Can't Sleep

So it's almost 2am and I have a million things going through my mind.  I hate it when this happens because all I can do is toss and turn.  Then I start to fall asleep and noises get amplified and lights get more intense.  Am I the only person this happens too?

So it's the day before Thanksgiving.  I love Thanksgiving!  This one is going to be a little off because mom and dad are on a cruise.  It just doesn't seem the same without them.  

We are staying at their house right now because Lynn has been

 working on the plumbing at home.  We decided that it would go a lot faster if we weren't there.  That way he could take care of it all at once instead of a little here and a little there.  It has

 been so fun staying here.  We have decided that we need to trade houses with mom and dad when they get home...  Ok, so it's fun to dream!  We are moving home today.  It is a little sad but it is time.  I'm going to miss the hot tub.

Yesterday was the last day of school for Thanksgiving break.  I love having my kids home.  I a

m 

so excited that it is a long weekend.  It has been a crazy day.  Johnny stayed home.  I took Clara and him to the doctor's.  Clara broke out in hives from head to toe and Johnny has just not been himself.  He has been tired and sluggish.  Johnny is SO not like that.  He is my child that never stops.  Anyway,  so the diagnosis is... Are you ready for this one?  They think Johnny has mono. HOLY COW!  I was not expecting that one.  We got home for the doctor and I ran up to get Zach.  

After school, Zach and I went to the zoo with Erika and Justin.  It was so fun.  I only stayed 45 minutes and then left.  Erika brought the boys home a little later.  After the zoo, I went to get Krissi and came home and George came for her voice lessons.  I have to say, he still is my favorite singer!  He has the most incredible voice in the world.  You should hear it when Krissi and George sing " O Holy Night" together.  It is the most incredible thing.

So after George, Zach and I had Parent Teacher's Conference.  Zach is doing great!  

So that was my life today... Oh wait, I worked tonight.  So that is my day in a nutshell.  I had to write it down.  I need to sleep.  Now maybe I can stop thinking about my day because I wrote it down.  So GOODNIGHT...

By the way, how was your day? Mine was great!

Love you all!

Salt Lick, Pecan Pie, Lance Armstrong, Halloween and more...

