The Happiness Project

I came across this excellent blog over a year ago and changed my life. It is written by Gretchen Rubin and it is about her adventures in finding happiness. I would like to introduce you to The Happiness Project!

It is one of the main reasons that I am doing The August Fun Extravaganza. It is the reason that I have dedicated my life to making the childhood of Alex and Mallory the best experience they could ever have. I could just coast through this time. We could sit in the house and watch TV all day. We could not make plans and just be lazy but that is not me. I want them to have wonderful memories of their lives as children.

What really made an impact on me was this movie that Gretchen made.

The Years Are Short Movie.

Watch it with a tissue. I'm serious. Every single time I watch it I have tears running down my face.

August: Fun Extravaganza ~ Day Four

The Letter of the Day is D....but our project for the day was to make some Jello. I decided a few days ago to do the letters in order without regard to what the activity was, even thought I loved when Beach day fell on B day and Corn on C day. Maybe next year I will plan better.



I'm finding that these activities and outings have been a lesson in trial and error. I am discovering that they aren't ready for some things. That is fine....it is always fun to try. Until you tell them they are going to cook something and they get all excited and then it only takes 5 minutes of preparation and then you have to refrigerate your treat and don't get to eat it immediately. Toddlers don't get that whole letting the Jello set thing. These two thought Jello only came in little plastic cups with lids that rip off.

So....again, there was some crying. And then Alex didn't like the homemade Jello. Mallory loved it.


We talked about words that start with D. Daddy, Dog, Duck, Donuts, Denver, Drunk and Dark. And my favorite word....Disappointment.

I got some disappointing news yesterday. It is about Denver. Most of you know that we moved to Utah from Denver and we were very happy there. We have many favorite restaurants but our favorite of all time is Maharaja. It is an Indian restaurant in Louisville and they have the best Indian food I have ever had. We compare all Indian food to this AND we got to know the owner really well. The other day, I asked Calvin....if we could only be in Denver for one day...what would you do and we both agreed that we would go to Maharaja and then we would go to The Yard House!

My Brother-in-law called on Sunday to ask Calvin for the address, even though he has an iPhone and could easily look it up himself. So anyway, he tried to go there and it is out of business! Gone. No more Maharaja. I am so sad.

Goodbye Maharaja! I loved you so.....

August: Fun Extravaganza ~Day Three

Today's post is brought to you by the letter C! The letter C is one of my favorite letters....it is after all the first letter of my name. Gotta love C.

We had a great time this morning at the breakfast table with Alex, talking about the letter C. We talked about Cats, Chocolate, Cookies, Corn, Cups and Coffee ( he called it faffee ). We showed him where his chin is and he said Huff & Puff! I was so amazed he remembered that from the Three Little Pigs book! And then he started telling us things that started with C, like Bubbles and Choo Choo! I know, Bubbles starts with a B but we were so proud of him that we didn't tell him.

Our fun experience of the day was eating Corn on the Cob. One of my favorite things about summer is when the fresh sweet Corn is finally available. There is really nothing like a great Cob of Corn, slathered in butter and a little bit of salt. I just love it! The kids did too.

What a fancy corn holder Mallory has!

Tomorrow is the Letter D....and I will share with you why I am Disappointed.

Join the blog train!  

August: Fun Extravaganza ~ Day Two

Hello! Welcome to day two of August summertime fun!

Today our Letter of the Day is B. So we went to the Beach at Pineview Reservoir just over the mountain from us. The kids have never been to a beach or lake for that matter so I thought it would be fun.

Mallory didn't like the sand, or the water. Alex didn't like the sand or the water and he certainly didn't like when Daddy took him swimming in the cold water. They both finally played in the sand a little bit and ate some grapes and goldfish crackers covered in sand.

The Albino Children

Bucket & cups from Wal-Mart because summer items are gone..........................$13
Day Use State Park Pass so we can go to the Beach...........................................$10
Gymboree Swimwear that hasn't touched water..............................................$45
Family Day at the Beach with kids that hate sand.......................................PRICELESS
There's some things money can't buy but for everything else there's MasterCard!

After we shook all the sand out of our clothes, we decided to go find some lunch. I, of course had previously researched our choices and entered the addresses into my Mac address book. This information was pushed through to my iPhone so that we would be able to find the restaurant of our choice with my built-in GPS.

