OH.....HOT WATER!!!!

A couple of weeks ago ( it was a Sunday night) we discovered we didn't have any hot water. The wind had been blowing all week really hard. The door to the hot water heater is outside so we just thought the pilot light had blown out. Mark was all ready asleep so I got him up and he re lit it. The next morning NO HOT WATER!!! This was bad because I had to shower and go to work. He tried to light it several times and no luck. So we started filling every pot and pan we own and putting it on or in anything that would heat it. The hot water heater is just a year old and still under warranty( good news), so Mark called the 800 # and ordered the part. This was Monday and we paid to have it overnighted. Yea, hot water on Tuesday!! So we kept the pans full and heated so we could keep clean and non-smelly, thinking we can handle that for one more day. Well no part on Tuesday or Wednesday. Mark calls the 800# back twice, is told they had shipped the part, finally they give him a tracking number and it was overnighted it just wasn't shipped until Wednesday. (i am soo happy we paid that overnight fee) So Thursday we are totally sick of heating water but I told Mark we should look at the bright side : At least we have water! Thursday afternoon the part came and we, cheering with glee, until we discover it is the wrong part. By now I have told Mark there is NO bright side and I am sobbing!! Poor Mark. So Mark calls the 800# once again and is told that the serial number he is giving them is not accurate. -a little info on Mark. He has NO patients what so ever....NONE- He really had been pretty nice up to this point. He argued with this lady for about 45 min until she finally told him "Oh there is that model." Then she tells him that they did send the right part and that maybe he just needs to hire a plumber to put it in for him! Flames are shooting out of Marks ears. He kindly explains that he took the part out of the water heater and the part that they sent are not the same. After another 15 minutes she says OH they aren't the same, hold please. She then admits they had sent the wrong part (imagine that) and she was overnighting , free of charge, the new part. So Friday we are filled with hope that we would have hot water for the weekend. The part comes and the very nice lady sent us the same exact part she had sent before. It was still the wrong part!! By now my sobs had stopped but Mark's cussing had begun. My sweet husband calls the 800# again, but this time demands to talk to the technician. It took the tech two minutes to tell Mark he really did know what the problem was and he overnighted, free of charge, the right part. So Mark calls the UPS store here to see if he can pick up the part first thing Saturday morning (yes, we have been a whole week without hot water). The UPS office is closed Saturdays but he can meet the driver at the airport at 9:00 am. So Saturday morning Mark is at the airport at 8:45 and the plane is late. He finally gets the part, and it IS the right part. Mark installs the part and guess what it still doesn't work. ONLY US!!! So he calls the 800# again, gets the tech again and they overnight him a different part, free of charge again. Since this is Saturday it won't ship until Monday. So Tuesday is the day. The part comes, Mark installs the part, the hot water heater lights and stays lit....for about twenty minutes!! This is just too much. At least we have hot water, Mark just has to light the water heater about 5 times a day, and the water temp still isn't quite right. We were telling our wows to my brother Mark and he told Mark to try a little trick and guess work? IT WORKS!!!! We have real HOT WATER. Thanks Mark we owe you BIG. So there is my long , drawn out story of hot water. I didn't know how much I love hot water and what a horrible pioneer I would have made!!!

Greatest New Invention

Ok so they aren't a NEW invention but they are new to me!! I love them. I can't believe I waited 5 years to get them. I don't even care if my boys told me I look weird. I choose to believe when they said weird they just meant different. After all they have only seen me with glasses on for the last 5 years. If you haven't tried contacts, try them!

Prom 2009

Last night was Kensie's Senior Prom. She has been so looking forward to it. We actually found her dress while we were school clothes shopping in August. We found it on clearance for $15.oo. (We were really feeling like big spenders because last year we got her prom dress for $1.00!!!)
So her dress has been in her closet for several months and she was more than ready to wear it. My mom and sister made her little jacket to go with it and it all went together so well. (Thanks guys!!) It all started at the beginning of the week. Sierra came over on Monday and they practiced hair do's.
Sierra spent more than 2 hours yesterday afternoon getting her ready. Thanks Sierra it was beautiful!!

Friday after school Kensie and Jonette ran to the mall to find Jonette's perfect jewelry and then went and got their nails and toes done. They were just perfect!

Kensie just loves her dress with it's flirty skirt and Polk a dots!

Kesie and Jonette just looked AMAZING!

Kensie and Jonette who are best friends, went with Cody and Casey who are best friends. They all hang out together a lot and are great friends.

Kensie and Cody. Kensie was totally excited because Cody's tie had polk a dots that matched her dress perfectly!

They whole gang. The guys came and got the girls at 3:30 and took them to Durango to eat at Steamworks. LUCKY Then they came and changed for the dance.

We always have to have a picture of the shoes!! They had a great time at the Prom. It was held at the Marriott and Kensie said it was beautiful and the music was good and other than standing in line for 30 minutes for Prom Pictures it was so much fun!

After the dance they went bowling, yes in their formals! This is a tradition and they love it. Kensie was the winner!!! They were suppose to go to Denny's and eat after bowling but one of the boy's was too bummed because Kensie beat him at bowling they just came home! HA HA

Jonette was really hoping to stay out of the gutter!!

