First ever Kramer Pictures.

Every year my parents organize to take pictures together. We haven't ever done it Jeramie's family so I thought I would take the bull by the horns and organize it myself. So we headed out on Sunday in the wind and the cold hoping the weather would hold out for us. I think they turned out really great. Kudos to my mum for coming out and being our photographer. Gelasia and Daniel will be moving to Wyoming early next year, plus we rarely get Jeramie's boys when it's time for pictures. So all in all it was a big success. I can't wait to frame some up and give them as Christmas presents (shh .. don't tell!)

Jonathan and J'Von

Robie (Jeramie's mom) and Gelasia (his sister)
Robie and Gerald
Myself and Baylee

Daniel and Gelasia (the newlyweds)
I like this one.
Jeramie just has the one sister.

Jeramie's immediate family.
Plus spouses.
And we have a winner!

First Kramer Family picture.
Robie, Gerald and their grandbabies.

I think this one might be nice blown up big.
Robie and my kids.
Another of the whole clan.

Mommy needs some sleep!

So for a couple weeks now Wyland just isn't sleeping well at night. He used to be my STAR sleeper. Then he got sick a couple months ago and ever since then it hasn't been the same. He had a cough which we treated with antibiotics. It got better for a little while. Then he started cutting his eye teeth. So I contributed his bad sleeping to the pain of cutting teeth. Then about a week and a half ago he started with the cough again! So last night I took him in to Instacare (apparently there are lots of sick kids right now because I couldn't get a "sick" appointment at the regular Dr office). The Dr diagnoses him with croup. I have a hard time believing he's got croup. He has nasty cough but that's it. So we ended up with a steroid shot and then a steroid pill to take today. Last night was no better. He wakes up in the middle of the night just distraught! Isn't hungry, doesn't want to be cuddled, doesn't want to be left alone?? It's the most frustrating thing! I have no idea what's wrong or how to fix it. In the meantime I'm never getting a good nights sleep and I'm exhausted.

Any suggestions from you Mommy's out there? I'm willing to try almost anything!

Tattooing is always a family event!

So it seems that getting a tattoo is a family event with the Howards. Myself, my mum and Evan all went and got our first tattoo's together several years ago. I got a whales tale with the British flag painted inside of it. Evan got a griffin. Mum got an English rose. I never would have believed that this pain was addicting, but the desire to get another one arose about a year ago. So back in July myself, Jeramie and my mum headed in. This was Jeramie's first tattoo. It's kind of fun going and doing it together. I love that it's so expressive of who you are. You can tell a lot about a person by their tattoo's I think.

Mum got a Welsh Dragon

Her dad was born in Wales.

Jeramie and I got matching tattoos.

I know, kind of cheesey.

It's the Japanese kanji for "Family"

Me on the inside of my wrist.
Jeramie on the back of his neck.

I love both of my tattoos. I'm already thinking about what I want to get next. Although it will be somewhere much more concealed. They all turned out great though. Now I have a constant reminder of what life is about for me. My family.

So when is it apprpriate to talk back to a nosey stranger?

So yesterday I'm doing my usual sunday ritual. Yes, that's right my shopping at Target. We walk the same path every single week. Bribe the kids to be good while I grocery shop with the promise of a visit to the toy section afterwards. So I'm in the sheets section that is literally three, maybe even two aisles from the toys. Wyland has begun to fuss so Baylee took him over there for a little look at the toys. They are literally within earshot of me. I'm not one of those parents that just lets their kids wander off in the grocery store with a promise of "I'll meet you there in 20 minutes." Nope, not me. They are never out of earshot. So I walk up to the aisle that Baylee and Wyland are on. Baylee is sat on the floor with Wyland on her lap showing him some talking Transformer. I hear the following:

Target Clerk, "Excuse me ma'am, are these your children?"

Me, "Yes." (thinking oh shit, what have they done!!!!)

Target Clerk, "Okay." (and walks away)

Me, (thinking, okay that was weird but whatever. Thank God they weren't doing something weirdly illegal.) But it doesn't end there, within seconds the I hear:

Complete Stranger, "Ma'am .. Ma'am .. I just wanted to explain what happened."

Me, (I just look at this guy, thinking who the hell are you and why are you talking to me??)

Complete Stanger, "That little girl was hitting the baby and then when he would start to cry she would try and console him. Then she would do it again."

Me, (... well I said nothing. I turned and walked away.)

Now keep in mind, there is NO WAY Baylee would ever hit Wyland to be mean. She doesn't even do that to Jackson who beats up on her constantly. If this guy had said Jackson was doing that I would completely believe him, but not Baylee. And I could hear Wyland whining from where I had been. He was NOT crying the "I'm hurt" cry, the kid was whining! What makes people think they can make such unbased accusations like that?? Blows me away. But really I wanted to almost debate with this guy about it. Like, "Okay, and what exactly was she doing?" But as usual I just walked away from the ignorant stranger.

University of Utah vs. New Mexico

Living in Salt Lake City you are either a U of U fan or a BYU fan. Clearly everyone in my family is a U of U fan. I graduated from the U back in 2000. Evan is currently a student and the U. Honestly I expect my kids may go there as well. I hope they do that's for sure. I loved going to school there. Each year we try and make it to at least one home game. This year was no exception. This was actually the first Utes game that Jeramie had ever been to. We also took Jonathan with us as well and it was his first college game ever. Although we were super high up it still felt like we had great seats. I don't think there's a bad seat in the house to be honest. I should also mention that it's been really warm here this week. So I went to the game with only a sweatshirt in hand and I honestly worried that it would be too warm to even wear it. Boy was I wrong! Apparently my mother knew it was going to get much colder this weekend at nighttime, wish she'd shared that little tid bit of information with me!! Usually I'm the one that's hauling a big bag with jackets, blankets, hats and gloves only to find I don't need them. Today was the complete opposite!! I was so cold! It didn't stop us from having a great time though.

