My version of the mastercard commercial....

Canon digital Rebel XTi - $900.00

Garmin GPS Nuvi 660 - $500.00

IPOD Classic - $300.00

Sony Portable DVD player - $200.00

Gap Sweatshirt - $40.00

The look on my face when I found my car window smashed to pieces and the above belonging gone - PRICELESS

Suicidal Birds

Early this morning Kim & I left Ocean City to come home. So we are driving down the road and the car up ahead hits their brakes and swerves a bit. There is a goose in the road. He's crossing the road & was at the center line. Another car was already pulling over, I assume to supervise the rest of its crossing, so we had a laugh and continued on our way. About an hour or so later we are on another road. Just cruising along. I was looking ahead down the road and there's a couple white birds in the road. I wasn't concerned because birds always fly out of the way. Well, the first bird hightailed it out of the road as I approached and I assumed the 2nd one would as well. Nope. It lifted up a bit and headed for the windshield! At this point I screamed and swerved. Kim, who had been looking down, hears me yell and looks up to see a big white bird headed her way! It was absolutely hilarious. We were cracking up for about 10-15 minutes. I wish we had been able to take a picture. I'm wondering what my coverage is if I am hit by a suicidal bird?

Ode to Kelly

This is my wonderful friend Kelly. She recently moved out of state and I really really really miss her. I also miss all the dinners she would cook me. Especially her sweet & sour chicken.

Randomness (is that a word?)

Look at that sweet face! I made the kids dinner and Sami ate every bite of her food. If you don't know Sami, this is a pretty big deal. Unless candy is involved, she eats like a bird.

Kevin's motocycle is his life. That & eating at California Tortilla. He's going to try racing soon.

Dean, my boss, needed a picture for his new facebook page so we had a mini photo shoot

Hospital Visits

So one day Keith ticked off Shannon and she kicked him in the shin in response. 2 days later I'm sitting in the emergency room with the little twerp! He flat out refused to budge from his bed until he saw a doctor because his leg hurt.

Obviously he was not dying, so I was voted the lucky one to go with him. The nurses and doctor seemed to find the whole story pretty amusing. We took pictures to pass the time. Keith's new nickname is "hypo", for hypochondriac.

1 1/2 hours later we left with an ace bandage. For his deep tissue bruise. He was still using the ace bandage a week later. Even though there was nothing on his leg to see.....

Yup, this is the culprit. Now there is a sizable lump under the scrap, but seriously, can you believe all the nonsense over this?

Pumpkin Carving

For Halloween we had some much fun helping the kids do their pumpkins that Kim & I decided we should do our own. They turned out pretty cute I think.


Mine is the left, Kim's the right. Pre-carving.


My work of art!

The Ghostly Pumpkin Head

SPOOKY!!!!

This year I went to the Haunted Forest with Kim, Ben & Kat. It was alot of fun. They had huge bonfires and we got our faces painted.



Poor Kat fell at the end and sprained her ankle. Those chainsaw guys can be pretty scary. The positive outcome was that I got to ride the ATV with a very handsome paramedic!

Fun on the Boat

I found these pictures of me & Kim on the boat at the beach house in my camera that's been missing for a while. I thought they were cute so enjoy! (and no, we were not actually driving!)

GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!

GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!

So I saw this on my sister-in-law's blog and being totally curious I decided to check it out. This outfits are soo cute! My niece would looke absolutely adorable wearing them. It even makes me want to sew, and that's a pretty big deal considering it took me like 3 hours to try and make a simple nursing cover. Now your wondering why I (single & childless) would be making a nursing cover. Hey, it was the ward Super Saturday and I had to do a project and Jenny did need one so I decided to join her. Anyway, you should all take a look!

How to be a positive influence...

I came home tonight (with Kim) to find that Kevin & Keith & 3 other boys had been roaming the neighborhood playing door bell ditch. They were begging for toilet paper. So I did what any responsible adult would do - I gave them 2 rolls & told them not to waste them or get caught. It was drizzling and any veteran toilet paperer knows that helps make the clean up terrible! Unfortunately Kim & I were not impressed with their 1st effort, so in an effort to contribute to their education we had to go along with them to house #2. The next 2 pictures are not the best but you can get the point...


