The Final Countdown

I always knew it was going to happen. It happens every single year but it never ever gets any easier. When you live in a place like this where people tend to go you are going to have to say goodbye. I will have lived here for eight years and you can imagine all the people that have come and gone. I remember six year ago when I was getting ready to move wondering how in the world I was going to survive in a place as remote as Ohio. That being said, I also remember having this distinct impression that I would meet so many wonderful people that would be important to me. So though I must say goodbye to so many, I am so so very appreciative that I was able to have them in my life for a small moment. We were able to start our families together, talk about child-rearing woes, share some sad times, share even more happy times and really become like family. I am so thankful for that.

This is a picture of Julia's 2nd birthday with Hannah and Jansen. We said goodbye to Hannah two years ago and now we have to say goodbye to Jansen and Aiden. She has been saying in her prayers this week, "Please don't let Jansen and Aiden move away." Oh it makes me so sad.
Here she is today with her best boyfriends. They have helped teach her to share, stand up for herself, play trains, give a really good "ALLLLLL ABOOARRRDD," play superheroes, laugh and most of all to have fun.





Dang it I get teary eyed seeing these kids together. (thanks for the beautiful pictures Monica)
Not only Julia but I have to say goodbye to these wonderful women. They have been such examples to me. I have known fewer women that have more faith, patience, humor, selflessness and kindness than they. I will strive daily to become more like them and hope hope hope I can someday be a mother and friend like they are. Oh my heck here come those dang tears again...

They even celebrated my birthday two weeks early because Jessica is leaving next week.
Julia's little buddies came and watched her dance recital this week. She was THRILLED. She was disappointed though because when it came time to clap she told me, "Jansen and Aiden didn't clap they just stared." I told her it was because they were staring at her awesomeness. They are seriously the cutest little boys.
Audrey and sweet Natalie. Every day Audrey asks to play with "Nateee and Soapie." (Sofie ran away before I could snap these pictures). They are such fun girls to play with.
The squinty kids.
Even the boys got to have one last hurrah before moving day and went canoeing.

So to all those wonderful people I have said goodbye to already, to those I will say goodbye to in the next month and to those that I will say goodbye to in a couple of years, thank you. You have all made me cry. I hope you are happy. Lucky for me there are so many wonderful people here in Ohio to keep me company...and then of course move away in a year. It is a never ending yet wonderful cycle.

Easter, a Little Late

Better late than never I say.

We have an annual Easter egg hunt put on by one of my good friends and the weather was perfect. In years previous we have worn heavy coats and gloves. It was nice to be more concerned about a sunburn and melted chocolate this year.
I told Julia that she needed to run and find as many eggs as she possibly could. She took that to heart and I was amazed at how many eggs she came back with. I didn't even have to be one of those moms who go and push the other little kids aside to make sure that my kids get their fair share. Even little Audrey came out with a few eggs, though every time she bent over to pick an egg up the contents of her basket would spill each time.
To top off an already very successful Easter egg hunt someone had brought a bunny and was kind enough to allow my kids to terrorize it a bit. Julia was brave and even held it. Audrey just made random swipes and grabs at the poor thing. She was scared of it but would have bursts of courage. It really made the event even more special.

I love this picture of the kids getting ready to run. Julia is holding Audrey's hand and it was a sweet moment.

Me and my girls.

Now moving on to the actual Easter...

We made our way over to Cincinnatti to visit those favorite people of ours (the Gaileys of course) and we had such a great time.

They had a little birthday celebration for Bryan and Dave got Bryan a present from his conference in D.C.

And Bryan celebrated in true Bryan fashion. I wonder how many crazy pictures of him I can come up with. too many to count I assure you.

More pictures from the birthday celebration.

The kids dyed Easter eggs while the men were at Priesthood Session. Have I ever mentioned that when we were growing up we would each individually get a dozen eggs to dye. We are egg lovers. Even though we were at the Gailey's I hard boiled a dozen and a half eggs and not a one went wasted.

Easter mornig the kid waited in great anticipation at the top of the stairs to go and hunt for their baskets and eggs.

The Gailey's have a beautiful backyard perfect for the bunny to do it's work and they had so much fun searching for their eggs and stuffing their little mouths with jellbeans.

