I love...in no special order of importance

I love...my husband. The reason he looks like this a lot is because if he's not working to support my stay-at-home-ishness, he is painting these bad boys to bring in a little extra income... or he's teaching our teenager how to survive high school......or he's being exhausted by the physical demands of Simon who wants to wrestle just as soon as Zach walks in the door.

I love...being the mom of a 3-year-old. Don't get me wrong - there are days where I ask myself "what was I thinking?!?" but those moments are short-lived and the joys of hanging out with this little man definitely outweigh the frustrations. He is an aggressive kid, though, and it doesn't help that he has toys like these...


I love...being the mom of an 11-year-old. Emmy is my sweetheart and we enjoy all things girlie together. It's not always bliss between us, though. We usually have a heated argument about her hair in the morning. Here she is in her Easter dress this year, the first year I haven't bought it in a children's department...
She just had her first spring-time performance the other night and I got a little teary eyed as she sang her solo. She has this beautiful, crystal clear voice that still sounds so innocent and young.

I love...being the mom of a 15-year-old. Connor is going to turn 16 in a few months and could have been driving with a learners' permit all this year, but he has held off because he "doesn't feel ready". I suppose that takes some maturity to decide you are not ready for such an important responsibility. He is a good kid. He is passionate as ever about music and now add filmmaking to the mix. He just auditioned for and made it onto Spartan Vision for next year which is a big honor for a junior. He is SO excited and loves his teacher, Mr. Moffatt. This picture accurately captures his sense of humor. I thought we were doing a cute mom-and-son picture but this is what he had in mind...

I love...getting in shape again. I've bought a gym membership at the "two-four" as Simon calls it, and have faithfully been working out for over a month now. I feel great and am starting to see some results, both physical and mental.

I love...seeing movies with the family. Last night we went to see DisneyNature's Oceans for Earth Day. Zach was pretty sure I didn't need to buy tickets ahead of time because he thought we (me) were the only family "celebrating" earth day. The movie was incredibly gorgeous. Having a Disney-sized budget was the difference between watching a show on the Nature Channel and something I kept asking myself if it was fake.

I love...audiobooks. I've discovered that I can finally get around to reading more books by listening to them on my iPhone when I'm in the car, working out (love that option), following Simon as he rides his Mustang hot wheels around the neighborhood, laying down with Simon (the only way he will ever fall asleep), etc.

I love...the library. And book stores. The smell of books is something I never want to have to live without. I know the iPad and Kindle are convenient alternatives for actual books, but give me a book any day. Actually, I'd like to have both options, but having a library in my home is just about the coolest thing I can imagine. If I ever get rich and famous, I will have a room dedicated as my very own LIBRARY.

I love...getting Pottery Barn catalogs in the mail. They become my "bathroom reading material" and I virtually redecorate my house on a daily basis. I've never actually bought anything out of them, just drooled over the catalog.

I love...the miniature shopping carts at grocery stores. Simon is all over that. I don't have to lift him kicking and screaming to make him sit in the cart anymore! He pushes his own little cart and acts so grown-up because he is doing a grown-up thing. That is the key with him. Make him think he's a grown up and then manipulate him into doing what you need/want him to do.

I love...Clinique bonus buys. I can never pass those up. I have plenty of super cute make-up bags because of that love. And lipstick in shades I don't actually wear.

I love...my yard in spring time.


This was my yard three days ago. Today it is covered in snow.

I love...hanging out with good friends. Last weekend we celebrated Ben's birthday, Zach's BFFF. Natalie planned a wild and crazy themed night. We had dinner at Chili's and had to eat with big serving utensils like spatulas, salad servers, etc. After that, we went bowling "wild and crazy" style. The color of M&M we chose out of the bag determined how we got to bowl, i.e. red=opposite handed, blue=granny style, yellow= backwards, orange=blindfolded and brown=regular.
Zach created his own freestyle catagory with this one...


