HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011 to all my family and friends!!
Christmas and New Years was spent very calm and restful seeing I was lucky enough (not) to be sick over Christmas again for the 2nd year in a row.
My thanks go to my daughter Olivia, Brayden, Noah and William for decorating my home for the holidays..
Between working all kinds of overtime ( which is good money wise) and being sick 2 times in the past 6 weeks with an URI and that triggering asthma attacks .. my Christmas was spent in bed sleeping all day friday the 24th and Christmas day. New Years was much better and we had the grandchildren spending New Years Eve with us and enjoying our traditional Root beer floats ( they got theirs earlier since they went to bed prior to the new year. We also had a Pirates of the Caribbean marathon. Brayden really enjoyed that.

We took the boys up to Prescott to play in the snow. Noah wasn't that thrilled but Brayden totally enjoyed it and didn't want to leave.. however it was either leave when we did or get stuck .. we chose to leave.. a great day!!

Ending New Years Day with going over a new budget for the new year.. oh joy, what fun!!

September 1, 2010

Wow,
a new month and summer is over after this next week! that is according to the weatherman.. hope he is correct. Countdown for Sept 7th at work and not excited about it at all. At Mayo, we are getting a new computer system which will tie Jacksonville, Florida and Arizona together on the same system and will allow us to grow since IDX has more than served its time and can't grow anymore.
This is exciting however we have to work on Labor Day to set up all the calendars and make sure all is working by Tues.. Start up day.. I keep telling myself .. "I can do this, I can do this, This is going to be a piece of cake.. I totally hope so.
I did a trial run last week, taking 3 hours to do my "make up patient..Phillip and scheduled everything and went to check on his "make up" appointment only to find it totally disappeared. even the "super user" of the system couldn't find it.. Scary.. this new system is called the "click, click" system since you have to double click a majority of the time. Just keep your fingers crossed and pray for me and my coworkers.. that the patients will have patience with us.. good night..

out of the mouths of babes

We pretty much have the Missionaries over at least once a month, sometimes more and generally have Olivia, Rusty, Brayden, Noah and Phillip over at the same time just to have family time on Sundays. We all get caught up in the visiting and talking and overall enjoying the day.
Well, Brayden has a time out stool at our home and has utilized it numerous times. This particular Sunday, I happened to be talking and squatted down to sit on his time out stool and Brayden happened to notice and stated " Nana, you in time out?" I answered, "yes, Nana's in time out" just horsing around with him and not thinking much about it.
A few minutes later Brayden said, "Nana, come here I need to talk to you". So I proceeded to go over where he was seated and squatted down to his level to inquire what he wanted to tell me.
This is where the reality of what he was doing hit me. "Nana, you're in time out, you didn't do the dishes good". I said "what??" and he repeated, "you didn't do the dishes good so do good and no more time out ok"? " I love you " and he proceeded to give me a hug and kiss and send me on my way. First of all, for him to think of "why" i was in timeout? and second, totally following the protocall that is done with him every time he is put in time out. I was totally blown out of the water.

4th of July 2010

July 4, 2010...
We celebrated our 4th by having the missionaries over for dinner and decided to invite Walt's family, my friend Brigette, Olivia, Rusty and kids.. which ended up being 2 more than our own grandchildren because Olivia was watching Bonnie's 2 grandchildren and last but not least Phillip.
We had an indoor picnic with sub sandwiches, Debbie's yummy potato salad, Brigette's cool gelatin dessert and Olivia bringing the traditional Flag cake. After all the eating and just enjoying the company we each took a turn to share our most memorable 4th of July story either from youth to adult and what we felt about the blessing of being an American and the blessings of our Heavenly Father.
It was a very fun, peaceful and spiritual day. Again, my favorite phase.. "where there is love, there is elastic walls" fit the bill of the holiday.

Great Mother's Day Present!!

