New look and hitting the airwaves!

So two weeks down and they haven't told me my "voice" is no longer needed. I have to admit once I got past the nerves I had a lot of fun on air. I even relaxed to the point of wearing shorts today--a luxury not found often in the T.V. business. So far, I know my group of girlfriends is listening and my parents. I've even gone national (my sister-in-law listens in Chicago online). I can count that, right?

Stacey and I redid the blog and bought the rights to a .com to spiff things up a bit. You'll have to take a look www.utahcoupongals.com fun stuff. Guess you'll have to listen next week....

Papa's Car

A few weeks ago Anja and I were at Dillard's. As she got out of the car a couple pulled up in a convertible.
Anja: "Mommy, that car doesn't have a roof!"
Mom: "Some cars don't. Papa has a car without a roof."
Anja (her eyes now huge) "Grandma will be so mad at papa!"
Mom: "Why?"
Anja: "Because papa is going to take the roof off grandma's new car!"

I called my dad and said it was time to pull out the sports car for a spin around the block. His grand daughter has missed the fact that under the blue cover in the garage is his pride and joy and that cars can have roofs that can be removed (without ruining grandma's new car).

Carter acting "cool".

The "parade" poses.

It's a little loud until it gets warmed up.

We did. This is my dad's old Alpine '67. He's had it since before I was born. My sister and I were laughing as we remembered squishing in the back while mom and dad sat in the front when we were little. No seat belts, no car seats. Shocking we're all still alive. He's nearly rebuilt the entire car. The sports car will stay in the family forever. Unless he wants to be buried in it.

Scott and Mat: weren't you a bit jealous you weren't here to enjoy all the fun?!

GO UTES!!!!

We bleed red around here. Very red. So red that our lawn is turned blue by mischievous neighbors once a year. Saturday the boys went to the homecoming game with Rich. It was Jensen's first "live" game and he LOVED it. Seems we've got a couple more Ute fans in the family.

At the ESA..or old Delta Center

One of the things I'm enjoying most about this phase in our life is our ability to go places. Everyone is old enough to know not to whine, use the bathroom on their own and carry their own snacks. It's a wonderful feeling to accessories according to my mood and not the diaper bag. So, it's a nice change when we get someplace early and just get to hang out without worrying about nap time, diaper changes or nursing schedules. It's a nice phase.

Circus!

Talk about a great way to end the week! Friday we packed up the gang and headed to the circus. It was an absolute blast.

This is what a $10 tub of popcorn looks like.

This is what a three year old looks like while checking out the elephants at a safe distance.

This is what my boys would look like if they were part of the show.

And this was the coolest part. Meeting the elephant up close.

On the radio??

Yeah, I'm headed to the radio waves. I've so scared I might throw up. Go to www.utahcoupongals.com for the details.

Please, if you love me (MOM, KRISTIN, SHELBI, CHANTELLE, STACEY, CRYSTAL) you'll listen and call in over and over again changing your voice so I'll have someone to talk to. Really, I'm worried no one will call and I'll be left hangin'. Nothing like dead air time. I can feel the producer in me coming back to life...Thriller style..ripped cloths, shuffle walk and all. I should have come up with a stage name for this..

State Fair

We found horses, cows and sheep but no royalty!!! What? They get a day off? That's not dedication! I stayed from dawn to dusk petting pigs and shaking hands for 10 days straight. I even broke the top of my crown off and had to call my parents to come retrieve and fix it (that's a funny story. Just where do you go to fix a crown??) Slacker queens. Despite mine and Anja's disappointment over no royalty, we had a good time.

DFofU icecream party. Carter ate the most.

Jensen asked for hand sanitizer after this picture. Ten seconds of livestock is all he could take without gagging on the air.

This is a perfect illustration as to why I don't drink milk.

(sorry one more time. Really? A day off? That's just stupid. Wear those heels and step in a little "stuff" it's part of the job!!! My mother is laughing hysterically right now--but she's also agreeing.)

Sunday Stroll

Rich doesn't usually get to spend Sunday afternoons with us. More often than not, he stays for meetings, visits or whatever. So when he agreed to walk home from church on Sunday with Anja, I couldn't help but snap a picture. She even brought me a sunflower.