I love...our dog. Yoshi is the most patient, gentle, expressive dog. His only fault is his awful gas at times and his shedding, both of which he can't control so I don't hold them against him.

My sister is 40!!!

Erin Noelle Farley Blake - my oldest sister - is turning 40 today. And somehow she has managed (knowingly or unknowingly) to thwart my plan of posting pictures of her awkward years by smuggling her picture album out of my mom's house! But I have my album and her high school album so we have some material to work with...

Was she not the cutest thing?


I think this was 9th grade?


circa 1986 - Erin is just finishing 10th grade (16) and I am graduating from elementary school. The awesome outfit/suit she is wearing was also my first-day-to-school outfit of 7th grade. I wore a suit. But it was cool, believe me.


One Christmas morning. I'm guessing we are 13, 15 and 17?


On a camping trip to Lake Trinity in northern California. We had probably been there for a week already and our tans were dark as night. This was the 1 night we scrubbed off all the dirt and prettied ourselves up as much as we could to go out to eat at the one restaurant on the lake. Erin (18) is far left sporting a units top and belt that I always envied (and stole), I (14) am far right, with my Dad, Step-mom Shirlee, brother Tom and sister Misty (16) in-between.


Meet Erin in high school - she was the original DRAMA QUEEN. Not in the overly dramatic sense of the word, she actually was a drama queen. Here she is when she made Murray High theater department history by starring as Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker". People are STILL talking about her in this role. She was in many, many, many plays, at high school and up at the University of Utah.


I'm not sure if this was a deliberate school outfit or a dance, probably the latter, but she looks cute as a wanna-be logger, I think.


There's that Units outfit again! I loved it. I think she had matching pants, too. Here she is with her high school boyfriend, Russell Ruben. They were SBO's together and there are MANY pictures of these two together in her album. They were a really cute couple.

Shortly after Quinn got home from his mission. From left to right, me (15), Quinn (21), Misty (17) and Erin (19).


Same time period as above...


I love you, Erin! You are so much fun to have as a sister, even at 40. I think you have more spunk and energy and zest for life now than you ever have. I am continually learning from your example. Happy Birthday!

Happy 70th, Old Man in Red Lodge

(This picture was taken back in spring of 2006 when I was newly pregnant with Simon and we learned he had colon cancer. I was able to fly to Red Lodge, MT without my family to spend some one-on-one time with him and my step-mom. It was a good trip despite the circumstances.)

This is my dad. He refers to himself as the Old Man in Red Lodge. He used to be the Fat Old Man, I think, but he has slimmed down in the past few years so he's dropped the 'fat'. He turned 70 today. I can't believe I'm old enough to have a parent that old. I'm glad that he doesn't seem that old, to me or anyone he knows. He is young at heart, and an old soul at the same time. I hope we have him around for many years to come. I love you, Old Man!

Here is an excerpt from his Facebook profile page that gives you a little insight into my dad:

"I'm 70, happily married 33 years, 6 grown kids, 16 grandkids, cancer survivor. As you can tell from my movies, I like a lot of westerns and mob stories. I know, mobsters are crooks, but they are loyal to their families (at least in the movies) in the same way cowboys ride for the brand. And the two share a certain romantic "sense of life" that resonates with me - strong, self-directed, independent types who are clear about their objectives, make their own rules, solve their own problems, get the job done, don't take crap from anyone and don't look to God or the government to bail 'em out when things go bad - the very same attitudes I like and look for in real life."

The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Similar to "Left to Tell" by Immaculee Ilibagiza, this was a difficult-to-read but very worthwhile book. I now know a bit about Sierra Leone and the struggles they have had in very recent years. It was strange to read this book knowing that this girl is still only in her early 20's and her experiences are still relatively new. Once again, I'm so glad I have a book club that challenges my reading tastes with their selections. I wonder if my Aunt Susan and Uncle Pat have had any dealings with the Sierra Leone refugees in Toronto? (Linsey and Emily - maybe you know?)

