The Lake

This is the Lake. Rock Lake in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. My family has been vacationing here for 52 years. Yes, 52 years! My Grandpa Chet started the tradition back in 1956, packing up the wife and kids and heading from Iowa to Wisconsin for vacation each summer. My mom liked the town so much that she moved there, which ultimately lead to her meeting my dad (who moved to Lake Mills his senior year of High School). I guess this town has some roots for me, huh?! This was mine and Jeremy's 7th year (Andrew's 5th year) vacationing with my family. It's definitely an unbreakable tradition for us now, as well!

Andrew enjoys the lake more than anything else in Wisconsin. He loves to wake up and head straight out to the lake and hang out there ALL day. No meals necessary! Just give him a bathroom break every now and then, some water to drink, and the sand and lake. He's set! Here he is steering a remote control boat with Uncle Chet and Logan.

Here is the sandy beach that he played at all day every day!

Kayak trip with daddy!

Don't worry, Dad. I got this!

Tubing (notice - outside of the wake)!

Jeremy's turn!

Here is Andrew playing Pole Golf in the back of my Grandma's cottage.

Me and Jeremy at the Sand Bar.

Our last night in Wisconsin. (Tear, sigh). Fish Fry at the Pine Knoll is another tradition. We've not missed a year at Pine Knoll. I go for the dessert - Strawberry Shaum Torte (sp?). Pictures are fuzzy. Dang cheap camera...

My Grandma and John.

Aunt Debbie, DC, and Michelle.

Uncle Dave and Kate.

Daniel and Aunt Diane.

A real rainstorm that lasts all afternoon (not just 15 min.) - with no dust! I love it! That's why Wisconsin is so green and we're so brown, I guess.

Chi Town

This year our annual vacation was a little different. The airfare to Chicago was cheaper than the airfare to Milwaukee so we decided to tack on a couple days to our trip and see some sights in Chicago. Neither Jeremy or I have ever been.
We took the public transportation everywhere. The cost was $9.00 for a 2-day pass for me and $9.00 for a 2-day pass for Jeremy. Andrew was free. That is as many rides as you want on the L-train and the buses. Pretty sweet deal!

Here's Andrew "driving" a fake train at the O'Hare Terminal L-train stop.
Here is Andrew and I on the L-train from O'Hare to the city.

Our first day in Chicago, we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It's a free zoo, but it is just like any other zoo I've been to. Same cool animals, it's just free! Amazing! We ate dinner at the Weber Grill which was recommended by Josh. It was neat to see the indoor grills that they cooked the food on. Of course, the food was yummy! I had a big ol' hamburger and Jeremy had Prime Rib. Then we took a trip downtown to take a gander at the Sears Tower. It was TALL, of course. We didn't spend the $18 each to take a trip up it, but it was still fun to see it from below. Due to my memory card malfunction, I don't have pictures of any of those sights.

We did get to see Union Station though. It's a train station and I'll swear that I've seen it in the movies, but I don't know which movies... It was cool and really old looking inside. Just a big room with a lot of old brown wood benches everywhere. It was really quiet in their, too. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? What movie(s) is this place in? I should've taken a picture of the inside...

Day 2 we visited the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum. We ate at Pizzeria Uno's (yummy!) and we had dessert at the Hershey's Factory (brownies, cookies, ice cream, etc.).

This is a picture of Nemo. Andrew took the picture! He was very proud of it!

Again, Andrew's photography of a shark!

The Field Museum - the same museum in A Night at the Museum w/ Ben Stiller.

Andrew, Jeremy, and Sue. The largest complete T-rex. That is not her real skull. It weighed too much to put on the skeleton. The real skull is upstairs on display. It weighs 600 lbs. I think.

Beautiful Chicago. View from Shedd Aquarium.

Preschool

Andrew had his first day of preschool yesterday. Up until yesterday morning, he was not looking forward to this new adventure. He was saying, "I don't want to go to school!" I was pretty worried. I was thinking that if he dislikes school already, that's going to be a long 14 odd years of his life. I tried thinking of ways to get him excited for school, but I couldn't come up with anything that worked.
Fortunately, he woke up yesterday morning with a new attitude. I'm not sure what changed his mind, but he came and woke me up saying, "OK, I want to go to school today." And he meant it! He had no problem walking into Ms. Jones house with a smile on his face and no look of nervousness about him. That's not normal for him, especially since he'd never met Ms. Jones or been to her house before.
To my relief, he left her house the same way; all smiles! He also said he wanted to go to school everyday, and when I told him it was only 2 days a week, he was bummed.
P.S. I had more pictures, but when I was uploading them to my computer they disappeared and when I checked my memory card they were gone from there, too. I'm really bummed. =(

God's Work

This is what I accomplished yesterday - 24 sets of Financials (there are 4 missing from the stack because Property Managers took them for meetings). This was the work that was suppose to last me all day yesterday and today. If anyone doesn't know what Financials are, they are a monthly report of finances for each Community (as in HOAs) that I do Accounting for. I have to produce a set of Financials each month for each Community that includes the Balance Sheet, Check Distribution, Income/Expense Statement, Yearly Spreadsheet, and General Ledger. I'm not going to go into the boring details; my point is to say that they can be time consuming.
I was a little worried about this week as it is the beginning of the month which means our most busy time here in the Accounting Department. I was worried because I have 3 days to get all my work done before a week and 2 day vacation. I planned on doing the Financials on Monday and Tuesday and doing everything else on Wednesday (little things like depositing checks or cutting checks to vendors). So, anticipating a stressful and hectic week, I prayed Sunday night and Monday morning and asked God to please help me out. I was a little specific in asking Him to give me guidance and wisdom in my work, including helping me prioritize in the best way possible. I normally pray before beginning my work anyway, just asking Him to help me complete the work and have me catch mistakes early on, etc, but I've never really thought to pray in advance for the day's work ahead of me. I guess I know how I get before a trip (anxious, stressed, annoyed with work since it is in my way of getting ready for the trip, etc.) so I thought this time to go ahead and hand over my worries to God.
Apparently that was the best thing to do. I came to work and had nothing on my desk to take care of before starting Financials. I had no voicemails or emails (which is very strange for a Monday morning). All I had to do is sit down and begin Financials. On top of not having any voicemails or emails all day, I only had 2 phone calls. Again, that is very strange for a Monday at the first of the month.
Needless to say, I was not the least bit stressed or irritated with customers or co-workers and I was able to bust out my work and be done with it.
Now I wonder what will be in store for me today and tomorrow. I may have long boring days, but it will be better than being stressed and frantic! And I have a peace that everything will be completed and off of my desk when I leave for vacation. Ah, the sweet smell of answered prayers!

