City Slickers

With Sam and Jed both out of town this week Carrie and I decided to hang out and have some fun taking the boys to experience the farm for the first time. It was hilarious! First of all we loaded up Carson and Parker and headed to Spanish Fork. After going to the butcher to pick up our beef that we just had butchered (if you want to smell something DISGUSTING just going to a slaughter house!) After that we headed to the farm to see the cows, sheep and horses. You should have seen the look at Carson's face when I told him he could ride in the back of the truck! He was in heaven. Parker wasn't so sure at first and was quite enjoying himself from the view of his seat with the window down. He LOVED the baby lambs and the horses and by the time we got to the field and through the gate he was ready to be in the back with Carson. We drove right into the middle of the cows! The first time one of the cows let out a big ole beller the boys about wet their pants......and of course Carrie and I were laughing hysterically! Not the simple little "moooo" that kids think cows make! After the farm we headed to CPK with Cody for dinner and Parker had to tell Cody about the cows at least a couple times----too cute. So I think the City Slickers Sweet boys enjoyed their first experience at the farm.

Things that make me happy..... and things that make me not so happy!

So I've had a crazy couple of weeks and thought that instead of going into full details I would pretty much sum everything up in four pictures. Let's start with what's made me happy the last couple of weeks.......First of all Jed got to come home for 4 days!!! That's the first time he's been home for more than 12 hours in about two months! YAHOOO!!! The second thing to make me happy is that Sarah and Marcy came to visit for a few days while attending Women's Conference at BYU. I was too apostate to join them.......actually Women's Conference is the busiest time of year at our hotel. You might ask why that is.......let me explain........it's pretty much because we have 100 rooms at our hotel but about 1,000 guests staying........how is that possible you might ask??........well, do the math......you have 1,000 cheap women staying in one hotel so if you figure that out---that means you have 10 women crammed into one room and they have the nerve to get totally mad when you don't have 5 roll away beds to put in each room!!! So let's just say that Women's Conference isn't such a spiritual experience for me. So back to Sarah and Marcy, it was super fun to have them here! We had a blast chatting, eating, eating, eating, and chatting some more. Oh and of course we managed to work in a trip to the MAC counter! I told them they are we should make a tradition of them coming and staying at the casa de Baadsgaard every year for Women's Conference. Oh, one more thing that has made me happy is my tulips FINALLY came up and aren't they sooooo purdy!

































Now how about a few things that made me not so happy the past few weeks.....First and foremost is that we had 3 tenants move in and out in one weekend and Jed was out of town so I got to play landlord all by myself!!! It wouldn't have been so bad but one apartment had to be painted and one apartment was left a WRECK!!! Above is just a few pictures of the apartment that wasn't cleaned. I hired my sister-in-law Karlee to clean the place and it took her 8 hours with me helping her about 3 of those hours to get it done. The tubs alone took her 2 hours and about 6 magic erasers!! DISGUSTING!!! With the help of Jed's brother Chad and his wife Marie and his dad we were able to get the place painted and cleaned and ready to be moved in! I'm so grateful for Jed's family.......I would have been a mess without them!!!

Deep in the Heart of Texas!!

So this past week Jed had to go to Texas for business and since one of my other favorite people in the world happens to live there (Karmen) I decided it would be in my best interest to head there for the weekend! Oh-----and also the fac that they have GREAT shopping there. I love the picture above of Lily (Karmen's little girl)--she was talking to her Dad on the phone and just keep yelling "DADDY! HI! DADDY! HI!" (she got her soft dainty voice from her mom---HA! HA) She was a real trooper and hung in there as we drug her all around Dallas for two days!
















Friday night we ditched the kids and headed to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Jed was in heaven---not because I was there but because it's his favorite restaurant! And finally below I had to include a shot of my latest purchases. And some say I have a purse obsession---whatever! I guess you could say it was a sucessful trip---or at least I hope so! wink! wink!