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Gettin' outta Dodge...or Murray

This economy can bite me, because it has prevented us from taking any real vacations for a while now. But we still manage to sneak a mini-one in there on the sly. Take that, economy!

This weekend's getaway was an overnighter in Ogden. We left our car overnight at the Front Runner station and took the train to Ogden with our good friends, Ben and Natalie and their 3 kids. A short *cold* walk from the train is the historical Ogden Union Station which houses the Utah state train museum, the Browning arms (guns - not actual arms) museum, and the Browning-Kimball classic car museum. We let the kids climb all over the trains outside and took advantage of some great photo ops.





Simon's pal, Cambrie. She's a year older than he is but he has no qualms about their age difference :)

Ben and Zach lifting Simon down from the train. Who would've thought when these two were friends in high school that they would be doing things like this with their families almost 20 years later?

We headed inside to learn everything you ever wanted to know about trains and their history in Utah. Simon's favorite part was the model railroad cross arms or "ding dings" as he calls them.

A quick side-note about Simon's fascination with ding-dings: We have been known to kill an hour driving in and out of the Gateway parking garage just so he can see them go up and down. It's free if you leave within an hour of when you go in, so we can do it over and over and over for free! When he sees downtown SLC, he only thinks about all the big buildings that have parking garages and their ding-dings.

Back to the post...
The model trains were pretty impressive. They went from room to room and you could tell some model train lover put his (her?) heart and soul into building those scenes. Simon of course was soooo happy to push the button to start it up again when it finished it's journey.

Emmy and Connor had fun "trying" to send each other messages in morse code but I think they were just trying to see who could tap it faster. The lady in the background was so happy to have visitors and she talked our ear off, as did most other volunteers in all 3 of the museums we visited. I don't think they get a lot of people in there.

In the classic car museum...


Next stop - checking into the hotel. Not having our car really brought out the sissies in all of us as we had to walk 3 blocks to the hotel. To be fair, it was in the 30's and the wind was blowing so we weren't TOTAL sissy pants, just slightly. After dropping off our stuff in the room, we moved on to scope out a place for dinner. On the way, we stopped at iFly where Connor experienced simulated skydiving about a year ago. No one from our group chose to do it, but we had fun watching others do it. Here is a video of an instructor showing us all his tricks:


We had dinner at a great restaurant called Sonora Grill. Simon slept most of the time on my lap as I tried to eat and not drip in his hair. It was really good and I'm glad we decided to eat there. They had tortilla chips the size of small ... well, tortillas. Makes sense.

Ben and Natalie decided to head home on the train after dinner due to a sick kid. We headed over to the Flowrider5 next which is an indoor simulated surfing/bodyboarding experience. Connor got up the courage to try it out and had a total blast.

Emmy didn't get the guts to do it in time, but I think if we ever go back there, she totally will. Connor had so much fun that he went back at 11:30 p.m. for their 1-hour $5 jam session (vs. $20 regular price). Zach and Simon went with him while Emmy and I crashed back at the hotel. They ran into my 18-year-old nephew, Spencer, who was trying his hand at surfing which is appropriate since his family is moving to Santa Monica (from Bountiful) in a few months. Simon fell asleep (again) on Zach the whole time. Poor kid - we ran him ragged.

Back at the hotel (in between Connor's two sessions at Flowrider), we watched a little Lord of the Rings and ordered up some room service desserts. Connor and Emmy devoured a decadent chocolate raspberry dessert, Simon hoarded his own vanilla ice cream and Zach ordered me a huge berry crisp with ice cream against my wishes. So glad he did!

After a great night's sleep in a completely blacked-out hotel room (which is WHY I love sleeping in hotels), we headed over to Great Harvest for some breakfast, then trekked it back to the train station just in time for the ride back to Salt Lake. Zach and I wondered if our car would still be there considering the seedy part of town we left it in, but it was. I love these little getaways. It makes up for our lack of big ones!