Boy, was I spoiled for Mother's Day this year! Rusty, Olivia, William and the grandson's took me to the Tempe Town Square and we just checked out all the fun shops. Brayden and his little friend who came with us painted a ceramic little do dad then we ate at Red Robin's restaurant.. I did really good in eating a very healthy salad with apples and blue cheese in it.
On Mother's Day morning, on Sunday I weighed myself and found that I had lost 11 lbs in the past month and didn't even realize it. I was so beside myself since i hadn't weight this in 5 years!!
We also had the Missionaries over for dinner along with Phillip and my good friend and her husband and grand kids who are going thru a very difficult situation. Phillip bought me a DVD that he knew i would enjoy later in the week. We all had a great Sabbath Mother's Day
Then today, Saturday 5/15/10 when i thought all the Mother's Day celebration was over, Olivia and Rusty paid for me to have a message. In fact Olivia and I both were able to get an hour message. I didn't realize just how knotted up my shoulder blades get with stress knots. We went out for lunch and Super Salad and then shopping at Ol' Navy.. just a spoiled mommy over here..

March madness 2010 coming to an end

Well, Brayden boo went home with mommy tonight and all is quiet now.. he is such a sweet, kind, loving and yes annoying little guy.. they don't call it the "terrible twos" for nothing! This morning started at 6:30am with "Nana, get up!" while pulling the nice warm comforter off. "Nana, I"m hungry I want cereal" "Nana, get up! by this time as he is pulling me up, i am getting annoyed.. I explain, it is too early to get up (seeing I got to bed at 1am) I am told "no Nana, it's not too early, get up!"

Well, needless to say, he won! I got up and put him to work making pancakes with me.. (which he didn't mind seeing he loves to cook with "Nana".

I love being a grandma and I hope I never tire of it.. however this AM.. kind of left me wondering.. just for a little while..love you Brayden!!

February.. 2010 I can not believe it is already February.. I celebrated my birthday on friday by going shopping with my friend Rene. We went to Macy's since i had a gift card and I took Rene to Pita Jungle.. a very healthy restaurant. My day was going well until William called to say he was rear-ended, him being the 3rd car that was hit by two other cars that was hit by a small truck. All had car insurance except for the dude that caused the actual accident.. figures!! William is ok except for a dull headache that he can't shake. It could have been worse. We did go out for dinner on my birthday and we as an entire family went out saturday to a restaurant called Oreganal's, a fancy pizza place. it was a very nice atmosphere. Brayden and Noah are both growing and just getting cutter every day! I love those little guys soooooo much.. Brayden is such a curious little boy who doesn't leave anything unturned and Noah just smiles and cooos all the time.. you can carry on a complete conversation with him and he isn't even 3 months old yet.. he is my little blue I darling! Enough bragging, however i could go on and on....

made it thru Christmas.....

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010:
Well made it through Christmas with the most peaceful of days since both William & I were both sick with this upper respiratory stuff going around. William took off the 2nd and 3 week of Dec to get a lot done and spent most of his time in bed and I have been battling asthma for the past 2.5 months then getting what William had. I took off the last week of Dec to get a lot done and have spent most of my time off in bed. HO HO HO Merry Christmas!!
I normally have all the relatives over for a Christmas get together and had to tell everyone, "can't do it this year" My personal opinion is Heavenly Father is trying to get me to slow down and since I am so stubborn, He had to resort to the tough love method.
We did have a very calm, warm, peaceful, wonderful, spiritual Christmas. We were both too sick to stress out over anything. It was kind of nice, however I don't want to be sick every year to obtain the peaceful agenda.. Brayden and Noah had a great Christmas. We did get to spend Christmas with Phillip.. .for once Walmart wasn't open on Christmas day..

end of semister... yea!!

I have been taking on line classes from the University of Phoenix and it has been very educational and fun. My challenge has been navigating through the computer searching for what I need to utilize and secondly has been the no sleep syndrome. My schedule has been nuts. I felt prompted to go back to school to complete my degree in Psychology but I just found out my employer will only cover one third due to the economy plus I put in 4 -12 hour days (4-10 hour days plus the 2 hour drive daily going back and forth). So on my day off on Friday, I am beat since I have daily requirements. I need to assess where I am at or go to a cheaper school. Rio Salado is one I may be checking into. University of Phoenix has suggested some ways to cut cost but I have to research and dig to figure it out. Any suggestions will be welcomed.