Spring Sing

So this week I made the treck out to Mona (by Nephi for those of you who have never been there) to see my niece Kylee in her school Spring Sing!! I have to admit it was pretty stinkin cute. Kylee was the only kindergartner to have a speaking part and she did awesome! Her class sang Do Re Mi from the Sound of Music. Doesn't she look so cute in her pink dress!















Below are a couple of random shots of the boys doing the concert. Carter is being a stinker and trying to act like I'm not his favorite aunt! (actually if truth be told I think Marie is really his favorite aunt). I love the picture of Kade below----as some of you know he has more energy than any kid I know so to get a picture of him sitting still is a real treat. How about his blue eyes----arent' the gorgeous!!!

A Whole New View!!

So I feel this pressure to hurry and update my blog before anyone else in the family can because all of our updates will pretty much be the same. So I've decided to not post the "normal" wedding pictures of Kami's wedding but more of my version of the weekend.

Rather than standing OUTSIDE of the temple when they came out I was standing INSIDE of the temple so I could hand Kami her boquet--thus the picture from behind---I bet you've never seen that before! Below is a great picture of Quinn eating goldfish to keep him happy---how about the view up his nose---or better yet---the cheesey grin on Jed's face behind him.

Next we have Quinn running----which is pretty much what he did the ENTIRE time we were trying to take a nice loving family picture and Austin is for some reason stricking a pose.

Next is Karmen (the florist) taking over for Cody (the photographer) so he could be in the picture. Karmen flew up from Texas to do the flowers---which is a whole other story---basically I wish I would have taken more pictures of the flower "process"----or should I say "flower competition" between Jed and Karmen which finally ended at 2am. Yes, that's right folks.....Jed not only knows how to drive a tractor but he can also make a mean flower arrangment---I'm not kidding! This will probably be my last blog entry because he is going to be sooooo mad when he reads this and finds out that I let everyone know that he has quite the flower arranging talent.

Here we have the wedding luncheon at the Bell's. Of course I had to take a picture of the "Cool" table. It looks like Chris is really wanting to tell Aunt Jana and Carrie something. Good times.

I can't quite remember what we were doing here but i'm guessing Cody told us to give our sexiest look. Kami should really consider moving to Vegas to be an Elvis impersonator and Maile is looking a little high if you ask me....but ME---I look dead sexy in this pose!

This is what I'll refer to as the "morning after" hair. Maile had put so many bobbypins in my hair the night before and I was way to tired to take them out before I went to bed. I hate to tell you all this but I drove Jed to the airport with this Medusala hair, greeted a realtor at the other house and pretty much kept this hairdo until about 5:30pm on Sunday until I finally forced myself to shower.

Conference Weekend

I love conference weekend----church from the luxury from your living room, girls night out while the men go to Preisthood session and breakfast on Sunday inbetween sessions with all the friends....and some great talks from the big guys in SLC! Above you'll see us enjoying some grub at Pizza Factory---I love their bread twists. Of course after that we headed to the mall for a little shopping and didn't make it past Nordstroms--shocker. I should have taken some pictures of the new purchases. Below is a picture of Lani and Jen in all their pregnant glory! Jen has 2 more months and Lani has 4 more looooong months (that's how she says it).

These are probably my favorite pictures of the weekend! It's Chari showing us her different smiles. The first smile is from her childhood---she said she use to do this smile because she had bad teeth before she got braces. The second smile is the smile she's used for about the last 10 years. BUT--most recently she's trying out a NEW smile which is photo #3----it's more of a FULL smile without so much gums and lots more of her purty teeth! I'm a fan of her NEW smile--what do y'all think. Please post your vote and I'll let her know the results.