To Dream or Not To Dream

On our way to the babysitter's house this morning, Andrew asked me if I had any dreams last night. I said I don't remember if I did. Then I asked him if he had a dream. He said no. Then he said he saw a piece of my dream in his room last night. What? I asked him what he meant. Then he said, "Well, I don't know if it was your dream or Daddy's dream, but I saw a piece of a dream in my room last night." I'm not getting it, but I think he remembers a little bit of a dream, but maybe it didn't make sense to him so he thinks it was one of our dreams. I think he is still convinced that it was a piece of mine or Jeremy's dream...

My Husband Loves Me

I posted this blog earlier in the week and I wanted to let everyone know that my husband's response was:

"Well, find out information on it." In regards to the Smart car that I wanted. Now, he didn't sound all that thrilled, but he said it just the same.

Problem is, I'm looking up information on the Smart car and I'm not sure it's worth the money. The city/hwy mpg has changed in the 2008 model to 33/41. In 2007 it was 40/45. That sounds more like it. If I'm going to pay $13,590.00 for a two-seater. I'd at least like to get more than 40 mpg at all times!

I've drawn my attention to other vehicles that get good gas mileage for a low price. The best I can find is the Toyota Yaris Sedan. It sits 5 people and gets 29/35 for the price of $15,805.00. I'm thinking that paying $2,215.00 more is worth fitting in three more passengers.

My point was to point out that I have a really loving husband. I'll keep an update on the quest for a more fuel efficient vehicle.

By chance, does anyone have any knowledge or opinion on fuel efficient vehicles and what's a good price for product?

Weekend Wounds

My brother-in-law, Steve, had an accident on his motorcycle on Saturday. He is OK, but will have to be in the hospital for this week, at least. It's not clear exactly what happened, but it seems the front wheel of his Harley locked up. There was about a 25 foot skid mark on the pavement and Steve was found about 4 feet from his motorcycle in a ditch. Him and a few other family members were headed out of Globe toward Show Low. He was with 3 or 4 other motorcyclists and a few more family members, including Kristi and their kids, were in a vehicle or 2. The other people on motorcylces realized he wasn't behind anymore and turned around. They found him and called Kristi to come back. He was flown to Scottsdale for surgery/treatment. He was conscious the whole time and speaking with everyone. We didn't get to see him at the hospital, or since then, but it sounds like he had a gash in his forehead and lip and he had a busted up thumb, elbow, and shoulder (both arms, I'm just not sure which elbow on which arm, etc.). He also had other injuries that didn't require surgery, like broken ribs and fractured Lumbar (sp?) in his lower back. Poor guy! He wasn't too happy about the predicament he found himself in and he says he is done with his motorcycle. We continue to thank God that his injuries weren't worse and we pray that he heals quickly and as pain-free as possible. Please keep him, Kristi, and the kids in your thoughts, as well!

Random Thoughts

These are my thoughts on the following topics:

1) Home Telephone: I don't have one. I haven't had one in 6 years (minus a couple months when we lived in Coolidge when I thought I would be doing daycare and was required to have a home phone). I have never needed it either. I often think about the day when a home telephone will be a thing of the past. For me, it already is. However, you wonder what kind of a bind you may find yourself in if you didn't have a reliable land line phone. Example: my friend, Dee, does not have a home phone. She was home one night with her kids and one of her daughters ran forehead-first into a TV and started to go unconscious. She desperately tried to call 9-1-1 on her cell phone and could not get it to work. She tried a few times, while trying to keep her daughter awake, with no luck getting through. She was able to call out to her sister-in-law and had her call 9-1-1 to have an ambulance come out to her house. Everything turned out OK, but what if?! There are so many "what ifs" in that situation. Is it enough of a "what if" to make me rethink my home phone theory? At this point... no. Maybe if I had multiple rug-rats running around getting banged up.

2) Angelina Jolie: Honestly, I envy her for her kids. This is weird for me to say because I am not necessarily the type of person to consider adoption. I am also not the type of person to consider having a total of 6 kids. But, I love how she adopted from 3 different countries and I love how each of the kids are ADORABLE! I also love that she has a little girl and twins of her own. I don't even know what the sexes are of her twins, but I don't care. I love that she has 3 adopted kids and 3 of her own. I don't know how I would handle the quantity of kids, but seeing the kids and thinking about sure makes me want to try! One at a time, of course. I don't want to have 5 kids just appear at the door step. You probably all think I'm crazy, but I've really been having this urge for more kids - as in multiple more! Weird, huh?!

3) Groceries: I have always been a big fan of Fry's. But, lately, my love for them has grown to an all-time high. They have GREAT sales! Last week I was able to stock up my pantry/refrigerator for about $110.00. You know how they tell you your total savings? Mine was $174.00 or so! This week I had a full cart for $80.00 and my savings was $120.00! One of the big sale items was 3 cases of Aquafina Water for $10.00. That's 72 bottles of water for 14 cents each! I was also able to stock up on Kellogg's cereal for $1.00 each! It's been helpful in this time of high fuel costs. I spend, on average, $500.00 in fuel in one month. Thank goodness Fry's is there to ease my burden when buying groceries!