Here are the baskets.

It really was such a wonderful Easter. Conference was great, the company was great and I love me some candy so overall two thumbs up. Thanks again Gailey's for being SO wonderful as always!

30 Years Young

It happened. Bryan is officially an old man. 30 years caught up to him and now a midlife crisis is inevitably approaching. He actually did have kind of a hard time with the big 3-0 for whatever reason. Luckily he gets to celebrate it with such amazing girls that showered him with gifts.

We went and had dinner and to the delight of all he was able to don a sombrero and do a little dance on the table while balancing his fried ice cream on his head. We were all so impressed that an old thirty year old was able to even climb onto the table let alone cut a rug. Okay, so maybe there wasn't any dancing and balancing but there was delicious fried ice cream and no thirtieth should be with out that. Unfortunately ice cream consumption will now have to be limited because when you turn thirty your metabolism slows and you get fat on your back (believe me I know ALL about this).

Great friends to celebrate with. Nate kept trying to steal Bryan's sombrero and at one point we had a bit of a tug-o-war but he was consoled that when he turns thirty he will probably get to wear a sombrero too. There was a brief slap fight but things resolved quickly. It's always a party with this crowd.

I guess this is where I'm supposed to write thirty ways that I love Bryan but I thought that instead I would write this poem:

Though now you are old

I might be so bold

to tell you that even though

after 7 years of marriage we still live in this tiny condo

I think someday you will make money

and that makes me very happy honey

and that I think that you're great

I would even love you if you gained some weight

You are the best dad

the girls are telling me all the time that you are rad

you make me laugh a lot

and I think you are hot.

I love you Bryan and happy birthday two weeks ago or three or whenever the 31st of March was. I hope you were able to find your car after work today. You know how that mind goes after thirty.

Now enough about Bryan...check out this boo boo I got!

I fell on the ice when there was this random ice storm and being the protective and wonderful mother I am I sustained a major wound while trying to protect Audrey from the brunt of the fall. Now I know there were collective gasps as you viewed that graphic photo but I assure you the scabby nasty itchy is all gone now and I am on my way to a full recovery and I am happy to report that Audrey came away completely unharmed from the aforementioned incident.

And I got the girls some matching leotards on clearance (no I will not tell you where from, don't you judge me). Of course I had to take a picture.

Back in Business

So we just got our new computer and let me tell you. I am one happy woman. It is so nice to have a computer that actually stays connected to the internet and does things quickly. Heaven I tell you. So now I just need to get all caught up, which may take a while so here we go...

Over the past several weeks we have had so many fun visitors from Bryan's family. It really has been great to spend some quality time with each of them because it is definitely not something we get to do very often. Our first visitors were Bryan's sister Amanda, her husband Ryan and her little girl Alli. My girls and Alli loved playing together. As a special treat we were even able to celebrate Alli's second birthday while they were here. The weather wasn't very warm during their visit so we spent a lot of time at the mall playland and the nearby pet store but luckily Amanda and Alli were up for anything and we had a great time.

Such sweet girls. It's so fun to have cousins so close in age.

Next up we had a visit from Bryan's brother James, his wife Natalie and their litle boy Scott. Audrey and Scott decided that play time is better enjoyed shirtless, as you can see by many of the pictures. It is actually Bryan's, Natalie's and James's birthdays all within a week of eachother so once again we had some birthdays to celebrate and what better way than with Sponge Bob hats?

My girls just LOVED Scott even though Julia had a heck of a time remembering his name. At one point she said, "Boy! Come and play with me!" Despite the name forgetfullness they were all instant friends.

These next two pictures make me laugh because I think they describe James and Bryan perfectly. Seriously my face hurt from laughing so hard after a weekend with the together. They have always been close and it was great to see that even a couple of years without seeing them didn't change a thing.

Here is their normal picture...
and the cheesy, why are we so close together with such lame smiles picture...such nerds.

And the tree climbing of course. Bryan managed to get his way up there but not without several scrapes and sore arms the next day. Natalie assured James that she still considers him a manly man even if he wasn't quite able to make it up. Seriously, these two together was hilarious.