(Love the dress. Another one she picked out during our shopping trip. It was paired with her black rhinestone shoes. This girl hates to blend into a crowd.)

What's Love???

Love is when your wife says, "I have tickets to the Peter Cetera (former Chicago lead singer) concert next week." and you happily say, "Great, can't wait to go."

Since smoking isn't allowed in the theater, there were no lighters to hold up during this song, so Cetera asked the crowd to hold up their cell phones. Ah, romance.

There was so much romance in the air I contemplated moving to the back row, throwing the blanket over my head and making out with my hubbie. It was high school all over again (except I weigh more, have more money and I can actually make out with my guy and not worry about my parents finding out. But I also now run the risk of younger people pointing and laughing at me).

The best part?? When he announced he would sing such-n-such for his last song, anyone in the crowd over the age of 60 picked up their blankets and chairs and started to leave...to beat the crowd? It was so funny. I wonder if Cetera will ever come back to Utah. Maybe the cell phone "flames" will endear us to him???

Back to dance

First day of school and the first day of dance. Oh how we missed it!

First day of preschool!

After 10 1/2 years of always having a shadow, I sent the last little one off to preschool today. I asked for ONE "princess" smile. I didn't get it.

I took Anja school shopping a few days ago. At Dillard she choose this outfit in three colors. Nice. The teachers are going to think I'm obsessed.

Anja: "Mom, why are all these kids crying?"

Mom: "I guess they are just sad to start school and have to leave their moms."

Anja: "Why are the moms sad? Are they hurt?"

Mom: "No. Maybe they will just miss their kids while they are at school for the first time."

Anja: "That's ridiculous!"

Mom: "I agree."

(High-five, quick hug and she was in the classroom. She had lunch with friends and I got to eat alone without Dora the Explorer or PB&J.)

Pre-Labor Day 'mello roast

Keeping with tradition we did our end of summer Labor Day dog and 'mello roast. We hosted it a day early so we could stay up later and enjoy the fire in the dark.

My fire bug was all about keeping the blaze going.

Nik drove up from Provo to eat some high quality dogs and 'mellos with us. A cold front was moving through and chilled things down to about 65 degrees. I think her Arizona blood thought it was going snow. Like Carter's cool glasses? He called them his "smoke screens"..perfect way to keep the smoke out of your eyes.

However, she is the queen of perfect roasting.. just look at that golden color!

The Big Move!!

Monday morning bright and early the Bywater's (and a couple of Jone's) descended on Scott and Shelbi's house to get the big truck packed and ready to hit the road bound for Chicago.

Anja was in charge of all baskets (Shelbi has a lot of them). She loaded dozens on the truck one by one. It took her all morning but she was so proud when she was finished.

This is the truck with only a few boxes loaded at the front.

And this is what it looked like when we were done. It was a huge job (notice the multiple Dyson's in the back of the truck. I think Scott's work required those to be visible on arrival).

My plants!!

Like I've said before, we expect a certain amount of extreme weather living against the mountain but this year is getting worse! I woke up Monday, August 30, 2010 to find a huge hail storm. It was so loud it woke everyone up. Not only did it rob us of sleep, but it toppled a second tree in our backyard (that's two in the last 10 days) and pitted all of my tomatoes. I have 12 plants full of green, pitted tomatoes. The hail stripped the leaves off all my hot peppers and eggplants. I wanted to cry.

I had such big plans for my garden this year. I was going to can so many jars of salsa. All my plans are now gone, unless I can find a farmer who's plants weren't destroyed. I left the plants in the ground in hopes the tomatoes will ripen. We'll see. Enough Mother Nature!!

The party before the big move...

Shelbi's parents hosted a wonderful going away party last Sunday before Scott and Shelbi hit the road. It was fun to have one more "event" before we had to start loading boxes. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful aunt and uncle.

As much as we will miss Scott and Shelbi, we'll miss Olive just as much. She's been part of our family since she was a pup. Jensen has a special bond with her and says he'll miss her soooo much. (The stylish cone head is due to stitches in her ear)