Saturday Rewind

Adam and Amy's girls slept over Friday night so we had a fun, mess-filled house of giggling girls for about 24 hours.

On Saturday they talked me into taking them to the amphitheater park even though it was windy and cold.

Lori and I sat in our chairs talking and shivering, I eventually had to wrap my legs in the blanket she brought...it was freezing. We finally packed things up and left when it started to rain.

Landon and 3 other friends had ridden their bikes to Sonic and then were back at our house for some video game time.

The girls weren't ready to go when Adam arrived, so we bought them some time by going out to lunch with him (me, Lori, Adam and Randy).

At one point we were laughing so hard the people around us were staring. The little girl at the next table was delighted and wanted to be a part of it.

This was part of the humor.

The girls used every bit of play time but were still bummed out when they had to go. It's a good thing they'll be coming for a 2 night sleepover next week when Amy has to go out of town.

Scenes from Game Night

We've been having weekly game nights this past month and it has been a good time. We almost always have at least one huge laugh (provided by Adam of course) that makes the entire night worthwhile. It is usually in poor taste (bowel-related) but he has such a way of telling a story that he always has us in tears.


This what the kids' room looked like after Megan and Olivia had been playing, then watched a movie and abandoned the bowl of remaining popcorn kernels...actually not too bad.


Tess and Ashley watched Pink Panther (the old ones) dvds most of the evening and both sacked out around 9:00pm. It's not uncommon to have kids watching a movie in the family room, kids' bedroom AND on the computer! That's rather ridiculous for a group of 8 children but it works.

**Do you laugh at bowel-related humor?
Do you ever watch the old Pink Panther cartoons?
Have you laughed really hard recently?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I made Parmesan chicken for dinner, but didn't eat. I just can't get interested in chicken for dinner.

So Nice-To-Do

I know I keep writing about Sister Beck's Essentials, Necessities and Nice-To-Do's but they are seriously changing the way I think about how I spend my time, so I would be leaving out an important part of my life if I left them out of this post.


Plus, I keep improving this little reminder card (which I keep on my bulletin board above the computer). I have reread Sister Beck's talk a couple times, plus heard her at Regional Conference on Sunday so I keep finding more things she said to add to the list.

The great thing is that I am balancing my time better and making sure that my Essentials and Necessities are being taken care of so that I'm justified in all my nice-to-do's.


Like today when I met up with Crystal, Amie and Michelle for a long lunch at Chili's, there was no guilt and my mind was at peace because we had had family prayer and scripture study in the morning and I had gone visiting teaching as well.


The last time Crystal and I got together for lunch we ordered chips and salsa and then barely ate them even though we were there for 3 hours, so this time I was all over her about eating them.

The table could hardly hold all the food.

Poor Crystal sat across from me, so I got the most pictures of her, but I love the blur on this one because this moment was so funny. We laughed all throughout our lunch and at one point I even laughed hard enough to feel my abs working (that's my favorite kind of laugh), so it was a good time. There were lots of hilarious quotables (we really should have written them down) and we meshed beautifully as a group (i.e., no awkward silences or uncomfortable moments).

Me and my chins took one for the team since I held the camera on this shot, but I'm dedicated to self-portraits and remembering good days like this one.

**Are you on a quest for balance?
When was the last time you laughed really hard?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I really don't mean to be obnoxious about these things, it's more a matter of me constantly trying to be my best self and continually failing. I am always so shocked when I'm doing so well or right that I feel like I should shout it from the rooftops in disbelief and euphoria. I'm always more shocked than anyone else.

Day4--Gut Busting Birthday

Day 4 of our Michigan trip was composed mainly of a hilariously fun birthday party at Betsy's brother David's house to celebrate his 37th birthday. (Landon and Whitney know and LOVE David from when he came to visit us back in 2006.)


It had rained that morning, but was clearing up and ended up being a beautiful day. David had gone out and bought another basketball to accommodate the kids (isn't that the sweetest thing?).


I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see where Dave and his wife Seay live, and getting to be part of one of their family parties.

Faye and Seay put on a tasty birthday lunch.

Emmit was fearless around Zeus and even crawled into his kennel. What a crazy pair these two were.

A vision of summer loveliness.

Dave shocked us all by teaching Landon and Whitney how to drive his beloved John Deere tractor (it used to take 4.5 hours to mow his lawn before he got this). I was shocked and a little bit nervous...not that something would happen to them, but that they might harm his tractor!

What freedom and joy for an 8 year old!

Dave's yard is 2 acres of hilly goodness with minimal obstacles so they had the time of their lives giving each other rides and driving all over the place.


Dave also played baseball with the kids even though it was quite hot outside at that point (or maybe that was just me melting in the humidity).


We played a great game of four square and I laughed my guts out as David commentated the event. He totally surprised me by revealing that he reads my blog regularly! He had a hilarious way of saying, "Creativity, Musings and SUCH" that made me laugh very hard and feel quite flattered.

Post four-square self-portrait.

Faye and Seay were busy inside with food prep, but peeked out the window to check on us.

David requested a Boston-Cream Pie topped with store-bought candies (the kids were in heaven).

There was plenty of time to hang out and discuss life issues. I just asked Landon if he remembered what they talked about and he said, "No, but I know I laughed a lot."


It took 3 attempts with the self-timer on my camera to get a shot with everyone looking (including the dog).

An end of the day self-portrait.

And a final shot of Dave and the kids. This day was one of the highlights of the trip for them for sure.