Mike and Owen In the background is a great view of the city.
You can even see the Great Salt Lake.

Jonathan and Jeramie Oh .. and this red sweatshirt I'm wearing?

It's an antique! It's 14 years old! My dad bought

it for me when I received my acceptance letter to the U.

Christmas is coming and my cards will go out on time!

Pictures are always such a nightmare with kids. You never know what to expect. I always think to myself, "Hmm, what is a good time of day to take them?" Trying to figure out when they will be the most cooperative. When Baylee was a baby I swear she always fell ASLEEP when it was time for pictures. Well today was no exception. Today it was Wyland that wasn't feeling cooperative. At the end of the day as I look over the pictures they still turned out pretty good. But boy was it a lot of work!

Baylee - Age 12

Jackson - age 3 1/2 Wyland - age 16 months
Jackson and Wyland

What couldn't Kerry live without?

It's been a crazy week at work. For those of you that don't know I'm a Customer Service Manager at a medical device manufacturer here in SLC. I was tasked with a big project where I had to identify why our customers feel like we aren't an easy company to do business with. It meant that I had basically been behind closed doors this entire week (Wednesday I didn't leave the office until 9:30pm). So today we presented our findings and now I feel like a deflated balloon. I'm just mentally spent. So anyway I was catching up on all the blog postings that I had missed during the week because I had been so busy. Which led me to think .. hmm .. I LOVE reading peoples blogs. I try and get most of my friends to do it too. Some of them I'm still working on (Mum AND Rachel, I'm referring to you). Anyway I wanted to post something since I'm enjoying a moment of quiet at my house, it's a rarity. I made my cup of tea and started thinking how much I couldn't live without my tea .. therefore:

What couldn't Kerry live without?

1. My tea. I drink Tetley British Breakfast tea. I used to ONLY drink tea that was imported from England. Tetley was actually one of those brands and then they started carrying it at Walmart and Albertsons. It's just a plain old black tea. I drink it with milk and prefer to only drink it out of an insulated coffee mug. That means I get a BIG dose and it stays really hot until I get to the bottom. I like coffee too, but it's not the same. I start my day with a cup of tea and always having one when I get home from work, and then one more a little while after dinner.

2. Aveno lip balm. I have to have lip balm on my lips at ALL times. It goes under my lipstick, under my lip gloss, and on bare lips. Aveno is not to thick, it's JUST RIGHT. And it has a 15 SPF.

3. My iPod. I have an iPod Touch and it's my 3rd iPod. I began with a mini, advanced to a classic, and now have a touch. No MP3 player compares to an iPod. I keep pictures of my kids on it. I have a handful of Apps on it. I download podcasts daily to listen to at work (mostly news related, as well as the Grey's Anatomy one). I love my music. I could spend all day long creating new playlists. Honestly I would love to give an iPhone a try but I don't have service through AT&T, so for now I just look at them longingly.

4. My Blackberry. I love using Blackberry IM to keep in touch with Jeramie and my family. I NEVER log in to my personal email accounts anymore because it's all in the palm of my hand. I love text messaging. I like that I can talk to my friends in far away places like they're here in SLC.

5. My DVR. I'm a TV junkie. I never watch anything "live" on TV. I will watch something else just to let a TV show get 15 minutes into it so that I can start it and skip through the commercials.

6. My slippers. I don't like to ever be barefoot. We have pergo on the main level of our house and then carpet upstairs and in the basement. I don't like to walk with shoes all over the house but the pergo can get cold on my feet in the winter. Plus if I go barefoot all day even inside my house my heels HURT by the end of the day. I have only 1 pair of slippers and it's hard to find a good pair. Just any old pair will not do! They must have a back on them (like a shoe), I don't want them falling off my feet when I walk downstairs. They must have like outdoor proof bottoms on them. My current slippers are made by "n.a.p", I got them at Brookstone.

7. A good book. I am always reading something. As soon as I finish a book the first thing I do is grab what I'm going to read next and drop that in my purse. I rarely go anywhere without a book. There are so many opportunities to read. With small kids at home I don't read as much as I used to so I have to grab any small opportunity I come across.

8. My flat iron. My hair is just terrible if I don't run a flat iron over it!!

9. Comfy pants. The first thing I do when I come home from work every day is change out of my work clothes and throw on some comfy pants. I CANNOT lounge around in my work clothes. It just seems unnatural!! We're talking big sweatpants or workout pants.

10. Satellite Radio. We have Sirius radio in my car and Jeramie has a portable one in his work van. I LOVE it. I NEVER listen to regular radio. Since I listen to my iPod all day long at work and then at home when I want music in the house, I only listen to my satellite radio in the car. Right now I'm hooked on the Rosie Show that is playing when I drive to work at 8am. So I only get to listen to about 20 minutes a day. But I dig it!

Well those are all the things that I could think of for now. I'm sure I'll think of more later. Perhaps I'll come back and add them. What are some of the things that you couldn't live without?

Flashback Friday

AHH! This is such a great picture. This was the wall in my bedroom in our first house in California. My mum did it. It was a giant letter K. She made it with cut outs from magazines. So creative. I would get compliments all the time from friends who thought it was cool. Funny how this is something that stands out from my childhood.

Wordless Wednesday