This is my favorite picture!! They are so styling!!

Cheer State

WOW!!! What an incredible experience for our girls! I am so proud of them. They worked so hard and did such a great job. They didn't place but I think they should have. They performed the cheer portion Friday morning and the dance portion Saturday. It was so much fun to see all the cheerleaders and dance teams in 3A and 4A perform. After they were done with the competition on Saturday and before the awards, the UNM and NMS cheerleaders and dance teams performed. All I can say is WOW!!! Artesia took state in 4A! That was not a surprise, this was their 4th year in a row! They were really, really, good. Just like in football, dang it! So...Kensie is officially done with cheering! I asked her if she was sad and she just said she is so relieved! Unfortunately with cheering comes drama and she is so done with that!!!




This was right after their cheer on Friday.

Kensie and Jonette. They are too cute!

Mark wanted a picture with the girls to put in The Man Room.

I just had to have a picture with my girl!

This was Kensie's biggest fans. I had the shirts made at work. You can see the KC Cheer on the front and Kensie was on the sleeve. The boys were not to sure about wearing a shirt that said the word CHEER on it but they did it for Kensie. We had just got to the competition and as you could see the boys weren't exactly thrilled with the fact that they were going to spend two days watching cheering and dancing. We had not yet gone inside the arena at this point. The looks on these two boys face sure did change when we got to our seats and sitting below them was probably 1000 hot girls!!! They really didn't mind suffering through it as much then.

Kensie has been a nanny in the summers for the last three years to these cute girls. She loves them and they love her right back. Tammy, their mom, brought the girls and they cheered on their Kensie! That meant so much to her!

I am just amazed that Cheerleading is over for Kensie. Time really does fly! All I can say is she really went out with a bang! Great job Kens!!!

Spring Break

For spring break the kids and I loaded in the car and headed for my sister Liane's house in Gilbert. (Mark had to stay home and work) We went through St. Johns and picked up my Mom on the way. When we got to my sisters she was tending all four of her grand babies. I was so excited because I think she has some of the cutest grand babies in the world! Because it was beautiful weather we were playing outside. One of the first thing they wanted to do was to pick a snack. Yep, all of the citrus trees were loaded and so picking we went.

They had grapefruit, lemons and oranges so for our snacks we went for the oranges. They were so yummy!!



Kade enjoyed preparing our harvest.




Shayli and Anden enjoyed eating our harvest.

Lexa just couldn't wait for us and just started her snack peel and all!

Doesn't that just look wonderful!! I also got to bring three bags full of fruit home :)

Brecker is still too little to care one bit about citrus but he sure loved Kensie!

Liane, Mom and I decided to just sit and enjoy the sunshine. On our way down my cell phone rang about the time we were in Globe. It was Mark. He was just calling to tell me that it was really snowing hard at our house. So when we pulled up to Liane's I just had to call him and let him know that it was 81 at Liane's house!! I loved rubbing that in.

One of the reasons we went to my sisters is so that my niece, Kesseli could take Kensie's senior pictures. They turned out fabulous!! She took 243 of them so we are still trying to decide which ones we want so I will blog those later. Thanks Kess they turned out so good!

We went to visit my brother Doug and his family. I took my camera but didn't even take one picture! Doug and Heatherlea have a great family and we love to visit them. They are always so much fun. Heatherlea has a salon and it's name is Shear Chaos!! With their 6 kids their house always has something going on and is always so much fun! Thanks Heatherlea for trimming up Kensie's hair!

On the last day of the trip Kade got sick. He spent a little bit of time bowing to the porcelain God. It was a bummer!! My mom's dog Gypsy tended him though. He is starting to feel better.

Also while we were at my sisters, my Mom and Liane sewed Kensie a jacket for her prom dress. I can't thank them enough. It turned out just beautiful and now Kensie will be modest!

It really was a fun trip and we got a lot done! We loved the warm weather and are already missing it since we woke up to snow this morning. I just can't wait for spring break next year!!

R-U-A S-A-P

One day last week, during lunch at the High School, there was an organization handing out free t-shirts. All the kids had them because they were free. They all just put them on over what they were wearing. Now Kade was gone during lunch that day because his English class went to see a play at the College. I need to explain just a little bit about Kade at this point. He might have almost black hair but at heart he is really blond. He tends to be too believing and gullible at times. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, in fact it brings us a lot of laughter. Anyway, though he totally denies it, I am convinced someone told him what the initials on the t-shirts meant, they just happened to tell him something totally incorrect. Kade being Kade, believing what he was told, was in TOTAL shock when he got back to school and everyone had this t-shirt on. How could they? All the kids that go to church? All the kids that go to seminary? All of his friends? Even his own SISTER? The HORROR!!! How could all of these people be wearing t-shirt that meant " Are You A Sexually Active Person"!!!



Of course this was totally wrong. You can only imagine his absolute RELIEF when he actually read the t-shirt and found out it really meant "Are You A Socially Alienated Person"!! Oh Kade!! He then got one and wore it with pride!!!

My High Schoolers!! You gotta love em!!