FIRST and LAST day comparisons!

It is CRAZY how much these little people grow in a few short months!  It makes me a bit sad.  I keep telling them to stop growing-but they just won't stop!!

 

 

 

 

 

Lauren wore the SAME outfit on the first and last day ON PURPOSE.  SILLY girl! 

Her hair was so short when school started!  

 

 

 

 

 

Awwww....this is a reminder to enjoy every single day.  I am gonna do my best to enjoy the 41 short days left until school starts again! I hope they always know what a treasure they are in my heart.  I love them so.

The Other Half of the Story

To hear the other half...check it out at http://rindys.blogspot.com/2012/07/funnest-part-of-our-summer-so-far.html

My bestie Misty had been promising me a visit for a while and when her husband went out of town, she delivered! She has entertained me many times when Matt was occupied so I figured I would return the favor. There was so much I wanted to show her and her kiddos. After a month of talking about it...the day finally arrived.  I told her to get here as soon as she could...she made the long trek from Payson on Tuesday June 26.  I made a simple lunch, the kids played.  I checked Lauren out of school and we were on our way!

Our first stop: The Great Salt Lake!  Her and her family had NEVER been! SAY WHAT?!

 These pictures may look like it was a beautiful beach...but in reality...it is pretty stinky and VERY salty.

 They all looked cute in their suits!

 My cute as a button friend Misty and her daughter Melia!

 Lauren and Misty's twins, Aaron and AJ playin'!

 Her whole clan together!  See Cathy-she WAS there!  Although Saltaire in the background looks so cool in the background...it COULD have been photoshopped!

 Another shot.  Melia showing me "her good side".  Aaron is demonstrating the "action shot"!

 The lake is really shallow for a long time.  I felt like I was in quicksand....and afterwards my shorts were so salty-they could have stood up on their own and my CAR is another story.  I think I will be finding salt for many years to come!

 I can't believe they were brave enough to SIT in it...seriously...EW!

 Cut to the part where I have no pictures.  I took the entire gang to Leatherbys for some awesome ice-cream. MMMmmm.  Then I took Misty on a driving tour of where I grew up, I drove past all the places I worked at, and lived at (even Matt's old house)...and went to school at....and it ALL took less than an hour...in retrospect I hoped I didn't bore her to death.  We got back to my house...desalted the kids (aka bathed them)....and ordered pizza.  We set up our sleeping bags and settled in to watch my family's new favorite show "Call of The Wildman" AND "Stewart Little"-I had never seen it.  I quickly did some laundry so that her kiddos wouldn't have crunchy clothes and all the kids played....A LOT.

Here is Lauren and Melia...playing dress up.

Here is Jamie and Melia...I PROMISE I didn't TELL them to hold hands...but aren't they a cute little couple?! I love her face in this picture!

 Another one...with SMILES.

 And here was the scene when we finally got ALL of them asleep...notice my setup on the couch...Misty was on the other couch.  I think it was like 11 when they were ALL down.  Misty and I watched House Hunters (I thought if I put a grown-up show on-the kids would get bored and fall asleep = no!) and we watched an episode of Psych and one episode of Glee...which WE both fell asleep during.

 7:30 comes early.  We got the kids up, fed, packed and off to FIELD DAY at Lauren's school.  I thought it was gonna be a BIT more exciting....but the exciting news came for Misty DURING the field day that her husband's trip would be cut short and he was already waiting at home for her.  She headed home and I headed to work.  I am glad we got a day to play.  It was the charge I needed for the rest of my busy/stressful week at work.  I managed to snap ONE picture of us together.

I know she and I will be fast friends forever because she still loves me even though she spent 24 straight hours with me and saw my simple cooking, saw me yelling at my kids, saw my not-so-sparkling clean house, saw me without makeup and with crazy hair, saw my hubby running around like a mad-man (trying to do some quick work on our rental house), saw my empty fridge-(but my full heart), saw me dancing and singing in the car, saw my tattling and sometimes bratty children upclose and personal....AND she is currently still speaking to me. In fact...we went to see The Hunger Games for our FIFTH time (both of our fifth times-but not five times together....just first and fifth...ANYWAY) less than 2 weeks later.  I am pretty sure she is stuck with me forever now.  I hope she is okay with that. :)

Lauren's LAST day of SECOND grade.

Lauren's LAST day of SECOND grade!

Forgive me...these are out of order...but BLOGGER was annoying me too much to fix it.  So here goes.

June 29, 2012

Here is a picture of our neighbor, AJ, (on the right) getting his award at school.  His big ole' grin just makes me smile.!

 Here is our neighbor, Chrystie, on the right, getting her award for "Perfect Attendance".  I am proud of myself I got her to school each and everyday ON TIME!  I should get an award too, LOL.

 Lauren with her best friend, Cela.

 Lauren and her teacher, Miss Pabst.  She was such a good teacher.  She was very strict and kept Lauren in line.

 I went to Lauren's class to take a picture of her "friends" and all of the girls in her class crammed around! Precious! The next picture is Lauren getting her "Outstanding Academics"..this was a tough award and not many people earned it.  I was so proud of my baby!

 AND we have to get the obligitory shots...here she is before school on her first day..with her giant backpack.

 Close up.

 She has grown up way too dang fast!

 *out of order, grr* Here is Lauren on her field day June 27th.  What a cutie.

 Her legs look super long!

 She had had enough by this point.

 She wore the same outfit that she wore on the first day of school...those comparisons should be interesting!

Looking somber at field day. Look out Third Grade, here we come!

Post 20: A Regret You Have

Post 20: A Regret?

This one is tough for me because I am not really a "regretful" person.  I think that mistakes are things to learn from, they are things that make us who we are today. I have made a lot of mistakes, said a lot of things that I probably shouldn't have, and done things that I am embarrassed about...but nothing MAJOR.  I am a rule follower and not a big risk taker.

However, when I look back on my life...there is one moment that I wish I could change.  It was June of 2003.  There was a guy on my team at work that I had known since he was in High school...back in 2000-2001.  He had been on my team a few times, we worked well together, he was a good kid.  His name was Jeremy.  He also just happen to be best friends with my sister-in-law Alex's brother Andrew.  Andrew had also worked at Discover Card and I had gotten to know him really well.  I had always wanted a nick-name and he gave me one...he always called me "R-Lo".  We would tell everyone we were related because we would have the same nieces and nephews one day.  Andrew had left Discover Card but he and Jeremy were still best friends and roommates and I would see Andrew frequently at Alex's family functions.  SO...back in June of 2003...Jeremy asks me if he could take the next day off of work.  He and Andrew wanted to take their motorcycles down to St. George to go visit some girls they had crushes on.  I said yes.  I should have said no. On their way down to St. George Andrew was in an accident and was killed.  This had a devastating effect on Jeremy (who witnessed it all), and on Alex and her family, and on me.  I know the accident wasn't my fault and there was no way for me to know what was going to happen...but I always felt a little responsible.  I remember attending his funeral and holding my belly.  I had recently found out I was pregnant with Lauren and we hadn't told anyone yet.  I remember seeing Alex's mom and thinking how hard it would be to lose a child...I was already worrying about the baby I had just begun to love....and freaking out a little bit about how fragile life is.

I think about Andrew often..and how one small decision can change everything.  I am not sure if regret is the right word, but if it means a "do-over"... I wish I could go back and say "NO"....and then maybe Andrew would still be here...enjoying those nieces that we share...the ones he never got to meet.