Once Upon a Time.....Long, Long ago....

19 years ago to be precise...


There was a stinkin hot boy....

he was in search of a spicy soul mate to wed for eternity.

(I love this picture of Kev....OOOOOOWeeeeeeMaMa!
Picture this rascal in high school!)

He dated and got to know many giddy girls...

but none up to par, or up to his high standards.

To his dismay, 

they were always lacking in one area or another.....

so he continued to search 

high and low.

(Can. You. Believe. These? LOVE em.)

In another place, 

a lovely maiden was being raised up.

She to had dreams of one day marring her true love.

She tested and tried and attempted to find 

the one she could not 

live with out....

only to be disappointed time after time.

(I have been waiting to use some of these classics for a long time in a post.

Finally!

Can't believe I figured out how to use our scanner!!!)

At last the stars aligned,

and the time was right for the two to meet.

They came face to face in Provo, Utah,

while the young lady was wearing a polyester jumper skirt,

tan nylons, maroon bow tie, 

topped off with her plastic name tag, Melissa,

 they felt the 

first spark of attraction.

She was the welcoming hostess at a fine 

establishment called, 

"Chuck-A-Rama"...

The boy, Kevin, was in town visiting his parents,

taking a short break from crop dusting 

in Jigger, Louisiana.

The three stopped in after purchasing tires 

at Sam's Club.

They were famished, 

and had a buffet on their mind.

Kevin had a rugged look about him.

He had an old brown leather jacket on, 

with a ratty baseball cap on his tousled hair.

Melissa found this look very appealing...

Eye contact was made as she accepted the father's 

money and invited them to enjoy their meal.

Through out the evening,

there were other brief encounters.

A stolen glance now and then wiping down a table,

and again as she walked across the buffet area at 

closing time to get her self an end of shift 

refreshment.

Her favorite, never would she tire of the soft serve

vanilla ice cream, over piping hot rice pudding.

To this day she still craves the desert combo...

sometimes she would mix it up and 

add the bread pudding.

This night, when Melissa went to stand in line to

get her reward for working so tirelessly,

she was trembling,

once she was in line, this strapping young man

came and stood right behind her in line,

also holding his bowl,

looking for refreshment, same as her.

She was skittish.

Didn't know where to look, or how to stand,

or where to put her hands.

They shook as she pulled the lever to 

guide the soft serve ice cream into the tiny plastic 

dish.

(normally Melissa never stopped with one dish,

but tonight, 

a tiny helping would be all she desired)

Once she finished her uncomfortable 

dishing up, she tried to walk back to the front desk to 

hide and eat her desert in privacy and

try to regain composure of her 

senses.

Chuck-A-Rama was closed for the night.

The time came for the trio to stop feasting.

They got up and left.

As they were walking out, 

the boy turned back and waved and smiled and

wished Melissa a good evening.

She waved, 

and he was gone.

After they had driven off one of Melissa's

work mates came to chat with her at the front desk

where she was tiding up.

The other girl was a pretty red headed waitress with 

long wavy hair, she asked Melissa if she had 

noticed the good looking young man that had been 

sitting in her section.

Yes, she'd seen him.

The waitress went on and on about 

how attractive she thought the boy had been.

Shortly after the waitress had gone back to her work,

there came a knock on the locked glass door.

Melissa went to open it, and was happily

surprised to find the boy there.

He stuttered and stammered around,

and finally asked if she would like to 

go out with him some time.

YES.

That was the beginning. 

  

Married in the SLC Temple on July 28, 1993

Kev's parents from the story.

Our Beautiful family.

I love our life Kev.

So glad you came back.

Happy Anniversary!

Getting you up to date.....

Wow!
Time does fly...
(and so do my friends and I...well sort of...but not really)
I am very far behind with my posts.
A few fun things have happened that I have not posted about,
so before I loose the details I want to lock down forever,
I thought I better kick it into high gear and do a catch up post.

First, Vanessa turned 40!!
Whooohooo!
Tina turned 38??
Waaaaaa, gaaa, gaaaa, goooo, gooo...little baby infant.
There are better years to come my young friend.
Barb turned maybe 42?
(Actually 41!!!..thx B)
and she is rockin it!
with all the B-days as of late....
we had some celebrating to do!!

