Random update....

My friend Linda updates her blog like every week or something crazy like that. Let's face it I will never be that dedicated or interesting, but she has motivated me a bit. And besides I am very bored right now. I have had the swine flu, but I think I am on the mend since I'm no longer sleeping non stop. Clyde came down with it first, and I followed right behind him. Bryan has been lucky... so far. Clyde was disappointed that he had to miss his last regular season football game, and I am a nervous wreck about my holiday open house it's only 18 days away.
Okay my last post was in March, and lots of things have happened since then. I think we will just go with the top ten... not necessarily in any order!
1. Ella! My wonderful little flesh and blood granddaughter, Ella, was born on July 30, 2009! She is the love of my life! Who knew being a grandma could be so great! You have probably seen all of the pictures her proud mom and aunt have posted on facebook! For more Ella info... see Heather's blog!
2. I was going to run the Wasatch Back in May, but I got a nasty stress fracture that kept me out of my running shoes for almost 3 months. I was terrified of gaining back the weight I'd worked so hard to loose, so I took up biking and swimming. What an experience. A comical one for the old men and the rec center who witnessed my attempts at self instruction night after night. (Believe me they made no secret of it) I finally signed up for some lessons, and by the time my swim team nieces from Texas showed up I was ready to learn the flip turn. I still need a lot of swimming practice before I attempt my first triathlon next spring.
3. Clyde started his senior year of high school! Yikes I am really getting old. He has had an awesome year in football! He plays D End and has done a great job of pressuring the QB's all season! He even made it into the Salt Lake Tribune and the Desert News a few times!
4. Homecoming... at the shop we had 3 weeks in a row of late nights making corsages and bouts for all the high school kids! It is a crazy busy time for us... the kids are great, but their parents can really make me crazy. (special note... let your kid order his/her own flowers for the dance. It really doesn't matter if the dress is aqua, teal, or pale icy green there aren't flowers that color anyway! We (or who ever your florist is) will do something wonderful to coordinate with it.)
Homecoming... Clyde had a cute date and lots of fun... for pictures check out his facebook page... His date posted-- not him. He is never on.
5. Byran and I went to Cancun-- it was the most random, spur of the moment thing we have ever done. Booked it on Tuesday left on Friday! We had a blast! We were actually just looking online for an inexpensive little get away for our anniversary-- thinking San Diego or San Francisco or something like that when we came across a great deal at an all inclusive resort including tips, taxi, airfare ect.
6. Marchele moved to Provo... she is going to UVU and having a blast with her new roommates! One is her best childhood friend Alex! For more detail see her blog!
7. Marchele got a new car! A shiny blue chevy aveo. She loves it! For more details see her blog!
8. Monica announced that she is expecting again! This will be grandchildren number 6 AND 7 for Bryan and I. Yes she is having twins. Yikes all under 4!
9. After 7 years in business, we have shortened the shops name to Willow, and updated our logo. We felt we needed to update and make it a bit more modern. Our sign, van, and website are all in the process of being updated. You can follow us on facebook now for the latest Willow news, sales, discounts and printable coupons. Our page on facebook is Willow.
10. After 6 floods in our basement, and almost a year of not using it because we couldn't decide what to do to keep the water problem at bay, we are finally moving forward! We are having a watergard system installed around the perimeter along with 3 sump pumps, 2 inside 1 outside. If all goes as planned it will be done in time for Thanksgiving. If we flood again, I will scream!

Vegas....

This is me... fighting off the crowds at the Vegas World Market Center....
Ok, so most of you probably know that every Janurary I go to Dallas for "market". This is when I make most of the non perishable purchases for my store... for the entire year...including Christmas! So, it's a pretty important thing. Well this year we decided we were going to shake things up a bit a go to a different market. There are 4 major markets that showcase "Home & Holiday" Atlanta, Dallas, Vegas and LA. We chose Vegas because it was close, we could drive, and it was later in the year, thus giving us a little extra time to evaluate last year and plan our upcoming promotions. As we reseached the Vegas market, we found two sets of dates... one in Feb, one in March. Why in the world would they hold a major market in Feb? The week before Valentines? We concluded that the Feb show must be the small one, and the "real" event would be in March! UMMM... WRONG. VERY WRONG. So market was a bust. A complete waste of time from a business point of view; but, we decided to stay, and we still had a great time! And no worries, we've got all kinds of great stuff ordered and coming in throughout the year... we even have most of Christmas planned and purchased thanks to a few wonderful reps who have helped us out!

While we were in Vegas, we slept in, worked out, layed by the pool, walked all around down on the strip, lost our car in the parking garage, accidentaly used the men's room, and checked out the cool flowers, "snails" and "bugs" at the Bellagio!


We even tried our luck in Cesars Palace on St Paddy's Day! It was the best part of the trip for me because I put $2 in the penny slots and walked away with $150!

Seriously

Ok, everyone has been telling me that I "SERIOUSLY" need to update my blog... Actually I do have a bit of an excuse. Our basement, where our computer lives, has been an ongoing problem... It flooded in September, and I finally got it fixed and back in order just before Christmas, then the first of January it flooded again. We now have a lovely concrete floor that we are trying to figure out what to do with!





Seriously is my new favorite word... it can be used in so many wonderful ways! When Heather found this shirt for my online I seriously had to have it!



So whats been going on in my life for the last 6 months? Well I'll start with the kids. Heather and Tim are expecting a baby in August! We are excited about that and will be finding out if its a boy or a girl at the end of this month. Heather has a new job at the U hospital that she is enjoying, and should work out well for her even after the baby is born! Tim is busy with school, work and his Choir group. Marchele has decided that she doesn't want to be an engineer, pharmacist, or accountant, so for now she is just going to college to decide what she wants to be when she grows up... but that is okay. I still haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up either! Marchele has also decide that she doesn't exactly love Logan and USU either. Next year she will be living in Provo with her best lifelong friend Alex, and going to UVU! Jason, or Clyde as he would prefer to be called, is really missing his sisters at home. So much so that he now tortures me the way he used to torture them. Have you ever played the cereal game with him? Loads of fun! He is working at Cold Stone a few nights a week... wish it was more! He is on the track team and spends a lot of time working out and chasing girls. If only he would spend a little more of his time on math and chemistry, we would have it made! Bryan is one of the stake athletic directors and spends his Thursday evenings and Saturdays running time clocks and keeping score for basketball games. Work is about the same for him, but a larger company is about to buy out Scott Machinery, so evidently there will be changes ahead-- hopefully they will be good ones rather than bad ones! Me-- well I have become a boot camp junkie and I am actually beginning to call myself a runner. I am even going to run a 1/2 marathon soon! Work is ya know... work. Business is pretty good, a little slower than last year at this time, but not too bad. I didn't do my usual trip to Dallas in January for Market because we had weddings and stuff conflicting this year. Besides, it's really hard to pick out Christmas in January so we decided to try a different market this year. I am leaving on Sunday to go to Vegas for a week! I am excited about this even though I haven't been to this market before at least it will be warm!