4) Myspace: It's, like, so yesterday to me. It hasn't been very fun to me for a while now. I lost interest in finding people I use to know a long time ago. But, I have now lost interest in wanting to update my profile, my page, my song, my pictures, etc. I have also lost interest in looking at other people's pages and pictures, as well. In fact, when I look at other people's pages I see how ridiculous this website is. I'm not sure how to put this, but I shudder to think of what ridiculous stuff I have had or may still have on my page. I've learned a lot about people I know, as well as people I don't know. Some information is too much to handle. Just from my friends list I see things such as possible teenage sex, a possible desire to have an affair, and even a possibility that I have 2 female friends that may have had a crazy night (or more) - if you know what I mean (ick!). I see people in a whole new light that I may never really know if it wasn't for Myspace. The question is: Do I delete my page and move on. My answer: Definitely leaning toward yes.

5) Smart Car: They have grown on me! It is by far the funniest car I've ever seen, but it has major appeal for me. Don't give me that look!!! Did you not read in #3 that I pay $500.00 a month on gas? Jeremy was the first to mention that I should get one. I laughed it off because it is a two seater and I have a 3 person family. He said we should keep the Xterra and me and Andrew can take the Smart car everywhere else. I see his point only since the Xterra is paid off. Well, the other morning, I saw a pink one! That was it! I came to work, looked up the information on the Smart car, and was smitten! 45 mpg! That's well over 2 1/2 times better than what the Xterra gets! It still has quite a bit of trunk space, too. 8 cubic feet normally or 12 if you stack stuff to the roof. Hahaha! I laugh out loud picturing me driving one, but like I said, it's growing on me. What do you think? Can't you see me in this car? Hahaha! I love it!

Nothing left to do except nothing

I was a sicky sick head this weekend. That means I was miserable and I wanted to stay in bed. However, we had one of our busiest weekends planned. That was a HUGE bummer to me. However, it was quite uncomfortable sleeping. I was so stuffy and was trying to sleep with two pillows under my head, but then my neck hurt. I would wake up multiple times each night having to blow my nose, adjust the way I was sleeping, or simply to cough a lung up. I would freeze half the day (even walking in the 100+ degree heat outdoors) or I would be dying of heat the other half of the day (even in places I normally freeze because of the air conditioner). I had a hard time waking up this morning for work, but I think the worst of it is over. I hope I can rest tonight and tomorrow and be back on track Wednesday morning for work.
We had a BBQ at Josh and Cherish's house on Friday and we had our niece, Tess, over to stay the night. We had a good time at the Porter's house eating burgers, talking, and signing karaoke. Jeremy busted out a VHS recording of a high school talent show that involves a choreographed and vocal performance of a Backstreet Boys song. He performed with 4 of his friends/brother. We laughed (respectfully, of course). It was awesome that he happened to have that with him. He had to try and explain why he had it, but I won't even attempt to make an excuse as you probably won't believe it anyway. He probably just wants to be sure to show everyone he knows in case he can score a big gig in a boy band one day. We left their house around 10:45 pm when I was really thinking I might just die if I don't get home to bed at that very second.
Andrew and Tess fell asleep in the car, but woke up at 6:00 am! I woke up to Tess yelling in a very sleepy/grumpy voice, "Kara!", "Kara!" I had to stumble my sick, frail body out of bed to the hallway and ask, "What is it Baby Girl?" and her response was, "Andrew won't let me sleep!" Tess is used to getting her beauty rest and she was seemingly very upset to have it be disturbed. I went down and pleaded with Andrew to just let her rest and play with his toys by himself for a little while. He looked a little sleepy/grumpy, too, but not enough to give up playing with his toys to go back to sleep himself.
Then Tess realized the tent was not a full tent, just one of those kid tents that go over a twin bed. She seemed pretty bummed and I sympathized with her. I told her I'd take care of it. I went back upstairs, laid in bed, and told Jeremy that the kids wanted the big tent up. He tried to argue, but I said that the kids thought they were going to sleep in a real tent and that if he puts up the real tent we probably won't hear from them for a few hours because they'll play "camping" or something. I guess he didn't have any more arguments so he stumbled out of bed and set up the big tent for them in our front room. I went back to sleep until 9:00 am. Jeremy never went back to sleep. Instead, he did some yard work while alternating playing Rock Band. So, the award for lazy bum went to me!!!!
Jeremy had a basketball game in Glendale at 2:00 so we had to leave our house around 11:30 am to take Tess to her mom and take Andrew to my mom's house. On our way out to Glendale, Jeremy stopped at Walmart to get a new air filter for the Xterra. He popped it in and we were headed out to Glendale. But, wait?! The car was not wanting to go out to Glendale. It was vibrating and the RPMs were bouncing from 0 to 1 when we were idling. We made it to Glendale - we just had to keep giving it gas when we were stopped anywhere.
His 2:00 game didn't start until about 2:40. Then they decide to play another team that was there so they didn't have to play them next Saturday. Who knows what time that game started, but it ended at 4:50 and we were suppose to be at the D-backs game at 5:10. I was not a happy camper because I was freezing my butt off the ENTIRE time and I was NOT feeling good. Plus, I was hungry.
The Xterra somehow made it back to Phoenix for the D-backs game (we were just a tad late). We were very unhappy with every red light or car that was turning that we would have to slow down with along the way though. Don't these people and stop lights know that the car just needed gas to be happy?!

The D-backs game was fun (even if I wasn't feeling good). It was fun because the D-backs beat the Dodgers. That's all I cared about. I hate obnoxious Dodger fans. I hate people that are obnoxious about their teams in general, I guess. Don't hold this against me - remember I'm still a little sick (therefore, grumpy). In my opinion, there is no reason to get crazy or worked up over a stinking team of any sort. By you acting that way, are you going to help your team win? You look like a fool when you do that! OK - I need to get on a different subject because now I'm being the fool! Oh, and a fight broke out in the section next to us. I didn't see anything because all the nosies were standing up to see and I didn't want to be one of the nosies.