One of V's biggest dreams, that we were all aware of
is to go sky diving.
We thought it would be so out of this world to take her
for her 40th B-day...
and make it all a SURPRISE!!
(we are big into surprises).
So Tina worked and coordinated with V's hubby and we
were getting all pumped and stoked for this mega event.
I was to be her jump mate since I had been before and was the only one that
wanted to.

Anyway......long story short,
it didn't end up that we were able to go because Nate really did not
feel good about it.
We respected his wishes and feelings and begrudgingly moved on
to plan B - 1 day before the big event.
Plan B was for all of us to go to IFLY in Orlando and do the
flying simulator.
Nate gifted this to all of us which was very generous.

So that is what we did.

Here is a little photo recap of the event:
This is V, she went first.
Always the exceptional student.
Ready to learn and follow instructions.
Good job V....
(she made it look fairly easy).

Then there was me.

I too felt ready to learn....

I also felt maybe a little cocky and over confident.

Maybe having done the real thing 

I thought I knew it all.

yeah, yeah, yeah....I got this little buddy.

He (our instructor) had already kind of gotten mad at me

as we were getting our "uniforms" on....

kinda got a power trip attitude.

It was unsettling...so I did want to do a perfect job on my flight.

Well, my dreams quickly went down the toilet.

I was NOT what I would call a good flyer in the air tube.

At first it was all fun and games,

I saw my friends all lined up out side the glass smiling and waving,

I wanted to give them a good show,

I gave some waves and a little swim effect and so forth.

Next thing I know the instructor is right in my face

holding vigorous signs and making all these serious

motions and disciplinary moves to me.

It caught me off guard, 

 I quickly tried to re-group and do better.

Toooooooo late.

When my turn was over our serious instructor came out and gave

our whole group a lecture on WHAT NOT TO DO!

Our group included six other strangers as well.

Man.

I felt like a major idiot. 

 This is Skinny Sonia.
She was the complete pro and good listener and got several
thumbs up.

 This is smilely gus Tina.
She was all, tra la la la laaaaaaa.
Seemed to have no trouble.
Until the last flight when she felt like she wanted to vomit and pass out.
But up until that point.
Super Excellent performance.

 This is show off Barb.
Barb seems to always be a natural at
EVERYTHING.
Pole dancing, fake flying.....can't think of anything else we have
done right now but trust me.
All Natural Superstar.
He was flashing her advanced signals that we didn't even learn.
Letting her go up super high,
and do
down low hover circles, clapping, giving the A-OK every few seconds.
Ok, ok...we get it.
Instructors pet.
Whatever.

 Christi also was an exceptional flyer straight out of the shoot.
Confident.
Good form.
Chin up, arched back, bent legs, but not too bent.

I will tell you this left me feeling VERY pressured.
I was soooo scared and nervous for my second flight.
I wanted to do my best.

I was still under par, but there was no goofing off.
I learned my lesson,
this young fella does not take kindly to having fun.

The thing that really got me...was at the end when our 

"Professor of Un-Flying"

was handing out our "Certified Certificates" 

everyone got full marks but me....

oh yeah, and Vanessa!

What is his deal with ladies with red hair?

If it had just been me not graduating fake flying that would have been

one thing....but V to??!!!

It was her BIRTHDAY dude!

What is your hang up?

Anyway.....

Here we are after, at the Yummy italian restaurante ..
What is it??....Buca Di Beppo?
We got to eat in the kitchen and see all the going ons...
plus be a spectacle as diners came through on their tour.
The meal was fabulous,
the chocolate cake WAS the best....just like Barb promised.
I was dared to lick the plate....
heck yes!
Why wouldn't I??
....the dare just made it possible for me to make my
wish come true w/out being disgusting.
We all ended up taking a $9 piece of cake home for our
"family".
....we really did share the slices.
Kevin thought he was in heaven.

The personalized dolls Amy helped me put together for V and T
turned out to be a wonderful hit.
Very fun and special to celebrate these lovely ladies.
We laughed and remembered, and talked about all the little
details on their dolls.