**What kind of cake would you request?
Do you like playing 4-square?
Have you driven a tractor?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I've got Adam and Amy's girls here for 48 hours of crazy, cousin fun. Oh my!

Good Times

We got together for game night last Friday (except for Lori who had plans) to consume nachos, play Quiddler, and laugh our guts out.


I met some initial resistance when I suggested we play Pictionary, but we ended up having a really good time. We played in 3 teams but played every card as an all-play because it's more fun that way.


Randy and Adam are artists, but that doesn't mean they're necessarily the best players. Sometimes their precision makes them take longer to draw something than one of us nonartists would take.



This is one side of the paper Randy and I used, we ended up writing the actual word after each round was over just because we found it amusing. We ended up winning thanks to my keen guessing skills, oh and Randy's stellar drawing skills (though that elephant drawing looked like a colon until the eye and tusk were added).


Adam drew this picture while attempting to get Amy to guess the word "birth mark", clearly this was the best way to go about it.


Listening to Adam and Amy draw and guess was truly hilarious. I love the random declarations that come when Amy is guessing, and then the post-failed guess follow up that happens when Amy tells Adam what he should have drawn in order for her to guess the right answer. Hearing her yell, "You shouldn't have drawn a monkey!" sent me into a fit of giggles.


This is the face Adam makes after listening to one of Amy's guess suggestions.


We didn't see much of the kids this time (woohoo) since they were busy playing in the bedrooms, we love it when that happens.

**Do you enjoy playing Pictionary?
Do funny blurts while playing games make you laugh?
Are you a better artist or guesser?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I've been watching Season 2 of thirtysomething while working on some things today and am feeling emotionally involved and rather flustered because of it.

Celebrating the New Year

Our whole family gathered at Adam and Amy's house for lunch, conversation and games to celebrate New Year's Day. It was one of our more successful gatherings so I'm not sure if the planets aligned or if the food was just right or what, but the kids stayed downstairs most of the time, I didn't get a headache, and everyone was in great form so we had a really good day.

Maybe it was the lack of a mystery stench, or the expansive square footage (especially in contrast to our house which seems to be shrinking) that made the day so comfortable, I don't know, but obviously I feel the need to comment on it.


This is the load of stuff we took with us to their house, it's comical no? We only had to bring buns and chips, but we also brought a cheese ball, crackers and games, plus the kids brought snow clothes, and Lori brought diet Coke and more chips.


Andrew is what you might call a routine eater, he has a few favorites in his repertoire and never strays from them, so his holiday lunch consisted of reheated cheese pizza, some apple sauce, tiny Ritz crackers and some previously bagged popcorn (i.e., not hot and fresh). I guess the ginger ale was all the holiday fare he needed.


Adam made us some seriously huge, square hamburgers (not pictured up close for fear of making my vegetarian readers pass out).


This was my plate of goodness--my gigunda burger with ranch dressing, avocado, bacon and lettuce, a hefty portion of spinach salad and some bbq chips. I'm not ashamed (though maybe I should be) to say I ate it all. I took my time with it though so I really didn't end up feeling stuffed or anything, just content.


The kids came upstairs to eat after we had all made our plates (which is a rare reversal) and largely served themselves, woohoo. I'm sure they had a chip-heavy meal, but we didn't care.


Robyn and I have the same camera so we often pick up each other's camera by mistake and have started taking self-portraits with it for a joke--I found this photo this morning.


Robyn must have taken this picture because I just realized that I'm actually in it. We all sat around the table eating and talking for over an hour. Adam always tells hilarious stories, but our conversation turned spiritual and most of us were in tears at different times.


Later, we had 2 different game rooms going on (what the?, how nice is it that they have the space for that?) so Lori and the guys played Blokus at the dining room table while me, my mom, Amy and Robyn played Blokus at the library table (as seen across the room in this picture). It was a very pleasant set up and rather fun. I like that game, but even with about 10 times of playing under my belt I still don't have a solid strategy and never win.

Of course, my dad and Andrew were both "done" by that point and headed home (my mom had driven separately) so everyone was happy.


I find the colorful tiles pleasing to work with and love how they fit into the board. Is that weird or common?


We spent our last hour of the night playing Pictionary with this memo board easel set-up they had. Our 2 teams were evenly matched and we laughed ourselves silly (at least I did) with our drawing attempts. Both Adam and Randy are artists so their pictures are humiliatingly good, but the real comedy comes from the rest of us who have no skills.


Adam said that I spent half my drawing time laughing at my artwork, I'm afraid that's true.


This picture (by Amy) is my attempt at drawing a water bottle...obviously I lost. It looks more like a deflated balloon or an intestine.


Bella made this sign and taped to the wall in the basement, isn't that just plain cute?

At the end of the day the kids were making mad scrambles for cousin sleepovers they all ended up going somewhere.

Olivia stayed with Megan
Tess went with Austin
Bella came home with Whitney
Ashley went home with my mom
Landon came home (he didn't want a sleepover).

So to sum up:
New Year's Day--fun
House envy--strong
Burgers and food--very good
Company--entertaining
Kid presence--minimal
Blokus skills--none
Drawing skills--laughable
Cousin sleepovers--so happy

**How was your New Year's Day?
Do you like burgers?
Do you have Blokus skills?
(If so can you email me some help?)
Can you draw?**

Comment Window Tidbit: Thanks for all the stinky possibilities concerning our mystery smell. We may have to wait it out because we can't seem to locate any stank contenders.