Finding Krissi

Sure enough it is happening, did I not warn you? Did I not tell you?  That the second the kids went back to school the weather would surely change from warm to cold.  I thought maybe I was wrong.  When the first week of school brought a whole week of 90+ weather.  Saturday night I was in the garden enjoying my flowers and the beautiful but slightly warm evening. I took this picture of my "Welcome Home" rose.  I think this one is becoming my favorite flower to photograph. I really do love these little day lillies though.  This is a straight out of my camera no Photo Shop pic.  I really like it.  Maybe Brent will agree to this one on the wall. I wasn't sure how this one would turn out but I think it turned out ok .  I'm finding the varigated plants are a little harder to photograph.  I'm also finding that pink is hard color to photograph but overall I like the picture.  This is called a "George Burns" rose.  This one was planted because it fit the color ...

Sometimes I feel sorry for the readers of this blog.  Because I subject you to my growing obsessions.  Not only to my garden obsession, my Photoshop obsession, my kids in sports obsession, but most of all to my photography obsession.  Brent thinks that I make have to find a support group.  I think that until the hard drive is full leave me alone.  However, one day and one day soon he may be right.  Don't you dare tell him I said that.  Today we have no soccer games.  I know BUMMER! What does a mom do when she doesn't have 3 soccer games to attend?  Well this mom went to Tai Pan and if you have ever been to Tai Pan you know that going in there is like signing a few hours of your life away.  It is the Home Depot of home decor, It is the Costco of home decor, It is.... well you get my point.  If you are looking for home decor stuff it is the place to go.  Every season , every taste they have it there. You know what else they had there today? CHRISTMAS TREES!!! Can you believe it t...

On Tuesday my friend Wendy , who is now a certified personal trainer, walked me through the weight room at the gym and taught me how to use all the weight machines. I thought that I pretty much knew how to use them all and that I could impress her with my knowledge but it turns out I didn't know much and what I did know I had been doing wrong. Hmm, go figure maybe that explains why my body and Carmen Electra's body don't seem to be matching up these days. So after an hour of do this and this and this and don't forget this and then do this I left the gym a tiny bit more knowledgeable.  Watch out Carmen here I come.  Except for Tuesday night at pack meeting I noticed I was feeling a little sore. Little sore, started to grow to more sore, sitting down watching the boys get their awards my stomach started to throb in agony.  Hey, what is this what did she do to me.  By the time the awards were finished my trip across the gym floor out the building was accentuated with a lot...

I love my computer, even more I love what my computer can do combined with my camera and Photoshop.  With the kids in school I have been taking the time to learn how to edit photos and I have been having lots of  fun with Photoshop.   There are many things you can do with Photoshop, for example you can edit your scrapbook pages so that you can publish them.  This is a page I just finished for a contest.  Isn't Alex's toothless grin adorable?  You can also create photos to display on your wall. I asked Brent if we could get this picture in large format for our room.  He said "NO!" So then I said, "Well how about this one then." Admittedly not the best picture of Brent I was trying to prove a point. By the by don't tell him I posted this picture.:) Well he just gave me this look.  Follow the arrow people.  That look right there.  Fine I said then what, "He said the first picture is fine I just don't like the pink." Oh, so then I played a litt...

I have never been a fan of Marigolds.  I think the number one reason I have never liked them is because, well, they smell really bad.  When you think of a flower you think of something pretty and inviting that says "Hey, smell me I'm so pretty." I have never even thought Marigolds were that pretty.   However, Marigolds do have their purpose they serve as a natural bug repellent.  Planted in your garden they help to keep the pest away so you don't have to use bug spray.  Yay Marigolds! As we all know pesticides on our food cause all kinds of harm so the more organic you can grow your vegetables the better off you are. That being said when we planted our garden this year we decided that we wanted lots and lots of Marigolds.  The more Marigolds the less bugs the more produce.  So about six weeks before we could plant them outside we started them inside from seeds.  This was our first time starting anything from seed so we weren't very sure what we were doing and even...