On a very positive note. Brayden and Noah are doing wonderful. Brayden loves his little brother (as I knew he would) Noah is growing like a weed.. 2 weeks old and 24" long and 10 lbs 7 oz. Olivia is at pre-pregnacy weight and looks great. We all have changed our eating habits and I am finally seeing that my portions were the problem even though everything I ate was healthy, it was just a little too much of a good thing.

Noah Willliam Odom

November 11, 2009 @ 12:50pm
We welcomed our second grandchild to our family. Noah William Odom weighed 9 lbs 9 oz and was 22 1/2" long. He was a "big" surprise! When the doctor was delivering him, the first thing she said was "wow, look at the size of this head". We are so happy that he is here and is healthy.
I was the picture taker and was able to experience this great occasion for the second time. He has dark blond hair.. ( it looked autumn red to me when he first came out) Brayden was so excited for his "baby Noah" to come home and is so good with him. The only pictures I have of him is on my camera but Olivia has promised to give me a disc.
He looks like is Papa Leavitt but has his daddy's dimpled chin and this little one has 4 other dimples.. 2 on each check. His dimples really show when he smiles and he has a beautiful smile.
So we have a Pioneer Day baby and a Veteran' s Day baby. Brayden and Noah were 2 lbs difference in their weight and 2 1/2" difference in the length. Brayden was born 12:40 am and Noah was born 12:50pm. So needless to say, we are so blessed.

good by to Pat Zink 10/13/09

I have been friends with Pat & Joy for 31 years. I met Joy at a young adult activity and she introduce me to her fiance Pat. Pat and I had a friendship like a typical brother and sister. He would always say, "you never know what you are going to get out of Karen" and i always enjoyed going up to visit with them. Our children were close in age and with my going up there 4-6 times a year when my kids were growing up, we are were like a big happy family. Pat loved to cook very fancy meals and he really liked food. I used to tell him that food was his God. He didn't dispute that. Sadly, Joy and Pat divorced and I know this was hard on Pat. About 15 years ago, he got a flu bug that attacked his heart and enlarge it and he had suffered from the affects of that. He was overweight and a lot of our disputes was my trying to get him to eat more healthy. I took the skin off the chicken and he had a cow. "hey, that's the best part" I told him, "hey, you don't need it you are heavy enough". Our meal times up in Safford with Joy and Pat were very humerous since it didn't take much for me to start laughing and get the ball ping ponging around with the kids and all. He will be missed, even though he drove people with his extreme political views and his sarcastic ways.. I guess that was one thing we both have in common, we both were very sarcastic and it would be a contest who could get to the other one the worst. He passed away on Oct 13th, 2009. He will be missed however I know he is in a better place and I know when we meet again, it will be a quite a reunion.

To busy for any mischief

I can honestly say, "I do not have idle hands, so I will never get into mischief". My friend Brigette and I went to San Diego last weekend to visit with a dear friend who lives all by himself . He is my friend Pat Zink's father Earl. We got out there around 2 pm and he took us around to all the pretty homes, we had dinner and went home for a calm peaceful evening. We took him to Sea World on Saturday since he stated he hadn't been there for quite some time. Earl totally enjoyed watching the children as they watched Shamo and the other sea animals. I started school on Oct 7th, taking 2 classes and the term ending on Dec 7th. It is on line and i totally enjoy it but with the 2nd grandchild coming in 3 weeks now, I'm I totally out of my mind. During the week, it is up at 4am to make my 35 mile trek by 6:30pm. I get home and hit the homework and William fixes a light dinner as i am still trying to get the 45 extra lbs off this body. then attempt to get to bed early, by 8;30pm, which has not happened yet.. 11pm is more like it. So like I said, I will never get into any real trouble, however by some weird reason, I have always loved being busy even though i get tired and swear i will never put myself in this position again, low and behold i am here again. The good new is I will have my AS in about 15 months. Then I can work on my BA and have that done by age 54 hopefully.

