42 days...

Yes, 42 days since my last blog post. That may be a record! Don't you hate it when people say, "I've been busy". I mean really, we're all busy. I guess a better thing to say would be I've been choosing to spend my time doing things other than blogging :) But with that said, here are 42 days worth of the Norris Family's comings and goings...

June 20- Father's Day! Us Norris girls have great reason to celebrate on Father's Day. Dan is a great father and husband, son and brother. He tries really hard to do what our Heavenly Father wants him to do. And though the last year and a half have been a little challenging...our relationship has grown closer than ever before. And for that, I'm grateful. I'm grateful for Dan!

Remember when I asked for advice on tennis equipment? Well here is his gift getting put to good use. The only things he went out and bought was a ball caddy and about a thousand more balls. He was right...you need that many (especially when you are playing with kids- and Carrie).

June 24-27th: Coombs family annual St. George getaway! So fun (as always). Thank you a million times over mom and dad for making this tradition happen. We love you!

Tuacahn Theater...this year we saw Tarzan and Cats.

On Saturday we ALL went and saw Toy Story 3 in 3-D. In my mind the highlight of the trip. I loved being there with everybody, I loved that Sadie sat on my lap the whole time, I love that I was laughing so hard I was crying- yet then crying for real, this one will go down in history!

There are not words to describe how much I love these girls.

July 3rd: Much anticipated Kamie Day Celebration/Extravaganza/Spectacular! Other than Lacey (and Kamie) not feeling well the day was a smashing success. I would live in Kamie's backyard if I could.

The visor says it all really...

Andrea & Rick supplied the GIANT marshmallows!

Same (exact) picture as above minus the flash...interesting huh!

July 17th: Saturday Date! Dan and I have decided to split up and take the girls on a date once a month. Kallie and I went together for our first date last Saturday. Has anyone ever heard Taylor Swift's song 'Best Day'? That is how I felt about this day. Kallie chose to go to a pottery store and paint her own cappuccino mug and saucer (which are in the process of glazing right now). This girl sat and painted for well over 2 hours! I just watched (too much $ for us both to paint). The owner of the store asked me if I would like some reading material...I said, "No thank you, I'm having a lot of fun just watching her."

You may think I'm cheesy, but I teared up a time or two as I sat there and enjoyed Kallie's company. She is such a sweet girl and I felt overwhelmed that I've been blessed to be her mother. Do you ever think God looks at us and gets teared up because he feels so overwhelmed with love? I think so...

Saturdays...

A month or two ago, Dan and I mutually decided that it was time to stop having the office open on Saturday mornings. It was a hard decision to make, but it has been such a great thing for our family. I think a little time away helps your brain think more clearly when you're back again on Monday morning.

Do you think my girlies are happy that we aren't working Saturday mornings anymore? Now our Saturday mornings are filled with this...

I really can't tell you how happy I am that our house is getting a regular scrub down now. Housework was not only falling by the wayside, it was a huge strain on my guilty conscience. And believe it or not...as long as I'm cleaning right along side them, there aren't too many complaints from the peanut gallery :)

All of you Dyson owners look VERY closely in the picture below. Please notice the attachment I just purchased for my vacuum hose. We lost one of my attachments in the move so when I went on the website and spotted THIS baby, (despite being slightly spendy) I knew it would be a great purchase. I LOVE IT! I've already admitted in the past that I'm a terrible duster. However now, I just keep this duster attachment on while I'm vacuuming and I whip it out as I walk past the blinds, TV, lamps, back of the couch, picture frames...you name it and I've dusted it with my vacuum. I feel like a new woman (sounds crazy, but a person with clean blinds is a happy person :)

Even though my girls are WAY too old...I kept singing "Clean up the house, Clean up the house, Everybody clean it up, Clean up the house".

Like I said, I bet Kallie and Syd wish they were back at the office vegging in front of a movie on the computer!

(PS: That's not really Windex, we were just refilling the bottles with our concentrated cleaner. PPS: I would have taken a few pictures of myself cleaning but I looked far too...um, in need of a good cleaning myself)

Father's Day???

I am thinking about buying some tennis stuff for Dan for Father's Day. He has told the girls soooo many times that he wants to take them out and teach them to play tennis (he played on his high school team).

So....I am looking for thoughts/advice from any of you who play tennis what would be the best rackets & supplies to get for 3 early beginners (Me, Kallie & Syd) and 1 player who sort of knows what he's doing (Dan).

Keeping in mind a tight budget...is there a certain brand/style/store I should go for?

Help! I don't want to rely on the sales person at the store to steer me in the right direction. What about the stuff I might find at Target would that be ok?

I know nothing about tennis so those of you who play PLEASE help me out!!!

Trail Run & Lake Mead

My friend Rachelle and I traveled to Flagstaff last night so we could run a 10k trail run with Diane. I was kind of nervous because I never run on trails, because the elevation is 7000 feet, and the trail is very rocky and I'm not very coordinated. But I am happy to say that it was a great run and we had a super time! It was such a nice change of scenery to be running in the Flagstaff trees and to actually feel great while doing it. I admit, sometimes when running it's tempting to lay down in a ball and start crying. I'm happy to say that for today's 6 miles I felt great! Thanks for inviting us Diane! And to make the day even better, we went to lunch and a movie to celebrate Rachelle's b-day tomorrow. FUN DAY!

Last week we took the girls to Lake Mead to feed the fish. These are some seriously huge, aggressive fish and I thought you needed to see them in action to appreciate the sound effects that go along with them :).

Shout Hooray...Birthday!

