Surprise!

I got a great surprise at work today! My cute blogging friend Erin (from Idaho) popped into the front office at school to say "hi" and to give me a Cherry Limeade from Sonic (my new favorite). Her visit could not have been more unexpected. We had a really quick visit, took this self-portrait (complete with the chunk of my face missing from my trip to the dermatologist Saturday) and hugged...it's was great. I love a good surprise.

**How was your day?

Do you enjoy a good surprise?**

Comment Window Tidbit: Whitney came home sick from school today (she's fine) but that meant she didn't go to orchestra or dance so I got a delightfully productive afternoon at home instead of running her around.

Crazy Claudia

So Saturday afternoon, I was at a family reunion when I picked up my phone to check the time and saw that I had a voice mail message from Missy Claudia. I listened to the message and found out that she was in Utah for 24 hours and wanted to get together for lunch! It turns out she found out Friday afternoon that she had a last-minute opportunity to drive to Utah with a friend of hers who was delivering a van full of furniture. She immediately called her hair dresser in Utah to see if he could fit her in on Saturday and he said she would need to be here by 9:00am...so she called her friend and said they would need to drive all night! (I so don't operate this way!)

It worked out though, they drove all night and she made it to her hair appointment in time. We weren't able to get together though because I was at my family reunion and then had an appointment to take some family photos, so I was booked for the day. But Claudia had brought my "grown up" birthday present (since it was too fragile to mail) and said she would be leaving it at my house on her way out of town on Sunday.

I called her at 8:45 Sunday morning to let her know I had left her very belated-birthday present at my house for her. She was just leaving Park City at that time, so we knew we would miss each other.

So imagine my surprise and amusement when we arrived home from church at 12:15 and saw a ginormous white van in front of our house and then saw Claudia and her friend sitting in our Adirondack chairs out front?!

I don't know why they were so late leaving, but she knew we would be home around then so they waited. She said she felt like Goldilocks as she rummaged through our house (I had left it unlocked for her) looking for food. Apparently they had had some toast (she loves the Granny Bread we buy).

We ended up visiting for a short while, laughing at her craziness, and feeding them some chips and dip and the last two cans of diet Coke (left over from when Kristi was here for Women's Conference).

This is my grown-up birthday present from Claudia.

This is the enormous van she drove away in!

I never know when she's going to show up or what craziness will ensue, but I do know that she will show up at some point and that there will be craziness! Good times.

**Would you do a 12 hour road trip on such short notice?

Can you drive all night and stay awake?

What do you think of my "grown-up" gifts?**

Comment Window Tidbit: Today marks 1 month until my 40th birthday...eeeek!

Nice Surprise

I came home from work today to find this fabulous grill in our driveway. Once again Amie has amazed me with her generosity and product surplus (remember she has given us a washer and dryer, a toaster oven, Blue Tooth, and so much more).The last time we got together I was telling her a riveting tale about how the element in our electric grill (which as a hand-me-down from Adam and Amy) burst and Randy had to finish cooking our steaks on our panini maker (not good), when she said "We have an extra grill, do you want it?"  So not only does she give us huge, useful gifts but she delivers them as well! (They delivered the washer and dryer on Christmas Eve 2003!)

I found this nice note and 2 vanilla Tootsie Rolls (I love these) inside the grill. I just love little treats like this!

**Do you grill very often?

Do you have any surplus appliances that work?

Do you enjoy vanilla Tootsie Rolls?**

Comment Window Tidbit: Weeds, weeds, everywhere weeds!

Good Times

Today was my day to help in Landon's class again (it comes around quickly no?) so I met with the usual suspects to time their Fry Phrases. My odd little friend did NOT check in with me to see if I had pondered last week's profundities, instead she told me about the 3 cakes she will be making for the upcoming talent show. It would appear she has warmed up to me substantially.


The teacher then had me read "The Devil's Arithmetic" to the entire class for a little while. As I read to the kids I automatically stopped to ask them questions and explain things just the way their teacher does. I couldn't help myself. I am so used to doing that from teaching at church and at home that it just happened. It was fun and a bit surreal, like they were my class for those 10 minutes and I was actually teaching them something. I probably should have been a teacher.


After that, she had me do a reader's theater in the hall with 9 of the kids so they could practice their fluency and expression. It was highly entertaining, plus I got to be Eurylochus in the play. My odd little friend was Narrator 2 and decided to infuse her part with all sorts of crazy inflection. I don't think she realized she was making the rest of us laugh.


Upon leaving the school, I called Amie to see if she was out and about today and if she wanted to meet for lunch. She was at the bank and heading my way, so I ran to DI for her, then we met at Chili's...you just can't beat that Express lunch deal. In fact, lunch beat us today because we ate too much and had to waddle out of there.

{Our windy self-portrait.}

We ended up going into Ross for a couple things, then to Costco. I love it that our hours together were unplanned and oh so fun, being with Amie is always a good time.

After I left Amie, I got a bag of ice, registered Whitney for softball, then went back to the school to deliver this box of chocolates to Whitney's teacher as part of teacher appreciation week. I had printed the card at home before I even knew what treat I was going to get her, and was tickled to find (it's the small things really) that the text matched the bow so well.


