Fine...I'll do it!

I am: Jenn
I think: some people should not reproduce. EVER!
I know: that I am very loved from many different aspects
I want: to much to write down. Most of it includes Elli's well being.
I have: one killer headache
I dislike: peeps that complain about their situation but don't to anything to change it.
I miss: Amanda.
I fear: spiders and my Elli being taken away from me.
I feel: like giggling knowing Bev fell in a hole!
I hear: Elli and her friend playing, dogs barking.
I smell:Laundry drying
I crave: Chips and salsa. All the time. I could live on that.
I cry: whanever I want to.
I search: for the money tree.
I wonder: When Elli will help me clean the house...probably never.
I regret: not getting more school done when I had the chance.
I wish: I never stop wishing!
I love: too much to list.
I care: enough said.
I always: put in my contacts
I worry: too much.
I am not: done.
I remeber: more than I care to.
I believe: Many things.
I sing: whenever I am alone...
I don't: make New Years resolutions.
I argue: when I can win.
I write: back sometimes
I win: the arguments I choose to participate in.
I lose: my way. Especially in Bountiful
I listen: Anything hard rock and loud enough to make your ears bleed.
I don't understand: a lot of things.
I can usually be found:Home, at my mom and dad's, or in my car.
I need: to get the kitchen clean
I forget: alot. I'm pretty sure it hereditary.
I am happy: when I am with family.
I tag: Mom, Toree, Pam, Missy, and Jordan

We have puppies!

Well, our Gabi girl had her babies! She had them on Friday, Nov. 21, starting around 3 am and finishing up with baby number 6 sometime around 7 am. They are all so stinkin cute! The first pic is of the whole litter, the second is of the "runt", and the last is my personal favorite, we call him Rottie.

Just wanted to let you all know...

Those eggs came from where?

So, my mom and dad have decided they are egg farmers. Works out good for me, cuz the less I have to spend on groceries, the better we all are, right? My mom has been sending home the brown eggs for a couple weeks now, now that their chickens have decided that they need to lay. Well, Elli won't touch the brown eggs. She will go hungry before she eats a brown egg. Yesterday, she asked for hard boiled eggs for lunch, so I threw in a half dozen white and a half dozen brown (brown were going to be for Millie and Gabi). She came over to the pot and said "Ew. I am not eating the brown ones." So when I was peeling them, she stood right next to me to make sure that I didn't try to trick her and give her a brown one when she wasn't looking. I asked her, "Elli, why don't you like the brown eggs?" Her reply? "Because they came out of a chicken's butt!" I was laughing so hard I had to take a break from peeling that dozen eggs! (Just a little FYI, I did ask her where she thought the white ones came from, and she said the egg factory!)

Our Latest Addition

Well, I guess we have decided that life isn't nearly exciting enough with just one dog, so we added another to the picture! On Saturday night, after getting home from a barbeque, Eric was looking on the KSL classifieds at the free stuff, and someone had listed their cocker spaniel pup for free. We decided that Millie needed a friend, so I had Eric call on Sunday morning. The lady said she was waiting for another guy to come pick her up, but would call us if he didn't show or if she got a bad vibe from him. Well, shortly after Elli and I got home from church, she called me and told me that she was ours if we wanted her. She said the bad feelingjust got worse about the other guy, so she called and told him that she got out last night and was hit by a car. So, we went to meet her in Malad, and we brought our new baby home! Her name is Gabi, and she is so sweet! She is currently pregnant with a litter of cockapoos, so that has got Elli all sorts of excited! She can't wait to have baby puppies. Also, the wierd thing, Gabi and Millie are aobut 3 weeks apart in age. They seem to get along really well, so we're pretty happy about that!

Wrapping up our Lagoon Season...