OK, we got the Xterra to make it to Gilbert to get Andrew and then home. Now it was shutting off completely if we slowed down too much for a turn. It REALLY wanted the gas pedal to be to the metal at all times. Hmmm... What was wrong with it? We wondered...

Thanks to Dallas making a stop by our house yesterday to take a peek at the Xterra, it's fixed! He didn't even need a tool or anything. It sounds like they popped the hood (which had been popped 2 times the previous day - by Jeremy and by Jeremy and my dad), Dallas stuck his head into the hood, and said, "Dude, plug that hose in!" So Jeremy plugged some hose in (that happened to be located near the air filter holder), they started the Xterra, and it was happy as can be. That's it.

Taking a Stroll Down Memory Lane

20 Years Ago...
1. I was 7 years old.
2. I lived in Chandler, AZ and was probably swimming all day long in our kidney bean shaped pool.
3. I was looking forward to going into 2nd grade.

10 Years Ago...
1. I was 17 years old.
2. I lived in Gilbert, AZ and wasn't into swimming much at this age, but I may have been laying out by our pool to get a tan. Also, I may have been driving around in my car ('89 Chevy Corsica) with Selene, Nicole, Mackenzie, or Camille, or out and about with my boyfriend, Marcos.
3. I was looking forward to going into my Senior year at Gilbert High. I was excited to only have to be at school for the first four classes. I also worked at Century 21 Gold Real Estate in Mesa, AZ.

5 Years Ago...
1. I was 22 years old. I was 3 1/2 months pregnant with Andrew.
2. Jeremy and I were engaged and had just moved into our house in Queen Creek in June.
3. I was planning a road trip to Wisconsin with Selene, Jeremy, and Josh. I was working full-time at Caretaker in Gilbert, AZ (the same company I'm at now).

3 Years Ago...
1. It was 2005 and I was 24 years old.
2. We had just moved in with Josh in Coolidge, AZ while we were waiting for our house to be built.
3. I was looking forward to when our house was built so I could be a stay at home mom.

1 Year Ago...
1. I was 26 years old and I was back to work at Caretaker in Gilbert, AZ.
2. Little did I know we were going to be finding a house and moving into it in a month in Florence, AZ.
3. I was looking forward to my 2nd Women's Retreat with the ladies from my church in Prescott.

Yesterday I...
1. Spent time with Andrew at the YMCA.
2. Cleaned the downstairs of my house.
3. Had dinner with Kimball, Talmage, Josh, Mindy, Manny, April, Kyle, and Victoria. We sure did miss having Kimball around for the last 2 years!

Today I...
1. Worked my butt off at work. I sent out late notices to homeowners and paid bills for my communities.
2. Will be heading over to the church to help keep some wild kids in order for Kids Zone.
3. Am looking forward to my day off tomorrow.

Tomorrow I Will...
1. Take Andrew to swim lessons and hang out at the YMCA again.
2. Watch a movie at home.
3. Go grocery shopping.

In the Upcoming Year...
1. I will continue to learn and grow daily in Jesus.
2. I hope to become a stay at home mom again.
3. I will continue to pray for more children that I can be a stay at home mom to. =)

That was fun! Thanks It's the little things

I'm bored and when I'm bored, I eat!

I have finished all my work with a couple hours to spare. I guess not all of my work; I am waiting on a few items via email and return phone calls before I can do the rest of what I need to do... Anyway, I have nothing else to do but eat and/or update this blog. Thanks to Selene's yummy rice krispie treats I have a nice sugary treat and luckily my fingers are always up to typing a bunch of nonsense on my blog site.
Let's see... What's new? Hmmm... Same ol' same ol'. I shall give you an update on what I did this past weekend.
Friday night I met with Cherish and Jill to discuss chapters 6 and 7 of the Battlefield of the Mind book. We had a nice time and great discussions, of course! Like I said, same ol' same ol'. Item on my "to research" list: what's the difference between being filled with the Holy Spirit and being baptised in the Holy Spirit. Pastor Bill may be disappointed in me as he did a sermon series on this and it has already escaped my mind. PB - if you read this, please comment with the answer and don't be mad!!! =)
Saturday I fried away some brain cells. Haha! Not in the way you may think - I layed on an air mattress in a swimming pool for about 3 hours in Laveen with my buddy, Selene. We literally laid there and relaxed. We tried hard to not have any conversations that involved much thinking. We were both in the mood to just veg. We went back to her place and watched Tristan and Isolde which I liked. It was a similar story to Romeo and Juliet, but a little sadder. There was no death, but I was sad for Lord Marke (he was in love with Isolde, but she was in love with Tristan). I had a roller coaster of emotions in that movie, which I normally HATE, but all in all, I enjoyed the movie.
After church yesterday, Jeremy and I ate lunch with a few people and went shopping. Jeremy opted to spend $100 of his money he won for weighing under 190 lbs. for more than 4 weeks on Rock Band for Play Station 2. I haven't seen Jeremy so happy since Andrew was born and he saw he had a son. Hee hee. That's an exaggeration, but he was happy just the same.
We went and hung out at Kristi's for a little bit and then headed home. Jeremy and I were able to play 3 or 4 songs on Rock Band before going to sleep. I discovered that I do quite well on the Base Guitar. I did a song on the hard level. I didn't get a great percentage, but I didn't get booed off stage. That is how I define "quite well." This is on a song I've never "performed" before----thank you very much.
Tonight, I will pick up Andrew and head home for more Rock Band! What a loser, huh?! I know, I know! Josh has a Battle of the Rock Bands coming up, I hear, so I must prepare! =) Now if only I can join a band...

Pictures!!!

1. Here are some scrapbooking pictures from a few weeks ago when Melissa, Amy, and I scrapbooked. Jade and Andrew played Wii almost the whole time. Fun was had by all!