So these last two pictures are of our activities on Sunday while trying to listen. Above is a picture of Melissa painting all the prego ladies toenails because they just can't quite reach them anymore and hello----we are entering flip-flop season! Below is me and BFF Rylee decorating marshmallow easter eggs. Hey---two hours is a long time to listen for a little girl and I felt it was my duty to help her be entertained! All I have to say is good thing I tivo'd all the sessions because my attention span wasn't so great on Sunday.

Grandpa Bell's Funeral

So as most of you know--since you are family--I went to Eastern Washington this past week for my Grandpa Bell's funeral. It took place in the booming metropolis of Quincy. It was bittersweet. After having a stroke two years ago he has pretty much been "trapped" in his body not being able to speak or even feed himself. I'm sure he was happy to leave this earth and see my grandma and lots of other loved ones once again. I love the picture above of all the Bell children in order of age---don't worry Aunt Pat---I won't tell anyone which side of the picture is oldest and which side is youngest!















So when we heard that my uncles we putting my grandpa's cattle brand on his casket we were just a BIT concerned! I have to admit though....I thought it looked pretty freakin' cool!

















Let's be honest.....the best part about funerals is getting to party with your family afterwards and the grubbin luncheon the Relief Society puts on after the funeral is over. The Quincy R.S. sure made us some good ham and funeral potatoes. I love the picture of Quinn enjoying his brownie. How about the picture of Cannon below---did you ever see such a round face in your life? Quinn sat next to Cody and I during the funeral and he kept saying in his whisper (which is the same kind of a whisper that old ladies use in the temple----not so much a whisper really) anyway, he kept asking "why is grandpa in that box?" and "why are we talking about him if he's just in the box........is he dead?"
















Finally my FAVORITE picture and experience of the week!!!! We all gathered at my grandparents house for probably the last time ever after the funeral. My uncles got out the old John Deer tractor so we could take it for a ride! The best was when Cody made Carrie drive it......let me just tell you that she doesnt' even drive manual transmission cars so this was quite a big step for her. Needless to say Cody, Carrie and I were laughing so hard I almost wet my pants. I'll be framing this picture and displaying it with pride! You can take the girl off the farm but you can't take the farm out of the girl!

I'm BACK!!

So I've been out of commission for a few weeks and I'm finally back and able to update my blog---hallelujah!!!! So I hope you don't get to bored as I blog my way through the last couple of weeks. First on the agenda was our trip to Seattle at the end of February. We met up with Maile and the boys at my parents house for a few days. Needless to say we did a whole lot of nothing and it was GREAT! I loved every lazy minute of it. We did have a little birthday party for Quinn and I love the picture of Quinn blowing out the candles on his Thomas the train cake and Maile ever so kindly guarding the cake with her hand from Quinn's spit as he blew!! She always has been the "thoughtful" one in the family. I had to include a picture of Maile laughing when Quinn was opening his presents because before he could even finish one present he was looking over his shoulder to make sure there were more to open! I don't care what anyone says---he's not spoiled one bit!-----he's especially deprived from Grandma Oram.

So the reason for my lack of blogging is because I had to have my gallbladder taken out this past week. It all began about three months ago when I started having gallbladder attacks---or near death experiences as I like to call them......I swear I saw the light a couple of times. So my mom came down for a week to take care of me. If you're wondering what we did while she was here.....just look at the picture of her on the couch. I pretty much slept all week and my mom took care of me. The middle picture is when my mom decided to have a surprise birthday hot fudge sundae for Jed at 11:30pm. (his birthday isn't till the end of the month---let's be honest---it was just an excuse for her to make hot fudge!) I of course was laughing hysterically and Jed just sat there looking at both of us like we were crazy---what's new. The last picture is of the gorgeous flowers one of my clients sent me ----I thought they were so pretty so I had to share.