Just thought I would do a little update of our lives in the past couple weeks. On Saturday, October 18, all of us McFarland kids (and significant others) went to Lagoon for the day. It was so flippin crowded! We took my dad's little Weber grill and barbequed hamburgers, and then attempted to ride as many rides and hit as many haunted houses as we could. Turns out, with as many people as there were there, we couldn't get a whole lot of anything in! We did have a lot of fun though, just hangin out. We tried to get Mom and Dad to go, but they were very adamant about not going. My mom said "I have been waiting for this day...the day that my kids can take themselves to that version of hell!"
Then, this last Friday, Elli and I went down with Arlene, Matthew, Nathan, and Ashley to Lagoon. Elli and Ashley had so much fun going on the rides. It was pretty cold, so we had both the girls bundled up like little eskimos, but they would just laugh and giggle! It was so cute!

Update on Miss Millie

Well, we got to bring our puppy girl home today. She is very very sore, but she is alert, and very lovey. I think she may have missed us as much as we missed her! They only outward evidence of her accident is the incision from where they had to put in her chest tube, cuz she had a pneumothorax (collapsed lung). She also is sporting a fractured hip, but they will do surgery and fix that in a couple of weeks. They wanted to let her heal from rolling underneath the tire of a car first! She hobbles around ok, gets from point A to point B eventually, but you can tell it is painful for her. When we got home, we took her out to go potty, and the cat came strutting up the driveway, and she looked and looked at that cat, and I know she would have given anything to chase after that darn cat. All in good time, I guess, but now I am feeling the guilt for not watching her closer when she was outside with me Monday night. Some people may think I am crazy to spend a thousand buckaroos to fix her, but in essence, it's my fault this happened, and I can't just let her die because I am a dummy. So, ya do what ya gotta do, and move on! I'm forever grateful to Dr. Johnson and his staff for helping her out. Without them, she surely would have died that night. They are wonderful, and I would definitely recommend them to anyone who has a pet in need! That being said, I need to go take care of my puppy girl...

Tonight has been a pretty hard night for all of us around the Mitchell house. Millie ran out in front of a car, and unfortunately was hit. I was outside with her, and as soon as I saw it happen, I ran inside to get Eric, who (coincidentally?) came home from work early today cuz he has been really sick. The lady who hit my puppy girl was in the Relief Society Presidency, so they took Elli home with them while we took Millie to the vet. On the way down there, she started coughing up blood, and went a little poopie on my pants, so I was REALLY freaked out. All this happened in, seriously about 7 minutes from the time she got hit to the minute we walked in the door at the vet clinic. So we get her down there, and they gave her some oxygen to help her breath a little better, and then they gave her some heavy duty pain meds. Ever seen a stoned dog? Give them pain meds and you'll get to see it! Anyways, they did some X-rays, and miraculously, she doesn't have any broken bones, which hopefully means no surgery. She does, however, have extensive bruising in her lungs. They are hoping that the bleeding will stop on its own, cuz, like Dr. Johnson said, it's not like they can just put a band aid on her lungs. She also has a pocket of air in her lungs, which he is hoping will absorb back into her lungs and not get bigger. If it does get bigger, he will probably put in a chest tube. Tomorrow, they are going to reevaluate the situation, and see if she will be able to walk again, since she has very little response to him pinching her toes. They put her in an oxygen box for the night and Dr. Johnson said that when he goes in to check on her he will call and keep me posted. So, that being said, I will post again tomorrow when I hear more!

Altering my pics...

This is something I have always wanted to try...I just read online how to do it, and I'm having a blast! I love this effect on photos....

Jr. Peach Queen Pageant

Well, tonight was the Jr. Peach Queen Pageant, and Elli was able to be a participant with all thanks going to Grandma and Papa! My mom insisted that we do this, and I must admit, it was pretty fun. We went shopping on Saturday, August 30 to a place called Just Girls Stuff (or something close to that) in Riverdale. We got Elli this dress that she said "This looks just like Cinderella's dress!" We then bought the prettiest little pony tail thing! She had a practice last night, and she was pretty miffed that she couldn't wear her dress to the practice. It was so cute. The girls had to learn "Zip a Dee Do Da" and for having about 30 minutes total of practice time, they all did really well! She was very insistant that we do her hair curly, but I could just see her letting me curl half of it and then not wanting any more done, so I just did two little inside out french braids. All in all, I have to say that my princess looked adorable! She wasn't in the Jr. Royalty, but that's ok. She got a tiara and a heart "leck lace" so she is tickled pink! Oh ya! And when the young man brought her out on stage for all of her "stats" to be read, she somehow located us (well, I guess she located her favorite cousin, Ashley) and stood there and waved and then did the CUTEST little curtsy ever! Have I mentioned that I am so in love with this little ball of fire? She is by far my favorite child that has ever been put on this green earth...