When Andrew came home from his first day of school he walked past me sitting at the table and threw his school folder down.  Before I could even say Hi he was down stairs on the X-box.  A little later I called him up to see how his day went. Me: Andrew Me Again: ANDREW Me Again and Again: A N D R E W ! ! Andrew: Yah Me: Come here I want to talk to you Andrew: (eye roll, slowly moves up the stairs) Me: How was school? Andrew: What? Me: (slower) How..was..school...? Andrew: s'ok Me: How do you like your new teacher? Andrew: What? Me: (slower) How.. do.. you.. like.. your.. new.. teacher? Andrew: s'ok Me: Do you have a lot of friends in your class? Andrew: What? Me: (very slow) Do... you... have... a... lot... of... friends... in... your... class? Andrew: (shrugs) D'nt know Me: (sighing) Andrew I just love our chats Andrew: (come on people you already know what is coming) What? Me: Nothing Andrew: Hey, mom can I go to Justin's house? Me: (smiling) What?

I had this great idea that for my "Thank goodness the kids went back to school"  post.  I was going to show you all the things I can get done now that the kids are at school.   First on my list was laundry.  So I headed downstairs to take a picture of my laundry room and the current state of my laundry.  Oh my goodness, ok I thought to myself NOBODY  needs to see this.   So off I headed to the second thing on my list, mopping the floor without having to yell, "I just mopped that."  So in to the kitchen I headed and thought. Ha, ha, ha, nope defiantly not taking a picture of this it is disgusting.   So then I headed to the sink dishes are something I can catch up on now that the kids are eating at least one meal away from home.  Nope, not taking a picture of that either, where did all those dishes come from and what is that floating around in the sink?  After three tries I decided that I was giving up on, "My Great Idea."  However, I obviously have a lot ...

Today marked the first official day of the Soccer season. A day full of mixed feelings, on one hand there is the dread.  Dread of trying to figure out how to get multiple kids, to multiple fields, but funny enough at the same time. Can anyone tell me exactly how that works?  Of course on the other hand there is the kids.  Who love to play soccer, I guess they think there is something fun about chasing a ball all over a field. Again I will ask, can anyone tell me exactly how that works?  The day started off with a 9am Henry game.  It was a beautiful 74 degree day with just the right amount of clouds to remind you of the second reason you love soccer. Being outside on beautiful Utah days. As previously stated the number 1 reason is because the kids love it.  I ask does this kid look like he is being tortured?   The number 3 reason is because of the uniform, where else can you take  your kids wearing these clothes and people not look at you funny? I'm not really a parent who keeps sco...

There are some skills in life you should never learn.  That's right you heard me there are some skills in life you should never, never, never learn.  For example if you have made it to this point in your life without learning how to efficiently use a cotton candy machine.  Don't!!!!! Learning to use a cotton candy machine could lead to this. Yes, this is me covered in cotton candy.  The blue stuff hanging from my eyelashes, and hair is not a fashion statement, it is COTTON CANDY!!! Why? You ask do I have cotton candy all over me, well I will tell you, for some reason each year at our elementary schools back to school carnival, I get to run the cotton candy machine. I use the term "get to" with a teeth grinding smile.  This year I even threatened that if I ran that machine it would be the only PTA related thing I did all year.  Notice the cotton candy hair, my threat did not work.  I wont go into the gory details of how many cotton candy sticks I made.  Or how I made e...

Today was the last day of swim lessons.  It is always a little sad and a whole lot of happy the last day of swim lessons.   This session I had a cute little 3 year old blonde with the biggest blue eyes I have ever seen who never not ever not once would blow me a bubble.  Each time I asked she would just look at me with those great big beautiful blue eyes, smile, and shake her head no.  What is a teacher suppose to do.  Yes, I was totally one of those moms who said dunk her, get it over with, just do it.  But I can't, she is just to darn cute.  So saddly I can't pass her and I get to tell the mom who looks at me and says well just dunk her.  I get to then say, "Your the mom, you dunk her." My favorite story came from my 3A class .  They all were such good swimmers and the second to last day of classes I told them that they had done so good that they were going to get to jump off the diving board.  For most kids this is the highlight of swim lessons, when they have fina...