Last but not least is Ashlee (Jed's little sister) getting engaged in a VERY UNUSAL place.....the reflection pond at temple square! Her fiance Will is a great guy and we're excited for them to get married this June. The picture above is of all of us watching the big event. Ashlee has a twin sister Carlee and her boyfriend gets home from his mission on Wednesday so I'm betting we have two weddings this summer......although Carlee SWEARS she's not getting married for at least a year! Yeah right! I told her that if she does get married within the next year that she has to wear Ashlee's wedding dress---that should be a good motivator for her wait the year. Well, I think that's all. I hope you'll all enjoyed my long-winded update.

Farmer Jed!!

My childhood dream came true.....I married a farmer! Or was that a childhood nightmare? This weekend Jed's parents were out of town so we got the privelage of feeding cows! The first picture is of Jed loading the hay on the truck. After he laid it perfectly on the truck bed I told him that I was sickly nervous the whole time he was loading it that he would dump it on the ground.......he was hurt that I didn't have more faith in his "skills." So now I can say in confidence that "my man has the skills to pay the bills!" (he loves it when I talk like that) So anyway--the next picture is of him scooping the hay off the truck and into the field for the cows to eat. The picture below is of ME driving the truck in the field for him. My grandpa Bell would be proud. The last picture is the newest addition to the Baadsgaard family. He's our first calf born this year. Pretty cute huh. After we were all done Jed said "See honey--wasn't that fun!" and I said "yes, it was fun.....but if I HAD to do it every day....not so fun." Jed buys a few more cows every year in hopes that some day we'll have a heard like his dad and we'll HAVE to move to Spanish Fork. As you can tell.....I'm still dragging my feet and not convinced yet!

Happy Valentines To ME!!!

So Jed showed up at my work on the 13th with these beautiful roses---yes, it was a day early because he was leaving on the 14th for a business trip---either that or to be with his other wife on Valentines Day? Just kidding! So of course it made my day! My friend Amy always teases me because I always say Jed is DREEEEEAMY!! But he really is!! Don't worry---I wasn't totally outdone by him.....I got him some new snowmobiling gloves----aren't I sooooo romantic! I would tell you what else I got him but this is a 'G' rated blog! HA! HA!

HEY LADIES!!!!!

Since the cat no longer has my tongue.....I would like to announce that there is a newly single hot guy in Utah! To celebrate his freedom we had a little party last week. Shandy of course gave him the best gift which he is holding in the picture above.......a little black book! He told her there was just one problem......she hadn't put any phone numbers of her cute little employees in there yet. No need to worry though. ..... Shandy has quite the list of girls for him to date, starting with the "just for fun to get you back in the dating scene" all the way to the "more serious with real potentional". We all decided that there would be a few questions he will need to ask before he dates anyone that are definite deal breakers and that if answered "yes" he must run like hell....

1. Do you like cats?

2. Do you hate going to parties and hanging out with friends?

3. Do you hate hearing the same family stories like "remember when the dog ate the cheetos..." over and over again?

4. Do you hate trying new restaurants?

Snowmobiling in Island Park

Anyone who knows Jed knows that he LOVES to snowmobile. Every year he goes with his buddies for about 4 days up to Island Park to snowmobile. Well, this year was a very special year......the wives were allowed to come! Even though I felt quite honored and was excited to be able to go....I am fully aware that 99% of the reason I was invited was so I could cook for the boys.

The first day was a "boys only" day which was fine by me because it was freakin cold. In fact, it was so cold Jed got frostbite on his face. That's my hottie husband above----doesn't he look tough! The next day we were allowed to go for a few hours with the boys. Jed even took me in a few parts I found a little scary but he told me to buck up and that he was "teaching me to be a better rider" so that I could go more often with him. Uhm...thanks, I guess?! See even though we're sitting on the snowmobile together above I refuse to ride on the snowmobile with him. I like my own sled....cause I'm tough like that. Yeah right----I just hate trying to hang on while someone else is driving and not knowing what's ahead! So I guess I should probably take his "lessons" a little more seriously. (even though I like to think I'm already a good rider!) Here's a few pictures of the cabin we stayed in. It really was a fun and relaxing weekend.