Time to WAKE UP!!!

I just got back from a family trip to DISNEYLAND!! I was able to see my whole family and it was awesome! But sorry this is not my posting for this trip. I need to gather a few pictures and am way too tired right now to make any sense in a long posting. This posting is about an incident that happened at our hotel.

My dad and I were in a room together because we are the snorers and early risers. One morning my dad got up before me and started to get ready to go down to the breakfast our hotel offered. It woke me up and I got up for a second and then went back to lay down and go to sleep when he was done. He left and I was half asleep. He wasn't gone more then 10 minutes when all the sudden I hear the key card reader go off and in comes this complete stranger who is not bothering to be quiet. Needless to say it scared the crap out of me, and I was awake. I sat bolt up right and looked at this lady. She saw me and said "so sorry" and slammed the door shut.

Since I was up I decided to get dressed and go downstairs and tell my dad the story. We were both a little concerned that some stranger was able to get into our room. We also thought it was quite suspect that she came in less then ten minutes after my dad left the room. We were worried because my mom would be in the room by herself the rest of the day. We went to the front desk and told them what had happened and they were also very concerned. They immediately got on top of the problem and tried to figure out what happened. They sent people up multiple times during the day. I don't know if they ever figured out what happened but it never happened again. It was quite the wake up call for me though.

The Best Hot Fudge in the World!!

My dad and me went to his mom's house to collect some of the things that we wanted to save and that would remind us of her and grandpa. As we were looking through their books we found an album of her recipes. This was incredible! There were a lot of recipes that we thought went with grandma. She was an incredible cook and I loved going to Grandma West's just to have some of her food. They are all hand written and some have gotten some stains and drips on them. I've made it my own little project to type them and and get them out to my family so that we can keep her recipes going. I might share some of them on my blog as I go along for those who live out of state and just so that others may enjoy.

The first recipe I want to share is a family favorite and a must with dinner at Grandma's. I don't think there was one dinner where we didn't have it. In the spring and summer we would go out to their gardens and pick cupfuls of their raspberries to go along with it. This recipe is grandma's hot fudge sauce! It is sooooooooooo good so I hope you enjoy. P.S. Fresh raspberries are the best to put on top of this!

Grandma’s Hot Fudge Sauce
1 can Eagle Brand Milk
1 cup Water
¼ t Salt
½ cup Sugar
3 oz. Unsweetened Chocolate
1 t Vanilla

Directions:Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil it should be thick.

Then put on top of whatever ice cream you want, but vanilla is the best! ENJOY!!

Here's Your Sign!!

So many of you have probably heard of Bill Engvall. If you haven't he is one of Blue Collar Comedy guys. One of his bits is something called "Here's Your Sign". This is a bit where he says that there should be signs you could hand out to people to let them know that they have said or done something idiotic. Well I had one of these moments yesterday. Some guys were over at our house early in the morning to put some new carpet in my mom's room. They parked their truck right in the middle of our driveway so there was no way of getting any of our cars out of the garage and I needed to go to work. They were outside when I needed to leave and so I went out to ask them to move their truck really fast so that I could leave. They were talking so I was standing there waiting for them to finish. I had my keys in my hand and my coat on. It was obvious that I needed to leave. One of the guys noticed so he stopped their conversation and asked me if I needed them to move their truck. I said yes thank you. Then he asked "is your car in the garage?" I seriously thought "here's your sign". I mean there were no other cars anywhere on the street or in the driveway. I sat there and I thought "no I just wanted to have you move your car for the heck of it, mine is actually parked down the street out of sight!" Seriously, HERE'S YOUR SIGN!!

Elise Claire Jensen (AKA E. Claire)

On October 24, 2009 this little bundle of joy was born. She was 10 pounds 6 ounces and 20 3/4 inches long! Big baby! As you can see she has a full head of hair. She is my newest little niece and is Kimi and Ryan's first little girl. I think she looks a lot like her mommy when she was a baby, maybe I'll post a picture later so you can make your own comparisons. She is so cute and I wish they lived in Utah so that I could give her some lovin'. Hmmm... maybe I will just need to plan a suicide trip to California and go and see her!

This is a picture Kimi and Ryan sent me of her first car ride home!

I made this little hat for her for Halloween so that she could be a pumpkin. Isn't she the cutest little pumpkin!

Lots to Catch Up On....

So there is a lot that has happened in the last couple months and I am just now getting time to blog about it all. So please bare with me as I do some catch up.

Grandma West

On June 29 my sweet Grandma West returned to heaven to be with her eternal companion. She was an awesome lady and these two were the greatest example any two people could be. They really loved each other and they let us grandkids know it. They were sweet together and it was really sad to see them separated by death for ten years.

Grandma was also awesome in her own right. I used to love to stop by her house on my way home from work and say hi. We would always talk for like an hour or more. She was always a person I could talk to and she would always make me feel so special. She had that way about her where she could talk to anyone and make them feel special. She also always taught her grandkids how important family is. She was always the one to bring us all together for dinners. I loved grandma and grandpa's house because it always felt so warm and loving. I also loved that our birthdays were within the same week of each other. It was so fun for me to think that my grandma's birthday was near mine because she was one of my most favorite people. I love and miss grandma very much, but I know she is loving being back with grandpa.

Heyborne Summer Visit

The Heyborne's came down for their annual summer visit. It wasn't all fun and games but on the whole it was an awesome visit. Let me clarify why it wasn't all fun and games. See shortly before they came down our Grandma West passed away, so we had the funeral and all things it includes while they were here. Which was convenient for Trish so that she could attend. But other then that unfortunate event we had a fun time with them.

They were here for the fourth and so we partied and got fireworks and had a little firework show with them. We also went up into the mountains and had a little picnic. It was so much fun to see the kids explore and then to end the night with roasting marshmallows and singing. Dad, Mandi, and me also took Max on a little fishing trip. Max was the only one that caught a fish! Good for him. We also just had the random days where we just hung out at the house, which is always so much fun. All in all it was fun to see them again!!

Getting Ready to Watch Fireworks!!

Our Little Pyros!!

Watermelon is a Fourth of July Must!!

Gwen was teething so she loved the watermelon.

The Heyborne Family on the Fourth

Sadie watching the fireworks

The starting of our picnic.

I thought this was so cute! All the kids were loving that Kirby was playing with them!

Roasting Mallows! Max especially loved burning them.

Fishing Expedition

Grandpa preparing Max for fishing.

Max catching the the first and only fish of the day.

Max catching his fish.

Max with his catch.