Suburban or Minivan?!!

So, a couple of weeks ago I was driving on the US 60 when we were hit by some girl probably texting and putting on her makeup while eating a supersize Big Mac. That is the only way she could not have seen me. Anyways, since "Grandma's Van" (which Justin so lovingly named my van since only a granny would drive something like it) was on it's last legs , we are ready to get something new. We just can't decide what.

(not really her)


On one hand, after our most recent road trip to Utah we realized we'd like something with four wheel drive, more cargo space and leg room. (poor Victoria was so scrunched in the back of the van) So a Suburban sounds great. But honestly getting 15-20 mpg (on a good day) is enough to make me want to.....well anyways.



It's so gorgeous, isn't it?

But the more practical side says a minivan is the way to go. They're affordable, not huge gas guzzlers, very convenient, and I don't care if it screams homemaker with 4 children. How cool are automatic sliding doors?





So I need help deciding and want your opinions, please. If you have one or the other, tell me what you like or dislike. We're not real picky on makes ( no " Calvin peeing on a car "sticker's for us)

(Seriously, what kind of a person puts that on their car?!)

Let them eat cake!

I'm realizing I like to do bday cakes a lot more than weddings. So little stress involved. I just finished this one for my friend's daughter's bday. She's having a "Spa Party" and they're getting facials and nails done at the party.

My poor kids. I only let them have a party every other year and even then I try to bribe them out of having that one. "Hey sweetie, wouldn't you rather have this really cool $20 bill than a stinky old party? Nobody's going to show up anyways. You don't have any REAL friends." Is that crossing the line? :) OK, I don't really say that, but I do offer them $ to save me the hassle of a party. None of them have taken me up on it yet. But I can keep on trying. Maybe I should offer more?

School has Started!!!!!

I'm not even going to try to hide my excitement.

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!

I love school. I love the schedule it puts us on, I love the new clothes and packing lunches. I love that I get to see my friends when I take and pick up the kids from school. It's all so good. All of the kids were excited for school to start also so that makes it absolutely perfect. Emma got Mrs. Galen (whom we love) and Victoria got into Advanced Drama (everybody gasp in surprise) Victoria, Drama?!! I would never put the two together. :) She loves it and that makes me happy. Cameron got Mrs Carpenter and he finally has some friends in his class so he's good. (he's so easy to please)

my photogenic one.

We missed Ashlyn's bday when we were in Utah so we took them for pedicures before school started. Lucky.

I'm surprised they didn't duck behind the bushes when I came over. :)

Of course, Grace was disappointed when I dragged her back to the car with me. Emma loves kindergarten and is thrilled when the weekend is over. We'll see how long that lasts. :)

We went to my sister, Shelly's, house this weekend so the kids could swim. Her pool is great and the kids had a great time. Thanks Shel.

Utah 2008


I love Utah. All of my mother's family lives up there and I love my mom's family. There's more than 150 of us now (living) and still growing. Every time we go up, I want to move there. But, we also always visit in the summer when it's absolutely beautiful. Never in the winter. But it's been a while since I've gone with my kids so we decided to pack up the minivan and head up for a wedding and to visit my 90 year old grandma. We took a detour to Brianhead Ut first to spend some time with Justin's brother and family. This will now be an Alexander family tradition. It was gorgeous and we found a great cheap condo. Stocked with old 80 movies and video games for the kids up in the loft. Could it get any better? We played, had a picnic, rode the chair lift to the top and Justin got some mountain biking in before we left.







stinky boys
Victoria and cousin Bailey










After Brianhead, we took the genealogical route up through Koosharem Ut to see my ancestors hometown. We even ate at the Koosharem Cafe (which wasn't half bad)





Then onto Grandma Gunderson's. She lives in the home that my great great grandfather built. He traded the property for a down mattress he had owned in Denmark and had brought across the plains with them. The store that he owned across the street is still standing which I thought was pretty cool. Wasatch Academy now owns it and is turning it into a coffee shop soon.








