Ya Ya Weekend October 3-5

Since 2005 a group of my friends have been having a Girl's weekend, It started with book club...my first book was in November 2000 and it was at Kim's house and it was The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood.
From there we became a core of friends with kids, who hung out together scrap-booking and reading and what-not. Some in the group had kids the same age and played at the park or one another's home.
I was BFF's with Kim and so I kind of got in by default on the pre-Ya Ya weekend trip which was in October 2001. I was happy to tag-a-long to Chicago with 4 (or was it 5?) pregnant women. We had a great time sleeping in bunk beds...insert sarcasm here, and listening to the hormones going wild in a sometimes cranky sort of way :-)
The true yearly weekend began in February 2005 when one of the girls had moved away and was having a hard time being away from all of us and the FUN we have. Who could blame her? We all pitched in and flew her out for a surprise weekend of fun!
Since then we have lost a few more Ya Yas to out of state moves and so getting together has become more important than ever.
I am sad to say that Kim was not able to make it this year and she was sorely missed.

We stayed at a cabin in Brown county-
Friday night we had a Birthday party for all of our birthdays and Jen even brought party hats! It was fun to get a giftbag and know that all of us are loved even if birthdays get lost in the mess of everyday life.

Saturday we spent the day at the cute and srtsy little shops and ate lunch at a diner that Nicole had found highlighted in the newspaper. That night we had a wonderful campfire and watched Traci and Becky's fascination with fire bloom. We always try to elicit some secret information from someone in the group...a deep, dark secret but come on, we're Mormon Moms what kind of pasts could we possibly have?! (No comments from my pre-1983 friends is necessary. I know your secrets too!!)

Sunday everyone went horseback riding while I stayed at the cabin and watched General Conference...Yes I know, I am SO spirit-chill.
Really, I just wasn't into horses.

It was fun and relaxing and I love the girl-bonding that it creates. Somehow we all have a hard time translating that to real life. Life is getting in the way and stress keeps us from enjoying our friendship fully.
But I love the Ya Yas and I hope that this will be a sisterhood for the ages--with or without Divine Secrets!

The Long and Short of things...

I am way behind in the happenings of my family and me. I have several things to talk about, but let me start back at the Thursday before Ya Ya weekend. I have been feeling kind of blah, a little blue and, if I'm honest, a teensy bit old.

Getting ready for a weekend trip with "my old (but young and thin) friends" I decided I needed a haircut. You know, just a few more layers and a little more "oomph"!
Calah had been begging me to let her cut my hair because she is going to be going to beauty college and she cuts all of her friends hair. So I decided now would be a great time.
Well, let me say first of all that Calah has the same love of thinning shears that I have only with a little more zeal. I told her that I wanted some more layers and she asked where I wanted my shortest layer to be and we began a "hair"rowing journey.
After she had a pile of my hair on the floor she started to get a little quieter. Now,to be fair she has done some great cuts on her friends' hair and mine was going well, in the "choppy Goth style" that she and her friends adore. I think it's cute too, but I am too old for cute or trendy or cutting edge. I was OK, it's only hair, it will grow back. It did end up being shorter than I thought I wanted my shortest layer, but that's alright.
Vanessa thought it was too abrupt and choppy and Calah was feeling a little scared about what I might think and so Vanessa thought she should blend it a little more. Snip, snip, snip...You get the picture.
Pretty soon we she was calling her friend Becky to see if I could get in for a fix. Long story short (ha ha!) Becky took off another inch or so and now I have a short flippy hair cut that is definitely not blah.
I also now have a love-hate relationship with my hair. I used to be ambiguous about my hair. I either liked it okay or I put it in a pony tail. Now I either love it as in the other day when it looked phenomenal or I hate it as in getting up in the morning or after a day of bad weather. There are no more ponytails for me but without Calah's zeal for the shears I would never know that it is possible for me to love my good hair days!

Happy Birthday Kian!!