Melissa

Amy

Jade and Andrew

2. Monday, June 30th we went to the D-backs vs. Brewers game. Jeremy got free tickets from a couple at church and they ended up not being able to make it so they gave us their tickets and we invited Adam and Christina. The seats were really good! We were on the lower level and about 5 rows back from the field between 3rd Base and Left Field. The D-backs won, we had a great time hanging out with Adam and Christina, and we were almost killed by a foul ball flying at us at top speed. Instead, the ball smacked into a chair in the row below us. We could hear the whiz of it as it came in though.

Eric Byrnes

Christina and Adam

3. As if one D-backs game wasn't fun enough for the week, we went to another game on Friday (the 4th of July). Again, we got free tickets from another couple from church. This time we were able to bring Andrew with us. We were really excited because they were going to be doing fireworks after the game. Again, our seat were pretty good. We were up on the top level, but had a great view of the field and of the fireworks afterward.

Matching D-backs hats that Andrew got for free at a game he went to with Grandma Gail.

I bought a D-backs shirt at Walmart and some red letters to put on the back. It says 'Drew.' Is it for Stephen Drew (Short Stop for the D-backs) or is it short for Andrew?

Our church group that went (Sherri, Pat, George, Leanae, Regina, Jill, and Pete)

That's his real fireworks face that I was able to capture on camera. He's so amazed!

Fireworks were being lit off of the top of the parking garage.

4. Saturday we went to Jade's 5th birthday party. There was a water slide out back that the kids LOVED. Andrew got in trouble a time or two for mauling over some little ones playing in the pool underneath the slide. He seemed to think the babies should just know to move when he is barreling down the slide toward them.

Andrew would jump at the top of the slide and land midway down it just to jolt outward into the wall of the pool. I was waiting for him to miss the wall of the pool and jolt out into the grass but it never happened.

5. On Sunday afternoon, we went swimming at my parent's house. It was a nice, relaxing time and Andrew was able to show off his swimming skills. In this picture he is swimming with some pool dumbells. He was having a hard time not using his arms to help him swim when they keeping teaching him to reach his arms and pull water in his swim lessons. It was confusing to the poor boy!

6. After our afternoon of swimming, we took off to Phoenix for the MercyMe concert. It was my first time at Celebrity Theatre. The stage turns in a circle. It's interesting, but cool! Our seats were 8 rows back from the stage so we were pretty close. We had a great time!

Phil Wickham did a great job opening for MercyMe.

Bart - the lead singer of MercyMe, can really belt out the songs!

MercyMe

Andrew, Free Tickets, and Flylady

I picked up Andrew from Randi's house on Friday and his forehead was bleeding. Right in between his eyes. I was informed that he was standing on a plastic toy in the toy room and the toy slipped out from under him and he landed forehead-first on a wooden train table. This was at 11:00 am. I picked him up at 5:15 pm so I was a little concerned that it was seemingly still bleeding. Randi said the cut stopped bleeding pretty quickly after the incident, but started bleeding again after his nap. Maybe it was rubbed or something? It's a thick cut, but it doesn't appear to be too deep. I'm a little bummed that he will be scarred there forever, but I am praying that it will be a really light scar. I'm praying he won't scar as badly as I do. I guess he's a boy and stuff like that happens, huh?! I'm surprised it's taken 4 1/2 years for him to do something that will result in a scar! It's a really hard place for a band-aid, too, so I've had a hard time keeping Neosporin on it. The band-aid just gets soggy and comes off.
Anyway, the weekend seemed to fly by, but yesterday afternoon was NICE!
We had a hectic Sunday morning. I had to wake up a lot earlier than I normally do as I have volunteered to help Amy teach the preschool kids at the school we are renting out. Jeremy decided to join me at the school so he didn't have to drive his work truck separately to meet me at the later service.
After we helped out at the school we headed over to the new church for service. It was a little warm in there, but the message was good.
After all that excitement and all the newness of everything wore off, we realized how tired we were. We headed home for lunch and were amazed that we had no other places to be on our Sunday afternoon! We really took advantage of it, too! We had a nice lunch, I cleaned up the kitchen a little bit, Jeremy, Andrew and I laid down on my bed and watched Aladdin (Jeremy and I dosed off for a little bit during the movie), I started and finished all of our laundry, Jeremy fixed our tree that was falling over, we went on a ride in the fields by our house in Jeremy's work's Ranger, we had a nice dinner, and we were in bed before 10 pm (Andrew was in bed before 9 pm).
We felt our prayers of having more family time (just the 3 of us) were really answered this past week! It was nice!
This week will be another story. We have a D-backs game tonight (which we got free tickets for), we have a D-backs game on Friday (which we got free tickets for) and we have a concert (MercyMe) on Sunday evening. 3 of our normal nights at home will be spent far from home this week. That's a bummer (especially with gas prices how they are), but who can turn down 2 free D-backs games? Maybe I'll remember to take my camera to document these fun events. I'm really bad at that and I love reading other blogs where there is always pictures posted to go along with the writing! (Sorry beloved readers. I'll get better at my picture taking).
Oh, and Jade fixed my computer so I will post scrapbooking pictures and pictures of our blinds. Kind of old news, but pictures just the same!
On another note - ask Jeremy how much I enjoy him asking me if people can come over at the last minute. He will tell you that I can come up with 5 excuses off the top of my head at any given time why no one is allowed at our house without me being prepared. The reasons are usually one of two things: the downstairs hasn't been dusted, mopped, vacuumed, and the bathroom hasn't been cleaned in too long, or we don't have a very good selection of a meal for dinner and we don't have money to run out to the store and get a nice meal for company. I really enjoy having people over, but it stresses me out if I feel the house is a disaster. However, Amy told me of a website that should help with the house portion of my anxiety (and a little of my meal preparedness, too, actually). It's call Flylady. Check it out - I can tell it is going to save my sanity! Periodically I will do an update as to how I am doing following program.