The first week of May is one big party around our house! Kallie's bday is on the 3rd and Dan's is close behind on the 6th. Do any of you remember Kallie still being in the hospital on Dan's bday back in 2000? Time flies!

I'm starting with Dan (even though his bday is 2nd) because I have 2 pictures of his celebration and...well...a few more than that for Kallie :).

Dan and I deserted the office right in the middle of the day to go see one of the last showings of Avatar in 3D in the Las Vegas Valley. We had a great time! We need to schedule more "meetings" like that...staff development right?!?

Dan (cracking me up) blowing out the candles on his Eclair Cake. For his bday we got him new pajama bottoms (we're tired of looking at the hole in the bum of his other pjs) and some fancy Egyptian Cotton pillowcases. In case you didn't know, Dan is pillowcase crazy. He changes his (and mine) about every other day. Then he complains because we never have enough. I only bought 4 so I'm sure this won't eliminate the complaints all together but it will buy me a few extra days at least :). Happy 36th babe!

I cut my morning run short just to make this little girl breakfast in bed (of course)!

She picked IHOP for her bday dinner. Somehow I forgot to get a photo of the new bike she picked out, she's ridden it to school every day since.

Today (Saturday) we held her party with her friends. She chose to have a "Craft Project Extravaganza". Everything (except one project) was straight out of a Family Fun craft book my parents gave Kallie a few years ago. Even this sunshine cake was featured in the book. Kallie had so much fun frosting it!

Finished product (with a little help from mom)...

Still waiting for a few guests to arrive, but if you can believe it, she had 100% attendance. Fourteen kids in all! Very fun! The first "project" we started with was painting flower pots, which they later planted seeds in. We'll see if Kallie & Syd's actually sprout...I did buy the seeds at Walmart after all :).

Next up they were decorating notebook journals that I found HERE . I found that blog through Amanda...I think?!? I thought this picture might cause a few of you anxiety, look at that messy table! But did you notice I have my BIG table home again...we love having her back!!!

Next we made bead/macaroni jewelry. Kallie invited three boys to her party, two from her school class and our friend Ethan. I must say I was very impressed by the two cute boys she invited from school. Very positive and polite...keep up the good taste Kallie. They even made necklaces without a word of complaint!

Last project...Bean Scenes.

Courtney H. making an owl.

Kallie making a scene that says "The Big 10".

Making a wish...

Present time...shall we say that Zhu Zhu Pets were on her list and she got a few. Don't you love her 'birthday hat'?

This party was smooth sailing if I do say so myself. Ten year olds are fun to entertain! No crazy running around screaming...they were all so cooperative and pleasant. We had a great week...but I admit I'm glad it's over. Onto the next thing (Activity Days).

One Thing...

Just a little explanation. A couple of weeks I listened to a CD recording of Stephen Covey's 'First Things First'. It was a one disc abbreviated version (perfect for my easily distracted brain). I was surprised by how much I enjoyed his take on life and how to fit the most important things into it.

Something he suggested was to make a list of our various roles (mother, employee, daughter etc...) and list just ONE THING that we could do to significantly improve our performance in that role. Hmmm...where to begin. I will share with you just one (to explain my long blog absence). I decided that to become a better employee, the ONE THING I could do was to stop checking blogs at work. You must understand that I'm alone in this quiet (too quite=stressful) office and I find myself getting lonely and occasionally worried. Let's face it, sometimes it's much more fun to read about all the great things that other people are up to rather than filing chart notes and calling on EOBs. So my friends, my blog checking must be done at home and as a result may not happen on a very regular basis. But I'm pretty sure I can find some time once a week or so (even at 12:15am on Sunday morning while the rest of my family sleeps). But Stephen Covey and I are convinced it will help me become a much better employee!

Enough explaining...onto some past photos that have long ago been lost and forgotten in my camera.

Somehow in the 44 pictures I posted from our Cali trip I forgot this one. A horrible picture of the house that Dan and I are going to buy that's right on the beach in Carlsbad (a girl can dream). I took it out the window while we were driving but I'm pretty sure you get the idea. You'd come visit me more if I lived here wouldn't you? Tell the truth :)

I missed posting a very fun weekend when Amy and family came to visit us. You all know I'm not a huge fan of the Strip, but I am a fan of the Bellagio foyer. They change it with the seasons/holidays and it is truly amazing. It is very hard to grasp how cool it is in pictures. This was their Spring Garden Display.

My girls kept trying to catch the dancing water as it came by. I kept saying "don't touch the water...they don't want you splashing water everywhere." Then I looked back and saw Amy. I need to be more like her! Why was I reprimanding instead of helping?

They brought in pots and pots and pots of flowers...beautiful!

I'm pretty sure my parents need one of these in their backyard!

More catch-up...we traveled to Flagstaff for Easter/Conference Weekend. It was such a great trip and I can't even begin to describe how happy I am that Diane and family are just over 3 hours away from us. This picture is at Diane's friend Elizabeth's house. I'm mostly posting it because I'm in love with her homemade pillows. These homemade pillows were sitting on her homemade COUCH (we're talking hammer, wood, saws etc.)! That was sitting in front of her homemade DINING ROOM TABLE. That was down the hall from their bathroom complete with a made from scratch VANITY. The list could go on and on...yes I was a little jealous.

Easter morning dying eggs. Can't skip this of course.

I love this picture. Two heads together watching their eggs magically turn colors. Two is almost always better than one!

Diane is such a great hostess. She invited their neighbors over for the Easter feast as well. My girls thought they were so special because Diane let them help decorate the holiday table. If only I had gotten a picture of the food...it was even more beautiful than the table.

Do you think this will really help me be a better employee? Probably...but I don't have to like it.