I hate to admit it, I almost hate thinking it, but the truth is fall is on its way. Personally, I am a big fan of fall I love when the leaves turn colors. One of the best things about living in Utah is the scenery is constantly changing. From the naked branches of winter, soon become the small buds of spring, which reach a green glory in summer that lead to the red and oranges of fall. The scenery is in constant flux. Which is kind of fun. I just wish we could do all that without freezing our . . . well . . . you know what's off. Back to the fact that fall is coming. The sure signs are all there first all the kiddies are headed back to school. Back to school night is tomorrow night and a small part of me wants to stay home and pout that summer is over. Of course that would mean the kids would stay home with me. So, WOO HOO Back to School Night here we come!!  My favorite sign of fall is all of the Halloween decorations popping up in all the stores. I love Halloween, in ...

You will never guess and I can hardly believe it myself but it is true.  Just to prove it you can head over to this link ( idahogardener.com ) and you will see.  Right there it says I won not only did I win but I won gold. Ha Ha Ha Ha I can hardly believe who would have thought one little lost seed left to grow would bring us a gold medal.  Well all I can say is let the obsession grow (get it grow, oh come on people you are going to have to adjust to garden puns).  I may even have to change the name of this blog from Swimmom to Vegiemom.  LOL!  All right, this is why I should never win anything because it gives me a big head makes me think I am the bestest in the whole world.  When clearly there were two other gold medal winners so I am not the bestest in the whole world.  Nope, I have to share that with two others.  Ok, Ok I will stop.  Well right after I do this. This is 45 of our tomatoes picked today!  There are 5 different varieties of tomatoes.  Brent made us have a sample taste ...

On Saturday Brent and I attended a performance that benefited LDS humanitarian services. Primarily the event was to support three specific humanitarian services. The first was immunizations for children world wide. It was very interesting to find out that in 1990 over 1.3 million children died of measles and in 2007 that number was reduced to 250,000. Due in large part to groups that raise money for immunization programs . The second was clean water. In many countries young children do not attend school because they have to walk 3-10 miles daily to get clean water for their families. Through clean water programs clean water wells are built in villages so that children do not have to make these journeys. The third purpose was to raise money for wheelchairs . The number of children world wide that need wheelchairs but do not have them or access to them is huge. It was a fun performance and in truth the number one reason we were there was for Alex who performed. She part...

Ok people yours truly is taking this garden obsession one step further.  I know you're thinking how can she possibly be even more obsessed than currently demonstrated?  But I can be, I have found a whole blogging world of gardeners far more obsessed then me.  It is true they are out there post after post of gardening information, pictures and general obsession of the varying stages of their gardens.  It is downright scary in a, I totally admire them and they are my hero's kind of way. Back to the point of my obsession growing one step further, I am entering a contest hosted by www.idahogardener.com She asked that we post some of our favorite garden pics and so below are three of my favorite garden pics from the garden.   This is a pic taken just last night of our tomatoes. Right now I would say we have no less than 100 tomatoes just aching to turn red.  Anybody want a BLT? We have six pepper plants that are currently at this stage of pepper growth.  I think we might have to cha...

I am such a great mom.  Do you know how I know I am a great mom.  Because I love my kids enough to take their school pictures myself.  Yup, no more of those pictures that I have to buy the whole entire package just to get one picture of my kid making a face that makes me think they must taser the kids shortly before they snap their pictures. Nope, no more I put my foot down, I'm sticking it to the man.  Instead I dragged my kids out of bed this morning at 7 am made them shower and dress and hall their buts outside so I could take their pictures myself.  Of course I'm paying for it now because they are all grumpy and tired and disagree strongly that I am a great mom.  They like school pictures, they must like the taser.  So here is a sample of the kids school pictures.   I think this one is my favorite. This picture not the kid because mom's don't have favorites. Right? Of course this one is dang cute too and makes me think that someday soon girls will be knocking on our...