Lazy Dayz - well sort of

Yesterday was great! I didn't get out of bed until 8:30! I took my sweet time getting ready for Andrew's last day of swim lessons. Somehow I was able to make it to the YMCA 45 minutes early and had a chance to work out before taking Andrew to his swim lessons. While he was in swim lessons, I ran on the treadmill. Fun stuff (that's the not so lazy part of my day).
Then I had a nice lunch at Kayla's. I had great timing, too. Lunch was just coming out of the oven and the kids were just about to be laying down for a nap. I've been trying to get Andrew off of his nap schedule so I expected to be bugged by him while Kayla and I tried to talk, but he ended up falling asleep on the couch! Wow!
I had to leave to be at the dentist by 3:00 for a couple sealants. I didn't know it would only take 5 minutes to seal two teeth! Even better! So, we were in and out of there in a jiffy.
Then we headed to Fry's for some items for a salad I am making for a Diaper Party on Saturday. We were home before 4:00. I sat down and watched Dances with Wolves which turned out to be a sad movie. It was nice until he goes back for his journal. His horse and poor Two Socks and poor Indians. Ah! I determined I didn't want to see that movie ever again.
Then I made some Ramen noodles for dinner since it was just Andrew and I. We ate, I cleaned up, and made most of my salad for Saturday, and had Andrew in the shower before 7:30. He was in bed by 8:00 and I was in bed by 9:00! I must sound shocked, but this NEVER happens when I try for it. It must've been my lack of computer... Hee hee.
I enjoyed yesterday very much! I have a few things on the to-do list this weekend, so it may not be so restful as yesterday was. I've determined that to have a restful day, it must be on a weekday. The weekends are entirely too busy as of late.
Things I am looking forward to this weekend:
*Battlefield of the Mind study group tonight at Barro's Pizza
*Diaper Shower on Saturday (looking forward to the food anyway. I'll explain more later)
*Birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza on Saturday
*Church Service in the new building on Sunday

Broken Computer

My home computer took a dump =( I was trying to post a blog yesterday and it froze up and won't work now. I've tried to restart it many times. It stops at the black screen with the white Doss looking writing. Jeremy forgot to take it to the computer guy in Coolidge and he is going out of town tomorrow-Saturday. So, hopefully he will remember to take it on Monday and it won't be anything too expensive or time consuming to fix.

I will have to do my blogging from work. And, unfortunately, my pictures I was going to post are on my home computer. I know you are so disappointed - I'm sorry!

Jeremy has completed the blind installation and I am so thankful we finally have blinds! We went with the 2 1/2 inch faux wood in an embossed Antique White so it looks like it is painted real wood. We've always matched our blinds to our furniture in our previous homes, but this time I wanted to match the blinds to the house (the doors and trims of the house anyway). I think it looks really nice and I have pictures that I will post once my home computer is up and running.

Jeremy's brother gave us some of those mushroom looking ceiling lights that come installed in some homes so Jeremy found time to install those in the guest bedroom and the office. It's amazing to be able to go into those rooms at night and be able to see stuff! Thanks Josh!
It seems after 10 months of living in this home, it's finally starting to come together. There is much more business to be taken care of, but it feels good to have a little progress here and there.

Other items on our wish list for our home:
*Ceiling fans (at least in our room, Andrew's room, and the TV room)
*Landscaping in the backyard
*Pool
*Entertainment center for the TV room (something big to take up that huge wall)
*Decorations for the walls and fake/real plants and trees
I know the pool will be a long time down the road, but I hope the rest is doable within the next year.

Yesterday, I had a great time with Amy and Melissa scrapbooking (again, I have pictures that I will upload soon). Andrew enjoyed playing with the kids and I was able to complete Andrew's second album (ages 2 and 3). Now, I need to start an album for him for ages 4 and 5. I need to get crackin' to try and catch up before the holidays get here! I am at January 2008 for our Family album, and want to catch that up before the holidays, as well. So, all my scrappin' buddies, be expecting emails from me to get together to scrap!

Chocolate Fountain and Swimming

Ah, weekend memories!
It is Monday morning which means time for reminiscing about the events of my weekend.
Friday night was FUN! Kim, Amy, Melissa, Kayla, and I enjoyed a few hours of girl-time with each other. Kim provided some great food which included a chocolate fountain! Yum! We watched Hairspray, which was OK. It was cute, but I'm glad I never bought the movie as I don't feel like I will want to watch it again. Interesting that John Travolta played Mrs. Turnblad. Disturbing a little, too. Could've ditched the movie for more girl-talk though!
Andrew hung out at Amy's house with her husband and sons. He had a BLAST! They made chocolate chip cookies, a foam Pirate craft which included a hat, sword and eye patch, played the Wii, and watched Transformers. Talk about a guy's night of fun! And, just as I suspected, Andrew didn't want to leave.
Andrew and I headed to the YMCA Saturday morning and I got my workout on in the Step N Tone class.
Then, we spent the afternoon at Nicki's community pool for Christopher's 7th birthday party. We were in the pool from 12:30-6:30 with a half hour break for food and another half hour break for cake and presents. It was fun to swim with Andrew and his newly mastered swim techniques!
When we left at 6:30, it took Andrew approximately 2.3 minutes to fall asleep in the car and he stayed asleep until 7:30 the following morning! Geesh!
We made it to church in the nick of time for the picture. We took a group picture since it was our last service in the old building. Thankfully, the picture didn't require entirely too much time in the heat, although I did get a little sweaty which never thrills me. Oh well, it's not often the church moves locations, huh?!
On my schedule this week:

• Helping Jeremy hang blinds tonight (since we didn't get to it yesterday)
• Andrew's final 2 swim lessons in his Pike class on Tuesday and Thursday
• Working out during Andrew's final 2 swim lessons on Tuesday and Thursday
• Scrapbooking on Tuesday afternoon
• Battlefield of the Mind study with Kayla, Kim, Cherish, Jill, and Mary on Friday evening

Normally I attend a Home Group on Tuesday nights and I teach kids at the church on Wednesday nights, but both of those events are on break this week. My goal: dinner at home 4 nights this week (instead of just Thursday night). I'll let you know how that goes.

