Post 11

Post 11: A place I'd like to visit!

I really don't like to be around a lot of people, so it might surprise some people to find out that a place I'd like to visit is Tokyo, Japan.

I just think it is a really cool place to go. Plus I hear the Japanese people are really nice...AND I think it would just HAVE to be the best sushi ever!

I don't know when I'll go or if I will ever make it there...I guess I will have plenty of years to try to learn the Japanese language.

For now, I will just look at these pictures in awe!

What a cool place!

Attention any gardeners!

About 2 years ago Matt told me that he wanted to start a compost pile. He told me to collect anything organic for the pile. So, slowly for the past 2 years, non-shalantly we have started a little pile in the corner of our backyard. (can you see the avocado peels that have yet to decompose?). Anyway, recently much to my surprise our compost pile began to grow, um, SOMETHING!

I have never had a garden, and had intended to start one this year-but we never got around to it. So, this is my new little accidental garden. I think with all the rain this year-these little fellas were able to grow.

The problem is.....I have no idea what I am growing! So-if there are any of you experts out there who know what this is. Please share!

I was sort of thinking pumpkins, or cucumber, or maybe squash. We have put literally every single fruit and vegetable in this pile.

Whatever is growing-there are quite a few of them!

Heart shaped leaves. They are a little dirty due to the recent windstorm.

They have these long whispy tendrils and stems with prickles.

Now I can't believe I am sharing this picture. BUT for all of you smart-alecs out there who say I am just growing weeds in my compost pile...here are my REAL weeds in the corner and they look NOTHING like my compost surprise.

I thought since I was snapping shots, I would share what Matt has been up to. He wants to make a patio that would come right out of our basement-so he is digging up the dirt. He has spent many hours a day on this little project. Check out his progress!

Here is the other side of the steps. A shot from afar. I can't wait to see what it will look like when he is done. The plan is to expand the deck that comes out from upstairs and it will serve as shelter for the bottom patio. It will be a nice cool place to hang out in the summer.

I have not abandoned the journey: Post 10

Life has been a bit busier lately-but I have not forgotten my blog-nor the 30 "day", er "post" quest. I have been giving it a lot of thought and as with most of these posts I am putting my own spin on it.

Post 10: Bullet your entire day. (First the REAL one, then my IDEAL one).

*Alarm goes off at 445 am. I am bitter everyday about having to get up at this insane hour, I snooze until 5 am. I groggily and slowly get myself somewhat presentable.
*530 another alarm goes off telling me I got 10 minutes to leave, I start moving faster-I throw together some fruits and veggies to snack on along with my iced water and head out, I love my 5 minute drive.
*545 am I arrive at work-I tell everyone "hello" in my nicest "I am not a morning person" voice. Luckily 2/3rds of my team work remotely from home and they don't see how crabby I am as I just instant message them a cheerful "Good morning, today is gonna be great" first thing.
*The day flies by and I am busy all day answering questions, solving problems, taking an occassional supervisor call, I attend lots of meetings (ugh) and I do some coaching with my team members, listening to calls and helping to make my team the best they can be (oh crap is it 12 already?) my team leaves at 12 and I never get as much done as I wish that I could (double ugh.)
*12 should be lunchtime instead there is almost always a meeting...and after that I spend the rest of my day trying frantically to document what I did all day and try to get some other busywork done. (crap is it 3 already, I shoulda left at 230)! I still haven't eaten lunch.
*Panic attack at 3 pm because I am late and I didn't get HALF as much done as I wanted to, I more frantically try to finish anything CRUCIAL before it is time to leave.
*ACTUALLY leave closer to 400 pm and thank goodness again that I am only 5 minutes from home. I stop at the neighbors to get Laurens. We visit for a minute-I love the Middleton family, they are lifesavers.
*430pm leave the Middletons to get Jamie-RIGHT when traffic is getting bad. I test Lauren on her spelling and have her do her 20 minutes of reading IN the car after she tells me about her day, I enjoy the slim one-on-one time we get.
*500 get to my parents house. Jamie is happy to see me and so is my parent's dog-Frank. I love to see my parents everyday and that Jamie gets to spend so much time with them. I visit with them for a while and then about 6pm we finally make our way out the door.
*630pm we are on the way home, I debate for a minute what to do about dinner and decide that McDonalds sounds good, I am STARVING.
*7pm we are home, we watch a bit of TV, as we hurry and eat, then hurry and clean up and hurry and get everyone bathed. Hurry and do some laundry and hurry and get ready for bed, clothes laid out (crap-how is it 9pm already?!)
*10pm get in bed RIGHT as Matt is walking through the door...we try to visit for a few minutes while trying to herd the children back into their bedrooms-why is their routine like a 25 step process?
*12am FINALLY crash-fall asleep after playing on the computer for a few minutes, er, an hour. CRAP midnight sure comes quickly!