It was a very fun filled day.
...............

Cookie is still here.
This is a little tribute video for V's family to enjoy if they want to.
I am sure they are needing a little Cookie action right about now.

Cute Cooks.

How's Cooks?

Our family is watching our friends dog while they are on 

vacation until the first part of August sometime.

The kids have done this on several occasions for them,

only this time it is different because instead of riding their bikes to 

their home a few times a day and letting Cookie out, 

feeding, wrestling and playing with her,

and then riding back home.....

she is with us full time as a house guest.

It did take some convincing on my part....

maybe a little begging on my friend's part.

It took a practice run to prove it would work with no trouble at all.

I think we have had Cookie for a week or two....

the days are a blur.

V texted me late last night....

"How's Cooks?"

I made the mistake....at least it seems like a mistake now....

of running late with Christi and Barb last night.

When I went to bed I could not keep my eyes open for another second if

I'd had the gumption to try,

but now at 2:00am, I can no longer sleep.

Thought I would get up and answer V's text with a post.

Just some things that came to my mind after seeing her text

as I was laying in bed,

enough that I decided I could write an entire article on.

Cookie is doing pretty well, thanks for asking.

She did get into trouble a few times yesterday when she kept 

licking Tina's feet while I was trying to do her lashes on the couch.

Eventually Cooks stopped doing what was not wanted and 

fell asleep, which T really liked, because she was cold

and Cookies body was warm against the bottom of her feet.

I eventually got T a blanket as well once I clued in.

(left side getting beefy first)

We originally took Cookie under the pretense that she

is getting too old and feeble to stay alone.

Her eyesight is failing and her hearing has gone to pot.

Poor thing.

How could we not take her in?

We (I) am not completely heartless when it comes to animals.

She can certainly while away her time on a little blankie in the corner

while you are away for the rest of the summer.

It is the least we can do for her in her last hours.

What up DOG?

Our experience is that her eyesight and hearing are both

as keen as any we have ever encountered.

Try tiptoeing into the kitchen to sneak a drink,

or cracking open the fridge for a tiny refreshment of some sort,

eeeek open a wrapper of any kind and Cookie will spring

from a dead sleep on the couch and come sprinting into the 

kitchen to beg like her life depended on it.

No lie.

No exaggeration.

Point in case, the begging, with Lawson eating his quesadilla below.

Cookie can stare at you with her "bad" eyes until the cows come home.

She will never give up on anything she has her heart set on.

She is the most determined dog I have ever had the opportunity of knowing.

(more on that later).

She is the perfect example of enduring to the end.

 However,

one thing I need to mention, 

we have promised NOT TO FEED HER HUMAN FOOD.

Period.

Dot.

We gave our word COOKIE....what don't you understand about that?

We are people of integrity.

Your family trusts our family.

We C A N N O T give you any food.

Please believe us.

The thing I don't get is how any living thing can survive on one serving 

of food per day?

That is what our instructions are.

One scoop of food in the a.m. per day.

Done.

We weren't given a "scoop" so I have to eyeball into her bowl

what I think a scoop would be.

I say I, because it is me who feeds her every day at 6:00am when she

claws her way out of the boys room and comes to ours.
who wouldn't?

She must be starving!!!

I get up and take her out.

She comes back in jumping and pouncing on her aged legs 

sooooooooooo filled with anticipation for her one chance to chew 

for the day.

I pour, practically on her head,

 and she eats it all in maybe two minutes....

maybe.

I know that eating makes dogs bowels get stimulated,

so then I take her out and wait for her to "go" again,

she always does like clockwork.

(If it is an early morning workout day, she just comes out when I walk in the door.)

Cookie has US on a leash.

Make no mistake in thinking we are in charge around here.

She had an accident in the boys room the 2nd or 3rd night she was with us.

This has instilled deep set fears in everyone in the household,

so that anytime Cookie is up and walking, we think maybe she needs to "go out".

So anyone by her will take her out.

You can't just open the door because she will not go out alone,

no way....you have to go together.

