How Pink Moss Thinks

There are always funny things said at my house.  Sure, I'm funny but my kids bust me up.  I thought it would be fun to list some of the latest:

1. Sprite: "Mom, I plan on buying a jacked up UHAUL truck because they are beautiful, have good shocks, and I could keep my bloodhound in the back.

2. Bug: "Mommy, I want to put ALL of Strawberry Shortcake's music on my IPOD!" The kid is 3

3. Sprite: "Mom, I am going to serve a mission wherever pistachios are grown so I can eat them as I preach the gospel."

Monkey has been regularly setting up a spa for friends to come get their nails and makeup done.  There isn't a girl in the neighborhood that hasn't benefited from her free services! I think it's the moms that have to pay for it by scrubbing little their kids little faces before bed so they don't go to school looking like it's already Halloween.

Mackaroochie has come home from school with many funny stories of boys at her school.  One day she was really hungry and her stomach wouldn't be quiet.  There was a foreign exchange student sitting by her and couldn't help but over hear.  He said, "Your tummy go dum de dum de dum!" As he tapped his hands on his lap to make a drum.  She was so embarrassed!

Never a dull day. 

Copy Cat

I just posted a great letter on my "Project: In My Daughter's Eyes" site.  It is hilarious and I enjoyed reading it!  I am just getting back into the blogging groove after being gone a lot of the summer.  I want to rev up my pimde.com site again and get more submissions.  If you are interested AT ALL, I would encourage you to do it.  It has proven to be enjoyable to all that have participated, so good in fact that

DOVE

the soap company contacted me and let me know that they are using my idea without any credit (in so many words) and I would be welcome to participate in their campaign *meaning submit a letter*!  They already were focusing on girls and their self esteem but saw my ideas as fitting in nicely with their marketing...oh well, I guess it will now reach thousands and not hundreds.  We are all going for the same goal, and I did know that I had a great idea to affect many for good.  Just remember that their cute little idea was MINE! I actually asked them if they were offering to sponsor my site, but that wasn't their intent.  

Can you say "Copy Cat?"

Dove can.

It would have been nice to at least have a letter saying that they loved the idea and would like permission to use it...that's it.  I'm not asking for millions or even a pat on the back.

Having said all this, I still think they are great and hope it works for them and they change many girls lives for the better.  Do you feel bad for me yet?  Go ahead and send me a letter to your 12 year old self so I can post it on my site and keep it going!  I would love to compile a book someday with the submissions.

What Do You See?

I usually don't write on my blog on Sundays because I want to focus on my family and observing the Sabbath, but this morning it is quiet as all sleep having stayed up way too late.  We went to Lagoon yesterday, enjoying our season passes before they expire.  So this morning I decided to catch up on reading a few friends blogs and came across this great post by a great friend.  I'll have to tell him later that I stole it, don't worry I will link back to his site, blog etiquette you know!

WHAT DO YOU SEE?

What do you see? Old or Young Woman?

Young woman or Sax. Player?

This one is cool. Two old people or two young ones? Look closely.

Life is in large measure what we make of it. Many times we choose what we "see" and how we "feel".

Martin Luther King Jr. Illustrated this point very well.  The last weekend of March 1968 was a depressing time for him. Many of his plans were in disarray, the last march he held turned into a riot and the Black Power movement thought his idea of nonviolence was out of date. After returning to Atlanta after the march turned riot fiasco. He was depressed. He contemplated leaving the civil rights movement and perhaps becoming president of Morehouse college. Then, said, Jesse Jackson, "He preached himself out of the gloom". "We must turn a minus into a plus," King said "A stumbling Block into a stepping stone." [Italics added]. He went on the next day to preach one of the most powerful sermons of his career in The National Cathedral. Four days later he was killed. But his movement continued, it still continues because instead of giving up, he continued. Where some would have seen failure, he saw a chance to further his cause.

Throughout life challenges will come. What will you see; a stumbling block that will cause you to fall and perhaps fail, or a stepping stone that will help you reach higher, become more, and touch more people than would have been previously unattainable?

The choice is yours, the choice is mine.

Quotations used from "American Gospel", Jon Meacham, Random House 2006

Post by Gage at "Finding Faith"

He also has a family blog called "Adventures in Utah" He has SEVEN kids and a beautiful wife.

Jim Gaffigan

I saw this clip posted by my brother on face book and loved it!  There aren't many comedian's that are funny and actually clean!  The camping part sounds just like my husband and I, and absolutely cracked me up!  Enjoy!

