A quiet house...

So, last night the boys (all three of them) got in the car and began their LOOOOOONNNNNNG drive to the Northwest. One of Ken's best friends is getting married this weekend and he decided to travel up there to be at the temple sealing. He took the kids with him so they could see their grandparents and hand out with their cousins. They didn't even know where they were going until they were on the road.

I rented a "dance" flic and spent the evening curled up on the bean bag chair with the dogs watching the amazing choreography and wishing that I wasn't such a clutz. I have always been envious of those who could dance. It is such a beautiful way to express life and all it offers. I don't' have the ability to keep one foot in front of the other when I walk, little less try to put rhythm and movement to it.

I just ordered Chinese food and I am going to sit down and try to catch up on some scrapbooking. I really love to scrapbook digitally. It is fun, fast, easy and much more affordable then the traditional method, but I must admit, I miss working with the paper, ribbon, and other "real" stuff. I will have to find time to sit down and make some cards or something.

Below are some of the pages I have finished lately. I don't scrapbook chronologically so they are in no order and quite random. But I think they are great and thought you might enjoy them.

This is one of the photos that we had taken right before Christmas at Olan Mills. I love it because it captures that personality and attitude of my two precious boys. It also reminds me that they are not little anymore and growing up way too fast. I also love it because it is a great picture of me and I don't have a lot of those either. My favorite thing about the shot is the "I'm too cool attitude" of Kenny's face. It makes me laugh! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.

These are some great pictures we took at the Bear Lake Family Reunion held in 2006. The kids loved playing in the sand and walking in the water. And my little Kale still had his long hair. Both boys have loved playing with their cousins since the very beginning of time. And if the noise I heard on the other end of the phone tonight is any indication, they still love hanging out with them and they get along fabulously.

This is us at Death Valley, Thanksgiving 2010. We stopped at a dry lake bed and were amazed at the "hard" ground. Even throwing a large rock didn't make much of a dent in the dirt. And you could run and run and run and not find an end to the dirt...

This is Halloween 2006. We took the boys to the elementary school where Nicky (Ken's oldest sister) teaches and let the trick-or-treat through the hall ways. They loved it and they stayed warm too.

This is my nephew, Thaysen. Meredith left a bunch of her pictures on my computer the last time she was down to visit. I started looking through them and found some great ones of Thaysen as a baby. The headphones are as big as he is but the face says it all. The boy is going to be musical, just you wait and see.

This is another one of the boys goofing off in Death Valley. They were posing and trying to look cool. Truly they are chips of the old, or should I say, young block...

I hope you enjoy these peeks into our life and family. Until next time...

Snow in Las Vegas

We woke up Monday morning to snow. Not a lot, but for Las Vegas, snow is snow. We don't get it often and so when we do we relish in it and enjoy the WHITE of it. It was wonderful and beautiful and wet. Unfortunately for all of us (the boys especially) it didn't stick for long and the day went on like any other day.

I loved the suprise of it though. It made me smile and was a great start to my week (which has been a long on so far...)

My Christmas Gifts arrived last night

And I am soooooooo excited. Kenneth got me a Cello and a Violin for Christmas and they arrived ... finally. The Cello is black and the violin is pink. Yes, pink. I am 35 and if I want a pink violin, I can have one. It has been 20 years since I played, and I am excited to get reacquainted. I am also looking forward to teaching myself to play the Cello. I have wanted to play the cello since I was little and now I am getting the chance.

We have a couple of young people in our ward that play and they have offered to help me learn. I need to take the cello into a music store and have them put the bridge on and string and tune it and then I should be able to get playing. I am also looking forward to torturing my family with screeching as I did when I was young....

I will keep you all posted and maybe if your lucky I will post a practice session sometime soon. Keep your fingers crossed and make sure you invest in a good pair of earplugs.

Our Family Photo Shoot at Olan Mills

On Monday, December 20, 2010. our family went to Olan Mills to have our family pictures taken. It has been 3 years since we have had them done professionally and I got quite a good deal on the package, plus, I got a CD with all the pictures they took and the copyrights to them so I can print them when and how I want to. Our photographer was fairly new to the industry but she took some great shots,many that showed our "Harmon Personality". Below are some of my favorites:

They turned out great. If you see any that you would like copies of, let me know and we can make arrangements for them to be printed and sent to you. I will be sending the family picture on the black and blue background to everyone once the package we ordered arrives. I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed taking them.

P.S. Kenneth and I still goof off regularly...even at family photo shoots.

