AWAKE AND READY TO GO .....

This past week, I have been unable to sleep. I'm just so excited to see Tony! I've woke up at 4AM, 5AM and today at 4:30 AM. I've got a lot of reading done this past week. lol Caden would be proud of me! I'm on the 4th Percy Jackson book!

I got an email from Tony yesterday when he was leaving Dubai and he said he would call me when he got to Atlanta which would be around 4:30 ..... Man, my body is a great alarm clock cuz I woke up at 4:28 and waited for the phone to ring!

Of course now I can't sleep so I've got my clothes laid out, I put the finishing touches on my Sacrament talk for tomorrow, I've picked up the house and now I guess I'll take my shower and get ready and sit around and READ till it's time to go!

Just can't wait !!

IS THIS A FERTILITY GOD ????

Ha ha ha ..... I had to wonder ??? I came to work this morning and found this on my desk! Everyone has been giving me such a bad time because .............
AS YOU ALL KNOW TOMORROW IS THE DAY !!!
Tony will be flying in at 12:30 PM and I know I have been getting more excited by the day (and it shows) so I guess I deserve the teasing!! When I saw this on my desk, I thought someone was playing another joke and it looks like some kind of Idol so I figured
....... fertility god ???
Well, come to find out it was just a gift from Hawaii from a temp. She gave one to me and one to Nancy. Very nice. I guess she had a big bottle of Tequila that she was going to give me too but Nancy told her I didn't drink so she gave it to Nancy. Lol

Anyway, The calendar's filled! I am so excited to see Tony! It's been a long 4 and 1/2 months!!

ENJOYING THE WINTER OLYMPICS ......

I love the Winter Olympics! I don't know what it is about the sports that attract me ....
maybe the speed and danger ! Something, I avoid in my own life! I'm a big chicken even at an amusement park! Just ask anyone who has been to one with me! I prefer the Merry go Round to the Ferris Wheel! lol I'm NOT a big risk taker!!
I admire the risks that the athletes take and the love and determination they have for their sport that gives them the courage to do what they do!

My favorites this year have been Bode Miller.........

and Lindsey Vonn.

I was so happy that each of them got a gold. Lindsey hung in there with her injured leg and you could tell she favored it but she still managed to win gold in one of her events.

Sean White is totally fun to watch! He is awesome ! He has NO FEAR! And he really puts on a show!

And of course my favorite is APOLO OHNO! I think this guy is incredible! I was so happy when he won his 7th medal on Saturday. He is such a cutie and his sport (like the downhill and snowboarding) is soooooo fast!

The strength and endurance these athletes have is a marvel to me!

EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS !!!!

Our Book Club read the book "Now They Call Me Infidel" last year. I hadn't been attending the club yet but I borrowed the book from Joyce and read it. I recommend every citizen and patriot of the United States read this book (and anything else Nonie writes for that matter).



She was a guest speaker at BSU last night so I went with Lynn, Bob and Joyce and Reed and Ester Lyons.

It was incredible and a real eye opener! Nonie is from Egypt. She was a Muslin and has since converted to Christianity. She loves her country and culture but cannot support the Muslin Jihad way of life. She said after her father was killed, Nasser came to their home and asked "which one of you will avenge your father's death by killing Jews?"

I admire this brave woman's convictions and courage to stand up and speak out against Islam and Sharia. She is mesmerizing to listen to and she knows her stuff. I HIGHLY recommend her book. This is the only one I've read but plan on reading her others as well. Go to the Internet and look her up. It is very interesting. Even here in the United States, there are Muslin Groups that are trying to silence her by not allowing her to speak at some college campus's.
She's a hero to me!!

SOMETIMES IT PAYS TO BE SICK ......

Since I wasn't feeling good on Saturday and Sunday, I spent most of the day reading. Either in bed or sitting in the recliner (so I could snooze in between) ............
I finished C.S. Lewis's book "Till We Have Faces" for book club this month.
It's interesting and I guess I liked it OK but it was different.
I finished "The Undaunted" and I loved this book. It makes me want to go south and really check out the territory these Saints covered when they made this trek. It was incredible what they did.

Then I started reading this last night. Caden has read them all and he keeps telling me he likes them better than "Harry Potter" so I thought I'd give them a go. So far I'd have to say it is definitely a good book! I'm not ready to say they are better than "Harry Potter" but they are definitely a good read!!

"OUR VALENTINE PITY PARTY"

I was at Deedra's a while back and she mentioned she wanted a "Pity Party" ...
She said I'd given one for Jill when Jill was staying with me ...(I'm getting OLD cuz I don't remember it) ....but I decided that since we were both without husbands for Valentines Day ....
WHAT BETTER TIME ??
SO ..... last night after I got off work, I picked out a movie
( A "CHIC FLICK") then went and bought a couple of Subway sandwiches, some chips and pop and went to her house.
Both Garrett and Jack have been sick with colds but they had been at my house on Thursday night for a bit so I figured I was immune! Lol (how dumb is that?)

Here's Deedra, Garrett and Nikki having our "Pity Party Meal". You can tell Garrett is not feeling 100% .... poor little guy!
Nikki was game for a hug but Garrett didn't really want any part of it. (I gave him one anyway) Gramma's prerogative.

Little Jack is probably the worst. His eyes were running as much as his nose!

Poor poor little fella!