Now, at this point we ran out of toilet paper so we made a run to the store for 20 more rolls and headed out again, this time with Sara & Shannon in tow. Unfortunately due to the unexpected arrival of our targets neighbor we were force to flee before accomplishing our mission. A video of this incident will hopefully be released shortly. The team was forced to flee through a muddy ditch and through the woods. Unfortunately we lost Kim, but luckily 40 minutes later we were reunited. It was a tad scary (being in the woods in the dark) but totally fun. We plan to complete our mission!

There are a few of my favorites places

Blue Mosque - Istanbul - Turkey


Athens - Greece


Santorini Island - Greece


Istanbul - Turkey (sailing down the river)


Shipka - Bulgaria

Random Fun

My first Rugby game - it was pretty fun & included some bloodshed


Table Art


Krazy Kim


We were realllly bored....

THE BIG TEST!!!

PLEASE READ BEFORE FREAKING OUT!!!! Ok, so my good friend Kim missed "that time" for the last two months. There were a few possible reasons for this: 1) The whole "Virgin Mary" scenario was about to be repeated. 2) She was about to become Saint Kimberly because it would have to be a miracle for a virgin to be preggers. 3) She had turned into some medical anomaly. After 2 months of tons of teasing and questioning looks from family & friends I convinced Kim to take a preggers test, just for fun of course, and I being a supportive friend even took one with her. Naturally my test was a big negative. Kim's was also a big negative, but apparently peeing on a stick can be complicated because it took her 3 tests to do it right! Oops, maybe I wasn't suppose to mention that part?!

0 to 60 in 8 seconds....oops?

So it has recently been brought to my attention by the Montgomery County Police that these signs are NOT posted as suggestions for less capable drivers. Apparently they are mandatory limits. Normally this would still not be much of a deterrent for me BUT notice the little sign at the bottom. Photo Enforced. How often do we pass these signs without really seeing them because they are so common? It was quite a surprise to recieve not one, or two, but about 5 photo tickets in the mail. I found it a bit rude, like I'm being spied upon. I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling this way. What is worse is that they post photo enforced signs where there are actually no cameras - that is sooo cheating! If the police want to give me a ticket, put down that donut & do it the manly way!

Maryland Renaissance Festival

My friend Kim & I took the kids to the Maryland Renaissance Festival Saturday afternoon. It was humid but a lot of fun. They rode an elephant, watched a jousting tournament, and played. Sami even beat Keith at 2 activities and was extremely proud of herself! The only one to miss out on the fun was Kevin, who ditched us to ride his dirtbike - no surprise there!

The Jousting Tournament


The girls braved the elephant ride


Keith had a blast with the archery and almost hit the bullseye several times. He even taught Sami how to shoot an arrow


Sare Kate ..... need I say more?


Keith really tried to make it up that ladder


But only Sami made it to that bell!


Keith also tried to knock the Wench into the water but it was Sami who succeeded!


We ended the day by supplying the kids with their own swords. Giving swords to 4 kids might seem a tad crazy, but they were really having a blast. And so far only Sami has actually tried to beat anyone up with it....she's such a cutie!

Saturday Football

This last Saturday and Sunday I had the pleasure of watching the kids overnight. Keith had a football game and the girls and I went to cheer him on. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal but Saturday was quite warm and combined with 90% humidity it was pretty nasty out. We had to escape to the car during halftime to run the AC. The highlight of the game was when Sami started to cheer "Go Keith - beat them Gatorades!". Of course she cheered this in the "Gatorade" section.

The green & orange team really did resemble a gatorade bottle

Sami blew bubbles for the team between her cheers!

Easter at the White House

I've lived in Maryland for about 9 years now but just this last year I finally heard about the White House Easter Egg Roll. You spend all night down at the Washington Mall in line for tickets to the White House Easter party. I decided to brave the cold and camp out with another member of my ward and some friends. It was freezing! I got tickets for myself and my good friend Liselle & her daughter Briana. We had a ton of fun.

Don't I look like a professional camper?


Morning after the long wait! Man were we tired!


Liselle and Briana


The Jonas Brothers!

My Nieces & Nephew!

Anyone who knows me know how much I adore my nieces and nephew. They are just adorable and are growing so fast! Kody is 4, Mollie is 2, and Madi (the baby). I've been lucky to live only an hour plane ride the last couple years. This last year I even got to have Mollie & Kody to myself a couple different weeks!