Right....

The GPS couldn't find our current location and the address that goggle gave for Alpine Pizza in Eden Utah was wrong. So....thank god I had my iPhone so that I could look Alpine Pizza up on the 3G network and find the location of the restaurant. If you go....it is right in front of the Red Moose Lodge. Look to the right when you in front of it and there it is.


Alex loves Pizza. He calls it Choocha. And since we love him so much we give him Choocha every chance we get. Alpine Pizza has won some awards and I had heard that it was good. It was pretty good. They do have a large selection of specialty pizzas. We got the Quattro Formaggi Pizza for the kids. That means FOUR CHEESE for those of you that don't speak italian. It contains fontina, gorgonzola, parmesan and mozzarella. It was very good and Alex ate two slices.

Hubby and I decided to be adventurous and ordered the Cajun Feast Pizza, they claim it is spicy. It is Mormon spicy....so not so much. I did enjoy this pizza because of the blending of flavors from all of the ingredients. It has italian sausage, canadian bacon, baby shrimp, chicken, celery, bell pepper and onions. They season it with Louisiana spices and mozzarella cheese.

I gave Alpine Pizza 3 1/2 stars out of a possible 5. Calvin gave it 2 stars because they don't serve beer. Dude, get used to it!!! Amazingly enough, this place is open on Sundays.

On the way home, we took the North Ogden Canyon Road from Liberty to our home. It is an amazing winding mountain road with incredible views. We also discovered that Wolf Mountain Ski Slope is just on the other side of the mountain from us. And we found a hiking trail at the top of the road that is only about 10 minutes from us.


This is what happened on the way home.



They both completely passed out. Mallory didn't even wake up when I removed her from the car. But....Alex on the other hand, made a power nap out of it and is sitting in his room yelling for me to come get him. 10 more minutes baby....Mommy is blogging!

August: Fun Extravaganza ~ Day One

The summer seems to be slipping away. Here it is August 1st already and I don't feel like we have been having enough fun! My kids are really young but I think I can be doing more to make this a great summer. Everyday this month, I am going to do a new fun activity, outing or experience with them. We are also going to do a Letter Of The Day and to help with that, I purchased the Leap Frog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Set. They loved it when I brought it out this morning, but I think I should have gotten two of them because there was lots of Anger because they both wanted to play with it at the same time. We have also been looking all over the house for things that start with A.

Apple

Ankle
Airplane
Artichoke
Raggedy Ann & Andy
Uncle Andrew
Ants
Arm
Azeroth

Our activity for the day was to make and play with Kool-Aid Playdough. I got this recipe from my friend and kindergarten teacher Gaylyn. It turned out great! We used some cookie cutters to make shapes. We were extra lucky today because Daddy surprised us and came home early so he played too.

What the heck is Daddy making....and what happened to the buttons on his shirt?

Mallory would rather eat the playdough...good thing it is non-toxic!

Alex did a great job!

Oh....it's a dog, or a horse or something!

Kool-Aid Play Dough

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
2 packages of Kool-Aid (flavor of your choice)
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 cups boiling water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

********

Mix dry ingredients

Boil the water and oil in a large pot, then slowly stir in the dry ingredients. It's going to look nasty and you'll probably think you've done something wrong, but just keep stirring on low heat, then all of a sudden it will start looking like play dough.

Store in disposable tupperware and enjoy.

I was visiting one of my favorite blogs, Savvy Housewife and she had a post about a great website called School Zone. There are so many great things for teaching kids there! I bought some learning flash cards for the kids....since we are getting started working on letters, shapes and numbers. I just love finding websites like this that will make teaching the kids easier for me.

Tune in tomorrow....we are going to the Beach!

Attitude Adjustment

It is no secret how I feel about Utah. I even started a blog about trying to Escape. It needs updating because things have changed. I have been thinking for several weeks that I need to find a way to deal with living here since it seems like that isn't going to change anytime soon.

Then today I read this blog entry at Steve Olson's blog about the obstacles between ME and Happiness.

I have found my answer. Instead of dwelling on everything that I hate about Utah, I need to find things to like about it and be grateful for them. This is going to be quite a challenge. Really the only thing I can come up with off from the top of my head is that it is really beautiful here.

I love a good challenge so here I go. Changing my attitude, finding things to like about Utah and learning to like it here.