Summer Storms

Tonight we had a pretty good storm. I absolutely love lightning shows! I went to sit outside to watch the storm, and of course, Elli was petrified. I sat her down next to me on the step and told her about counting the seconds between the lightning and the thunder to see how far away it is. When I told her the lightning was as far away as Wal-Mart, she settled down and watched it with me for awhile. After a bit, she got up and ran into the house hollering, "I'll be right back, Mom!" She came back with her blankie and teddy bear and plopped down next to me, ready for a show. Soon enough, the rain started coming down, and when a rain drop plopped on her cute little nose, she started singing

"If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops, oh what a rain it would be. Standing outside with my mouth open wide, A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-Aaaa!"

She is quite possibly the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I love her and her quirkiness so much!

Update on the First Day of "Real" School

So here is the replay of of our conversations when I picked Elli up:

Me: How was the first day of school?
Elli: Good, but I don't want to go to school tomorrow.
Me: How come?
Elli: Cuz, I'm ready for a day off.
Me: Well, what did you do at school today?
Elli: We had 2 drinks and recess.
Me: Did you learn anything?
Elli: No.
Me: How about the alphabet?
Elli: I already knew the alphabet.

Later when we got home...after I had told Eric this conversation

Eric: So, Elli, are you going to school tomorrow?
Elli: Nope.
Eric: Why, was it boring?
Elli: Yep. And I'm not going tomorrow.
Eric: Well, you have to go everyday.
Elli: (throwing one of her famous tantrums) Noooooooooooooo I don't want to go tomorrow............

Haha! Like my mom said, it's a little too early to be calling the principal asking to excuse her from class just cuz she doesn't want to go!

First Day of "Real" School

Well, today I sent my baby off to her first day of kindergarten. She was so excited, but she kept telling me "Mom, I'm nervous!" I told her not to be nervous, cuz it's just like preschool. She then informed me "Well, Mom, everyone's nervous for their first day of real school!" She got up bright and early this morning and immediately started asking if it's time to go yet. We got her some breakfast, let her put on her new school clothes, fixed her hair, and then we had an HOUR to pass waiting for it to be time to go. When I finally told her to get her backpack, I thought I was going to have to peel her off the ceiling. We took a couple of pictures, and loaded up in the car. I walked her in to her class room, and then it hit me. My baby isn't so much of a baby anymore. I held back the tears, but believe me, I wanted to just put her back in the car and take her home for a couple more years. So many people have been asking me if I was going to cry when I took her to school the first day, and I kept saying "Hell no! I'm gonna throw a party while she's gone!" So, I'm here to tell you there isn't a whole lot of partying going on right now!

More about our trip to Bear Lake

Kaleena gave Elli some sand toys to play with while we were at Bear Lake. She had so much fun trying to make sand castles, that pretty soon, Uncle Kenny had to join in. He played with her for awhile, which I thought was awesome. He tried to get her to understand the "wet sand" concept, but she wasn't really getting it. Pretty soon, this sand castle idea turned into "Let's bury Elli!" So, Toree and Mandy got down in the sand with them, and they started digging. At first, they tried to get her to lay down so that just her head was sticking out, but when they started to cover her arms, she decided this wasn't so fun after all! So then they decided to let her sit up, Indian Style, and covered all but her head this way!

Week after week of Camping...We are Fools!

