potato!

Anyways....of course I questioned both Kenedee and Kyle when they got home to find out who was the last one to play with Shadow that morning. Kenedee still won't admit to it, but I know it was her. I saw her leave his room with my own eyes! What we think happened is that the wheel on Shadow's cage wasn't fully locked into position and upon running around and around really fast, it popped off and down came the hamster. Falling 3 long feet off of Kyle's dresser.
It appeared to be unharmed for the distance he fell, but did that fall lead to a fatal death? No one knows. This morning Shadow was fine, this afternoon when Kenedee was going in for one of her many visitations, she noticed he didn't look good. Kyle was having a play date as his friends house, so he had no idea anything was even wrong. Just this morning he was holding it and kissing it at 6:15 AM.

When Ryan came home from work we discussed what we should do. There was no way in the world that we were going to take this hamster to the vet, so I decided to let Ryan handle it and I went shopping at Northgate Mall. I felt that was the best place for me at that time. Oh I did give Kyle loves and told him how very sorry I was that this was happening to him, I'm not heartless, but honestly....aren't hamster's meant to be disposible? While I was shopping I had called my neighbor Sandra whose boys also just recently experienced the loss of their hamster to tell her the news. She said that she would have the boys go over and be with Kyle. Sandra also went over and said her good-bye's as well. You see, they watched Shadow for us while we were in Florida so they felt an attachment to him. Then the call came in at 7:30 PM, Shadow had died, belly up with all 4 legs straight up in the air. It was a sad time.
I finished up my shopping and came right home. They were waiting for me to have the funeral services. Poor Kenedee, never even got to say good-bye.
Funeral services were held at 8:20 PM in our back yard. Those in attendace were Kyle, Ryan, Shannon, Tessa, our neighbor Tod, and Sandra's boys, Gavin and David. Kenedee was still at her baseball game. (She didn't even know he had died but it was getting dark and Kyle didn't want to wait any longer) Loving words were given by many and Shadow was laid to rest in a box with stuffing provided by Gavin and David. Flowers were also provided by Sandra's garden.
May Shadow rest in peace.

Photo's taken moments before Shadow's death.

Our Next Family Vacation!

This year Ryan and I will celebrate 20 blissful years of marriage. After much thought, we've decided on our vacation spot. We're going to take a Mexican Riviera Cruise. I've never been to the 3 ports of call, but Ryan did finish his mission in Mazatlan and would love to return back to visit areas that he was unable to see. We've never taken a cruise, for several of reasons. For Ryan it was lack of interest, for me it's because I have a fear of large bodies of water. After talking to many people who have cruised, we have overcome our issue's and decided to try a new experience.
Ryan and I have been planning this for the past couple of months. Lots of things to work out, like....We still need to keep the daycare open while I am gone, who's going to house sit, whose going to care for the kids, how are they going to get to all their activities, lots of details. So after much thought, we've just decided to take our children with us. We were going to hold off telling them for awhile, but it was killing me to hold it in. So last night for family night, we brought it up in conversation. I don't think I've ever heard my girls scream so loud and jump so high off the ground in my life. Kyle's only concern is that the ship is going to sink, just like the Titanic. I assured him that this wasn't going to happen. He's okay with it now.
The only thing that Ryan requested was that we have separate rooms and he wanted a balcony room for us. The kids will just be across the hall from us.
Although this trip isn't planned until November 29th, it gives Ryan and I an incentive to keep up with weight watcher's.

Time To Get Some Rest!

So today is Ryan's 41st birthday. I can't believe it. And wouldn't you know it, he and I are both really sick. Ryan never ever ever goes to the doctor and yesterday he tried to go in to the office for a couple of hours and his work kicked him out and made him go to the doctor. They did a culture and we're just waiting to see if he has strep. Needless to say, he's home today feeling just awful. I on the other hand have bronchitis. My cough is so bad that when I start coughing I can't stop and then I start chocking. Kind of scary. I however am still working. I can't take time off even when I feel like this. That's the disadvantage to my business. Too many people depend on me everyday. Maybe my body is finally telling me it's time to slow down and take it easy.
Of course, I'm hosting Easter this year and have a ton of things to do before Sunday. No time to be sick!
Traditionally the birthday person gets to choose a restaruant of choice on his/her birthday, but I think tonight we're staying in. All birthday plans for the weekend are shot as well. It's always a bummer to be sick on a special day like this.

Weight Watcher's

So tonight, Ryan and I attended our first weight watcher's meeting. You're probably thinking, is that really worth blogging about? Well yes it is, because the more people I tell, the more accountable I have to be. I can't do it on my own, believe me I've already tried. I signed up about 4 years ago and lost about 7 pounds, but was really discouraged because I didn't have anyone to help me get through it. I gave up after a couple of months. It was too difficult to stick to it when no one else in the home was feeling the same way as I was. Ryan and I have been discussing this for quite some time now. Of course there's always a reason to start next week, right? Well we have a goal in mind and we have 9 months to get there, so I'm hoping with everyone's support, I can make it this time! Just getting Ryan to attend with me and join up as well will really help:)

Kyle's Birthday Celebration

So Kyle celebrated his 11th birthday this past Friday on January 25th. Bro. Perry had learned about this sleep over and asked if he was invited to the party. Kyle told him the only way he could come is if he brought a box a Krispy Kreme Donuts. I told Kyle not to get his hopes up, and wouldn't you know, Bro. Perry called me at 5:55 PM on Friday night and asked if the party had started yet. I asked him if he was planning to stop by for pizza, but he said that he just wanted to bring Kyle some donuts. Wasn't that sweet? He remembered and totally made Kyle's birthday! What a nice thing for him to do. He has no idea the impact that made on Kyle. Not just for the donuts, but remembering his special day in general. Thank you Steve.