The List

1. Beautiful Mountains
2. Cafe Sabor in Logan Utah
3. IKEA in Draper Utah
4. Tony Caputo's Market in SLC
5. My beautiful friend Monica in Brigham City!
6. My new Mommy friends, Sara and Shannon!
7. My friend Loralee
8. Pickleville Playhouse in Bear Lake

Photo Critiques

My photos were critiqued by my instructor and I am so proud of myself (and I cried a little) that I had to share what she said about my images with you. This is one of the best things I have done for myself in a long while. Being a SAHM, days seem to blend together. My brain was challenged and I have a wonderful feeling of accomplishment!

Red Image

Exposure: Excellent. By this week, you should be comfortable using Av (and Tv) mode and this is really the week where you get to put together not only the settings but also to use them to achieve your vision for the scene. Your caption comments tell me that you thought through this scene to include and tie in the red on the horse with the red brick in the background. By setting a narrow aperture, you let the detail and color of the background become an integral part of the scene. If you wanted to have only the red color of the bricks play into the scene, you could use f/5.6. You approach works well visually with a very interesting subject.

Focus: Tack sharp.

Lighting: Bright. Interesting to see that the shadows of the railing help form visual eye direction around the scene.

Color: Excellent

Image concept & composition: The subject is interesting and unusual. In Seattle, we have pigs painted in bizarre colors and decorated entirely with pennies. Having the diagonal line of the horse works well with the beginning of the circular walkway. Tying in the red of the building with the red on the horse is good and the building also provides good context for the horse. Nice work on this image.

Happiness Image

Exposure: Excellent. Just looking at the exposure information shows me that you balanced the settings so that you could get the shot with the DOF that was best for this subject and still maintain the great ambient light in the scene. Moving to ISO 200 was called for in this scene since a good portion of it is in low light. I assume that you stabilized the camera somehow to get the sharp focus on “Connie.”

Focus: Very sharp with a good point of sharpest focus.

Lighting: Visually inviting and authentic of coffee shops (I know, I go to them!)

Color: Excellent

Image concept & composition: This is a fine “lifestyle” shot that has great warmth and color for a familiar subject. The personalization on the Venti cup add a fun touch and some whimsy. The deep red and gold/reds of the background work well with the pastry and the brown on the cup sleeve. This is definitely a personal best and a photo of the week.

Photography School

I'm not good at going to school. I didn't mind it when I was a kid, I mostly liked getting new clothes and school supplies....I love school supplies!

Four weeks ago I signed up for an online photography class at www.betterphoto.com so that I could learn to use my Canon Rebel XTi camera and take better pictures. The camera does a great job in Auto Mode but I wanted to be able to really use all of the functions. I highly recommend taking a class. I have learned so much!

Week One ~ Color & Exposure Practice

f/5

f/10

Week Two ~ Basis Zone Modes

Portrait


Freezing Action Shot....This was Photo of the WEEK!!

Week Three ~ Creative Options

I was really proud of both of these....

The light here was perfect!

Week Four ~ Personal Best

Take everything I have learned and shoot two great pictures. However, we had a theme. One had to be RED and one had to be HAPPY.

RED....This is Calvin's favorite photo. There is some red in the horse....



HAPPY...

Mommie's Movie Morning List

I have decided to keep track of the Movies that I watch during my special Sunday Morning time.....

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Definately, Maybe...Love this one!
Roman Holiday....very good!
Atonement....Great Movie!

Easy Like A Sunday Morning

I enjoy going to the movies and knowing what movies are coming out and seeing old movies that I've never seen before and finding new movies that I love.

I absolutely love to curl up on the couch with a blanket and some wine and watch a great movie. Unfortunately....this doesn't happen as much as it used to. I'm lucky if I see one movie a week because of caring for my lovely children, housework, watching soap opera's, eating bon bons and playing World of Warcraft with my husband.

But this morning...I think I discovered the perfect time to carve away some time for ME. This morning my brain woke me up at 6:15am like it always does. And I laid there thinking....what am I going to do now?

I decided that instead of pulling weeds in the flower bed or doing a load of laundry, I would watch the movie that I downloaded from Apple TV on Saturday night.

I made my coffee, got my bowl of cereal and turned my movie on. It was great! I was able to watch Definitely, Maybe without any interruptions and I drank a half a pot of coffee. I can't believe that I haven't thought of this before!