Blessing Day 2003



Today Kian is FIVE years old! I cannot believe how fast the time has gone and how I forget already what it was like to have him as a one year old...



I love to look at his pictures and remember all of the funny things he has done. He has made us laugh every single day and that is not an exaggeration...
From playing on the computer to bringing me books when he was only crawling. He has loved learning and of course he loves playing with Daddy.


Like Father, like son...


He also loves to have "Guys Night". It started when we went to Michigan and the girls went to see Wicked with Aunt Brita and Kian and Daddy stayed home. They played bowling and got Monster M&Ms and who knows what else. Since then they have had a few "Guys Nights" and Kian really looks forward to them.


Gaming Buddies...

Piano Man...

Summer 2005

He has been a challenging child there is no doubt about that. I mean he is basically an only child with 4 Moms (well, can we really count Calah?) He definitely has his own mind and his own opinion. And he can't help but copy what we say...Things like "That's not the point" and "The bottom line is..."


Summer 2007 with Iggy and Lucy

Now he is going to school and making friends and he has a whole life for those few hours a week that I am not watching. I know this is only the beginning, but I am already feeling like he doens't need me.
Then he comes up to me as I'm writing this, throws his little arms around me and says "I love you, Mom". What a blessing he has been. We cannot imagine our life before Kian.
I love you, Kian!

Go Dog, Go!

Who didn't love this book? This was my brother Lee's favorite book. He wanted to hear it again and again! Well, tonight Kian read this book! He hasn't heard it a million times (like Vanessa when she "read" Goodnight Moon,after all she was only 2 and a half). He was actually reading the words..we were all pretty surprised.
He has always loved letters and the sounds they make and it is so exciting to see him making the connections and being so excited.
What a guy...

The way things were..1962

Today is my birthday...yikes, how can I possibly be this close to 50?
In order to amuse myself I decided to play the Numbers Game. Here it is...

21
Number of places I have lived (not to be confused with the number of times I have moved)

9
Number of U.S. Presidents since 1962

8
Number of Prophets since 1962

5
Number of times the San Fransisco 49ers have won the Superbowl

4
Number of times the Detroit Redwings have won the Stanley Cup

3
Number of boyfriends I have had (including the missionary that dumped me after I waited for him!)

Here are some other Fun Facts about 1962...

Personnel Manager earned $8,000 per year

Sears Kenmore refrigerator $198

3 bedroom house $17,500

Ladies shirtwaist dress $2
1962 Ford Galaxy $2645


Bread 2 loaves for .29
Butter .63 a pound
Eggs 2 dozen for .89
One pound ground beef (free of hormones) .35
Kraft Grape Jelly .29
Ice Cream ( a real whole half-gallon) .75
72" Sofa $199
In 1962 Pepperidge Farms introduced Goldfish crackers .37
Bottle of Coke .10
Candy bar .05
Movie with popcorn and drink .80

The minicomputer introduced in 1964 $16,000

Color TV $400Postage .04
Gas one gallon .31

From the menu at Burger Chef (who remembers those?!)
Cheeseburger .27
Large Coke .25

And finally... the New York Yankees won the World Series in 1962 in 7 games and the Academy Award for Best Picture was
Lawrence of Arabia

Special thanks to all of you who have made my day SO great!! Jaime for cookies, Cathy and Tomoe (and Amy if she had gotten my message) for breakfast and flowers. Nicole, Debbie and Traci for lunch and books and earrings.
My nieces and friends who wrote on my Facebook wall. Donny Osmond who sent me a "personal" Happy Birthday email.
Phone calls and birthday cards!
Dinner and Hester's dessert from my wonderful family.
It has been a terrific birthday and it would not have been possible without ALL of you. I love you!

Still smiling!