Okay, that is my REALITY on most days and that kinda sucks, so here is my ideal day!

*445am my alarm goes off, I am wide awake and totally ready to rock the day. I have plenty of time to get ready appropriately and to pack a nice healthy lunch.
*530am I leave for work and arrive early. The day is super productive and I get everything I want to get done accomplished. My team does really well and they are all happy and there is NO drama and no unproductive meetings.
*12pm with most of my work done I eat lunch with my bestie Melissa
*I spend the rest of the afternoon getting ahead on my work and leave at 215 = 8 hours only.
*I come home and change into workout clothes and hurry and check my e-mail and Facebook.
*300 I head out the door and WALK to get Lauren from school with my neighbor April Middleton.
*345 Lauren and I arrive home and head out to get Jamie-traffic this hour is much better.
*415 arrive at my mom and dad's. We visit for a while.
*500 arrive at home and the kids and I do homework and housework casually along with a bit more working out. I fix a nice healthy dinner that tastes good and that the kids like.
*700 bath time, story time, and even some playing time. I have some time to work on some jewelry or craft, or even blog.
*900 kids in bed easily and happily (in their clean rooms-it is MY ideal I can dream big).
*905 Matt comes home and we get some quality time
*1000 I am in bed asleep, happy and content

That doesn't sound too hard!?! I wonder why I fail to make that happen everyday..... Well, I will make a new goal to work towards the ideal. :)

Lauren's FIRST day of SECOND Grade.

I know that it seems like I just posted about her LAST day of First Grade....and I did. Ah, the beauty of being on year round school. She was off for a full three weeks in between grades, and we sure made the best of that (future posts to come).

I got her a new haircut and a new outfit for her first day of school. I just think she is the cutest little girl in the world. I think she is so photogenic. I just love her. She humors me and my quest to photograph her.
This is her sassy side.

I love the over the shoulder look! I also love her new backpack. We agreed on Hello Kitty, you just can't go wrong.

The obligitary close up. She now has teeth.

We always get a few shots outside. This is my FAVORITE picture. Sweet, sweet girl.

Almost ready to go. 7 years old. Time sure flies. Where did my baby go? As with tradition, the whole family was there on her first day.
I snuck away from work to be there for her first day. You would think by my third time doing this that I would be used to it...but no, when she walked through the doors-the tears started flowing (by me only, of course).
I had to document this. Everytime she goes back on track-the whole family has to adjust to the new schedule. The first few days are always a bit rough. BOTH my kids fell asleep on the drive home.
(sorry this is side-ways)...Jamie fell asleep too. You can tell he is his father's son!
Lauren had such a great teacher last year-so I was sad to see her move on-but she actually LIKED her first day with her new teacher. I am looking forward to September when Jamie starts going to pre-school at Lauren's school. My kids mean the world to me and I can't believe they are growing up so fast. I love the journey and the adventure-I just wish it went by a bit slower.

Lauren's First and Last Day of First Grade!

Here is my princess Lauren on her last day of first grade. I can't believe that in a few weeks I will have a second grader! Time goes by so fast!!! The pictures on the left will be her on the last day of school, the pictures on the right will be on her first day. How she changes in a year!

I could not figure out how to turn the dang picture, sorry!

ALSO...here is a picture of Jamie at Lauren's end of year assembly in 2010 and 2011. Oh how they grow!

He is such a handsome fella!!

*Lauren won awards at the assembly for OUTSTANDING CITIZENSHIP and OUTSTANDING ACADEMICS! I am one proud momma!!

Here is Lauren with her class. It is a cute story. I went to her class and said "Lauren I want to get a picture of you and your friends", thinking it would be the girls she plays with, and the WHOLE CLASS got behind her. When I asked her about it later she said "Yup, they are ALL my friends". How sweet! What a good year!!