I think this will be my weekly routine. Mommies have to take their time whenever they can!

By the way....Definitely, Maybe....is a great movie. I loved it! I had high hopes for it since it is made by the same folks that created Notting Hill and Love Actually....and they didn't disappoint me. And now I want to read the book Jane Eyre. I liked it for another reason that you may find completely odd. Much of the movie takes place during the 1992 Presidential race. This would be the year of President Bill Clinton, and his campaign is featured in the movie. I love Bill Clinton. I don't know what it is about him....but I find him to be kind of sexy. There I said it. I don't know why, but I....find him attractive. My husband even proposed to me in front of him at a wax museum because he knew I liked him. I think he was trying to make Bill jealous. But you see the problem is.....I'm a card carrying, red state living, pearl necklace wearing Republican! {hangs head & clutches pearls in shame}

So this brings me to TWO questions.

What do you do to take time for yourself.....and who do you have a crush on that you shouldn't?

I have decided to keep track of the Movies that I watch during my special Sunday Morning time.....

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** 

Definately, Maybe...Love this one!
Roman Holiday....very good!
Atonement....Great Movie!

Homeless, Headless & Hot

We went on a trip to Salt Lack City this morning. We like to venture south to the city once in a while to roll around in civilization like a dog rolls through dog shit. We are still not accustomed to the lack of shopping and whatnot in the Northern Utah area so it is a fabulous treat for us to go discover some new things.

We had a mission today, like we do much of the time that we head this direction. I found a recipe in Food and Wine Magazine that required Lamb Sausage. You wouldn't think it would be that difficult to find. First I tried Snider's Family Meats in Ogden. No dice. But I did pick up a nice mexican pork sausage that I 'm eager to try with some eggs.

I had hoped to find Lamb sausage at Tony Caputo's Market and Deli in Downtown SLC. I'm sorry to say that they did not have it. But we did find a wonderfully stocked specialty food market. I was amazed at the selection of great food products. From locally made pasta, white truffle oil, large selection of olive oil to the most amazing cheese and artisan meat counter I have ever seen! The folks working behind the counter are friendly, informative and so helpful. We sampled and purchased the following:

Fresh Pecorino Toscano Cheese a table cheese from Tuscany
La Peral Cheese a light blue cheese from Northern Spain
Sopresata Italian Salami infused with garlic and spices
Felino Italian Salami a traditional salami from Parma

They also have a deli with some great looking sandwiches. AND the biggest selection of international chocolates in Utah. We wanted to buy some but there was a group of ladies hogging the only employee working the chocolate case. Next time....

In the park right across the street, the weekly Farmer's Market was going on. It is huge!! It takes up most of the entire park and there must have been 500 people there. We decided to walk through one little section on our way to our vehicle and there was so much to see. And amazingly, we found a booth selling Lamb products and I got their last package of Linguisa Lamb Sausage!! I almost kissed the guy!

Since we didn't have to continue our search for the much coveted Lamb....we decided to walk a couple of blocks down to our favorite mall. The Gateway Mall! We love this mall because it has the best stores (Banana Republic, Gymboree, The Apple Store, Starbucks & Sur La Table) and it has GREAT restaurants.

We don't know our way around SLC. We have been to a couple places downtown (okay THREE places) but we don't know the lay of the land. We ended up walking past the rescue mission. Two blocks of people sitting or sleeping on the sideway in the 90 degree heat. There was a woman with a little baby and a family with two small kids. I didn't see any food or sippy cups. I felt so horrible walking past in my pretty outfit with my expensive camera and my new iPhone in my diaper bag. It was heartbreaking. I guess if anything it made me completely aware of how incredibly lucky I am.

We tried to do some shopping at Baby Gap but the headless child-sized mannequins where scaring the heck out of Mallory. How am I going to turn her into my little shopping buddy if she can't handle a couple decapitated models! We ended up at The Apple store where there were about 15 people standing in line in the blazing heat waiting for iPhones. Alex and Mallory had a ball at the kids table.




We were famished and in need of relief from the heat, so we went to our favorite restaurant, Thaifoon. We tried some new dishes this time. I highly recommend the Siamese Spring Rolls. They are fabulous little handfuls of crabmeat & pork with fresh chopped cilantro, mint and sweet chili sauce on the side. I could eat these as a meal! By the way...I think you are supposed to take a piece of lettuce and put the roll inside like a lettuce roll up.