Later, I had just gotten home and unloaded the car and sat down at the computer (priorities) when there was a knock at the door. I'm always a little nervous/curious when I get a random knock at the door when I'm home alone...who could it be? It turned out to be Madison's mom bringing me a vase full of tulips to thank me for watching her kids. What a great surprise! I think everyone should get flowers delivered unexpectedly at some point, don't you?

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: My last visiting teaching appointment today went rather long (though it didn't feel like it at the time) because we were having a good time talking and laughing, but now I feel like I should apologize for staying so long. Oh dear.

Christmas Day in Pictures--Finally

This was the loot Santa left the kids. Whitney got a new dress, some sparkly earrings, the world's softest robe, a Zhu Zhu pet, 2 art portfolios and a new rhino and crocodile. Landon got an Atlanta Falcons t-shirt, new tennis shoes, Queen SingStar, a DS game and an action figure (Punisher).


This is the kids wrapped in their blankets standing all amazed at their Christmas goodies. Landon was particularly thrilled with the Atlanta Falcons t-shirt and proclaimed "he knows me so well!" Santa is rather amazing isn't he?


It was fun watching the kids explore their gifts from Santa and go through their stockings, they both said they were totally happy with what they'd received and could have been done there (wow, right?).


Landon surprised us all by giving Whitney a coupon good for a closet clean-up, that is truly a gift of love because she tends to bury the closet with her stuff.

I love his smile.

Whitney was super happy to get this little lunch box with 2 hamsters in it. She has been carrying them around ever since.

I love this picture.

The DS game he wanted.

Randy is super hard to buy for because there's nothing he ever really wants, but this year I managed to surprise him by getting him a used laptop (thanks to Adam). It was so great to be able to surprise him like this!

The aftermath!

Randy gave me this coupon and told me to use it wisely.

Randy also gave me a new 24 inch monitor and speaker attached to the bottom of it! I can now have almost 2 full sized windows open, which will make working on the computer and watching a show much more doable.


This is a picture of all the gifts I received for Christmas this year. Michelle gave me a Blurb gift certificate so I can finally start the process of turning my blog into a book. She also gave me three "J" stamps she got from a flea market in France. Michelle's mom Susan gave me a cute set of stationery, some very cool magnets and a great notebook that has 3 separate list pads in it, and a French cloth napkin. The kids each gave me gift certificates for pedicures (courtesy of Randy of course), and Landon gave me a Cafe Rio gift card that he paid for himself. Randy gave me Season 3 of 30 Rock and gift cards for Barnes & Noble and Chili's. Also pictured is the copy of Jane Eyre and the cd Lori gave me.


We met up with my parents at Robyn's house later for lunch and to see what their kids got for Christmas.


Andrew enjoyed playing with Ashley's mermaid Barbie, but didn't let go of Woody.

Austin and Landon played their new wii.

My parents left to go see what Adam and Amy's girls got for Christmas.

Jared and Randy also played the wii.

We learned how to play Blokus, and found that Randy (of course) has a natural talent for it. I think it has to do with his capacity to see spatial relations, or maybe just to make me crazy.

Ashley fell asleep on the couch in the middle of all the noise.

**What did you get for Christmas?
Did you come through with any big surprises?
Can you sleep in the middle of family noise?**

Comment Window Tidbit: The kids went back to school today, woohoo! It's nice to have them home but it's nice to have them gone too, so sue me.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

After returning home from our backyard camp out we were wasted. We unloaded our stuff, took showers and then crashed for a luxurious 4 hour nap! Upon waking I was mildly incoherent and still had my sleepy-face going on, and had sat down at the computer to blog about our night when the doorbell rang. (I knew the kids would get the door so I stayed at the computer.)


After a strange pause at the door (I was listening to hear who it was) Whitney came to the computer and said, "It's M..." and then proceeded to point and babble strangely, then Missy Claudia popped in the room!! She has showed up out of the blue so many times and yet the surprise is still great every time.


It turns out that they received an invitation to her Utah nephew's baptism on Wednesday and decided to make the trip! (Oh to be so spontaneous!) They left California around 11:00pm (!) Thursday night and drove to Las Vegas, then stayed at a time share place, swam and ate in the morning and then drove the rest of the way to Utah so that she could make it to her 4:45 hair appointment in Salt Lake! (She always gets her hair done when she comes to Utah.)


Since they arrived at our house around 5:30 Saturday evening they were asking if we wanted to get some dinner. We ended up going to The Pizza Factory (much to the kids' delight) for a tasty dinner and dessert.


They had two booths across from each other available, so we put the four kids at one booth and us at the other (good plan!).


We shared an Alfredo, Tomato, Ham pizza, the kids had pepperoni and Alfredo had the salad bar (he has lost over 50 pounds this year!).


We also shared a "Never On Sundae" dessert (my favorite), but with 8 people sharing it didn't last very long.


The drive back to our house was entertaining because Alexei and Jorvik wanted Claudia to race with us. That meant passing us occasionally and pulling up next to us at a stop light. It was fun to be on the road next to them, since that's such a rare sight for us to see.


The kids played great together back at our house. They played video games and hide and seek most the of time, while we talked on the couches. It was a good evening, totally unexpected and oh so fun.

We will be getting together with them this afternoon (though that's about as much of a plan as we get with them) so we have no idea what's in store for us. Good times!

Happy Birthday Stefanie!!!

**Do you ever have out of state
visitors show up at your door?
Do take spontaneous road trips like this?
Do you have a friend like Claudia?
Have you had a "Never on Sundae?"**