After we ate, Deedra and I were going to use the big TV and Garrett didn't want to watch our "CHICK FLICK" so he settled for the computer, headphones and "Toy Story" ......

Isn't that cute??

Nikki was content to watch "Spy Kids" in her bedroom.

Deedra and I watched "ELIZABETHTOWN". (Interesting but ultimately a dis-appointment) We both got calls from our significant others so that made our "Valentine Pity Party" a little less pitiful!

I discovered I wasn't as immune as I thought because I woke up this morning with a splitting headache and runny nose and cough. After helping to clean the church at 8AM this morning, I went back to Deedra's to watch the kids while she went grocery shopping.

She bought me a bottle of saline solution so I came home and have been doctoring myself all afternoon. Had a good nap and am now awaiting a "Skype" from my hubby!

Hope I get over this before Tony comes home. I don't want to send him back to Iraq with a cold!!

LITTLE JACK TURNS ONE !!!

Tonight I went to Deedra's for Jack's 1st Birthday~!


Check out what he had to say about it!

"Hi Daddy! I'm so glad you came to my Birthday Party! I'm ONE!"

"Thank you Gramma and Grampa Norton! I like ducks!"

"WOW MOM! This is HUGE!! Help me get it out of the box!"!"

"YAY! My very own cake! And one candle just for me! I'll clap my hands for that !!"

"Mmmmmm! It's a little sweet but I'm sure I'll get use to it!"

"Thanks MOM!"!

" Hey everyone! "

" Check out my new wheels! "

"SA WEET RIDE! "

"I'm a BIG BOY now but you can still kiss me goodbye Grandpa!"

Little Jack was as adorable and gracious as ever! Happy Birthday Jack! We love you!

I WENT FOR A WALK LAST NIGHT ....IN THIS !

It wasn't doing this when I started but it was coming down HEAVY when I quit!

I didn't go the usual 3 miles but I did make it TWO before throwing in the towell!

EVENING @ DEEDRA'S

Deedra had called me Monday while I was at work to see if she and the kids could come over for the evening but I'd made plans with a new sister in the Ward to have dinner and FHE. So we postponed it a day and she was going to come Tuesday.
She emailed me Tuesday and said she'd had a bad night so would I come to her house.
I got home from work and went to the school to walk my 3 miles and then drove to Deed's .
Nikki had written a story at school that she wanted me to hear. She has quite the imagination!
She loves to play "Poptropica" (I think) on the computer so that's pretty much where she planted herself after dinner.
Garrett is so active now and was climbing all over the couch and anything else he could get on!
His mommy was trying to put his jammies on him and he was trying to escape! ....
Almost made it too!

And Jack chews on everything! He's doing a little biting! He was nibbling on my fingers and Deedra said he's bit her shoulder recently ................

And here's WHY .................

He's got a mouth full of teeth now! 6 to be exact! He's got his tongue covering all the top one's!

Cute little guy!

It was a fun evening and Deedra and I started watching the 1st Episode of "LOST" for this season. I was LOST just watching it! That show has so many twists and turns and I just can't keep up so I left at 7:45 to go home and await hubby's call ..... which didn't come! (sniff sniff)

He's having some problems lately due to an office relocation, less phones to call from etc ....

I went to bed and read for a while and then ....... I couldn't sleep MOST OF THE NIGHT !!!

I kept having all the scenarios of LOST popping up in my mind and it drove me crazy!!

Hope you slept better Deedra! lol

COUNTDOWN TO TONY

It's February and I'm counting down the days!!!
Tony will be home on the 27th for two glorious weeks!
I can hardly wait!!
CAN YOU TELL ................ ????

I'M EXCITED ! Anyone wanting to go to the airport with me to welcome him home can start making plans!

Just a note: after the meeting at the airport, and possibly lunch some where,

BEWARE, HE'S ALL MINE !!! LOL

CAN HE FILL GRAMMA'S SHOES!

We were leaving the house the other day and Andrew found my snow boots.....
He managed to get one on but found it difficult to walk around ......
So he traded them in on my garden shoes.....

Of course he put them on the wrong feet but managed to walk around in them!

Pretty cute!

FUN WITH THE KIDS !

I'm behind on posting so here's a catch up!
Last weekend I told Traci I would load up the rest of her clothes and toys that I'd washed and I would take them out to her so we could put them in the storage unit (and of course, I was wanting to get my back room available to me again ..... ulterior motives ! ) I had to work the late shift so after getting home and starting to load the boxes, my NEW next door neighbor saw me and said he would help me load them. (bless his heart) After filling the back of the truck and taking off for Kuna, I discovered that I couldn't get through because they have the road tore up. (They are putting in a round-about) Anyway, it delayed me so much that Traci said to meet her in Boise for dinner and we'd hit the storage unit on the way home .....
We went to Cosa Veda (think that's what it's called) and Caden gave it a thumbs up!

Isabel is sporting some scratches by her eye .... compliments of her little brother Andrew!

He can be so mean to her! But she takes it all in stride! She's a little trooper!

Sophia with her big beautiful smile!

And Andrew (red eye and all) Look at that....NO BINKY!! Maybe that was why he was teary eyed!

Anyway, after we ate, we managed to get to Kuna and un-load the truck ! I got to see the house and the progress they are making. It's gonna be nice when it's all said and done! She has new windows now and WOW, what a difference that makes!!