We know (have been told) she only needs to go out like three times per day,

but here I know she goes out no less than 10,

she may only go like 4 drops of urine....but she goes.

It is also the very last thing the boys do at night before going to sleep....

not to bed,

but to sleep.

They are driving me crazy getting out the slider door,

walking with Cookie through the maze of the playroom,

opening up the slider to the back yard,

calling for Cookie,

slamming, then locking the doors again,

and so forth....all in the wee hours of the night....after 11:00

on most nights,

cuz it is summer and they can do what they want in their room.

I have had to make some amendments to this as of late.

Cookie likes to be in on the action.

I think she thinks she is a person.

One night, this past Friday in fact,

we got our usual pizza and a movie going.

We knew it may bum Cookie out for a little while, cuz we would 

need to put her in another room while we ate our pizza.

We always lay a big blanket out on the floor and chow down 

on our pizza as we take in a video.

Well, not possible with Cookies obsession with food

and humans.

We had tucked her away in the boy's room.

Well, that was a NO GO for Cookie.

She screamed and cried and carried on like no infant I have 

ever heard in my life.

She would not give up her desire to be out "with the family"

in the thick of things.

She was not about to be alone for any amount of time.

Finally, I was like guys forget it.

Get the pizza on the table,

we have to let her out here.

I don't know if her little old heart can take it.

So out she came,

I swear I could hear her catch her breath a few times like kids do 

after a tantrum,

do you know what I mean?

Can you say GASY?  

Gas fest U.S.A.

Gastrointestinal-itis?

Cookie has gas AT ALL TIMES.

Rich, deep, hearty, pungent, permeating unavoidable gas.

I don't get it.

So yeah V, I think Cookie is doing pretty well.

It is the fish I worry about.

I asked Vanessa if tap water is ok to use to change the water....

she said yes, they use tap water,

but don't worry about it until they get home unless the water looks

really bad.

?

For real?

um....are all those bubbles normal?

I don't think so.

Don't fish run out of oxygen at some point in their water?

I don't know much about fish....

hence why we don't have any,

but I'd say this water is looks fairly used.

The kids will change it tomorrow.

See you in several weeks buddy!

CHOFFY Chocolate Cake that will....

ROCK YOUR WORLD!

Yummy!

I may be over doing it a little...

but it was dang good.

Received Raving reviews from the Birthday boy...

Kev is 44 years old today!

We celebrated a day early, he is off jetting around the world today...

Turks and Caicos on this fine day.

Here is a good look at the cake.

We got K a new tennis racket....

the exact one he had noted.

It was fun to get it right on the gift.

We are dog sitting V's family dog - Cookie.

She will be with us for the month.

She always wants in on the action....she was up at the table 

patiently sitting in a chair before we got settled.  

Sadly....she got no cake for her efforts.

Here is the recipe for the cake, and another good look at it.

The original recipe called for a cup of coffee...I replaced it with Choffy...

you can find the original HERE on my pinterest board.

Black Magic CHOFFY Cake

(only the BEST Chocolate Cake EVER!)

1 3/4 c. flour

2 c. sugar

3/4 c. cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 c. strong black CHOFFY, cooled

1 c. buttermilk

1/2 c. veg oil

1 tsp vanilla

Combine all, mix well for 2 min.  Pour into greased  9x13 pan.

Bake 350 35 - 40 min.

Frosting:

1/2 c. softened margarine

2 oz. melted unsweetened chocolate

3 c. powdered sugar

3 Tbs. Choffy (or milk)

2 tsp vanilla

ENJOY!!!

Let me know when you make it!

Top Shot....NOT.

Kev and I went on a fun double date this past 

Friday with our friends,

Stacey and Cy.

The gents took us ladies to the shooting range

for a little gun powder and lead fun.

I found that my skills were much lower than I had anticipated.

I am not sure why I had believed I was going to automatically be

hitting the bullseye from the get go....

but I was brought up to speed pretty fast.

Stacey on the other hand did have the knack.  

She had very good aim.

Kev wasted no time getting the kids trained up and back 

out to the same shooting range the very next morning.

Even M wanted in on the action.

Here is a sample of what you can expect if you ever go to the range.

