This auction is officially closed...

A huge thank you to all of the bidders.

The highest bidder was

DC

who bid $65.

Thank you for your generosity.

I will contact you via email for your address,

wrap your picture up pretty,

and send it off asap.

Post Script:

A tally is being taken to see how much money was raised from the 300+ auctions that were held.  I will post those results when they are ready.

Nie Nie Day...

Thanks for stopping by! Here are the auction rules:

1. Place your bid by making a comment on the post of the item you wish to purchase.

2. Only whole dollar amounts please.

3. Auction will end at 6:00 p.m. mountain standard time on Sunday night.

4. Once the bidding closes, the winning bidder will visit the NieNie Recovery Paypal account and directly deposit the bid amount.  The bidder then emails me at big_rig_14@hotmail.com the paypal confirmation to show payment for the item along with their address.  I will then mail off the item.

5. Let the bidding begin...

Salt Lake Temple printed on brushed aluminum tied with a black ribbon

11.5'' high x 16'' wide

Check out all the auctions here at Design Mom.

Be sure to check out the auctions hosted by my friends Mindi, Allie and Megan too.

Nie Nie

For months I have been reading the Nie Nie Dialogues and getting to know Stephanie Neilson and her family.  On August 16th I was shocked to find out that she and her husband were in a horrible plane accident in Arizona.  They were badly burned and will be in the hospital for months.  Their 4 children have been taken into the care of family members here in Utah.

Design Mom has initiated a silent auction to help raise money.  So tomorrow I will be honored to host my own silent auction and the proceeds will go directly to Stephanie and her family to help with medical bills and other expenses as they recover. 

Please come back tomorrow to see what I will be auctioning off and to make a bid.  I will also have links to other blogs that are auctioning off other great items.  You could also donate directly to the Neilson family by clicking the Donate to Nie Nie button in my sidebar.

In the meantime click here or here to learn more about this sad yet amazing story.

This frightens me...

Sometimes I find pictures like this on the camera and I wonder what is happening while I am not here.  Should my child be sitting on the very edge of the counter? Should my husband be far enough away to take a picture of it?

Love-a-fair...

There's just something about going to the county fair and we try to make it a yearly tradition.

On Thursday night Tony, Indie and I met up with Lydi, Leash, Chlo, Mad and Cashy for some good times.

Our first stop every year is to check out grandma's paintings.  She always enters such beautiful art and always wins blue ribbons.  Way to go Gram.

Chlo and Mad went on a few rides and I swear the carnies running the joint are horrifying.  Chloe went on this fast-twirling-make-you-want-to-puke ride all by herself.  We were afraid she would be scared or get sick but then we remembered this was Chloe we were dealing with...she loved it.

On Saturday Indie and I went back with Allie and the boys to see the animals.

One of my worst nightmares would be getting attacked by this monstrosity of a chicken.  One is terrifying, but imagine a hundred.  See these are the kinds of situations I think about.

We took the kids for pony rides and they all loved it, but near the end Indie was ready to be done.  She looked so adorable on that horse while it lasted.

And of course the fair wouldn't be complete without funnel cakes, elephant ears and texas tornados.  Yee-haw.

Just a little nibble...

The first time Indie held Cash was when he was only 2 days old and the first thing she did was try to take a bite of him with her little shark teeth.

We will have to keep our eye on her.

Our little getaway...

Over the weekend of August 2nd and 3rd we headed to Northern Utah with Tony's mom, the McKeans, and the Bentleys.

a.k.a. the SmiKeanLeys

We spent Saturday morning golfing in Brigham City.

This is where Tony found his ball after 10 minutes of searching...silly us, we were actually looking on the ground.

This was a little flashback in time.  We went to Crystal Hot Springs, I haven't been there in probably 20 years and the place looked exactly the same.  So see the slides in the background?  That is where I almost killed my daughter.  The sign said only one person at a time but I saw a lady going down with her kid so I figured it would be fine, I do it at Cherry Hill all the time, right? I've never been so wrong.  I should've taken a test run without the child first.  It was one wild ride, in fact, I don't know how they allow children at all.  One time I was riding alone and got so much air my entire body was off the slide.  Anyways back to the story.  So we start going down and we are going faster and faster and I am screaming louder and louder.  I realize I need to slow this train down, so I stick my legs up on the sides of the tube.  Well right before we get rocketed out at the bottom there is a small turn just big enough to send us flying.  Remember how we are not supposed to get water in Indie's ears?  Well I basically dunked her completely.  Luckily I had a death grip on her and she was only under for a second.  I was so scared, but she survived and didn't seem to mind it at all. 

We went to Maddox for dinner where I ate more biscuits and cornpones then I should admit.  It was delicious.

Ind fell asleep snuggled up with grandma Lee Lee.

Sunday morning we drove to beautiful Bear Lake.  I love it there, I have since I was a kid when I would go there with my best friend and her family.  It is magical.

Tony and Sparky went golfing while we went to Merlins for lunch.  Sadly LaBeaus wasn't open on Sunday, Merlins was good but it doesn't hold a candle to LaBeaus.  Then we went swimming and the boys met up with us later to do some more swimming.  It was a perfect day for the beach.

Thanks for the memories...another great trip.

The final chapter...

Day 7

August 11

Get ready for a picture fest.  I couldn't help it.  We took a gagillion pictures so it was hard to narrow it down to just these.  This was our favorite day by far.  We drove about 2 hours to Cannon Beach (where they filmed Goonies) and spent the day frolicking in the ocean.

Indie's first step in the ocean.

Tony and Meagan had a great time body surfing in the ocean.  I went out for a while but then chickened out.  My fear of sharks/undertoe got the better of me.  Plus if the water wasn't subzero it might be more enticing.

Haystack Rock is in the background.

After the beach we headed to the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  It is a lactose intolerant's nightmare but my dream come true.  Cheese, cheese everywhere.  Those are 40 pound blocks of cheese floating around.

After the tour of the factory you get to taste several types of cheese.  Then you can go to the store and buy as much cheese, ice cream, milk, yogurt, etc. as you want.

  

The traditional picture by the ship outside of Tillamook.

We visited the Cape Meares Lighthouse and Tony got some fabulous shots.  Notice the looming mist in the trees.  As we were driving a huge female elk was standing in the road.  I could not believe all the wonderful things we were seeing. 

Day 8

August 12

This was the beautiful view we woke up to every morning, I could lift my head from my pillow and see directly out the window.

The last morning we were there, we woke up to find two deer eating blackberries in Aunt LeAnne's orchard.

We planned on leaving at 8 a.m. but decided to sleep in so we wouldn't be tired for the 11 hour drive home.  We left at 11 a.m. and the drive went okay until about the eighth hour.  Indie realized that if she made herself throw up we would have to pull over, take her out of her seat, and clean her up.  She took full advantage of this little fact.  Later my friend pointed out that maybe she was car sick.  I hope that was not the case, I would feel really bad.  We finally made it home at 11 p.m.  Home sweet home. 

The End.

P.S.

LeAnne and family,

Thank you for opening your home to us, feeding us and entertaining us.  We seriously had a blast and loved that we were able to see so many beautiful things.  It was such a relaxing vacation and was just what we needed.  Thank you.

We love you so much,

T, J & I