For our main dishes, I had the Mango Chicken...it was nice and spicy with a little sweetness from the mango. Calvin had the Evil Jungle Princess Beef. The name made me laugh and the dish made me cry! It was so great....it is a red curry based dish with Filet Mignon, vegetables and peanuts. It also features coconut milk, which I love and plenty of fresh basil. The kids shared a chicken finger bento box. I snuck a couple bites and it was really tasty.




Just outside of Thaifoon is the dancing waters of the Olympic Snowflake Fountain. There were a ton of kids having a great time in the sun and of course Alex wanted to go check it out. I kept reminding him that he doesn't like water that shoots out of the ground but he wouldn't listen to me. He immediately began to cry after the water shot him in the face.

On the way home, I mentioned to Calvin that it is so upsetting to me that Ogden can't have a cool store like Tony's. They just can't support such a place because all people eat around here is burgers, pizza and giant buffet food. He agreed that there aren't any food snobs in Ogden and he told me that I am pretentious because I like to cook with pearl couscous and lamb sausage. Pretentious? Me? As If!

The drive home was also illuminating for another reason. I discovered the reason why my husband comes home so.....happy. Here are two billboards that he passes every day on his way home from a hard day at work as an engineer.

Christmas in July!

I am a planner.

As much as I love surprises....I have to plan things. I can not just go by the seat of my pants and do things spur of the moment. Especially since having kids. I must prepare for everything that I possibly can. Calvin, on the other hand, likes to just take things day by day. He doesn't even like to plan for vacations. I don't know how he is a Virgo. {shakes head in disgust}

Every year around June 25....I start planning for Christmas. I like to draw our Secret Santa names with Calvin's family and start making gift lists and buying and making gifts. I have a master notebook with my lists and budgets and ideas in it. I also have a larger binder with tons of ideas for decorating and crafts. The method to my madness ( I have been called CRAZY) is that if I can have things figured out, purchased, made and organized before the big day....then I can better enjoy the holidays with my family. The plan is to reduce the stress by planning ahead.

I try to devote most of the day on the 25th of each month to working on Christmas related things. I listen to Christmas Music and if I have time....I watch a Christmas movie at the end of the day.

Every month on the 25th I am going to blog about my list and what I hope to accomplish. Hopefully this will also keep me on top of things and I hope I can be an inspiration for other's to plan their holidays.

Christmas in July List of Things to Do:

1. Organize Planning Notebook.

2. Create Gift Lists and Budget spreadsheets.

3. Add craft ideas to Master Christmas Binder and decide if Crafts deserve their own binder.

4. Find a support group for binder addiction.

5. Start thinking about gifts for family members.....add these to Gift Idea List.

6. Research Magic Elf that will be visiting the kids this year.

7. Watch Surviving Christmas starring Ben Affleck

Things I Love!

I like Oprah. She has some good ideas and is great at inspiring a nation. I used to love her but she is getting on my last nerve lately. I may still be bitter that I was this close (hold your thumb & index finder really close together) to being a guest on her show. A show that they never made. Anyway, where was I going with this. OH YES.

Connie's Favorite Things!

1. Sunsilk Captivating Curls de-frizz leave in creme.
Since having kids....my hair is now wavy/curly and living in Utah, it is dry as a bone. I just picked this up the other day and it is the best de-frizz creme I have found. And I have tried them all. The best part is I paid $2.33 for it at Wal-Mart.

2. Cafe Sabor in Logan Utah
We made our first trip to Logan last week as part of our week long celebration of our 4 year anniversary. We met some friends at Cafe Sabor for dinner and we absolutely loved it. The chips and salsa were so fresh and spicy. I had the Cod Fish Tacos and they were amazing. Calvin had some shrimp stuffed pepper thing and he loved it. The staff even brought out a ball of fried Ice Cream for us to celebrate with. They have one of the best liquor menus I have seen in Utah....I tried the Mexican Martini, it tastes just like a screwdriver but will a little bit of pomegranate juice.