Summer Road Trip Photo Frenzy....

wowsa!

Talk about a lot of photos!

here is a handful of the best.

This post is a quick look back over last month's 

MEGA Road Trip across the USofA.

I say quick because I am going to try to use minimal words

to recap our fun....

and

hopefully I will be able to add a video for your 

pleasure at the end.

The best part of the trip for me was the driving out to 

Yellow Stone with Kevin and the kids.

You will see why as you go through the pictures.

We drove the looooooong way from Satellite Beach, FL

to (eventually), Kaysville, UT.

These may not be in chronological order....

but we did all of this stuff at some point,

so you will get the gist,  and we will be able to recall good memories

when we browse this string of photos.

These shots are from Cumberland Gap, TN (I believe)

This was a fun little look out point we veered off to.

It is also the home of the 

"1 MILE TUNNEL".

This brings me to reason #1 that I loved the drive out 

to Utah.

The curiosity that we were able to employ.

Kev would say something like, 

"Hey, that looks interesting, should we check it out???"  

"Why Not."??

So we would.

We did this many times over.

Sometimes it would take us a bit farther away from our ultimate

destination, 

but.....Who Cares??

We didn't....
we wanted to relax and see some of this 

magnificent country we live in.

 It was liberating to be in charge,

and yet not have a single plan of where we were going next.

Not to be rushed and hurried....for once.

These next photos were from North Carolina,

we pulled off to watch a bunch of river rafters, and kayaking.

We sat around and put our feet in the crispy water and 

decided we will have to come back here again.

We need to river raft as a family ASAP.

This was a fun spot to stretch and relax. 

 These were taken in Chatanooga, TN  

We went to Look Out Mountain, where you can see

6 or 7 different states at once.

Pretty cool.

It was a beautiful area.

 We came across a very enjoyable Civil War museum. 

We spent a bunch of time there.

K was really into it....the boys were making plans to 

get their hands on any kind of confederate money, flags, 

or rare documents so they could leave them 

around for Grandpa Dana to find.

They thought this place was big time fun.

We rode the tram up the steep incline and took in the sights.

 In Dayton Ohio, we saw the "Great American Ball Park"....

and this super cool Air Force museum.

This was the day of the only disagreement K and I got into 

on our whole trip.

It lasted a few hours....

but dissipated 

as soon as we found my name sake airplane.

Loved seeing my name plastered up on the side of the plane like that.

This museum was massive!!

So much to see....planes, helicopters, and memorials of all kinds.

It was so well done, and very entertaining.

not to mention....

FREE!!

This picture of the women pilots I had to have....

I pretended it was myself and my girls.

 Some fun random views....

corn fields aplenty.

Kev loved pointing these out to us, time and again.

They just never got old...
ever.

These tall and strange moving vehicles were also aplenty.

Beautiful sunsets each night.

Chocolates on my lap.....a sight I ALWAYS love.

Choffy and creamer at my feet, 

plus the bargain book I found at one of our stops....

"Age Erasers"...... I have had the best time with this book.

and it was only 5 bucks!

Steal of the trip I think.....I am still referring to it.

 A super fun highlight was meeting up with my Aunt Danae in 

Nauvoo, Illinois.

On this day she was serving in the School House 

for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

It was fun to pop in on her, and then hear her tell us about the 

saints of olden time.

Love you Auntie!!

 Kevin's favorite stop on our quick visit was the 

Gun Smith Shop.

We heard the history of John Browning.

K was mesmerized and fascinated with this man... his 

genius, generosity, and goodness.

If he wasn't a Browning Gun fan before....he certainly is now.

 McCauley got to make her own rope at the Family Center.

She was extremely stoked by this.

We concluded that we want to come back and spend more time

at Nauvoo.....we did not get to see all that we wanted, 

and can picture coming back just to visit this great place of Church history.

We ended up following the Mormon Trail for the rest of this day and 

into the next.  All back roads, winding through towns surrounded by

fields and cows and green.

Loved the slower pace for a time.

 This same day Kev introduced the "Shouting Tree" to our family.

Being in the car for hours on end,

in such tight quarters with one another, occasionally brought out 

negativity.