New Mexico trip 8/2009

Olivia, Brayden and Brigette all came with me to visit our mutual friend Cindy Hamson in Farmington, New Mexico. It was so great to see her and her family again as it had been almost 4 years since we were last there. Cindy is truly an amazing friend and i am so glad to have her in my life. She has been a God send to me and my family so many times.
Cindy's oldest daughter Jenny was there with her 6 kids along with her youngest daughter Casey playing nanny helping Jenny with her kids.
Jenny's kid's are so sweet and cute. they were supprised that i knew them. it really surpised them when i told them i knew their mother when she was only 6 years old.
Brayden had 6 new playmates to play with and ended up with an "older woman" by his side the entire time
Jenny's youngest daughter Chloe is 2 1/2 yrs old and Brayden was totally "smitten". Chloe would say, "Brayden, I need you" and he would come running. they even shared fried potatoes together.
Brayden's had ketchup on his and Chloe's were plan.
I called them "Bonnie and Clyde" since what one didn't think of the other would.
Brayden taught Chloe how to open doors and Chloe showed Brayden how to transplant toys from the family room to the bedroom in her playpen crib.

it was so nice to be in cooler weather and go and see the Indian ruins. We went swimming and canned all day Wednesday, fresh peaches, chichen and stews.

we had a miracle happen and is still happening. Olivia had a jar of beef stew blow up in her face from a pressure cooker and today makes it 4 days since and her injuries are healing at an accelerated rate.. it seems for every day that passes, it is like a week of healing.

Between the Priesthood blessing and the quick work Cindy, Doug and Brigette did for my daughter this has been a true miracle!!

for the last full day in New Mexico, we all went to Silverton, colorado and to the candy town up there. i love visiting with Cindy.. she is like Snow White whistling while she works. She makes everything seem so carefree and easy. I can Picture Heavenly Mother being like her. always happy, carefree and very spiritual. a very good example of how to be. I am truly blessed.. Good night from Arizona..













then i heard about my neice's husband Eddie and he is a miracle.. Heavenly Father is really blessing our families..
well, i have one

Recent happenings...

Well, at 12:35am this morning I was thinking back 2 year ago at this same time and I was in the delivery room with my daughter as she had just given birth to our first grandchild. Happy 2nd Birthday Brayden Riley Odom!! Olivia is planning a very fun in the sun birthday party for him tomorrow at our home with a slip & slide and pool for the kids and hopefully the adults won't melt.
Phillip spent a week with his Aunt Cathy and Uncle Bruce up in Colorado. The pictures that Cathy emailed me were spectacular. Phillip looks great with the layered look.

Rusty picked him up from the airport which was a great help as Olivia and I are getting the fruit cut up and Olivia is making a very special birthday cake for her little man.

Phillip shared with up his fun in Colorado and was so impressed with little lexi and her cuteness..

As for me, I love my Fridays off when i can actually do thing i want to do however right now sleeping would be nice.. ps it is very hot right now and the last time it was this hot was in 1990 so when Phillip brought me some home books from Colorado.. I savored the thought of "coolness" in more ways then one..

cosmetic & plastic @Mayo Clinic

I can not believe it is June 20, 2009.. time is flying by.
This past week and this week I am covering in the cometic department at Mayo Clinic.. boy what an eye opener! so much to learn in a 4 day crash course but i learn fast..have too. I am the ultimate multitasker and i multitask on this . time flys and i am busy from the time i get there at 8am until i leave at 6 pm. shhhhh.. i am not supposed to be doing any overtime.. oh well..

we found out this week we maybe having a darling little granddaughter this time around and possibly even twins.. i was so excited when i heard all the exciting news.. i can't wait until nov. however i am hoping to be at my goal weight by then..

Phillip is planning on a road trip coming up in july.. he needs to take a break.. we need to inform the family whom he will be visiting with. that should be done by tomorrow..

olivia and rusty are down in tucson for her ea 's roommates wedding. brayden is the ringbearer.. should be fun for him.