We also had an unexpected visit from Bryan's dad and wife Sue and their little boy Caleb. Caleb was hysterical. We enjoyed him very much. We were so impressed at what a happy and energetic little boy he is. You can't help but smile when he is around.
Monte actually stopped by again on his way back home and let the girls pet his dogs. The girls thought that was awesome considering dogs arent something we get to play with too often.

It really was such a great time to have so many visitors and see family we literally haven't seen in about two years. Thanks every one for the visit and come back again soon!

Confessions

So I'm waiting for my new computer to be shipped to me. It is taking longer than expected and I am going crazy looking at all the pictures on my camera and not being able to blog. It will be coming. Until then I am getting antsy. I need to blog about something.


Here are some of my confessions


1. I have eaten three times as much of my childrens' Easter candy than they have. I am ashamed.


2. I have never ever sent a text message on my phone. I don't even know how to. I've received a few lately, which is kind of exciting.


3. I have never ever made home made bread. Never. I don't even know how to work the yeast. I've never even made bread machine bread. But I have made rhodes rolls/bread a time or two.


4. I have been on a reading kick lately. So when Julia comes down from her hour quiet time I tell her she needs to keep being quiet so I can read.


5. It took me 30 minutes to thread the bobbin on the sewing machine I got for Christmas. I know that it will take me that long to thread a different color so everything I have sewn in the past few months has been with black thread. It's amazing how versitile black thread is. Well, I suppose I've only sewn like four things so maybe it isn't that versitile.


6. I cut a pair of old slacks and turned them into black shorts. I folded the bottom up and sewed it totally crooked. I don't care. I wear them anyway. Totally not worth un-picking them.


7. If you call me on the phone I can pretty much guarantee that we will talk for at least twenty minutes. I can go up to an hour (I think I have even been guilty of two). I don't know what is wrong with me. I just keep on talking.


8. I am nearly flat footed (is that a word?) I think it hinders athletic ability because I run really slow. When we would do the 40 yard dash in gym class I would just want to die. The football players would time us and my time was SO slow. It was a cruel form of embarrassment if you ask me. I would just cringe as I crossed the finish line and the cocky football player would yell out my time. The shame.


9. I have back fat and it makes me very angry.


10. I literally cannot walk out of Target without spending fifty dollars. Half of which is spent on stuff that I didn't really need but it was on clearance and I might need it in the future and how could I pass it up when it was just two dollars I mean for that price I had to buy six and in four years Audrey will wear it every day and it was just a such a great deal. Today I found little bramuda shorts that were on sale and of course I had to get matching and of course I had to find shirts to match. It's a problem.


11. I don't really like Oprah. She bugs me.


12. I do like reality t.v. Maybe it's seeing so many people act like complete morons that is just mezmorizing. It's hard to look away.


13. I know all the words to the theme song "Duck Tales." Do you remember that show? "Life is like a hurricaine here in Duckberg..." We used to watch Disney Afternoon every single day. I could probably sing a bit of Rescue Rangers, Talespin and Gummy Bears if asked. "Gummy Bears! Bouncing here and there and everywhere. High adventure that's beyond compare. They are the Gummy Bears..."


14. I have been spelling "separately" incorrectly for my piano students for five years. I tell them to play their hands "seperately." Until recently my eyes were opened by one of my students who told me to think of "a rat" "separately". So yeah pretty much humiliated. The student apparently became the teacher.


15. I stay up way way way way too late at night. And then I'm a beast of the field the next day. I have so much admiration for those that go out running at four a.m. and clean their house and do fifteen projects and make pancakes and learn chinese, etc, etc. Though I must say it is pretty impressive that I can get me and the girls up, dressed, fed and out the door in thirty minutes.


16. In reference to the previous confession, I drop Julia off at preschool without makeup and in sweats. I'm pretty sure that when I pick her up her teacher thinks that I am a different person.


17. I just found the anniversary card that I bought for Bryan. Our anniversary was a couple of weeks ago. Even worse, do you know what I thought when I found it? I can't believe I spent three bucks on this thing! Maybe he'll still appreciate it a month late?


Well that went on longer than planned. Apparently I had a lot to get off my chest. Until I am finally able to load pictures on my computer, I just had Kara take more professional pictures of my girls. There are so many wonderful ones that I will officially post later but until then check them out. Kara never ceases to exceed my expectations.