Kev told us to "Save it for the Tree"...

at the end of the day,

when we all needed a little alone time K found a private area

that each person got to walk up to,

and have a few minutes to unload any built 

up negativity they were harboring. 

This helped us get on peacefully with our trip.

This proved to be not only a smart idea....

but, a pretty entertaining one as well.

 The giant wind mills went on forever!

A few times we saw large semi trucks carrying one of the 

arms of one of these big boys.....

talk about unbelievably big!

One arm is like the size of a whale.....really!

maybe I am way off....but I don't know what else to compare it to.

 Bridges, tunnels, and overpasses!

So much variety!

 McCauley and I finally got to see Mount Rushmore.

The boys have gone with K for the past several years on their annual

hunting trip, but this was our first time to see 

their stomping ground while they are away on their

"guy trip".  

They took us through the Black Hills and showed us some of the places

they stay, and their favorite hangouts to eat at.

We finally made it to YellowStone!!

Immediately upon driving into the park, the wildlife was upon us.

What a fun thrill!

We surprised Kev's parents for their 50th wedding anniversary.

His whole family spent a few days near the park in some

super sweet cabins.

It was great seeing everyone.

One of the books I read on the drive was 

"The Kitchen House"....I loved it.

This book got me into trouble a few times....

occasionally my reactions

were delayed when K was trying to point out something to me on the

drive....he didn't appreciate me being so into my book.

I made a point of having quick responses in the future.

Feet on the dash, and a great book is reason #2 

that I loved the drive out so much.

Pure relaxation, and doing exactly what I wanted to be doing.

Reading, Eating, and Drinking

doing all three 

in the company of my loved ones.

HA!!

My perfect vacation.

I realized I could go for weeks on end like that.

Drink, Read, Eat, Pee, 

repeat.

Look, talk, laugh, take in the beauty.

Read.

Pour Choffy, eat Junior mints, read, shed a few tears over story.  

Check out the bear, be amazed by the waterfall,

feel grateful for each other....

read, fall asleep for a few minutes,

have K take my picture with my mouth open and me looking 

like I'm a million years old.....

and so forth.

The Best of times.

 The kids and I learned we HATE Wasabi Peas....

I always assumed that the white covering on the peas

I saw at gas stations was white chocolate.

So the taste that immediately hit my taste buds was a huge shocker 

when K was passing them out.

Buh-Arf.

We could hardly get the fish or any other wild life to give them a snif.

  Yellow Stone Falls.....

note to self - 

remember to wear some kind of foot wear other than cheap, 

thin flip flops for the hiking.

Kinda slowed me down a bit.

Happy 50th Deanne and Delbert!!!

We love you!

It snowed the second night we were there!
It is June Folks!  So this seemed surprising to me.

...but totally AWESOME!

 HAD to stop at Bear World on the way home.

HAD TO.

Kev's pool guy hat was worn by him A LOT on this trip,

as well as every other family relation.

It was a pretty popular prop.

 Good bye Christensen clan.....

Helllllll-o Dana's

....incoming Cherry Hills, Waxing, Lash tinting,

Lagoon, Spa time, and my older Brothers extra great photo ops.

 We ate a ton of cabbage at my parents.....their garden held mega 

heads of it.  

I do love cabbage!!

We celebrated Father's Day....

on this of days one of the craziest 

things happened while we were putting the final touches on dinner.

My sister Heather and her hubby were there with my parents and I.

My mom noticed a little grape juice around the base of a large

glass container of homemade grape/lemonade.

She had me lift it so she could slip a towel underneath it.

As I lifted it,

 the entire bottom came off!!!

GALLONS of juice came pouring out.

I tried to slide it over to the sink but,

the amazing onslaught of juice was EVERYWHERE!!

That was so very bizar, and sticky, and messy and shocking!

and STICKY.

 We sewed late at night working on Amy's trademark 

personalized dolls for my friends back home.

Keri colored my hair and nearly every grandkid got a little 

lick of color to.....cuz

Why Not?

Love our families!

Loved our visit!

Loved our road trip.

Thanks for the memories!