Calendar Girl

Items on my calendar this weekend (including tonight):

• Drop off Andrew at Amy's house and head over to Kim's for Girl's Night!
• Step N Tone class at the YMCA tomorrow at 9:00 am.
• Christopher's birthday party at noon.
• Church picture at 10:30 am on Sunday. Followed by church service at 11:00 am (the last one in this building).
• Install blinds Sunday afternoon (please pray that this gets done).

Not bad, not bad at all! I am, however, ditching out on a Pampered Chef party and an Uppercase Living party which would only result in me spending money I do not have. Jeremy is not sad that I have chosen to bail on these parties.

Question 1: Is it just me or is there a million and a half birthdays in June?! We have had one birthday and/or party each weekend in June so far, I have 3 next weekend, and 1 the following weekend. It's about as bad as December (minus Christmas).

Question 2: What are you guys doing this weekend?

Weekend o' Fun

Again, I shall blog of my busy life.
It was an eventful weekend which is something I am beginning to despise. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy all the activities we've done in the last 3 days, but I am just tired! I dream of a night at home, on the couch, with a dinner I or Jeremy made, and a movie. Is that such a weird dream? I have friends that do that on a nightly basis. I'm jealous!
Friday night I met with my friends Cherish and Jill at Barro's Pizza and we caught up on our goings on. We were suppose to be talking about the book we are reading, Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer, but some of our group was missing and we just got to chit-catting in general. However, we did discuss a lot to do with some battles in our mind's that God is working on, so Joyce would've been proud!
I didn't get home until around 11:00 pm and I caught up with Jeremy about our day since I hadn't seen him since Thursday night, therefore, we didn't get to sleep until after midnight, I think.
I woke up early to head over to the YMCA for a Step 'N Tone class. That was a great workout and my calves and shoulders are STILL feeling it 3 days later! Jeremy and Andrew swam while I took the class.
Andrew started swim lessons this month and he showed Jeremy and I that he is able to swim about 5-6 feet on his own! We were very proud of him! He has only taken 4 classes and he has 4 left. I'm excited to see how well he gets by the end of the month. I will sign him up for another session in July in hopes of him being "floaty-free" when we visit the Lake this year.
After my YMCA class and watching Andrew swim for a bit, we headed home to get ready and take Andrew to Jeremy's mom's house in Apache Junction.
Gail had Diamondback tickets and was taking Andrew with her. Jeremy and I went and saw Indiana Jones which was a pretty good movie. I don't recall if I've seen an entire Indiana Jones movie previously, but I didn't really need a background prior to watching this one. I am looking forward to watching the first 3, though.
After the movie, Jeremy and I ventured to Target for Father's Day gifts for his dad and mine. With our mission accomplished, we headed down to south Chandler for game 1 of Jeremy's church league softball tournament at 7pm. It was HOT, but it was worth the win that the men were able to pull off. Yay! Next game was scheduled for the next day (Sunday) at 5:00 pm.
The D-backs didn't do so well, they lost to the Royals 3-12. Bummer. Andrew said he was saying, "go D-backs, go D-backs" (like Jeremy told him to), but, "it didn't work." And in the usual grandma fashion, my son was fed entirely too much junk food and had a stomach ache. But, probably due to the sugar-high, he still had a GREAT time!
After Jeremy's softball game, we headed over to Native New Yorker with our gift card and half the softball team. I enjoy eating out much more when we don't have to pay for it! The food tastes MUCH better, in my opinion. We enjoyed us some hot wings and good conversation with our friends.
By the time we picked up Andrew and got home, it was past midnight. Jeremy informed me we had to leave a half hour earlier than normal for church so he could run into Walmart to purchase 3 khaki shirts for his Royal Rangers to have by Friday's Jamboree camp-out. I am never too happy to discover I have to wake up even earlier than I'm dreading, especially when it is on last minute notice.
So, I dutifully woke up early yesterday morning to get ready for church and write in all the Father's Day cards and wrap his and my dad's gifts. We leave with only 10 minutes extra time for Jeremy to run into Walmart.
He doesn't find the shirts he needs and also realized he left all the badges at home that were needed to be sewed on to the shirts. Waste.
After church we headed back to Walmart to make sure they didn't have the shirts Jeremy needed and to get my cousin a birthday card. We were on our way to his birthday party next. We got distracted in Walmart and ended up being 30 minutes late to the birthday party, but were still the first to arrive.
We flipped back and forth between golf and the D-backs losing to KC again for 2 1/2 hours while awaiting the rest of the family to show up until 4:00 pm when it was time to head over to game 2 of Jeremy's softball tournament. We were hungry by this time, but we had dinner plans at 7:00 pm with Jeremy's dad so we figured we can tough it our for 3 more hours. Poor Andrew - please don't call CPS. He had some chips at my cousin's party and some yogurt raisins I bought at Walmart. Plus, he was smart enough to wake up and fix himself a bowl of cereal before church. Jeremy and I have yet to think that much ahead on a Sunday morning. We always starve through Church service on empty stomachs until we are released and able to head somewhere for food. Bad habits!
Oops, side tracked. Jeremy's softball game was even HOTTER than the night before as it was 5:00 pm and the sun was still beating down! We were in the shade, which helped, I'm sure, but I was still a sweaty beast and I hate being a sweaty beast. Especially when we have somewhere to be afterwards.
They won the game, which was fantabulous! Jeremy had a super cool slide into 2nd and I told him I was very impressed and he should stop complaining about his bleeding leg and ankle because he looked really hot when he slid. He looked at me like I was crazy. I guess it's a girl thing to not care about pain if you look cool (or cute) doing something.
Our church was due to play again at 7:00 pm and they went ahead and just won the championship. It was a double elimination tournament and they never lost one game. That's how awesome they are and I only say this because I know that's what they are thinking! Hee hee. I do think they are awesome, though.
We missed that championship game because we went to eat with Jeremy's family at Joe's Crab Shack in Tempe. It was so worth missing the game to get out of the heat and the dirt and to get some food finally! We had a good time eating and hanging out, as usual, except, my son took a bite out of his cousin, Dustin, while awaiting his food. I couldn't figure out why he would bite since he hasn't bitten anyone since I bit him back when he was about 1 years old. Later I thought, maybe the kid was just super hungry. Another problem was we got home super late again, which was our fault, since we stopped at Cold Stone for some ice cream on the way home. I was very grumpy since I was tired and thinking about how I had to get up early today for work.
I feel Jeremy needs a re-do for Father's Day. We rushed and rushed from place to place the second we woke up and I didn't even get him a gift yet. Don't judge; I was planning to go Saturday before Andrew went to the D-backs game, but Jeremy asked Gail to take Andrew earlier so we could go to a movie. He was with me the whole day and I didn't have a couple hours to spare as I had originally planned. I'm getting him a gift today people - I just don't know what. :-/
So, the moral of the story is we got to bed at 11:30 last night and I had to wake up at 4:45 am and I am grumpy again (or still, I should say).
Oh, and Jeremy has another tournament tonight for his Monday night softball league. It starts at 7:00 so who knows how late we'll get home again. It's better, though, since I am off tomorrow and I will feed my kid before the game this time.
How did everyone elses Father's Days go? I hope some dad or dads out there, along with their families, had a nice relaxing day.
What did you all do this weekend? Anything exciting that I can add to my upcoming weekend so I can complain about it next Monday?