I feel I need to add that I am a very proud mommy and I love being a grandmother.. I know I am not the best mother but I did do my best with the tools I had. I was taken away from my own mother when i was 6 years and my stepmother had issues she never dealt with that made it hard to understand my brother and me. She did the best she could with the tools she had. i am gratefulthat my children are forgiving and still love and appriecicate what i did do kind of right and have forgiven the mistakes i made all too often. i am very grateful for my friends and inlaws whom i could call and question things about. I am proud of my son serving an honorable mission and my daughter getting married in the Temple. I am looking forward for Phillip to find is eternal mate to take to the temple and have us all there with him.. it was so awesome when Olivia got married and we all were able to be in the temple with her and Rusty. I also love my church calling which is a Sunday School Teacher. I have 13 girls when they are all there. I was telling Olivia when she shared that she had been called as a 1st councilor in the Primary Presidency, that in my 31 years as a member of the Church, I have never held a calling in any Presidency.. I have worked in the Nursary, Primary and Sunday School. I have never held a calling in the Young Women's nor Relief Society.. I told Olivia that she had leadership abilities and she stated that i must be a good teacher as to have held calling in that capacity. I feel that I totally fit where I am. I love teaching and sharing and hearing my class share back. I am honored that Heavenly Father trusts me enough with is little ones.

well, my summer is going to be quite busy.. I just got back from Laughlin, Nevada where my friend, my adopted sister ( she is the same age as my own sister) and coworker Melissa celebrated her 40th birthday.. we walked the Colorado River, rode the river taxi, walked the strip, played in the hotel pool and went to the mall and walked around, then slept. William had an outing with the young men so he did his thing.
Then Olivia, Rusty, his parents and myself will be going to see the Broadway musical Wicked the 2nd week in June. Then, Melissa wants to go to San Diego and take her niece who wants to see the west coast. they are both from Minnosota and Melissa is afraid of getting lost, so talked with William about it and maybe we could celebrate his birthday also going to San Diego and playing at the Beach.. the only problem is the day we would be possibly doing this is July 24th and that is Brayden's 2nd birthday and i don't want to miss that. so i get to figure that one out.. then William goes to Scout camp the week of his birthday. then the 1st week of August Brigetta and I will be going to New Mexico to visit with Cindy Hamsom.. a very good, close friend whom i haven't seen in a few years.. then no more traveling and my next time off will be for baby boobett, since i call Brayden baby boo. and i am hoping this one is a little girl.. i had a dream it was a boy but who knows. as long as it is healthly and mommy is well. so, i still keep a very busy schedule even though i keep telling myself i have slowed down.. i personally think that will happen when i am put in my grave.

Much needed vacation up in Snowflake

We just got home today from our property up in Snowflake. It was so quiet, nice and peaceful. It did rain every afternoon and I forgot some games to play but we got to take long walks which was nice. We have 41 acres on the north side and on the south side we have 2.5 acres. I love the north side better because it is so open and there are ranchers that have cows grazing around. This time there was a donkey that kept speaking his mind. Because i forgot some games, William and I played scissors, rock and paper....hangman....name that toon....any story from Williams mission that i hadn't heard before, which was a tough one. We read Scriptures on Sunday and shared spiritual experiences. We organized what was left of the items we had taken up there to fence off the east side of our property. i will admit, i wasn't very Christlike because i hate thieves! So the next plan of action will be to fence off the west side with barb wire and then at some point.. (when we have the money) build a cabin so we can have family reunions or just a get away place so we won't have to tent it all the time.. (which i don't mind, except when it rains and your tent leaks and your sleeping bad and pillow get wet and you are up all night) .

We did get to go swimming over at Olivia's and had pizza and watched Marly and me. so the entire weekend was wonderful!!

Tax time is a fun time... not! although it does show you just how organized you are or how just unorganized you are. my idea of paper work is how much i can throw away without causing too much trouble for myself down the road when i may need what i did throw away.. crazy i know but keeps the house cleaner....

preparing a rental home 03/20/09

what a day! i went to pick up my friend Denise's son Allen and his friend Ben to help paint an entire 1300 sq foot home and as of right now at 8:48 pm.. all we have left is the kitchen, living room touch up and the laundry home hall touch ups. we all worked hard all day and enjoy a subway lunch. Phillip should be coming tomorrow to help along with Olivia.. i may have Melissa baby sit baby boo (Brayden) while we all work to get this home ready to rent..

we are also going to be looking at another home in Tempe that is selling for 54,000.00 if it looks good then we we be buying it and renting it to college students with the lease that follows the BYU guidelines.. i am really excited to look at this.

my reward for hard work is going to a Twilight party tonight with olivia and my friend/boss Donna. bye..

Photo from the Twilight release party: