Catching Up

Happy Birthday Lisa!!

I would be remiss if I didn't share some of the good mail I've gotten recently. Lara (aka TX Girl) emailed me an itunes gift certificate a couple weeks ago after I got my iPod. That was such a thoughtful and generous surprise, but I didn't want to post it until I had spent it so that the coupon code wasn't on display for any ne'er do wells. So last Friday I finally spent it. It was so fun. I can see how messing around at the itunes music store can be totally addictive. I ended up making several mix cds out of playlists I created. So far I have a mellow acoustic-sounding favorites disc, a country favorites and an upbeat favorites disc. Thanks Lara!!

Landon and I also made a cd of his favorite songs. It's so cute, he's been keeping a list of songs he likes for about a month now, so since we finally have the technology and skills to get the songs he wanted we actually did it. We sat here at the computer and checked them off his list one by one until we had created his ultimate cd. We even cashed in all the cereal box coupons for free itunes songs as well (which was most satisfying).

Landon’s “Wahoo” Disc
The Remedy—Jason Mraz
Sweet Emotion—Aerosmith
All Star—Smash Mouth
Play That Funky Music, White Boy—Wild Cherry
It’s Still Rock & Roll To Me—Billy Joel
Take the Money and Run—Steve Miller Band
Broken—Jack Johnson
Better Together—Jack Johnson
Faithfully—Journey
One Way or Another—Blondie
Save Tonight—Eagle Eye Cherry
December—Collective Soul
Whip It—Devo
I’m a Believer—Smash Mouth
Bye Bye Bye—N’Sync


Kristi sent me a note on this cute personalized stationery (Whitney brought in the mail on Friday and had dropped the envelope on the rocks at the end of our driveway so I didn't discover this until much later when I happened to look out the window and see the envelope on the ground, phew that was a close call.) Kristi included her new "business" card and refrigerator magnet that she got from Vista Print. They are painfully cute. I've never felt the need to have personal business cards, but these are so cute I think I just might need some. Check out the link to her blog with the info here.

In other news, it appears we're actually getting an overcast day around here and I could not be happier about that. It's silly to complain about clear summer days, but really isn't a little balance a good thing, even if it's the weather? I think so.

**What sorts of playlists do you make?
Do this make you hark back fondly to the days
of making mix tapes in your bedroom or is that just me?**

The Lure

My parents got two kittens on Tuesday when Landon and Whitney were there. Whitney has been making me crazy all week because she wants to go back to play with them. For those of you who don't know, my parents live in Eagle Mountain which is about 25 minutes away from me, but is way out West and the only way to get there is a horrific two-lane road which you can only get to by traveling through Main Street in Lehi (of Footloose Fame). This makes me irritable and I just hate that there's nothing else out there. Every time we head out there (which isn't often) Randy says "we might as well be driving to Vegas" because it feels like we're going on and on to the middle of nowhere.


Anyway, my point is I don't like to go out there so I'm now viewing the addition of these two darling kittens as a lure to get us out there. I'm rather smitten by them too so it just might work. They are so cute it hurts. My dad named them Bert and Ernie, but Whitney thinks those are "dumb Elmo-sounding names" so she wants to nickname them Owen and Monty (the names of our former cats which we had to find a new home for when we moved here).


Tonight I went to our Girl's Camp wrap-up swim party. It was pretty fun. One of the girls made a DVD slideshow with music using lots of the pictures I took at camp, it was so fun to watch it with all of us together like that. The only rough part was that we were watching it on a wide screen tv so the images look a bit distorted and made us look bigger than usual. The leaders especially were having some identity crises after seeing ourselves larger than life up there. We had such a good time tonight and I actually felt a little sad that I'm not in Young Women's with them. Isn't that crazy? I've always dreaded that calling and been so glad I don't have it, but I like all the girls so much (they call me Sister Jill) that I kind of feel left out that I don't get to see them all the time. Me and only two of the 7 leaders went swimming with the girls, we played keep away and Marco Polo, I've forgotten how fun it is to do things like that.

**Do you like to play in the swimming pool or
would you rather not get your hair wet?**

New Favorite Show

Happy Birthday Pam!
(sure do wish you'd start a blog)

Randy and I just finished watching Season 1 of the UPN show Veronica Mars. I must say we are hooked. I put it in our Netflix queue because it had come up several times as a recommendation and I think my sister Lori had mentioned it as well. The first episode was a little iffy for me because I couldn't decide if it was cheesy or not (I think now it was just because it had to establish who everyone was), but my vote now is officially NOT CHEESY.

It combines the wit of the Gilmore Girls, the suspense of a good mystery show kind of like LOST or Alias but without the global implications, the high school scene complete with dating and romance, and excellent cliff hangers. I'm sad that it's over and that we have to wait until August for Season 2 to come out on DVD.

**Have you ever heard of this show or watched it?**

How I've Been Spending My Time

Last night the kids and I were outside pulling some weeds and accidently uncovered this nest of eggs. It's strange because it's on the ground. This is right out in front of the fence in front of our house. We have some majorly tall weeds out there that I can't seem to stay on top of. After we found this nest we stopped pulling them. I don't want to be a home wrecker. We didn't touch anything else around there so I really hope the mom comes back. Do you have any idea what kind of eggs these are? They've got small brown speckles. We have quail around here, but they usually nest in our back yard. It's pretty cool, unless they're snake eggs.

We also had a bizarre swarm of dragon flies over our yard last night. I snapped many photos but had very little success catching them in motion. First of all they fly spastically, and second of all none of them landed at all. I decided this photo was blog worthy because you can see the double wings and can tell that it's a dragon fly. It was pretty cool to see them all over the place.

Last night about 9:00 I went to close the blinds in the kids' room and saw this out their window. I grabbed my camera and went out into the backyard. The colors of the sky were surreal, and I always feel so blessed to be able to see the temple out their window. It's only a matter of time before someone builds a house and blocks our view.

Today I had Activity Days at 10:00, the other leader has been out of town for 2 weeks but was supposed to be back for this today before she left again for another trip. I called her but got her machine, but decided to go there anyway because that's where the girls were told to meet. We got there and she wasn't home so we were going to sit on the porch but it was so hot and bright that we wouldn't have lasted long, so we decided to have Activity Days in my car! The girls thought it was hilarious. I turned the air conditioning on and we had just started discussing future activity ideas (I was scrambling to come up with something since my partner was in charge of today's activity) when the other leader pulled up in front of her house. She was totally confused and had completely forgotten. This was her first time home since being gone for 2 weeks.

She let us in her house and was helping her in-laws get her kids ready for Seven Peaks. It was crazy for about 10 minutes and then they all left except for her. She gets to stay home today to do laundry and then they leave for San Diego tomorrow. Poor thing, she's hammered and will gone for another 2 weeks. That's a lot of Activity Day stuff for me to do. I had grabbed the game Hullabaloo (which Lori had given the kids for Christmas a couple years ago) and they played that after we planned more activities. They loved the game so that was a good save. We had popcorn and then I took them home. I don't like feeling flakey or like the day was a waste, so considering the circumstances I think it went well and we came up with about 8 future activities.

**What is your stance on asking to be released from a calling?
The other leader has to write a children's novel
for her graduate program during the next 6 months
and wants to be released. She has 3 kids and teaches
primary with me as well. I just don't know how she
could face the bishop (who is extremely busy) and tell
him she needs to simplify her life.
Got anything else to say?**

Bliss

I finally got every last cd I own loaded into my computer and then onto my iPod. I had no idea how easy that would be! I thought loading stuff into my iPod was going to be complicated, but I just plugged it in and it loaded itself...duh. Now I've got over 3000 songs and 2 audio books in there. I'm so pleased. I also tried out my new iTrip that Adam and Amy gave me for my birthday, it's so great. I don't understand these new fangled gadgets and have no idea how it works, I'm just so pleased that it does. Thanks guys.

I listened to Brick Lane (thanks again Georgia) this morning as I got ready for the day. I've been wanting to do this for soooooo long, but never could until now. I can't even tell you how happy I was about this, I'm on disc 5 and will actually finish this week now that I'm not limited to 10 minutes here and there. Now if I could find a robe that didn't turn me into a human crock pot I'd really be set.

The kids and I went to the library this morning. I was hoping to find some audio books to load into my iPod but they have a pretty bad selection and everything was on cassettes. The kids were downstairs in the children's section while I was looking for cds, so when I came in to find them this is how I found Whitney. Get comfortable why don't ya? How funny is that?

We then went to DI because I've been anxious to make a book run. I finally got smart and got a cart since I always end up with my arms full. I scored again and am giddy to do my special disinfecting treatment and really see what I have. I love it that I find lots of books for Landon there. It's such a luxury to have your own books at home and for .50 cents each his library is growing quickly. Whitney found 3 toys she wanted and was willing to pay for herself. They cost her $1.50 total! She willingly handed me a "green paper" and "two silver things." Our entire cart full of books and toys was only $19.00, yipee.

I just brought in the mail and had this nice envelope from Hannah containing a very nice note and 3 sheets of stickers. I love that she decided to share with me because she had extra and knew I love stuff like this. She's right. Thanks Hannah!

**Where is everybody? It seem like everyone is
on vacation or something. Does anyone need
anything to read, I can hook you up?**

Happy Birthday Jenny!

More Birthday Goodness

Amie wanted to make me this very tasty dessert for my birthday but knew that Michelle had brought over an awesome vanilla cream pie, so she waited until the week after my birthday. I could definitely get used to these dessert deliveries, it's such a treat to have real desserts around. (Though it's dangerous.) Thanks Amie!

Michelle & Jessie's generous mom Susan sent this fantastic book and world's softest blanket to me for my birthday. It's always extremely exciting to get something from Susan because she has great taste, access to all manner of awesome products, and she's very generous. Thanks Susan!! I can't get enough of this very soft blanket. Here's a quote from the book she gave me.

"If someone listens, or stretches out a hand, or whispers a kind word of encouragement, or attempts to understand a lonely person, extraordinary things begin to happen."
--Loretta Girzartis

I got this beautiful card creation from Jessie (her creative genius strikes again), plus she included her hard-earned coupon for $10 worth of stuff from Pebbles in My Pocket. I know how long it takes to fill up a punch card and I know how prized this coupon is, so I'm truly humbled that Jessie gave hers up for me. Thanks Jessie!!

**What are some of the most thoughtful gifts you've been given?**

Range of Motion Quotes

I stayed up till 2:00am last Friday night because I just had to finish this book, I didn't get groggy or anything. I thoroughly enjoyed it and couldn't decide which of my favorite quotes to share, so I chose almost all of them (except for one really long one and one that reveals the ending).

“Because I did get plucked from my normal life, put in the position of seeing it from another vantage point. And I would say that I did see it. I would say that I saw and saw and saw it. And though the method is not one I would have chosen to verify a supposition, I would also say that my gratefulness is unutterable.” Page 2

“And all that feeling sorry for her would be gone, because of what is in her that is so strong, and clear, and finished. You would want to talk to her. You would want her to know you, and to approve of you. You would believe that in her hands, things were safe. And brushing at the back of your shamed brain would be some new knowledge about our usual concept of beauty, namely, the extreme wrongness of it.” Page 15

“Even when you like other people’s kids, they’re still other people’s kids. You have to be a little more alert, a little nicer, it makes for a strain. I’d like to give her more than tulips. She deserves a piece of the glowing moon, captured in a jar.” Page 17

“Last night, I put her over my shoulder like a newborn—she’s about the same size—and watched the half-moon out the window while we creaked back and forth in the rhythm all women know from secrets whispered to their genes at the time of their conception.”
Page 24

“I feel a slight breeze, notice that the window is cracked open. Outside, spring comes in spite of everything. There are moments when we think nature happens just for us, and there are other moments when the ridiculousness of that notion is revealed.”
Page 31

“Among the things I like best about a good friendship are these kinds of revelations, these unveilings of selves we would never show to the world at large, though perhaps we should. Perhaps business meetings should start with people saying what they wore to bed last night.” Page 130

“Alice goes over to the coffeemaker and pours two cups, sets one down in front of me. Here is another thing I like about a good friendship, the go-aheadness of it all. You don’t have to knock to come in the door. You don’t have to ask to look in a refrigerator. You want coffee? Pour some. These friendships, formed by time, are getting so rare. I worry about that.” Page 130

“She sat beside him and he moved just the slightest bit away. It was tiny—he didn’t move anything but his shoulder, so that it wouldn’t be resting against hers. I thought it was so awful. I thought, what is this? And I thought if I had to put a name on that kind of behavior I would say it was withholding. And I would say that it is one of the worst kinds of poisons that exist in human relationships.” Page 150

“But it’s not my job to drive Alice’s car. It’s my job to verify the scenery.” Page 151

“I don’t know who brought it. I only know it’s here. And I accept it with profound ignorance and thanks, which is what we do with all miracles.” Page 155

“It was a community, don’t you see, all of us doing more or less the same thing, all of us full of a kind of hope you don’t have now. The isolation you people live with, it kind of infects everyone, makes you sick. Don’t you see that you need each other? I wonder sometimes, do you even know what you’re after?” Page 162

“You’re not an imbecile,” Alice says. “It’s something else. Naivete, maybe. But that’s only part of it. I envy you. I mean, you’re the kind of person who gets happy if the leftovers fit exactly into the Tupperware container.” Page 204

“There is some comfort in that story, for the way it suggests that there is a reason for everything, even though it may not be apparent. But there is this, too: some places get to stay dry. Some places don’t get hit at all. I will take my comfort there.” Page 219

“Jay’s room is full of the kindness of people he’s never met. It seems a miracle to me, living in what the world has become, that there could be such overt, free caring, such loving generosity.” Page 234

**Do quotes stand out to you in books, or are you
able to read the story and just take it all in?**

P.S. Don't forget to go to Kristi's blog to sign up for the Christmas (yes, it's July) exchange if you're interested. Also, Michelle posted a horrific spider story today which means I can't visit her blog until it's gone and I can't comment or I'll have to see the picture. I may not be able to visit her actual house for awhile either. I'm shaken to the core.

Christmas Swap

Kristi is already planning out Christmas and has a great idea for all of us bloggers. Go check it out on her blog and see if you're interested. (You know you are.)

302nd Post...anticlimatic

Kristi posted yesterday about how she reached her 300th post which reminded me that I was getting close and should go check where I was at on mine, wouldn't you know that yesterday's post was 301 for me! Of course I missed it because I was so tired I could hardly write at all. Oh well, yea for me and Kristi.

I'm happy to report that I went to bed at 11:30 last night and slept until 8:30 this morning so I'm officially feeling like a normal person again! Yesterday afternoon I was so wasted I didn't think I'd be able to stay awake until 7:00pm, but I got a second wind and ended up taking Lucas home and hanging out with Michelle for an hour, then came home and watered the lawn (which involves much sprinkler moving), did 2 loads of laundry, and vacuumed the house. Nice.

{Scary view of my room at the moment}

So since I'm feeling awake today I took a shower right away instead of lounging around and feeling stupid when the neighbors come over and see me still in my pajamas with smeared mascara under my eyes. My mom called and invited the kids over to her house for the day (yippee, yeehaw, skipping and jumping for joy). That means NO NEIGHBOR KIDS here today and no kid chaos at all. I'm thrilled. My scrapbook room is covered in cds since I'm still in the process of loading them all into itunes. This room also has birthday presents, bags from shopping, and other stuff all over the place. My goal every day is to get in here and get things in order, but I've been gone so much lately or have been so freakin tired that I haven't been productive at all. So thanks mom for picking them up, having them over all day, and bringing them home this afternoon.

{I stood on my chair to take this picture, I'm overwhelmed
by all of this stuff, but in a good way.}

I still need to go visiting teaching this week, get some good mail out, weed out the kids' clothes, and all the other normal daily tasks I do. Good times.

**What are you doing today and are you feeling rested?**

Waddling on empty

I think I've crossed over into having an actual sleep (or lack thereof) condition and it is affecting my life adversely. It just keeps happening. I stay up too late so I end up getting only 5 or 6 hours of sleep then I'm exhausted and irritable during the day and feel the need to take a nap (because I feel useless to do anything else), so I take a nap and feel a little bit better, but then end up staying up late again. The answer appears to be that I should push through the weariness and not take a nap so that I'm properly tired and can go to bed at a decent time. I'm going to attempt this today but I desperately want to go lie down on my bed right now.

Instead I will report on today's trek to Eagle Mountain to have lunch with Pam, Amie, Michelle and kids. You see, in my head it was going to be a very casual lunch gathering where we could hang out and visit with Pam, instead it ended up being a casual lunch with lots of kids, flies, and major weariness on my part. I felt like I was in good spirits but I also felt like I was carrying around a 100 pound backpack weighing me down.

It was good to see Pam and fun for her to meet Michelle again (after almost 13 years since they met at my wedding) and Amie. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs which turned out surprisingly well considering that's Randy's job so I had no idea what I was doing (Pam took over and made sure they didn't burn).

I was so tired driving home and was cursing that awful drive again as we had to stop and wait for the train to go through. My issues with Eagle Mountain don't seem to be getting any better over time.
I came home to a good mail package from Katie. She sent me a nice note, a ribbon bookmark with a photo charm (very cool) and two Oprah Book Club books. Thanks Katie!! It was an especially nice surprise because today is officially Pioneer Day in Utah and I didn't think we'd be getting any mail at all. Bonus. Once again I will say how blessed I feel to have gotten to know so many wonderful friends through blogging. I haven't met Katie yet, but feel like I know her already.

**Do you have bad sleep cycles like me or
are you a grown up who can run her own life?**

Prayer

I am teaching in primary today AND doing Sharing Time, so I've been very busy reading and preparing for these things. It has worked out that the lessons compliment each other greatly. My primary lesson is on Samuel the boy prophet and recognizing promptings from the Spirit, then sharing time is on prayer.

I have a testimony of prayer, but still feel like I don't always recognize promptings, so I've been actively working on recognizing them. After preparing for today's lessons I realize that I have promptings regularly, I just don't always realize that's what they are. They aren't always halting moments of inspiration, they are those quiet thoughts and feelings that direct me daily. Why do I think it has to be more than that?

I was reading the definition of prayer in the bible dictionary last night and loved the matter of fact wording.

"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matthew 7:7-11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them.

Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.

Many prayers remain unanswered because they are not in Christ's name at all; they in no way represent his mind, but spring out of the selfishness of man's heart." page 752-753 BD

I love having a reason to study gospel-related things. I don't know why I'm not more disciplined about doing this on my own. Apparently I'm still immature enough that I need to feel responsible to others in order to make myself do this. I just realized how foolish I am for not feeling that the weight of my responsibilities as a mother should be enough to make me study and be as knowledgeable as I want to be.

**What are your thoughts and feelings about this?**

Eeyore no more

Today was such a better day than yesterday's sleep-deprived grump fest. It's always such a relief to feel better after being so incredibly out of sorts. Whew. I was so happy after I put on my green shirt today because I remembered that I had bright green flip-flops courtesy of Pam. My cute pink toes were because of Pam's gift as well. That's just happy.

Today was a delight. The kids had a primary activity which they could walk to, thus giving me an hour and a half at home alone. I had time to get my stuff ready to go to Michelle's house, talk to Amie on the phone, water the flowers, do some laundry, and do some blogging; those are all good things in my book. After the kids got home we headed out. We scouted out the little park where Landon will have his first soccer practice tomorrow morning at 8:00am (Randy's taking him). Then I ran into Robert's to pick up an item I needed for a future good mail project for one of you (I'm so pleased with this idea and always feel so grateful when I actually get a good one).

After that we went to the car wash. Our car is black so it doesn't look so good after multiple rain storms and being parked outside all the time. The windshield was so nasty. I thought it was going to be a fast errand because there was only one car ahead of us and they were already in the wash we pulled up, but alas they must have gotten some members-only, top of the line, 20 rinses, Armor-All bad boy kind of car wash because we sat there for like 10 minutes waiting for them to finally be done. We choose the normal people wash that was like 3 minutes. I love getting the car washed and still feel giddy that I have a car that can go through the car wash (our last car had a make-shift acrylic window).

Our clean car took us to Pizza Factory where we picked up lunch for Michelle and I. Can I just tell you how much I love it that the kids can run in and pick things up for me AND that they want to do that?! That means I don't have to park far away, turn off the air conditioning, or run inside. I love this! They were in and out of there in 2 minutes, it's the little things in life that make me happy.


We didn't get to Michelle's house until after 1:00, but it was such a great day. Michelle had this lovely "good mail" waiting for me on the table. It's a special issue of Simple Scrapbooks magazine that I've been wanting. She feared I'd buy it for myself so she didn't want to mail it to me. I was equally delighted with this way of receiving it. The day was also great because Max and his friend Andrew played at Andrew's house so it was much calmer than on Monday. Whitney didn't eat all day and was happy to watch a movie in the basement, Eva napped, and Landon and Lucas played quietly in the family room. It was blissful. We got so much done today.

We both worked on thank-you cards. I sent about 10 on Tuesday and another 10 tonight (we drove to the East Bay post office because they have 9:30pm pick up). It is a huge relief to get caught up on thank-you notes. I like to make them, write them and send them, but often times wait way too long to do all of that because I want to make something personal and great. This is foolish because it's much better to actually say thank you when the person can still remember what they gave you and why. I need to make a whole stash of cards to have on hand so that I will be prepared. I know this isn't an innovative idea, but for some reason I never seem to have them ready to go. Here is a picture of the table towards the end of the day. I love having all our stuff out like that and like documenting it because it's like a time capsule of creativity. (Kristi we opened the Cadbury Mini Eggs you sent us. They were such a wonderful treat, especially now that the Easter season is over and we have to wait til next year to get them again.)

Tonight ended up being an unexpectedly fun night. Michelle's sister-in-law called and offered to drive down from Salt Lake so she and her girls could watch the kids and give Michelle a break. I had already planned on staying late at Michelle's house to keep on working on the cards so Randy had already planned to come pick up the kids (he works right by Michelle's house, this is such a perk). So Michelle and I ended up going to La Dolce Vita for dinner and then wandering the stationery section of Target until they kicked us out at 10:00pm (why must they close so early?). We found some great stuff and had so much fun. I love it that she shares my passion for all things paper.

**Do you have a passion for stationery
and all things paper, why or why not?**

Robe Woes

This may be a silly thing to blog about (since when did I start disclaiming things like that?) but I am having some fairly serious robe woes right now, so that's what's on my mind this morning. You see, way back in 1995 my BYU friend Sarah gave me a fantastically wonderful men's robe from the JCrew catalogue. It was a small print plaid fabric that was neither too thick or too thin. It was a huge size and I loved it! I used it every day after getting out of the shower. It was my clothing of choice as I got ready each day. I don't like to get dressed right away after showering because I still have to put on make-up, dry my hair and putter around (this has a tendency to be messy), so I like to wear a robe then.

Finally around Christmas time last year my much-loved robe was disintegrating. When you consider that I wore that robe at least once a day for 10 years we're looking at about 3650 wearings! That means it has been washed many, many times and held up beautifully. It had gotten so soft and wonderful, and most importantly allowed for a perfect temperature statis while getting ready. So it was with much sadness that I had to part with my robe and send it to the great landfill in the west desert.

I had no idea how hard it was to find another robe. I looked everywhere! I didn't want a silky robe, a short robe or a tiny girly robe. I wanted my humungous, perfect temperature-statis robe (is that too much to ask?). Apparently yes.

Randy got me a thin flannel robe for Christmas, which would have been perfect except that I could barely close it around my girth (humiliating, yes). A few weeks later I found a rather great robe at Target (all hail Target). It was lavender, which would not normally be my first choice, fleece, and the perfect size. I bought it without hesitation. The only flaw with this robe (and it's a HUGE flaw) is that it's too hot! I can't take it. Every day while I'm getting ready I feel like I'm trying to slow cook my insides. I keep feeling like my shower didn't take. Really, what is the purpose of such a robe? I guess it's for those icy-bodied people like my sister Lori, Michelle's mom Susan, or anorexics with poor blood circulation; so it's certainly not for a well-padded person like myself who considers 65 degrees the perfect temperature.

So now I'm back to my quest for the perfect robe. Had I known that it would be this difficult to replace my adored JCrew robe I would have bought 5 extras to keep in storage for my future self. So Sarah, if you're out there reading this, thank you, thank you, thank you for one of the best, longest lasting and much loved gifts I've ever received.

**Do you wear a robe while you get ready?**
Do you have a good robe source for me?

Note to self

Just a little note to self...DO NOT stay up past 3:00am the night before going to Seven Peaks. When will I learn? I'm such a chump. I stayed up blogging last night because I was in a state of euphoria after receiving the cute gifts from Jenn, Collette and Jana and from having a good night regrouping with all of them. I kept looking at the clock and thinking "just a few more minutes." I should have known how irrational being tired makes me and remembered how much Seven Peaks sucks the life out of me, but nooooo.

So I set my alarm for 9:00am knowing that I was looking at less than 6 hours of sleep but thinking if I got up then I'd have time to shower, pack lunches, blog and be ready to meet Amie by 10:30am. I woke up at 10:15!! I called Amie to tell her and our conversation went like this.

Amie: "Your kids didn't wake you up?"
Me: "No, they never do."
Amie: "Even though it's almost lunch time?!"
Me: Guttural laugh and confirmation of Amie's 1950's housewife personality.

So Amie ended up driving over here to pick us up instead of us meeting in a parking lot closer to the freeway. I was still in the shower (had to shave my legs) when they got here. I was so flustered. I made a peanut butter sandwich, grabbed some pringles and filled my big mug with ice water so we could go (the kids had already packed their lunches).

I didn't realize until we were there that I had forgotten to back my low lawn chair $#@! (I keep it in the back of my car). Seriously, this was a major problem. I checked the gift shop to see about buying another one, but they had a lame kind that I didn't want to buy. I ended up using one of their white plastic taller chairs, but the back of it kept bending, thus causing me a lot of involuntary ab work. I'm shocked I didn't break the chair completely, but instead spent almost the entire day shifting positions and trying to get comfortable. This did not go well.


Today was the first time that Michelle and her kids were able to be there at the same time we were. I fear I was so grumpy that Michelle and Amie will have no choice but to plan future visits to Seven Peaks without me (I'd be fine with this). I tried to push through my frustration, but really when you consider the 100 degree weather, multitudes of fat white people in bathing suits (me included though covered in board shorts and a t-shirt), weird smells of dampness and mud, whining kids all around us, and hunger from the lame lunch I packed you've got to figure that's more than I can take. I joked with Amie on the way home and said I'm like my autistic brother Andrew and need to go hum by myself in the corner; now that I'm thinking about it that's not really a joke I think he's onto something.

So I need to apologize to Amie and Michelle for my lame behavior and grumpiness, and pledge that I won't stay up past 3:00 the night before getting together ever again!

**Are you able to go with the flow
or do you get grumpy when chaos abounds?**

Celebrating Amy

Tonight we finally got together as a group to celebrate Book Club Amy's 30th birthday (which was on the 7th) and the birth of her son Alexander (June 23rd). We've had a rough time trying to coordinate schedules because of all the summer trips and craziness so we were 12 days late celebrating, but we made up for it with an abundance of good food and gifts.

Michelle made a fantastic gourmet lasagne complete with homemade sauce and homemade spinach noodles! (Sometimes I wonder how we're friends, I am such an imposter with my store bought noodles and Prego Sauce.) Jana made her amazing spinach salad, Collette brought double butter rolls from Shirley's Bakery, and Jenn made a great chocolate cake with almond whipped cream and raspberries for dessert (I brought the spinach/artichoke dip appetizer).


Before we gave Amy all her gifts, Collette, Jana and Jenn had gifts for all of us! Delightful. Jana brought back some gourmet syrups from her trip to Nauvoo. Collette brought us Vietnam Memorial book marks (she brings us book marks from all over the world) and Cherry spoon rests from her trip to Mt. Vernon in Washington, D.C. a few weeks ago.


Jenn surprised us all by presenting us with these very cute bags. They had the cutest tag on them. Inside the bags were personalized boxes she had decorated for us to use as "banks" so we can save money for our trip to Paris next spring. (Michelle and Marc will be hosting BYU's study abroad for 6 weeks so we're flying there to visit for a week!) The "banks" are so awesome and the tag is so cute. We don't know how Jenn manages to make such cute things, she's got 5 kids, she's the primary president, plus she made the gift book for Amy and the dessert! She's out of control but we absolutely love that about her.


We gave Amy a copy of the book Holy Fools by Joanne Harris, which was really just a nice way of holding the Barnes and Noble gift card we gave her. We also gave her a personalized book which Jenn made and we all contributed a page to.

Then we celebrated the birth of Amy's handsome son Alexander by showering her in baby gifts. It was a treat to take turns holding him (if we could steal him away from Jenn), and to see all the tiny clothes and books we got for her.


It was an excellent night, well worth all the effort we all put in to make it great. Every time we get together to celebrate a birthday, have a book club discussion, or just watch a movie I end up feeling flooded with gratitude that I have been blessed with such a close group of friends. Click here for the rest of the photos.

**How do you feel about your friends?
Do you have a close group or do you have
a big circle of casual friends?**

Great Day

Amie had errands to run today so James and Jessica came over around 1:00pm. My kids had been pacing and keeping watch in the window since about 10:00 so boy were they ready for them to get here. No worries though, the neighbor kids were here by 9:30 this morning so the vigil was kept while their friends were here! Nice.

Landon and Benjamin had a birthday party to go to from 2:00-4:00, so James and the girls tried out our new water toy ($6 at Walmart). They entertained themselves outside until about 4:45 when a weird summer storm blew in. It was kind of great because they were all highly motivated to clean up all the stuff before it rained.

I was very happy that it rained. It has been so incredibly hot and sunny lately that I welcomed the grey clouds, wind and rain. Regretably it didn't last very long and this evening was clear and sunny again.

I spent my ENTIRE day at the computer loading cds into itunes in preparation for stocking my iPod. It was heavenly. I can't even tell you how much I loved doing this. It went pretty fast (I had no concept of time at all) and it's so fun going through so many cds. I tend to listen to the same ones and have greatly neglected my collection. I'm so pleased that I can pick and choose which ones to load and which ones not to include, there are so many albums with one or two dumb songs and now they won't be in my music library. I'm loving it.

One question...do you load the entire cds into itunes, then create play lists, then put those in your iPod or what? So far I've loaded 849 songs which is 2.2 days worth of music. I'm thinking I don't need all of that on my iPod, but I don't really know the best way to go with this.

I have a definite affection for James Taylor, The Indigo Girls, Shawn Colvin, Tracy Chapman, Dixie Chicks, and John Mayer. I love seeing all their cds and song titles in my itunes library.