I wish I could show you photos of the Primary kids singing and speaking on Sunday! They were so great!
Don't kid yourself, I'm SO glad that it is over, I was a nervous wreck, but I was SO proud of how seriously that took their roles :-) I am STILL smiling!
When I accepted the calling as 2nd counselor in Primary the program had already been written wonderfully by the incredible Jaime Page. All I had to so was show up at practice and pretend I knew what was going on.
I was completely in denial about having to write it myself one day. A whole year? That's forever away!
Then in May I had my first "primary program nightmare" and I was scared. So scared that I put it off for another 2 months. There are so may variables...how do you write parts for kids that most likely won't be there that are not absolutely essential to the "story". How do you account for the different personalities of kids who want to talk and those who don't? How do you keep the flow of the "story" while keeping all of the kids roughly in their "class" so that the seating arrangement is not a TOTAL nightmare. And what do you do about the Sunbeams who, no matter what you do will eventually be bored and restless and try to climb over the stand?
Yeah, you see my terror yourself now don't you?
Plus there are 8 songs they are supposed to sing and you know me, more music is always better so I added a few songs as well. 12 songs in all-- one in Spanish and one in sign language!
The kids were so good while waiting for their parts and their turn to sing. As Vanessa has reported there was a close call for tears, but Diana was able to "dry them up". We had no burpers and no primary counselor's child "eat" the microphone (Kian last year!)
I surely felt the Spirit. I have always loved the Primary program Sunday even more than "pajama church". I know that it is truly inspired and I was truly inspired. I felt like Moses afraid to try to relate what the Lord wants us to know, but I am so grateful for my Aaron who "spoke" for me both with writing the parts and in the form of Amy Hughes who taught those wonderful songs and got those beautiful kids to use their beautiful voices.
Thank you everyone! Amy, Cathy, Tomoe, Shawna, LeeAnn, the talented teachers and especially Sara Soelberg for sitting in at the last minute as our pianist. I love you all and am blessed to serve with you and be friends with you.

Utah...This is the Place

So I haven't written about this because I am not sure if I will be able to find any pictures on the computer. We have a "stealth" system and it does not like me...

Anyway, we were called on Wednesday by Doug's brother Greg who wanted us to surprise their Mom and Dad for their 25th Wedding Anniversary. On Saturday morning we were on a plane! Thank you to Greg and Lora...we never could have done it without them.

Kian really seemed to enjoy his first plane ride.


(Half an hour later and I still cannot find the pictures of the trip...I rest my case!)

Anyway, our first stop basically was Los Hermanos. This is Doug's favorite restaurant and one of mine. Four of his brothers were there with their families and it was so fun! Those little cousins sure are growing up!!

Kian had a great time playing the Wii at Uncle Matt's house with Tanner and Ben. And we had Apple Beer floats...only in Utah :-)


Sunday we had dinner with Doug's parents and it was delicious as usual. Love Gramma's roast beef.


Monday we went to BYU and it was Education Week...who knew? Well, not me obviously and it was crowded, but we didn't have a lot of time anyway. Just enough time to get our 5 bags of Chocolate-covered Cinnamon Bears, yes! I think 2 bags actually made it home :-)


Monday we were able to get a short visit with Doug's BFF Steve Day. Paula was at work, but we enjoyed the tour of their newly remodeled beautiful home! Also two of his grandkids were there and Kian was thrilled to play with London and Landon.

Braylee (London's sister) was thrilled that Mackenzie came and got her from me...she loved Mackenzie! We literally sqeezed into the Chrysler Seabring and Illegally made our way back to Greg and Lora's house.

It was also the night of the party and it was a fun Luau. Doug's Dad and step-mom went to Hawaii on their Honeymoon. Shellese and Brooke (Greg's daughter and daughter-in-law) put together a raffia filled "book" of letters that we had each written. I am quite sure I will never see another book like it ever!


The food was good the company was even better. We sat with Steve and Michelle and were able to catch up and laugh at all the old jokes. We love them!

We came home Tuesday. Quick trip, but it was fun and I am so glad that Kian now knows what Utah is. After all, this is the place.