I love having a hot husband.





We left Grandma's the next day (before the kids gave her a heart attack) and went to Provo for the next three days. We played, saw movies, and went up to Brighton to see Justin's sister (who actually lives in Buckeye, but was visiting family) The highlight was Salt Lake and Temple Square. It was so hot! We saw the Joseph Smith movie (loved it and cried) and the JS memorial bldng and ate at the Gardens Restaurant. It was beautiful.









Brighton - me riding the zip line :) Justin actually smiling for a picture








The Wedding

OK, here's how this works....... Skye is my cousin. She is marrying Paul Brown, who is my sister in law's ( Courtney) nephew. Courtney is Clint Brown's (SR1 ward) sister. My other sister in law, Alice, is Debbie Brown's (Clint's wife)sister. I think that makes Debbie and I related in three different twisted ways. (Courtney, Alice, and now Paul) I'm so sorry Debbie. :)


My cousin Skye (she was beautiful) Skye and her brothers



My Aunt Jana and Uncle Kent (with grandbaby)

Cousin Tigh and Jacque

It was a great trip. But there's no place like home. :)

It's My Birthday and I'll Blog If I Want To........(you know you want to sing along)

Yes, today I turned 35. I am officially closer to 40 than 30. What a rip. I've been telling the kids that I'm 25 for the last 6 years. Obviously the older ones caught on once they hit about 1st grade, and I thought I had one more year with Emma. But last night she sang me one of her made up songs for my birthday that went something like this..." ooooh, ooooh, she thinks she's 25, but she's really 40!! Oh Yeah! 40!!" I literally felt my butt sag more and my crows feet multiply by the end of the song. Birthdays suck. But Justin is giving me a very special gift this year. I can't say what it is, but it's a really good one.

I know it's been WAY too long since I've updated my blog and I'm tired of getting heavy sighs and eye rolls from Victoria when she asks me if I've posted on my blog. I know everybody understands that life gets busy and sympathises with me because you've all been there. So, I guess I'll start where I left off..........


July 12th, 2008

Cameron was Baptized. It was a wonderful day with both of our families and many friends there. He is such a sweetheart and was so excited. I love how he tries to play it so cool when he's excited and then gets this big grin on his face that he can't hide. We are so proud of him and the choices he makes.








July 15th 2008

The Big 15!!














Yes, 15 years ago Justin and I were married after dating for 2 months and being engaged 2 months. I know that is a long engagement for some LDS people, but we were strong. :) Luckily, Justin and I grew up together so it's not THAT crazy to get married so quickly. My mom was his cub scout leader and I dated most of his friends. (and fortunately didn't kiss any of them. Now THAT would be awkward) We never dated before his mission, and once he got home he immediately got back together with his high school girlfriend. Then the day of the High School cheer leading competition came and I went to see my sister compete. You can ask him why he was there and he'll give you some lame story about a friends car being stolen or whatever so he was "giving him a ride". :) We ran into each other and I flirted like I've never flirted before (and that's saying something) and then told him to look me up before I left. It was love/lust at first sight. And since I was playing hard to get, I called him later that day to ask him out. He politely said no and I think I hung up soon after that. He didn't call for a couple of weeks, so I called him again. I thought that maybe he had lost my number or there was a chance he really liked desperate girls. ( I did not know he had a girlfriend at the time) Either way, this is how the conversation went.....(as I remember it) Don't ask him for his side of the story.
Justin - "Hello?"
me - "Hey Justin, this is Renae DeWitt. "
Justin - "Who?" (not really)
me - anyways....."Do you want to go out tonight?"
Justin - "No, I already have plans."

dramatic pause........

me - "You know, this is the 2nd time you've said no to me. I've never had to ask anyone out before and I've definitely never been turned down twice by anyone. So if you want to go out with me, you're going to have to call me next time."