Kyle had invited 13 friends over to help him celebrate. What was I thinking? Everyone came over for pizza and such and we tried to play games, but the energy level was out of control! At one point I even told the kids that my 3-4 year old daycare children were better behaved! It was awful. I was thinking the energy level would have changed once the girls went home at 9:30, but actually I couldn't even tell they were gone. By 11:30 PM I couldn't stay awake any longer and went to bed. Those boys never went to sleep. I heard them all night long. By 7 AM the next morning, I heard loud noises in the daycare kitchen to find out that they were going to cook their own breakfast. I don't think so! Once breakfast was over there was still almost 3 hours before the party ended. Now in the past when we've had sleepover for the girls, I had to drag them out of bed to feed them before going home at 10:30. I thought that would have been the same with the boys. I was proven wrong. Just a suggestion for those thinking of having a sleepover for boys, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! Or.... take them all swimming for the entire evening before hand.

Sunday after church we drove to Puyallup to celebrate his birthday with family. My sister Suzy offered to let us use her home since they have a ton of things for the children to do there, verses going to my parents house. Kyle received mostly items relating to the Seahawks. He was pretty excited about that. He didn't want a traditional cake, he wanted Krispy Kreme donuts instead. Between what Bro. Perry gave him and what he had on Sunday, I think we're good on the whole donut thing for awhile. Oh ya, my sister Niki also gave him a Krispy Kreme gift card.

Friends and Family Cookbook

As most of you know, I love to cook. Doesn't necessarily mean that I'm a great cook, but I do like to try out new recipes. My most favorite hobby is looking through cookbooks and collecting new recipes to try out on family and friends. Although I cook all day long for many children, night time cooking seems to be neglected around my house simply because I'm just too tired. Having friends over for dinner gives me delight as well as an excuse to sit down and eat as a family. (What a concept!)

I was inspired to put together this cookbook because many of my family and friends have requested recipes in the past from different dishes I have made. So over the past 2 years I've been compiling recipes and trying to put this cookbook together. A lot of thought was put into the layout of how I wanted this book to look. I wanted it to be extra special by adding pages that had measurements and substitutions, counting calories, cooking terms as well as quick fixes. I had lots of options for additional pages, but I wanted to stick with the most practical ones.

It took a couple of years to achieve this goal. The first time I entered all my recipes and tried to submit it for publishing, the on-line company said that this was only on on-line site. Are you kidding me? There was no way to get these in a cookbook form? I was really discouraged an uncertain if I wanted to commit the time all over again. I decided to do some homework before investing that kind of time again. I finally found a company that would publish for me, of course after I re-typed everything in their program. So the task began all over again.

I dare say this book was made with love. Many of these recipes I grew up with. I didn't tell most of my family and of course none of my friends that I was putting this together because I wanted to give these out as Christmas gifts to everyone. Many recipes are from extended family and friends. I did give credit where credit was due. I do hope that these recipes are enjoyed for generations to come.

Unfortunately, when placing this order the minimum amount of books that I could order was 200. So....if anyone is ever looking for a gift idea for someone, I have cases and cases of cookbooks for sale. I am selling them for $15 a book. Please let your friends know.

Provider of the Month

http://www.funshineexpress.com/C_provider.asp

I received a call today from Fun Shine Express who is the company I order my preschool curriculum from, and they told me that I won Provider of the Month. Several of my daycare mom's nominated me and now I'm being featured on the web. I felt honored to have received such recognition. Click on the link if you want to find out what they said.

Thank you Mindy, Shana, Kim and Suzanne for your thoughtful words. I really do love my job and my many children.

New Year's Resolutions

Okay, so it's the New Year and have I done anything about making changes for 2008? Let's be realistic, New Year's Resolutions are over-rated. It's really hard to change habits, whether good or bad. So in all honesty, I'm just going to try to make improvements one step at a time. If I can't do it all right now, then so what! Life keeps on going.

At first I created a list of things I wanted to change or to learn, but the list became so long that it was just too overwhelming. All I'd be doing is setting myself up for failure and disappointment. So I decided to prioritize my list into categories on their importance. For example, I really want to learn all there is to know about blogging. How to make changes, put my blog to music, have lists, cool quotes and pictures, just like everyone else. But if it doesn't happen right now, what's does that really mean? I guess it just means that I won't have a cool blog to look at and I may be the last to learn of things or news going on in others lives. That's okay by me. What's more important to me, is that I'm keeping a journal. If I can spend time once a week blogging, then I had better spend just as much time recording in my journal. Journal first, blogging second. More like a reward to myself. Once I establish this habit, then I can move on to something else. As for now, it is what it is.