3. Weight Watchers English Toffee Crunch Ice Cream Bar Only 2 Weight Watchers points....
I have been on Weight Watchers for a week now and I have to have a treat at night. I grew up having tea and dessert every night and that is a hard habit to break. These don't taste like diet ice cream at all. I could eat the whole box...but I won't!

4. Swingtown and Army Wives
Summer TV season is hard for me. There is usually at least one new show that I end up liking and then it disappears...never to return. I'm getting smarter and I decided that I would watch the controversial Swingtown, just enjoy it and not expect to see it again. Ever. It is really entertaining and who doesn't love a kinky love story? Plus, the straight laced Janet just cracks me up!

Then there is my other favorite show. Army wives was on last summer and I was so thrilled that they brought it back. It is on Lifetime (you know the channel for women and drama) on Sunday nights. Such a wonderful cast and I end up crying every week.

5. Orange Mango Banana Vivanno Nourishing Blend from Starbucks! Only 4 Weight Watchers points.....

These are yummy, healthy and so refreshing on a hot summer day. It has 6 grams of fiber and everyone could use a little fiber in their diet. You know what I'm talking about.

6. Anthony Field
Anthony (the one in the blue shirt) from The Wiggles! I have loved him since the first time he shook his fingers at me. I love his accent and his smile. And he is such a great dancer. I don't let the kids watch The Wiggles very much because I get this funny feeling in my tummy when I see him and I don't think that is appropriate in front of the children. My husband knows about my feelings for Anthony and he is okay with it. I'm thinking of writing a letter to Oprah about my crush and see if she can help me meet him. I've written to her before and I was almost on the show! I'll post about that another time.....

Off to write my letter to Oprah.

Lil Cowboy

I struggle.

Almost daily, I struggle with my desire for another baby to hold and love. These days all it takes to bring me to tears is to see a baby on TV, a picture in a magazine or the news that another hollywood starlet has given birth to twins or is pregnant.

On a daily basis, I have to talk myself out of getting Calvin drunk and throwing caution to the wind. Then be all....opps honey....I guess we should have been more careful. While secretly doing the pregnant happy dance.

I am usually successful at explaining to my ovaries that I can't have a baby. That we would have to get a different vehicle that would hold THREE ginormous carseats and that someone would have to share a room with the new bundle of love and joy. And then there is Calvin's age. He is going to be in his mid-40's this year and he acts like he is 85. He doesn't think he can handle another child. I work through my feelings and then I got eat a Pop Tart. Good thing these things come in packs of 16!

Well, I've been doing well lately. Even though I have two new friends with newborns and there have been a couple new babies born to my message board Mommy friends. I've been doing fine until today when I saw this.....








AND it is from my favorite kids store. The one that I get most of my kids clothes from.

GYMBOREE!!!

Weapons of Mass Destruction

Hi! It's me Mallory....guest blogging for my Mommy who is sitting in the corner rocking back and forth and chanting 'only five more hours, only five more hours'.

I thought I would share some pics of what Alex and I did today. Mommy wasn't very happy but we had fun.

Mommy was in the bathroom. She said she was taking care of business but I know darn well that woman doesn't work. Anyway, she heard Alex in the kitchen asking for cookies and she yelled out that she would get us one when she was done. We were thrilled because we LOVE cookies.

She came around the corner and let out a horrible noise. It reminded me of some crazy animal on the Discovery Channel. She said, 'what have you done!' and then she grabbed her camera for some crazy reason. That woman takes pictures at the oddness times.

I was trying to tell her with my eyes (because I don't talk yet, YO) that I made a pretty design on the floor with cornstarch when she kicked us both out of the kitchen.

Then she was sweeping and muttering to herself....something about having more kids, privacy and being constipated for the rest of her life.

Mommy said we have new nicknames...Bonnie & Clyde. I love nicknames.

Well, I have to go now...I'm going down for an early nap!

Hugs & Kisses!

Mallory

Goggies and Buppies

I want to begin today by saying that I am an idiot. I have this beautiful new fancy camera and I often forget to bring it out at times when I really need it. I also have a video camera that should be getting use and I forget about it too.

I am in serious Mommy Brain HELL!

My cousin Tara and her family stopped by on their way to Yellowstone Park on Sunday and she had her two dogs with her. Duke and Dutchess. They are little dogs...not sure what kind, but they were so much fun to watch with the kids.

Alex took to the Goggies right away...following them all over the yard and dumping their water dish over. Then he started to imitate them....

