I was once a streetwalker....

Or rather, 

I would walk up and down the sidewalk of our street to the corner and back!

(see the black telephone poll on the left, that was the corner)

I had this beautiful white slip, it was soft and had a little frill on the bottom,

it made me feel pretty, and so did those shoes! 

Ohh, the shoes.... they were the best!!!

They were my great-grandma Sardoni's shoes,

they had an open back, and a little opening in the top of the toe,

they were too big of course,

but 

I loved them because they made a clicking sound on the pavement with each step!!!

As you can see, my mother was like really pregnant with my little sister,

I think Liz was born a few days later,

I always thought my mother looked so cute pregnant with her 5th child,

(although I'm sure she didn't feel so cute!)

 so, she would sit and watch me walk up and down our street,

I would just walk-n-talk to myself the whole way...

this is one of my earliest memories of childhood.

This is my great-grandma Elizabeth Lindsey Thomas Sardoni,

two of my daughters are named after her,

(I even wanted to name one of my sons' Thomas)

and

 I bet... my grandmother was wearing those fabulous shoes in this picture!?!

it was my blessing day at church.

We lived in Davenport Iowa for 3 years while my dad was going to Palmer Chiropractic School

this is a picture of him when he graduated!

and he's still a chiropractor to this day, he's amazing like that!

*we are standing in almost the same spot!!!

I grew out of my "streetwalkering" days

 but, it was fun while it lasted!

Reno 9-1-1...

We left around 3 am Friday morning,

Kurt had a "hot shot" to do and asked me it I wanted to go,

I jumped at the chance,

sometimes those spontaneous adventures of mixing business with pleasure are the best,

and that is exactly how it has turned out...

driving the "hot shot" down wasn't bad at all,

It felt like driving a truck, (not a big 18 wheeler)

I slept most of the time in the big back seat while Kurt drove through the night.

we arrived at our hotel....

it doesn't have a indoor pool or hot tub and no continental breakfast,

which was strange, 

I thought that was just a givin' for every hotel and was really looking forward to swimming

BUT

we're here and it's just been fun to get out of town,

it's warmer here than in SLC, imagine that!!!

we are getting ready right now to hit the big city strip of Reno,

and we're already ahead of the game I might add....

I won $2 dollars last night when we hit our first slot machine!!!!!

we went out to dinner at a FABULOUS buffet,

that our nice hotel concierge recommended

and he was right,

I think we would say it was one of the best we've ever been too,

I will NOT peel shrimp, but I actually can say that I peeled one right after another,

 they were THAT good!

then, I saw a ring that I felt I really needed in my heart,

(the detail is so pretty, kind-of hard to see in the picture.)

Kurt didn't even bat an eye!!!!

we walked around and saw all the sights and enjoyed the city lights coming to light after dark,

it's lighter at night than during the day!

Kurt played a slot machine, hit it once and ka-bomb, paid for our dinner!

it's nice cuz we know when to walk away, instead of getting greedy and losing it all!

needless to say, it's been a great weekend from start to finish.

we came back to our hotel to relax, we will actually sleep a full night without a little pee-tail dog having to do a potty break in the middle of the night, and get this:

we will get to sleep in, actually sleep until we wake up on our own!

oh, the things we take for granted as parents,

and the rat-race we call life sometimes...

it's been so nice to get away,

why don't we do this for ourselves more often,

we deserve it to ourselves to put each other first instead of last....

it's been one of my best days in a LONG time...

(Candice put a little damper on my mood today 

when I found out she was gone all day,

thank goodness that Caitlyn stepped up to the plate

 and played mom for the day,

she will be well rewarded, 
I appreciate her.)

and very much needed I might add...

Thanks Kurt!

She has her Master's....

Guess who's a Master Esthetician?

THIS GIRL!!!

She took her state boards Monday and Tuesday

and passed with flying colors!

We are so proud of her!

THE BEGINNING OF OUR YEAR...

well, well, well,

look who's back!

Life has been busy,

but

I was having some blog issues,

it's been hard not to document the happenings of our lives,

because I've wanted too so badly,

I hate not being able to write things down, cuz life changes quickly around here,

blogging and journaling and keeping track of it all makes me feel grounded,

I don't want to miss the big and little things

and there has been quite a few...

I'm just glad my blog troubles our behind us.

It's been snowing like crazy

and Candice is snow crazy, poor girl, she just wants some sunshine,

she just graduated last week with her Master Estitician

getting ready to take her state boards and is going to start job hunting,

somewhere where the sun shines...

Caitlyn is taking her state boards too. (finally!!!)

she been having a little bit of a lazy hiatus lately,

and

 taking full advantage of Candice's estitician services,

we all have! and it's been quite nice.

Spencer is doing good.
he says black when i say white,
and white when I say black!
it's making me crazy
 but
i guess that's his way of gaining his own opinion...
or something like that!

and little Lynzie, isn't so little anymore...

she is almost so close to being taller than Candice and Caitlyn,

she's going to be my tallest girl, I'm so proud,

Candice and Caitlyn are little pipsqeeks, I don't know why!

Kurt and I are just working...

at our jobs, at our green smoothie making, at parenting, at our relationship, at our church callings,

we just celebrated 

our 22nd anniversary!

The holidays were nice...

we celebrated and decorated
which included a little Harris family party...
we ate and laughed
 and made gingerbread houses,  it was amazing to see the creativity of the kids
and how they're personalities came through...
enjoying each other is what holidays are all about.
(We missed Dave & Kristen, but they were enjoying knee surgery and preparing to welcome baby Crew!)

We are just trying to survive this Utah weather,
it's weird!
we're not use to the cold, snowy, cloudy, inversion in the air,
it seems just like everyone else around here we've been sick a lot.
uggg!
A sunny state seems pretty good right now to us...

So,
just a few thoughts to get us caught up
and that's what'z been happening around here in a nutshell.