Her closest friends (the picture I first intended to get!) Marilyn, Anna, Lauren and Danya.

Her (boy)friend Toby! Such a cute, sweet little boy!
Her teacher, Mrs. Lance. She is such a great teacher! Lauren learned so much this year and I have her to thank. I got so much more than I expected this year. We got to be friends this year, yup "friends"!! Her best friend lives next door to us. Small world! I am grateful for her and I hope to stay in touch with her in the years to come! Lauren is the saddest to leave her behind. First grade was sure awesome!

I warned you he was a cheeser

After years of having Lauren in the spotlight. We decided to let Jamie have a try. We thought T-Ball would be a great introduction to the world of sports. It has been such a wonderful surprise. My shy boy became the star of the game! The gigantic smile below was seen on him every game, for pretty much the entire game! There were also lots of "thumbs up" by him and even a few yells of "I wanna come and give you a kiss mom" from first base! He LOVES T-Ball, and can't wait to go and play every week. He is so proud of himself and gladly tells everyone that he is "SO GOOD" at the game! This little boy's smile melts my heart! I just might have to put him in more sports so I can see that "cheeser" some more!
He had a great Coaching staff it was great to have such patient teachers! I recommend this to everyone with a rambunctious boy like mine!

For Now

At the moment I am a bit speechless. Pepper, my dog of nearly 16 years passed away on Wednesday. I feel like a part of me is gone. I want to have a full post dedicated to her, so that will be COMING. I just wanted to write a quick note to let everyone know how much I appreciate all the kind words, kind thoughts, and kind deeds. My friend Misty sent me these flowers. She is such a special friend to me and she may never know how much she means to me. My friend Heather gave me a card as well, she always knows what to say to me. I wanted to thank Matt for being there to support me when I was strong and weak at the same time. I want to thank my mom and dad and sisters for watching my kids so that I could have the last few minutes alone. I thank them also for feeling the pain with me, for crying with me, and listening to me. Sometimes it takes losing something to show you how much you really have.

Tom Boy or Girly Girl?

Well...maybe she is a little of both.... Lauren played soccer for the first time this year. I really enjoyed watching her play, and she truly improved over the season. It reminded me of when I played and how much I loved it. I yelled so much Matt even joked that I should be the one out there playing. I guess I am just a little competitive.

My little dancing queen. She danced at Colette's for (I believe) the 5th year now. She was with 7-10 year olds this time so she was the youngest and had the hardest dance she's done. Dancing is my true passion and I love to see my little girl in my footsteps. She doesn't quite love it as much as I did-but I am hoping that one day soon it will.

Both activities are done for the season and I wonder what we shall do over the summer to keep us entertained and out of trouble.....

PS...I can't wait to get Jamie's T-Ball pictures back-he had the biggest cheeser I have ever seen!

Going Private

I will soon join the many "Private" blogs.

Matt has been asking me for a while to do this. In our line of work, we deal with some angry customers, and we think it best that all of my private details, stay private -any loyal reader will know that I am very much an over-sharer.


Just respond to this message with your e-mail address if you would like to continue to read. I won't publish your comment, so no one will see your e-mail address.


Much love and many apologies for any inconvenience!

Park City Girls Trip!

My sisters came up with this great idea to give my mom an overnight, big-girls only, Park City get-a-way for Mother's Day! I was 100% on board! Once again, I am a FAILURE at taking pictures. I thought I would share the few I did remember to take. Here we all are, ready to take off on our adventure! My mom and sisters are soo cute! Look how tall I look at a whopping 5 foot 3 and a half!!!
I am so lucky to have them as my mom and sisters and FRIENDS!!

Matt had to work until 6, so..my Dad watched the kids until he got off. My kids LOVE their grandpa, I left them with a bag of Black Licorice and they were all in heaven, I think.

My kids were acting so sad that morning when I was packing, it was so sweet!

So we arrived at Park City, and had lunch at Squatters. We tried Fried Pickles for the first time, very yummy!!!

And that ends my pictures! See, I am a bad picture taker! It was cold and snowy there, so we didn't get to do any fun walking around or anything like that. We did go see Bridesmaids, and I loved that. Mainly we hung around, and ate junk food, and visited, and enjoyed doing NOTHING. A rare treat for me. I can't say enough how lucky I am to have such wonderful people in my life!! I hope this is a new tradition!