The first week of August, we went on one of my favorite trips for the year. We went with Eric's family up to Willow Flat to camp for five days. So, one, I L-O-V-E to camp. I have decided that if I could live in a tent in the mountains and have a hot dog roasted over a fire every night, I would. I love the smell of the mountains, I love the cool air, not so fond of all the critters that tend to live in the forest too, but I could defend myself. And two, I love to fish. I am trying so hard to get Elli into this love too, but she is digging her heels HARD!!! She did catch one fish. Only one. Then she was done. When the little bugger started flipping around on the rope we had it on (I left ALL of my tackle home, so I had to make do, and Eric made this stringer for me) she decided that maybe fishing isn't her cup of Kool-Aid. She had some huge crocodile tears after that episode. I did manage (with the help from bribery of toys) to get a picture of her holding the fish that she detested. One of the best parts of the fishing was, the fish and game folks so kindly threw in about 15,000 fish for me to fish out if the Cub River. They put in about 1700 about 10 feet away from our trailer! I am not usually a "catch and release" kind of fisher, but I was catching fish so fast, that after 20 minutes, I had caught my limit for the day! No way was I ready to be done fishing for the day, so Eric stripped the barbs of my hook and caught and released about 200 fish in one day! It was the BEST!!! Thank you Idaho Fish and Game for putting all those fish in for me and the rest of the goobers I was camping with to catch! Sadly, I was having so much fun watching my in-laws try to kill each other that these were the only pics I got of the whole trip...as I said a few posts earlier...nothing with the Mitchell family is uneventful!!!


The next weekend, Elli and I went to Bear Lake with my mom and dad, Kenny and Chelsey, and Toree, Taylor, and her friend, Mandy. Although it was colder than H-E-L-L we really did have a lot of fun. We played Blink (which is sort of like speed without face cards) for awhile and then we all crashed. The next day we took the boat down to the lake, and it was so cold that my mom and I didn't even get on the boat! We stayed in sweats and hoodies all day on the beach! The others did go out on the boat, and some of the crazy ones even got in the water to wake board.





Taylor trying to spit on Toree's face
(I had to get this, it made me laugh!)











Toree and her friend Mandy
She was Elli's BFF for the weekend










Poor Poor Gracie hates to camp.
I kept telling my mom that she's gonna
commit doggie suicide!










I told you it was cold up there!
Somewhere in this pile of blankets
Chelsey is hiding from the world!











Chelsey, Taylor, Toree, Ashley, and Cassidy
sleeping in chairs on the beach after boating












Kenny and Elli thinking outside box...
or running out of chairs, however you want
to look at it...

Pink and Yellow Flying Submarines

Tonight Elli, Kaleena and I were sitting outside enjoying the evening, when Elli saw what she THOUGHT was an airplane come over the mountain. She said, "Look Mama, there's an airplane!" I told her, "That's not an airplane, it's a flying submarine. She says "For reals?" and then watches the airplane for as long as she can see it. She waves at the airplane, saying "Bye Bye." So I said "Bye Bye airplane!" She then informs me that it's not an airplane, it's a flying submarine. So then Kaleena and I started singing "Yellow Submarine" to her, and she wanted to know who drove the Flying Yellow Submarine. So, I told her the first person who came to mind. Uncle Deward. Again, "For reals?" I say ya. By this time, I am so amused with this story that I can't stop. "Hey Elli, you know who else drives a Flying Submarine? Aunt Kristi. Except, hers is pink." Kaleena is agreeing with everything I am feeding to my little gullible girl. She then wants to call Aunt Kristi, who proceeds in telling her that she keeps her Flying Pink Submarine parked in her floating underwater garage, and it hasn't rained enough to bring it out yet, or else she would bring it over to our Scentsy party tomorrow night! Elli's response to Aunt Kristi is, "You're wierd!" Kaleena and I were laughing so hard about this that there were a few tears!!!!

Pool Party!

On Saturday, we had over some family for a pool party, yes, I know we are obsessed with the pool! My aunt Marge, her boyfriend Raul, her son Derek and his wife, Nicole, and their two daughters, Makaylee and Brylee came up, and then my mom and dad and sister came over later on. We all swam in the pool for awhile, and then we had all kinds of food! We did dutch oven chicken, potatoes, and ribs, grilled steak, and then we did dutch oven cobblers. It was so fun! Elli and Makaylee played so hard that at the end of the night they were watching a movie and they crashed! It was fun to visit with everyone and just hang out for the afternoon.












Derek and Brylee










Aunt Marge










MaKaylee and Elli













Nicole












Raul and Brylee










Elli and MaKaylee passed out after hard day of playing