He was trying to drink out of a puddle and then he was rolling around on his back. It was so funny! The dogs were chasing each other around the yard and Alex and Mallory where running right behind them.

I was amazed at how gentle they were with the since they haven't been around dogs before. The only dog they know is the Learning Puppy!

I'm wishing now that we could have a dog in this house.

Why Starbucks?

After yesterday's breakdown over my local Starbucks closing, I decided to go there this morning and spend a little quality time with my obsession.

It isn't like I get Starbucks every day, or even every week. Some times I will go weeks without Starbucks because I'm not in the right part of town. My general rule is that if I pass one, I stop and get something because they are so few and far between here in the land that time forgot.

I decided on this trip that I was really going to pay attention and try to remember every moment of my visit. I told the cashier (who ended up being the manager) that I was sad about the closing. She was very empathetic and told me that the employees from her store are going to be reabsorbed into the store in South Ogden and anyone that isn't will be getting a nice severance package. She also said that she doesn't know when they are closing and she will have at least 30 days notice so I can keep visiting until then. It is good to know that I don't have to quit cold turkey and can slowly deal with my loss.

I sat in one of the nice arm chairs that they have there and enjoyed my coffee. I took in the atmosphere and let my soul soak up the happiness that I feel when I am in Starbucks. I decided that I wanted to figure out why Starbucks means so much to me. It can't be the overpriced coffee! And then it hit me.

Starbucks is my Tiffany's!

I just happened to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's for the 1st time yesterday and it was as if all of the puzzle pieces where coming together.

I thought about the quote from the movie that I rewound a couple of times because it seemed to profound.

Well, when I get it the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there.

You see, I had my first cup of Starbucks Creamy Goodness back in August 2000. I had just packed up everything that would fit in my little black Ford Escort and left my horrible marriage. I moved to Denver and I never looked back. Well, maybe for a minute but I left my crappy life and started a brand new one.

I got a job and my Sister let me sleep on her couch. Then, in the next couple months I had a couple of runs of bad luck. I needed a root canal and didn't have insurance yet. The engine in my car blew up and my soon to be ex-husband dropped off the face of the earth. I later found him living in his truck but I had to find a way to divorce him without his input.

I was flat broke but I was happy. I was beginning a new life in a new town and I had Starbucks. I couldn't afford it all the time, usually once a week or so but sitting inside a Starbucks with it's warm woods, comfortable chairs and soothing music was a reprieve from my difficult life.

Starbucks became a calm in the storm for me. Somewhere I could go and feel carefree. I would get so excited for that first taste of White Chocolate Latte with Whipped Cream! Happiness in a cup. And you know, holding a Starbucks cup in your hand is a status symbol. Just ask half of Hollywood and Britney Spears! I felt better about myself and my life when I had a Starbucks.

Sitting in Starbucks this morning with my memories brought me to tears. I cried for the poor girl that had to be brave and face every fear she had and start a new life. I cried because I am so proud of her and what she has made of her life. She has a great husband and two beautiful children. If you had told her 8 years ago what her life would be like today....that all of her wildest dreams would come true. She would have laughed at you and then voted for Pedro.

And then I realized....I don't need Starbucks anymore. I have everything I need and more.

Mallory's First Starbucks

Need MORE Starbucks!

I was all ready to turn over a new leaf here. Since it looks like we are going to be stuck staying in Utah for a while I was going to try to be more positive and find things to like about Utah.

I really was. I am not kidding. Stop rolling your eyes. I was. Really.

One of my major issues with Utah is the lack of Starbucks. When we moved here there was ONE and it wasn't even in Ogden, it is in Riverdale. And it was 10.6 miles away from me.

Well then, they put one in South Ogden and I got a little excited. THEN, they built one in Ogden. It is only 8.8 miles away. That is close in Utah terms.

Then today, I see the list. The list of stores that are being closed. I thought to myself that they couldn't possibly close any stores in Utah because there aren't that many to begin with.

I was wrong.

They are closing the Ogden Starbucks. The one that is right by the college. I can't believe they are doing this to me.

....stomping feet and pumping my fists in the air......

Now I know how my 2 year old feels when I take a prized possession away from him.

I guess my chances of getting a Starbucks in North Ogden are slim to none now.

Edited to add this funny clip!