For Sale

My sister asked me to post this for her.  She is selling her house and lives in Woods Cross, Utah.  It is beautiful and very clean.  If you are in the market, check it out!
We are selling our house!

WE MUST BE CRAZY RIGHT!?!  With a baby on the way, the housing market as it is and all of the stress that comes with it.  But, we feel like it is the right time for us to try and maybe move into a house that we could grow into a little more.


We are starting out by seeing if we can sell our house by owner.  I know that is hard to do, but given the equity situation it would really help us out if we could. :)  I am sure you know what I mean.  Anyway, I would really appreciate if you, my friends and family, wouldn't mind taking a look at the website I made for our house and passing the word along if you know anyone who would like to buy a home in the Woods Cross area.  WE LOVE our neighborhood, and it is sad to even think about leaving it, but the timing just feels right.  


So here is the website:


Iwantthishouse.blogspot.com

Thank you in advance!  Hopefully we will be able to sell, move in to a new house, and be completely ready and organized for when the baby comes....Ha ha!  A girl can only dream!

Six Pounds

I have been exercising at EXL Fitness for the past few months.  It is a "bootcamp" where you basically go to die.  I have enjoy every minute...well almost every minute.  There have been a few occasions where I felt like I was going to loose my lunch.  Maybe the reason I was safe is because I hadn't eaten lunch yet!  Not much is on my stomach at 5:30 a.m.

Mat "The Trainer" measured and weighed me when I started and gave me a nutrition plan to follow.  It was during the summer and I was vacationing and being pretty lax on my food choices.  I actually started eating more just out of spite of someone trying to tell me what I could and couldn't eat.  I don't like to feel controlled and I don't know many people that do.  Of course, Mat wasn't controlling me but trying to follow up on MY nutritional and exercise goals.  I can see how the people on "The Biggest Looser" end up getting mad at Jillian.  It is so hard to have someone make you accountable for hard things.  

After a while I started noticing my clothes getting tighter....WHAT TIGHTER?!  I didn't like that much and started eating more because I was depressed.  How could I be working so hard and be gaining weight?  It didn't make sense.  

Well, yesterday Mat started a "Skinny Jeans" contest for the people that work out at his gym.  It is a contest where you put on THE JEANS.  The jeans that everyone has that are their benchmark.  The ones that show if you have had too much Ben and Jerry's or not.  I have a pair that I've had for about 10 years!  There is absolutely not stretch in them so I can't cheat.  They are the olden day ones that are just jean NO stretchy that hides pounds.  He took my measurements again and weighed me.  Sure enough, I have gained weight but when he worked out his calculations from the machines, I have gained

SIX POUNDS OF MUSCLE!  

This is what 6 pounds of burger looks like....Yuck!

WHAT? 

 I asked him if this was going to keep going up and he said that it was at the point it would even off and then the fat would start going down.  Let's just hope he knows what he is talking about.  I am sure that he does, but that is a hard one for a girl to swallow.  We are naturally affected by the number on the scale.  Mat said very sweetly, "Shmo, it's just a number."  It made me feel a little better but still frustrating.  

So, I entered the contest.  My business "Diamonds by Donna" is throwing in a diamond pendant necklace to the winner and don't think that I am not competing for my own diamond!! I'm not giving up.  I want to be fit and eat healthy.  I always feel better when I do!

Oktober Fest

We celebrated my birthday over several days last week, and I dare say that I am spoiled.  I will own that word.  I guess my goal is to not be a spoiled brat. 

 There is a difference...right? 

 Jon spoils me.  He always has. 

 I used to blurt out anything I saw that was great and announce..."oooo I would LOVE that!"  But after several years of being married, I realized that Jon was adding each of my frivolous whim "wants" to a "to get" list.

  This added stress for him of course!  I didn't plan on getting everything I ever wanted, I actually don't think it is healthy.  I grew up in a home where we were welcome to share things we would love to have, but we didn't plan on getting it all. 

 I have had to change that little habit because I realized what Jon was doing, and the great lengths he always goes to provide.  It is the way he shows love.  I try to explain that although these things are great, I love him because of who he is.  If there are any that believe I am with him because of what he can get me *there have been some*, I would say...remember all the years that I stayed with him through being totally broke?  He couldn't even provide meals or pay our rent and believe it or not...I still loved him :)

Having been through times like that, I am that much more grateful for our blessings now.  I guess I have to explain this little bit of info before I go into my birthday weekend...I feel guilty quite a bit of the time for our current good fortune.  I realize that life could flip at any time and we could be where we were before.  I pray it doesn't happen, but if that is the will of Heavenly Father then we will trudge through it like we did before.  I would never claim that Jon and I have accomplished anything in life without the help of Heavenly Father.  Our businesses have been carried through a very tough economical time and we are still making it.  We had to move things around and stay creative but I know it is not by our own hard work that we are still around.  We employ over 550 people and I know they are all praying for us to be stable and be able to supply them with a job that supports countless families.  It is actually very stressful thinking of how many people that count on Jon and I to be smart.

blablabla...