**What are your favorite cds (top ten or twenty) of all time?**

Joy

I've been in something of a reading slump lately. I attribute this to being very busy, the pull of the computer, and not loving the books I was reading. I was only reading a few pages in bed each night before falling asleep. I didn't realize how much I was hating this or how much I was missing my quality reading time until I started a new book on Saturday. Michelle advised me to quit the books that were annoying me and to find something I really wanted to read...excellent advice.

So I reached for Range of Motion by Elizabeth Berg, it was one of my DI finds. From the very first page I was hooked and happy. I just love the language.

"They say that one of the reasons for tragedy is that you learn important lessons from it. Appreciation for your normal life, for one thing. A new longing for things only ordinary. The feeling is that we are so caught up in minutiae--slicing tomatoes and filling out forms and waiting in lines and emptying the dryer and looking in the paper for things to do--that we forget how to use what we've been given. Therefore we don't taste the plum. We are blind to the slant of the four o'clock sun against the changing show of leaves. We are deaf to the throaty purity of children's voices. We are assumed to be rather hopeless--swallowed up by incorrect notions, divorced from the original genius with which we are born, lost within days of living this distracting life. We are capable only of moments, of single seconds of true appreciation and connection. That is the thought." page 1

So now I'm happily reading again. When I came home from Michelle's house I was tired and had a headache (I had stayed up too late the night before, we had a lot of kid chaos, a wet dog, and it was 103 degrees). I got comfortable and cocooned myself in pillows on my bed and read for awhile, so other than the ache in my head I was happy. I'm on page 88 and just loving it. I can't even tell you how happy this makes me. I love having a good book to look forward to all day, and love it when I feel weary and can steal a little rest in the middle of the day on my bed with my book. I haven't been feeling that way lately with the other books I was reading and didn't know why I was out of sorts...duh.

**Do you do this too? What are you reading now?**

It's here!!!

I was in the shower this morning when Landon burst in the door saying, "Mom, I opened the door because I thought it was one of those packages they leave on the step, but there's a guy here with your iPod and you need to get out of the shower and come sign something right away!" Talk about disconcerting. My kids are NOT supposed to answer the door when I'm in the shower, yet this seems to keep happening. I want the iPod though, and I know the FedEx guy wouldn't have left it but really it's awful knowing there's a stranger at the front door while I'm naked with conditioner in my hair.

So I raced to dry off and put my robe on, then Landon brought the sheet for me to sign and a pen into the bathroom. That was a bonus, I didn't have to actually see the guy. So I walked into the front room with him and hid behind the door. Landon gave the FedEx guy the paper, but then the guy turned to leave. I said, "where's the box?" and Landon didn't know because the guy didn't give it to him. I feared I had just signed for the iPod and the FedEx guy just got one for free. So I peeked out the window and saw him get to his truck still holding the box, then turn around to bring it back.

So now I have an iPod! I scanned it so you can see what kind I got and the cool inscription Randy had engraved on it. I love it. Now I just need to figure out how to use it.

**Any iPod tips for me??
Or kid opening the front door horror stories?**

32 Things I Enjoy About Amie

1. She absolutely loves her family.
2. She’s like a 1950’s housewife.
3. She uses a bottle of gel a week.
4. She considers herself half monkey.
5. She introduced me to the big mug.
6. She’s always cleaning.
7. She irons everything they wear.
8. She doesn’t have anything to do with the animals at their house.
9. She’s got a great laugh.
10. She can literally talk on the phone for days.
11. She actually makes dinner every night.
12. She is great at researching stuff she wants.
13. She knows every special diet there is.
14. She seems quiet, but she’s really NOT.
15. She likes me better on the phone than in person.
16. She’s got a good heart.
17. She has shuttled me and my kids all over the place.
18. She gave us a washer and dryer.
19. She’s extremely practical.
20. She can do ANYTHING.
21. She takes care of what she has.
22. She hates visiting teaching, but she wants to like it.
23. She is extremely supportive of Jimmy.
24. She’s a great sister to her 2 sisters.
25. She wants the very best for her kids.
26. She can’t stay awake while watching a movie, and won’t remember it anyway.
27. She reads all kinds of books, but likes self-help the best.
28. She taught her kids the Articles of Faith while they drove in the car each day.
29. She gets me to do things I don’t think I want to do, but end up being glad I did.
30. She goes to the temple at least once a month.
    
31. She gets up early in the morning on purpose.
32. She’s hilarious!

Happy 32nd Birthday Amie!!
I'm grateful to have you as my friend.

**Please wish Amie a Happy Birthday here.**