These past few months have been a whirlwind. I have been told more than once by my dear sisters, Jenny and Joan, that I needed to update my blog.
I haven't meant it to be this long. I have been VERY busy!
What's been going on in the past couple of months... Well, Krissi andJohnny have not stopped going and in return that has made me not stop.
Krissi, as you know is on Skyline's drill team. She is loving it. I just didn't know how busy the moms are. I feel like I am always over at the school. Krissi has also decided to be in the school play. They are doing Beauty and The Beast. Krissi is a town person and a napkin. She is so excited. In addition to those two things she is still in voice lessons, and, along with Johnny, part of an amazing video that the church is putting out. It is called "A Brand New Year". The video is going to be put out for New Year's Eve. I am really glad they are doing that.
So this is Krissi's life. Wake up, be at school by 6am, go to play practice (except for Wednesdays, she has drill), come home, go to rehearsals for "A Brand New Year", do homework, go to bed, wake up and it all starts over.Johnny's schedule: Wake up go to school, come home, go to football, come home, "A Brand New Year", do homework, go to bed, wake up and start again.
So as you can see, they have been really busy. This has made me extremely busy.So you ask about Salt Lick... Nope, I didn't get the spelling wrong. Salt Lick is my ALL TIME favorite BBQ place. I only get it when I am in NYC at the Big Apple BBQ. The Brisket at Salt Lick is the best in the world. It seriously melts in your mouth. Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to fly to Austin, Texas and work at the Lance Armstrong, Live Strong Challenge. As my co-workers and I were talking about where we should eat, it hit me that Salt Lick is from Austin. I got so excited! I told them about it. We tried to go there but when we pulled up to the place on the GPS it was the wrong place. I was so sad. So we had Tex Mex that night. The next day we went to the convention. We noticed a place next door to the convention hall called Iron Works BBQ. It smelled SO good! We went there for lunch. It was really good but still not as good as Salt Lick. I do have to say it came in a close second.
While I was checking out and paying for lunch I noticed pecan pie at the register. Pecan Pie is my favorite pie in the world next to Huckleberry. I saved it because I was full from the BBQ. When I got back to the hotel, I took a bite. I was in heaven! This pie was THE best pie in the world! I don't think I have ever tried anything like it.
The next day, we were able to go to Salt Lick. It was so fun. When we pulled up to the restaurant, we weren't sure we were in the right place. It is in the middle of nowhere about 40 minutes outside of Austin. We pulled in the driveway and there were two police officers directing traffic. The parking lot had to have at least 300 cars in it. There are three buildings to Salt Lick. Every one of them was filled to the max. There were at least 100 people waiting to be seated. All I can say is that I haven't seen anything like it before. It was really cool.
So we sat down. They brought us our food and my friends sat there and said "have you ever tried anything so good... ?". The loved it too! I was so excited the they loved it! It always worries me when I love something so much and talk something up so much and the people I am with end up saying "it is OK". I hate that! So this was a great night for me. Anyway, so I thought that if the BBQ was that good then there pecan pie had to be too. SO i ordered it. I went back to the hotel and took a bite. I was so sad! It wasn't even close to what I had had the night before. Luckily, I had only eaten a third of the one from Iron Works. I threw away the one from Salt Lick and ate the rest of Iron Works.
The rest of the week was great! I really enjoyed going out with the people I went out with. They were really fun. We ended the trip by going to a place called The Oasis. It overlooks Lake Travis. The view was beautiful! The food not so much. There is a house that sits on Lake Travis that is SO amazing and HUGE! I took a picture of it and the kids and Lynn didn't believe it was real. It was pretty funny.
On Monday, we got set to come home. The plane didn't leave until 5pm so we made a quick trip down to San Antonio. It was so cool. I go to go to The Alamo. I loved it! I love history. On the way home, we had one thing happen after another... I'm actually surprised we made it home that night. It was pretty funny. We almost missed our flight in both Austin and Long Beach.
So we got home and the week went on.
On Friday it was Halloween. It was such a fun day. We started the day by going to Zach's parade. It was neat. Krissi and Johnny got to go to it because they didn't have school. Zach was Annikin Skywalker. The kids all looked so cute! I love the Halloween parade. Both my mom and mother in law came. It meant a lot to Zach.
I came home and dropped the kids off. Johnny stayed home with Clara. Krissi had to be at the school because they were performing at Skyline's football game in Alpine. So I dropped her off there. I went to the Doctors and then went up to help out at Zach's school with their Halloween party.
We came home. I dropped Zach off and headed to Alpine to watch Krissi march. They performed "Thriller". It was fun to watch. They all dressed up as dead people and danced. They did a great job. I came home after the football game and headed out with the kids trick or treating. Johnny went as a 70's guy and Krissi went as a princess. I went as a rag doll. Zach stayed dressed as Annikin and Clara went as Marie from "The Aristocats". They all looked so cute!
We had so much fun. It was neat because Lynn actually got to come out with us.
Well, so that was my week in a nutshell. Pretty crazy! I keep telling myself that things are going to get slower. The play is over on the 22nd of November. "A Brand New Year" ends tomorrow night and football season is over in a few weeks.
One more cool thing that happened to me last month was that I got to meet Collin Raye. This was the second time I met him. He is such a great singer. He sings one of my favorite songs "Love Me"
We will see how it goes the next few months.
Well, I love you all! Goodnight!

Is there another Jaci LeCheminant?

My New House

OK, so it's not a new house... I am pretty excited about what I have done, though!
I was walking through Target the other day when I saw some slipcovers that I really liked. I have been waiting for them to go on sale because I knew I couldn't afford them. They were on sale! I bought them. Well... I bought them with help from my parents. Thanks mom and dad!
I got home and put them on my couches. My couches were so bad! They are old and ragged! I couldn't wait to see what the the new slipcovers looked like in my living room. I put them on and they looked really great! My living room, on the other had looked horrible! Two days later, I decided to paint. Yep, I did it myself!
These are before and after pictures. The picture on the top shows the couch, walls and piano before the paint job and slipcovers. The other two pictures show the after. I am so excited about it! I am so happy that I was able to do it myself! I love my new living room! My kids love it! It looks so warm and inviting! I know it sounds like I am boasting a bit, I am and I am proud of it!
I will talk to you soon! Until then, remember, I love you!!!

Football Season

It's September and Johnny has started football. He came to me a few months ago and asked me if he could get in. I told him if he would be serious about it. He said he would. Now everyday, he comes to me and says, "Mom, why did you make me sign up?" I just laugh and say that it was his choice and he was going to go through with it. He goes to practice and decides he loves it! It is this way every day before practice and after. It is pretty funny!
Johnny is on Skyline's "B" team. This means that he is not on the team that the best players are on... I am actually glad that he isn't on the "A" team. He gets to play a lot, his teammates are wonderful and he has incredible coaches. I don't think it is that way on the "A" team.
This last week, Johnny's team played against Riverton. I don't know what they feed those boys there but OH MY HECK!!! These boys were huge! Johnny got up against number 98. This boy had to weigh almost 300lbs. Johnny is one of the bigger players on the team and he looked half the size of this boy. I was so proud of the team though. They scored a touchdown and only let the other team score three. I know that sounds funny but if you saw the size of these boys you would understand.
Riley Gilliland is the quarterback of the team. He is amazing! When I saw the boys that they were playing against, I thought, "I hope Laurie doesn't see this." Riley is not a big kid. He didn't let that get in his way. He took those boys on like they were nothing. He really is great!!!
We do have fun at the games. It is so fun having friends there. Zach and Eli Gilliland got together and ate ring pops and all other kinds of candy. They chased each other around. It is nice to be able to spend Saturdays with friends and football makes that possible.
Krissi and I took care of Clara. The game was during her nap time. She was not happy. We took her over to play with a couple of other babies. That kept her busy for three minutes. We finally took turns going to the car while she slept in her car seat. It was probably better that way. Watching the Riverton Boys against the Skyline Boys made me a nervous wreck. The good thing is... They SURVIVED!

Too Old???

Have I finally reached that age? Am I too old for Lagoon? For you that don't know, Lagoon is an amusement park in Utah. It is really fun! The kids love it. On August 22 we went to Lagoon for a work party. It was so much fun... For the first 15 minutes... The first ride we went on we the merry go round. It was so fun because Clara had never been on a ride before. She got on and was a little scared. By the end of the ride she loved it.

We got off and the kids immediately wanted to go on the roller coaster. I went with them. Zach went with me. As we crept up the hill, my stomach got a little queasy. Why? I have been on this ride a million times! I finished the ride and could hardly walk. I am not really sure what happened... Something did... I got sick!

We decided to take it easy for a while so Zach, Clara and I decided to go ride the small ride while Johnny and Krissi went on some of the roller coasters. Clara LOVED it! She had so much fun! She went on the whales and on the helicopters. Her favorite was the boats. She rode that ride three or four times.

We got back with Krissi and Johnny. Krissi wanted me to go on the Samurai. I have been on this ride. I usually love this ride. I got off of it and couldn't walk. I walked over to Johnny and Zach and realized that I was REALLY sick! I wasn't going to make it another minute! I ran over to a garbage can and the rest was history... I was sick for the rest of the night. So once again, Clara, Zach and I stayed in the little kids zone and Krissi and Johnny played on the roller coasters.

I do have to say, it was totally worth it to see my kids have so much fun! They loved every minute of it! Clara laughed on every ride. She didn't want to stop going on the rides.

It was time for me to go... I had to work. So we left the park and went home. Clara, made it to to the end of the parking lot. She slept for the rest of the night.

So again, the question, am I too old for Lagoon? YEP! I am! I never thought I would reach that age, but I have. I am so sad! Oh well, life goes on and I can at least enjoy seeing my kids have fun!

My Favorite Place...

Ninety-nine years ago, a man named George Brunt, along with his beautiful wife, Clara, bought land up in Island Park, Idaho because their daughter, my grandmother, Opal, had allergies. They needed to get somewhere that she could go in the Summer and not have problems breathing. He eventually bought land all over Island Park, including some at Pine Haven and Mack's Inn. He gave the land and cabins on it to each of his children and they gave it to their children. Others have bought cabins and now we have a huge population of Brunts running around up here. We are a very close family. I know it is because of the cabins in Island Park (Mack's Inn).

