Good To Be Loved

A while ago the kids and I were driving in the car. For some reason one of them asked me "If Dad was sick or hurt and couldn't work, what would happen?" I said, "Well, then Mom would have to go to work." Easton gave this exasperated sigh and said, "Mommies don't work!" I thought that was so cute and have always felt so fortunate to be able to stay home with them.

Now that my baby is going to Kindergarten next week, it was time for me to return to the workforce. I happened to score the best job in the world...working at the school that my kids go to, as a Teacher's Aide. I love that I get to be near the kids and have the same hours and holidays as they do.

I've been working all week....Jace has been home with Dad and Grandma because Kindergarten doesn't start until next week. It almost brings me to tears everyday to walk in the door and be greeted by my little guy and the dog. They are so happy to see me! Today I walked in and sat on the couch to rest my aching feet...(see previous toe post...hahaha) Anyway, I sat down and suddenly had a 5 yr old AND a dog fighting for my attention...on my lap! Jace was lifting up his shirt and asking to be tickled and Emmy was annoyingly licking my arms. In the end Jace won the battle and poor Emmy sulked for a while on the floor next to my feet.

I'm so glad that my two little guys are so happy to see me when I walk in the door. It brightens up my day! It is so good to be loved! Wonder if Bryan could be trained to be this excited to see me.....

Happy Birthday To My Daddy!

Happy Birthday to the guy who:

Gives the best hugs

Loves me no matter what

Plays an awesome round of golf

Loves the outdoors

Loves his grand babies

Can make my tears flow easier than anyone else

Always knows when I need him

Is as stubborn as me

Loves a good party

Can barbecue better than anyone I know

Is the best dad anyone could ever ask for!

I love you dad...hope you have a great birthday!

...and this little piggy cried wee wee wee....

Okay...I must take a minute to whine. Last Saturday as I was trying to open the blinds in the living room I kicked the coffee table...and I mean I KICKED it...with my poor little piggy toe. After a good cry and maybe a few not so very nice words I thought I would be okay. But...here I am almost 6 days later still whining about my poor toe. I'm pretty sure it's broken, and I'm pretty sure nothing has ever hurt this bad! My kids ask me every day how my purple toe is feeling....to be honest...not so good! Poor me!!

Perspective

Sometimes it takes something to rock your world to put life into perspective. Last Friday one of our best friends, Eric Johnson, was killed in a plane crash along with 2 other great men. I've been thinking a lot about the kind of life that Eric lead and the amazing man that he was. Our hearts are breaking for his family. Things like this make you realize how short life is. I want to be better! I don't want to ever take things for granted, I want to be a better wife and mother, I want to make sure that those around me know how much I love them everyday. I'm especially thankful for the knowledge that I have that we will see Eric again, I can't imagine how much harder things like this would be if I didn't know that.

Bryan wrote up the following memories of Eric, and Clayton (Eric's little brother) shared them at the funeral:

The following story is true. This is the story of the greatest lug nut caper of all time, perpetrated by a group of young boys that were considered by all who knew them as good law abiding citizens, little did they know the true nature of these rascals.It was a calm clear night, no it was raining? Wait---Now I remember, it was clear but it had the smell of rain in the air. A group of semi-intelligent boys with no real concept of the cost of possible damage set out to find their target. After driving around for what seemed like hours, in reality it was probably 10 or 15 minutes, we could not find the intended target so we went to the pottery shop parking lot to hang out. Mr. Reynolds house was only a block away, so he became the new target. We took a lug wrench from the trunk and set out to take the lug nuts off of all four wheels. Courtney and Kevin hid behind a tree across the street and Eric took the lug nuts off of one wheel. At 1 or 2 in the morning the squeak of the lugs coming off was louder than we expected so we left after only one wheel was completed.The result was still effective and the following morning Reynolds drove off for work but only got a few feet before he got the surprise of his life. A few years later Reynolds told me about the moment the truck hit the ground and how perplexed he was by the whole situation.Anyway we all arrived at school that morning and heard an announcement made by the principal that a reward would be offered with info. about the incident. A few weeks later someone got a nice little reward but only turned in Courtney and Kevin. My dad (the chief of police) called them into the office and after a little interrogation Eric and I were named. A few minutes later I was called to the principals office where I was severely beaten within an inch of my life.

Most of my memories of Eric end by saying something like "man we were so lucky not to have been hurt or worse by that." Like the time we made a pipe bomb and we packed the black powder into the pipe with a screwdriver, or the time when Eric drove off the road in the snowstorm and his jeep ended up in between trees at the bottom of a hill having only missed the trees by inches. The jeep should have flipped over but somehow it stayed upright.

Eric also let me tag along with him and his dad when they went trapping. I'm sure my trap never actually caught an animal but they would say "that one over there with the fox in it is yours, go get it". They also took me hunting with their group many times.

He was also becoming a good golfer and most of my recent memories of him are rounds of golf we played together, or games of hold em poker that we got together for.


Ryan, Bryan, Damon, and David 8-12-08

Rock Garden

I have to thank all of you for your brilliant ideas on what to do with my kitchen table treasures! The "Rock Garden" is a huge success! Jace loves it and has been taking pride in it for the last 2 days! Today he asked me, "Mom, can Emmy get in your garden?" I said, "Yeah" Then he said, "Well I don't want her in MINE!" Okay...Emmy you've been banned from Jace's garden!.

We'll see how that goes....

What Do You Suggest I Do With These Treasures?

I love little boys! Apparently my youngest child has chosen to take up collecting rocks on my kitchen table. He's been working on this all day....I didn't realize they were on the kitchen table until I went in there to grab a snack. Hmmm...What do you suggest I do with these? I know one thing...they are not staying there! But he NEEDS them and apparently can't live without them. I suggested the garage...he didn't like that idea. Anybody have any great ideas on how to display a giant rock collection?

Team Edward

There are certain times in a woman's life that warrant acting like a teenager....the release of Breaking Dawn was one of those times! We had such a good time! Although...I wouldn't say we are crazed fans by any means...we still managed to make utter fools out of ourselves and LOVED every minute of it!

Team Edward!!

Me and Jenny...we can still have as much fun as we did in high school!!

Jax, Bonnie, and Me
Our photographers of the night....Amy and Mandi
Mandi was really concerned all night about her 'Team Edward' being a little crooked.
So was Teri....
Our table at the Olive Garden. We were having a little too much fun for some of the older patrons at the restaurant....I think it just egged everybody on!
Bonnie was HUNGRY!
What would the night be without a breadstick nose?

I stuck my head out of Teri's sunroof for this shot of all the people outside of Barnes and Noble.
Parking at Barnes and Noble was INSANE...thankfully we had Kristin to save us a spot!
Can you believe Jacob actually showed up to the book release! We snuck Jenn in close for a pic!
Here is the insanity inside the book store! Can you say claustrophobia!!
On to the line at Walmart for a much cheaper book....and the crowd went wild!!!
2 very satisfied customers....Jenn and Jax
On our way home Natelli read to us...even throwing in some juicy details...not necessarily in the book! :)

THANKS GIRLS!!! CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THE MOVIE COMES OUT! ...Until next time....