So with that very long intro to this post, I came up last Friday to Snowbird because there was a Corporate Alliance retreat going on.  Jon had been there all day and had more meetings to attend so he sent me to the spa.  He set up a massage, pedicure, facial, and hair and makeup for the dinner that night.  It was so relaxing and I felt overly pampered, but loved it.  

When I was done, I could barely walk because I was so relaxed.  I made my way up to the room and got dressed.  Jon had me pose to show off the cute "do".

We had to snap an ugly couples picture alone because nobody else was there to do it for us.  When we were finished posing we went to the dinner and had a great time meeting with people we have met through Corporate Alliance and had Kevin Gallagher as an auctioneer run the show.  It is always fun when he runs auction events.  I ended up bidding and winning a package of 4 Jazz tickets and 2 passes to Doug Miller's race track! 

 I can't wait to be a race car driver!

The next day we woke up and realized it was "Oktober Fest" at Snowbird.  They had games, face painting, music, and much more.  We rode the tram to the top of the mountain.

I was windy and cool on top of the outlook.  We walked around and took pictures for a while.  When we got to the bottom we bought some sweatshirts and ate lunch outside on a patio.  I loved being there and would love to take my kids back sometime. 

On Sunday I came home from church to find my house decorated and the announcement that all my family was coming to celebrate my birthday!  It was so much fun to see everyone.  All except Rooz that is.  She became totally sick and had to go to the hospital.  She ended up having a sinus infection, kidney infection, and the flu.  Poor thing...she is too tough for her own good.  She had been staying with her Aunt and Grandma and they have been so great to take care of her.  Hopefully she will fully recover soon.

Mack walked around and took some pictures of the party for me because I was too busy getting everything set up.

We set up a special seat for Bella because we wanted to tell her how good of friend she was to all of us!

Jon gave me pace's Popsicles to eat instead of cake because I LOVE them.  What a guy!

I became a trite conceited and enjoyed all of the attention a little too much!  I started singing to myself and posing for the camera.  All of my family laughed and remarked, "No wonder all of your girls are posers!!"  Yes, really, they haven't figured that out yet??!

Thanks everyone for a superb celebration!  Who would have thought it would be so much fun to get older?!

Squaw Peak

I took a birthday hike last week that was unbelievable.  The hiking part wasn't different than it's been all summer, but the colors in the mountains of Utah right now are nothing less than spectacular.  Fall is my favorite time of year for so many reasons, but this is one of them.  

I also LOVE:

Sipping wassail outside on the back porch.

Carving pumpkins and smelling them on Halloween night.

Cinnamon sticks around my house.

The perfect temperature for layering clothes (my favorite)

Halloween

Our annual Halloween party with 50 + people!

Costumes of every shape, size, and character.
Haunted Houses ( I never scream or laugh harder )
Getting lost in the corn mazes with the kids.

the wind that blows the leaves and the sound it makes as it scuffs the ground

The mosquito's and flies are dead!

Reading stories with my kids at night after a long day.

Snuggling in Blankets with hot chocolate and a good movie.

Pumpkin Cookies baking in the kitchen.

TV Shows start (LOST is over though...boo)

Trick or Treating no matter what age you are.

The fun of Back to School shopping and friends.

Anyway...I wish it lasted as long or longer than the winter did.  I love winter also, but I don't think Fall gets an even split in the seasons here.

Let's move on...

Of course I had to bring my camera on the hike to Squaw Peak, so it took me a bit longer to get to the top, but it was worth it!

Aspen trees always freaked me out as a kid because the knots on them look like eyes...see what I mean!?

When we finally made it to the field close to the top, Tiff frolicked in the grass like a deer!

So peaceful...

If you ever need to clear your mind, just take a walk in the trees, there is nothing like it.

We could see Mt. Timpanogus when we got high enough.  This is the next big hike that I really want to take!  Every time I set it up, something huge gets in the way and it falls through.

The view from the top is awesome!  

Moral of this photo story:  If you ever can't find me, check the mountains. 

 I am the happiest there.

What's your favorite time of year and why?  


Where do you escape when you get the chance?