Girls' Night Out

I went out with three old friends last night.

I have to admit, I was a little worried how it would work out. There is something very scary about meeting up with people that you haven't seen for a long time...Especially since I arrived at the restaurant before anyone else and had enough time to wonder if anyone else was coming.

But really...it turned out to be one of the best evenings I've had for a long time.

Since I moved around so much as a kid, I really missed growing up with the same group of friends my whole life. This is the closest I get to having that kind of relationship. There's just something really...refreshing...about being with people that have known you for a really long time...especially if they can still pretend to like you.

We got caught up on what everyone has been doing, shared pictures, laughed about dumb stuff we did when we were little, found out what other people we knew have been up to and just generally had a great time. Looking at us talking and laughing at the table, you wouldn't have known that we haven't seen other for 8-13 years. (And according to our waiter, you wouldn't have known that we were all in our 30's either. Such a nice boy.)

(We even took some cheesy pictures at the restaurant. You can see them here on Anji's blog.)

Thanks to Shelly for getting us all together!

What will $25 get you?

6 gallons of gas....or....this...

SICK AND WRONG

(at least it was a good watermelon...it better have been for that kind of money)

That is all.

Memory Lane

My friend Heather had this on her blog (strangely enough, she got it from HER friend Heather...) and it looked like it might be fun!

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Okay, fess up people (all 2 of you that might read this!)...anything funny, strange, cool, embarrassing, or awful you remember about me??

Back from the edge...

I have had a revelation...[cue dramatic music]...the craziness is not getting much better. BUT...I think that things have calmed down enough for me to add the reading and writing of blogs back into the routine. I have found that the craziness doesn't get to me quite as much when I have a writing outlet. So here I am, (hopefully) back to stay.

I've scrapped all the catch up posts. I don't have the heart (or the memory) to go back and finish them all, so this is the list of what may or may not have keeping me busy the past couple of months:

• Matt's weird work schedule (which has now been resolved, not really to our liking, but at least it's workable)
• Matt's school (now finished, WAHOO!)
• Planting a garden (picked our first tomatoes yesterday)
• Many doctor's appointments for Liam (hopefully this one will get resolved soon...it makes me so sad to go up to Primary Children's.)
• The girls' tumbling recital
• Getting our medical records stolen (don't go to the U of U clinics)
• Trying to finish a quilt (so very close....)
• Matt's many required training classes for work (ugh, I thought we were past needing a baby sitter during the day)
• Fixing a broken lawnmower (why would the place that sells the parts be closed on a Saturday and then have to special order - not the main spindle - but the screws and washers that hold it in place?)
• Camping
• A niece's baptism (Congrats Erin!)
• Finding several old friends (I now like Facebook...)
• Various coughs, colds, flus and other fun things
• Sending my Mom-in-Law to Washington DC for her internship
• Worrying about my Dad being sick with Pneumonia
• Swimming our new little pool with the kiddies
• Playing Hi-ho Cherry-O NON STOP (WHY OH WHY did I buy that game?)
• Potty training (I think we're finally there...)
• And oh, I think I'll stop there so I don't bore everyone to tears...

So yeah, that pretty much summarizes a couple of months of my chaos minus one tiny thing. The sad tale of the misplaced memory card

A couple of weeks ago, Matt had to help with some background interviews at work during the day so we were in need of a babysitter. My gracious sister-in-law came to our rescue and took the kids for a few hours for a couple days. We thought it would be fun to send the girls with their little Bean Camera so they could take pictures of their cousins and the things they were doing.

When I picked them up on the second day, they were excited to get the pictures off the camera and look at them on the computer. (They also had some of the pictures from the camping trip on there that we hadn't downloaded either.) When we got home I opened up the camera to take out the memory card and lo and behold it wasn't in the slot. We searched all through the diaper bag and couldn't find it. So I called my brother to find out if they had seen it somewhere in the house.

Through a series of questioning, he found out that the kids had noticed the camera was dirty. Being the concerned helpful children that they are, they had carefully taken it out of the camera and WASHED IT because they thought it was also dirty. We got a good laugh out of the whole deal. They promised to keep looking for it just in case it survived the bath.

So this last Sunday he called to talk about plans for our big family home evening and mentioned that they had finally found the memory card.

In the pocket of some item of clothing...

That they had just removed from the WASHER and DRYER.

I think it's toast.

But I'll post the pictures of there's anything left.

(we did get think the whole thing was pretty funny though)

So there you go, you're all caught up. We're back from the edge of insanity and we actually lived to talk about it. Hopefully it stays that way!

To a grieving family...

http://www.legacy.com/DeseretNews/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=112264312

Thank you for the opportunity to attend his funeral and learn more about what a wonderful person he was.

May the sweet memories of a life well lived comfort you during the difficult times ahead.

We love you Tanya and Nathan! Our hearts and thoughts are with you.

The most horriblest day ever!

Today was going great. We got a big project approved at work, I got a lot of to-do's finished, etc. When I have days like that it always gives me motivation to get a whole bunch of things done at home as well. I was all excited to get home and work on some of the projects that have been plaguing me...

And then I got home...

And then the kids decided that they make up for the good morning I had...

The boy wanted to be held, A LOT...and would immediately start crying whenever I set him down.

Alyssa decided to take a stand against potty training and took it out on my carpet...literally.

McKenna just decided she's tired of her little sister hanging around her all the time and used her as practice for a promising career in boxing.

For example: As I was getting Liam out of the tub (have you ever tried to dress a crying and very wiggly child? Loads of fun I tell you...) I heard screams outside the bathroom door. Alyssa came in with a bright red cheek and big crocodile tears streaming down her face. McKenna had hit her because, according to the offender, "She was following me around." OH THE HORROR.

I sent Kenna to bed (with no bedtime story as punishment for hitting her sis) and as she was crying down the hall to her room she yelled in her best 'woe-is-me' kind of voice, "Today is the most horriblest day EVER!"

Yes. Yes it is.

Not really, but it felt like it.

Lest ye think...

...that I have fallen off the face of the earth, I am posting a quick note here to say that no, indeed I have not fallen off the face of the earth. It, instead, has decided to crush me with its entire weight for a short season.

I have at least a dozen started-but-not-finished posts. I have just been so overwhelmed by all the goings on of late that I haven't been able to read any blogs, let alone publish my own. Bear with me folks. Our house is a very crazy place to be right about now.

I have every intention of getting back to both the reading and the writing...but alas, I think it will be another week or two until I can catch my breath. We still have some major things coming up that will be, and have been, consuming a lot of my time and mental energy.

Just don't be surprised if one day you stop by only to find that there are a bunch of entries from a month ago that weren't actually published on the date listed at the top of the post.

The reason would have something to do with what paves the road to hell...