The Utah State Fair

Last weekend we went to the Utah State fair with our friends and had a great time! Whitney loved all of the animals, rides, and the fried food!

Yes, Whitney is screaming. She doesn't like pictures..

Ohhh. Handsome daddys!

Jared and Danny decided to take Lilee and Whit down the slide and of course Danny picked the bag that goes the fastest. He was catching air. Whit started BAWLING after she realized what she had just done!




I think our favorite were the pigs! They were so funny.
They reminded us of fat Mo! He acts just like a pig, no joke!




The 3 amigos. Whit is trying to give Athan a kiss.

A Weekend of New Discoveries

This last week we discovered some new "likes" at the Westenskow household.

1. I finally caved in and bought a car. Not for myself but for the little one. She had her big blue eyes set on the "Pink Barbie Mustang" but that was well out of my budget so we settled on something a little bit more economical... the red Cozy Coupe. And, quite a success it has been. She drives that thing all day long, drags her baby with her and likes to run into the dogs. When she wakes up she asks for her car. I give her her "ba ba" and she sits in it as she watches Little Einsteins. Perfect toy!

2. Star Wars. I have never seen the shows and Danny has been threatening me our entire marriage that one day we would have a Star Wars marathon and watch them all. This last week his threat became a reality. I caved and we watched.. every night.. AND quite to my surprise, I really liked them! I loved every cheesy, and theatrical comment Harrison Ford made and isn't he handsome?? I totally think so.


3. Last but not least, and probably the most important discovery.. Wizards of Waverly Place and Selena Gomez. On more than 1 occasion in the last 3 days I have come home and found Danny "glued to the tube" watching The Wizards of Waverly Place.. Not Sports Center, ESPN, the news, an adult sitcom... but a young teenage girl show about wizards. He then asked me if I would start DVRing the show so that we could watch more episodes. (And being the major GEEK that I am, I totally whole heartedly agreed. I love the Disney Channel.)

I am also not naive to the fact that the only reason why Danny watches this show is for Selena Gomez. -- which is probably the only reason why I watch it too. She is very cute!! :)

Driggs Scott Gleason..

He is finally here! We have all been waiting and have been so excited for this little guy to come! Cute Ali had Driggs today September 4th at 10:53 PM. He weighs 5 lbs 15 ozs and is 18 inches long. He is a month early, so the nurses will watch him to make sure his lungs and kidneys are working properly.. but he is perfect and beautiful and I am so happy for Ali and Rob!! Ali was a rockstar during her labor, I don't think that I heard her complain once, she did sooo awesome! CONGRATULATIONS!!! We love you Gleason clan!!

Looking Forward to Fall-

I LOVE the summer but I LOVE LOVE the fall! It is my favorite season and I can't wait for this year. Here is what I am looking forward to this fall:

• Sweatshirts and Jackets
• Good smelling "fall" candles
• Cool brisk evening walks to the park
• The anticipated arrival of baby Driggs
• Carving pumpkins
• Trick or treating with Whit. I love Halloween!
• Cheering on the Broncos every week with Danny
• Celebrating Danny's 28th Birthday
• Watching Parker play his 1st year of Highschool Football!!
• General Conference
• Sunday nights at grandma's with her homemade hot chocolate
• The red, yellow, and orange leaves that will cover my entire front yard
• Racking up all the leaves and playing in them with Whit, Danny, and our 2 overfed fat bulldogs

Wahoo for fall! Can't wait..

Back to School

I have decided and feel prompted that it is time that I started school again. I went and talked to a counselor and I have done all of my prerequisites to get into the nursing program at SLCC. I just need to apply and wait. The only problem is that it is a 2 year wait.. soo I might apply at some other universities in the area but most likely I will just wait and hopefully do the baby thing again. We shall see.. In the meantime there are some other classes that I can take now so that when I get into the program my work load won't be so much. I'm excited, should be interesting working out all the details. Danny's excited and is my biggest supporter. He says he can't wait until he can be the housewife! (Like it's easy or something?? Seriously, he will be in for a real treat!)

A Gracious Banker-

This past week was not a great week with my new budget. The day that the money was deposited into my "special budget account" I decided to go shopping. - Clothes shopping. There were lots of great sales going on and I just NEEDED some things for Whitney and myself, right? I get to the check out line to pay for all of the "goods" and when the lady told me the total it was a little bit higher than I had expected..ok a lot higher. I had spent over half my budget in 1 day at 1 store on stuff that we probably didn't really need. Oops! I felt really guilty because Danny is on this "lets save our money, pay off our house" kick so I decided not to tell Danny and thought...humm maybe we can just not eat this week, very selfish, I know. Well that didn't work. Danny said that we needed to do a Costco run. I got kinda nervous.. still didn't tell Danny about it until we were on our way to Costco and I said very nonchalantly "Well, I may have spent a lot this week on other things..." He gave me the look, I gave him the look (the innocent- I'm sorry I will never do it again -look) and I won. The gracious banker lent me some money to pay for our groceries! (Not that I gave him much of a choice and really-- Danny getting mad??-- Doesn't happen very often.)-- But he didn't let me off that easy. The Banker said that I will have to repay my debts through my budget this friday when the funds get deposited into my "special budget account." Darn budgets!

Note to self: Do the fun shopping AFTER the necessary shopping.

Island Park

The day after I got home from girls camp we left for a trip with Danny's family to Island Park, Idaho. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to!! Julie's family (Danny's stepmom) has a cabin up with their own private dock on the lake--- AMAZING! The boating was awesome, weather was great, the scenery was crazy beautiful-- the only minor glitch was our very cute little toddler. She was good for the most part, but was teething and had a cough so she was a little bit onery, but that couldn't damper our spirits! We had a great time and -- as always-- came home with the vacation blues. Back to work..back to cleaning, laundry (the list could go on forever).. back to REAL life. But, as my sister Jessie would say, "Mindi, stop complaining. At least you got to go on a fun trip with your family!"-- I guess she is right!

I asked Danny really nicely if he would buy me this cabin and I would help pay for it with my "minimal" budget and he said "Fat chance in..." Bummer! Someday, right! (Hopeful thinking!)

It amazes me that people don't believe in a Supreme Being and that this earth is just a happenstance??? --It is too beautiful to be just an accident!

The dock. Us getting ready to go on our evening "cocktail" cruise.

My cute little Whitney helpers! She loves these 2.