Every two years we have a Brunt Family Reunion. It is so much fun! The reunion lasts for three days. The first day we have a huge bon fire where we check in and just mingle. This is not just your average family reunion. It is huge! This year we had over 300 people here. How cool is that!?!

On Friday night, we have individual family dinners. The Noall and Opal (Brunt) Nixon family get together and have a BBQ. It is so fun! We get to catch up with our cousins. We end up talking all night. This year was a little sad. My dad wasn't able to come because he had court. He is the Immigration Judge for Utah and he has to put his schedule out a year in advance. We missed him dearly. Aunt Claranne wasn't there either. She is serving a mission in Nauvoo. It just isn't the same without them. It was nice to see and be with our cousins.

On Saturday, we have breakfast, lunch and meetings. Today we had breakfast at The Sawtelle Lodge. We had french toast and sausage. It was really yummy! They then had an auction. You know, the one thing I say about the Brunt family is that they don't hold back when it comes to auctions. It is really fun to watch. I bought a picture of my Great Grandmother and Great Grandfather on their wedding day. I bought a print so it only cost me $10.

One of the fun things about the reunion is that we all wear different colors. This year the Opal Nixon family wore orange. We looked so great! Everyone loved the shirts. We sure did stand out.

After the auction, we headed to the Mack's Inn Playhouse for Lunch. We had a really great BBQ chicken and a potato bar. They then had huckleberry ice cream. It was the only time I really wanted to eat ice-cream. I love huckleberry! It is my favorite flavor. I just don't eat ice-cream. It makes me really ill. So I just fed it to Clara and took in the smell of it. After lunch, Krissi sang for the reunion. Leslie, my dad's cousin, had asked her to sing. So she sang "You'll Never Walk Alone". It was AMAZING! She wasn't too sure about how she did. She is her

own worst critic. I loved it and so did everyone else. It made Uncle Bob cry. It was really neat. We then came home. Clara and I laid down for a nap and the kids scattered all over the forest. Actually, Krissi and Johnny floated down the river on inner tubes and Zach went to my sister, Jenny's, cabin. At 7 pm, we got together and ate dinner. We roasted hotdogs and ate s'mores. It was so much fun. Now it is late and all the kids are asleep. I really enjoy this time. I can really think about things and I get a lot done.

I have another week up here at Mack's Inn. I am staying up here with the kids. I have already been up here for a week and I am dreading the fact that I only have seven days left up here.

Last week we came up with Lori and her kids. It was a lot of fun. We went in to Yellowstone. It was neat because her kids and John Turley (He is up here too), had never been to Mammoth or the upper loop of the park. We drove around it and saw some really great animals. We were able to see a Grizzly Bear and a Black Bear. The kids were pretty excited about that.

On Monday, we went to Mesa Falls. This has got to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. The water fall is so amazing. While I was growing up, it didn't have any rails or paths. We would have to hike down to it and sit on the rocks. It was

pretty neat! I just can't believe that

I did that. Now it would scare me

to death! I know for a fact, I wouldn't allow my kids to go to Mesa Falls with out the rails there.

On the way out of Mesa Falls, Krissi and Jon T were swinging Clara.

Her elbow pulled out of socket. I called the doctor in Ashton. They told me to bring her down. By the time we got in to the office, Clara was fine. I asked the Doctor to teach me how to pop it back in if it pulled out again. He was fine with that and we left. We weren't charged a penny. The

minute we got back in to the car she started to crying again. I tried to give her some water and she refused to take the bottle. I then realized that it wasn't better so I popped it back in and she was better. I know that it was a blessing that she acted better in the office. I wasn't sure how much they were going to charge us and I needed to know how to do it anyway. It's nice when a good thing comes out of a bad situation.

So that is my week in a nutshell. I have had a wonderful week! I love my life. I love my kids! I love the cabin! Besides my favorite place being anywhere my kids are, the cabin is by far my favorite!

Love you and Goodnight!!!