A Goal for the New Year

So, looking back at my blog for 2010, I realized that I got off to a great start, but somewhere along the way, pretty much gave up. I have decided that for 2011, I want to blog more regularly and I want to try to make an weekly entry, maybe even two or three if I am organized enough.



I want to be able to keep our friends and family appriased of what we are doing as we are not together as we don't live close to each other. I want to share our joys and sorrows, accomplishments and failures, the good, the bad, and the ugly with all of you. I also want you to get the opportunity to get to know your grandkids, cousins, nephews...(whatever the kids might be to you) and stay acquainted with them as they grow.



As we have officially become foster parents, with the license and all, I want those of you who are not with us to still know the wonderful children that will be part of our family for a time. I want you to know them as we will know them. I want to share with all of you our love for them.



This is one of my "New Year's Resolutions" and I hope that all of you will help me with this. Your comments are appreciated and I love to know that someone is reading the blog besides me. We want to wish all of you a very Happy New Year and let each of you know that we love you and pray for you regularly. We send you our best wishes for success, happiness and laughter in the coming year. May 2011 be a journey your enjoy taking.



Love ~



The Harmons!!

The American Flag

I came home from work yesterday to find that Kenneth had put our American flag on the front of the house. It was so great to see and it reminded me how much I love this country. When we were cub scout leaders for the wolves, one of the things we spent a lot of time teaching and talking about was our country and the symbols that remind us of the freedom we enjoy.

I usually put a flag up before memorial day and it stays up through labor day. It is a wonderful reminder of those that gave/give of their lives so that we as citizens of this great nation can enjoy the freedoms that we do.

I made this scrapbook page about my trip to DC and the cemetery and it truly expresses the feelings that I have about the sacrifices of the men and women of our military and their families that shared them with us.

The next page is our trip to the 4th of July Summerlin Parade of 2009. We will be going again this year too!! It is fun to go to the parades and see the floats, old cars, motorcycle gangs, and watch the boys chase after candy and other "thrown objects".

The HARMON FAMILY would like to wish all of you a safe and happy 4th of July and may we all take a moment to remember the great blessings we enjoy living here in the United States and thank those we see that are veterans or active military.

Bountiful Baskets

While Kenneth and I were without work, we had to really look for ways to save money and not spend what we didn't have. We came across a really neat opportunity to save money on fresh produce and baked goods and even though we are now both working, we are still participating.

It is a food co-op called Bountiful Baskets. Each week, you can sign up online to participate and for $16.50, you receive a laundry basket full of fresh fruits and vegetables. Each week, you can also add fresh baked goods, like 9-grain bread (yummy, yummy!!), fresh-made tortillas, cakes and crackers, breakfast bars and tropical granola. The prices are all very reasonable.

Each week, in the baskets, there are usually 5-6 fruits and 5-6 vegetables. We have had all kinds of neat things and are even learning to eat fruits and vegetables we never would have bought on our own and because of this, we are eating new and different foods so that we don't waste the food.

We have enjoyed apples, bananas, oranges, strawberries, kumquat, coconut, blueberries, blackberries, lemons, limes, nectarines, plums, peaches, pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, honey dew melons, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, bok choy, sweet potatoes. brown and red potatoes, corn, broccoli, onions (green, white, yellow, and red), celery, chard, spinach, green and red peppers, and the list goes on and on. We love the 9-grain bread and the tortillas remind me of the ones I ate daily on my mission. The crackers are really quite interesting but taste pretty good with melted cheese over them.

After participating for a few weeks, one of my girlfriends, Haley, and I decided to start a sight of our own. We co-coordinate the receipt and distribution of the fruits and vegetables and for doing it, we get a free basket on our week. It is a pretty cool thing that happens.

A truck drops off the produce at 6:30am each Saturday morning at a local park near our home. We distribute the produce into baskets (thus the name, Bountiful Baskets) and then wait for those who participated to pick up their offerings at 7:30am. We have a bunch of people who arrive early each week to volunteer of their time to help us get the baskets prepared. I am amazed each week at the willingness of the volunteers to show up early and stay until the last basket is picked up, the last basket and box are loaded and all are headed home for another week.

I love the produce and the quality of the fruits and vegetables. Most will last several weeks in my fridge before going bad and that gives me plenty of time to eat it all without have to throw it out because it has gotten moldy or gone bad. The produce seems to be fresher then what we usually get from the store and my grocery bill has decreased by $50 - 60 each week. What a find and one that I am glad we found when we did.