Justin - "Umm, ok. Bye"

Now, as I'm writing this I'm thinking, " I was so lame. Didn't I take the hint the first time? How pitiful (and vain) could I have been to say something like that? If Victoria ever does that, I'll be so embarrassed for her." :)

Well, soon after that we ran into each other at the ASU dance. I thought, "maybe he'll like me if I show him some of my cool dance moves." So after an hour or so of doing the running man and the cabbage patch, he eventually noticed me and we danced the night away. :) He finally told me he had a girlfriend who was up at BYU but they were dating other people, so it wasn't hopeless. He never held my hand or even hugged me until after he broke up with her in person. (which then was totally frustrating, but now I see that he's just very trustworthy)
The rest is history.
So I guess the moral of the story is if you act desperate enough and have smooth moves on the dance floor, you can score the man of your dreams. :) Which he is. Or maybe, we were destined to be together. Either way, I'm the luckiest girl and couldn't be happier.


































July 17th 2008


Later on the next week I had a wedding cake to do for Gina's cousin. I was so excited because one, I love Gina and wanted to make her proud, and two, it was a Hawaiian themed wedding and I was going to go all crazy with cake flavors. Lemon cake with pineapple curd filling for one layer, and white cake with lemon curd and blackberry jam. The bottom was fake and the top was all vanilla.


Well, it was about 125 degrees the day before the wedding (maybe a slight exaggeration) so trying to make these huge cakes and keep them from melting was not easy. I finally finished around 10pm and assembled the cake for the next day. It looked wonderful as I put it in the fridge and I headed up to bed.



You know when you get "that feeling" that you should do something you really don't want to? Well, I did and didn't ignore it(I usually do). I opened the fridge and saw the whole cake leaning against the side of the fridge ready to collapse. I didn't know what to do so I scooped up what I could (the thing weighed at least 40 lbs) and tried to salvage something. Only the top and the fake bottom survived so I decided to just go to bed and make a new cake in the morning.



This picture is one of the disastrous tiers. I can't say that the family was disappointed of my failure. We ate wedding cake for at least a week.




Here is the finished product. It goes to show you that you can make anything look good with enough flowers. I just wish it was better.
Well, it's late. To be continued.......

To be continued...........

Sorry, between baptisms, 4th of July up north, a wedding cake, school shopping, more school shopping, and getting ready to go to Utah for 12 days, I have no time to post. I'm thinking once school starts things will slow down........HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Do we have to go home?

Yes, those are the words of the kids every time we get ready to come home from the ranch. It was no different this time. Cameron always cries. ;) The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast.

The girls and I mowing the lawn. They're such good helpers.

It's amazing how little fighting there is with the kids when you bring a friend! ;)

(thank you Ashlyn)

no, we didn't let Emma drive the 4 wheeler. Maybe next year. :) Cameron's legs were finally long enough to reach the go-cart's pedals. Woo Hoo!

Justin taking the kids for a ride.

We head back up in 4 days. Yee Haw! :)

43 more days until school starts...

Summer Fun!!


I wish I was posting about something a little more fun or witty, but really, it's just not in the cards for me right now. :) Anyways, nothing can beat Elisha Romney's poop story, so I'm not even going to try. ;) So here is what we've been up to.

Cameron and Brady Fuller getting thrown in the air. According to Brady, it was "Totally Wicked" :) Afterwards we made some pizza.

Victoria, Courtney Ridd and Samantha Harms during their 5 hour swim. These are some really great girls. You know, the kind of friends that you want to hang out with your kids. Victoria is pretty lucky to be surrounded by good friends.

Grace's ladybug that loved her flower on her swimsuit. She kept on saying "I okay mommy, I okay." but she had a totally panicked look on her face.

This week we go to the ranch for a friends reception and then we go back for the 4th of July. Show Low and Taylor both have great parades and fireworks. I think we'll even run the Taylor 10k. Then again, I just might sleep in. Hmmm....