Casting Crowns

Jeremy and I were blessed this weekend to get away from the Valley heat and head up to beautiful Flagstaff, AZ. We had tickets to see the Christian band Casting Crowns perform at the Pine Mountain Amphitheater, a small outdoor venue in the middle of the woods.

Jeremy, me, my co-worker Christina, her husband Adam, and my friend Cherish left the Valley at 8:30 am on Saturday and we got up to Flagstaff by 11:30 am. The weather was quite a bit cooler which was a nice change.

We decided to camp as it cost just $5 per couple and it was on site, meaning we could walk to the concert. This saved us about $90 per couple for a hotel room and driving to the concert where we would've had to deal with parking, as well.

We got up there early enough to set up our camp and do a little walking around. The campsite was in walking distance to the Amphitheater, as well as the Fairgrounds which was hosting a Dog Show. We wandered around the Dog Show for a bit and laughed at the fluffy poodles and long haired Yorkies.

We were joined by 2 couples from our church, Jade and Amy, and Dave and Kim around 3:00 pm. We began cooking up our dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, and brats then headed over to the venue to get a good spot in line since we had General Admission Lawn Seats.

Our plan succeeded as we ended up in the "front row" of the lawn. The only problem was we had a spot light in our way, but it was still a decent spot.

We enjoyed each others company and Kettle Corn while we awaited the performers to take the stage. We didn't have to wait long before Justin Unger came on, followed by the Daniel Doss Band. Everyone was really impressed by the Daniel Doss Band.

Finally, Casting Crowns took the stage. They performed many of their hits and some new or unpopular songs which were all great.

Funny comment by Mark Hall, lead singer and Youth Pastor in his testimony: "I struggled with, number 1, Dyslexia, number 2, A.D.D., and number 3, ...who needs a number 3?!" Side note, he shared that testimony when we saw them in Dallas, TX, and he added that he is easily distracted onstage; if he sees "something shiny in the audience" he can forget the words to the songs... that he wrote! In Dallas, he must've seen something shiny as he did forget some words, but in Flagstaff he did just fine!


We enjoyed a great concert and a great time hanging out at the campsite. We also enjoyed teasing Jade about his iPhone and all it's fabulous abilities! (We were all just jealous that we don't have an iPhone).


We had a good breakfast at The Place in Flagstaff. I believe God was really blessing us, as the waitress kept bringing us 2 of every drink we ordered and even some food that didn't belong to us. But, as the Lord giveth, He also taketh away, and the food that was not ours was swooped off to another table. The food that we did get, that we ordered, was very delicious!


Christina ordered a cheddar cheese omelet and was presented with a chicken omelet... She was not too pleased with that, but we were able to get that problem remedied fairly quickly. The waitress explained that she couldn't hear very well so she decided it was surely a chicken omelet that Christina ordered.


Another funny story is we discovered that people find that Jeremy looks similar to Will Smith and Jeremy says he gets it all the time. What do you think?







Well, it was a great time and I wish I could think of the other funny events that went on. If anyone that went is reading this, please feel free to comment other funny happenings of the weekend.

Fresh Air Please!

Andrew enjoys talking to himself. Sometimes he talks to me and I don't think he's talking to me because he is usually just talking to himself. Sometimes I think he is talking to me and I say something and he says, "I wasn't talking to you." I guess that's another story, but he had a funny conversation with himself this morning in the backseat of my car on the way to the babysitter's house:

That's stinky.
Get that smell out of here.
It's a stinky fart smell.
Get that stinky fart smell away from me.

And then he rolls down his window and announces to me:

Mom, I am getting the fart out of here so you don't smell it.

I thought I was going to wreck the car I was laughing so hard!

Is that funny to you or is it too gross?

Summer is Here!

First sign that summer is here:

I have the urge to cut my hair! This year, I was unable to resist the temptation and I cut it. I am very happy with it, though! It was pretty easy to style this morning and it looks like I did something with it besides just blow drying it and putting some styling wax on it.

Second sign that summer is here:

It's over 100 degrees the past two days and in the 90's today. Ugh!

I was reading Kate's blog and she was sharing the reasons she is looking forward to summer and it made me think of the things I enjoy about summer or things that remind me of summer.

Wisconsin

This will be our 5th year in a row traveling to Wisconsin in August. This is the ultimate enjoyment of my summer! How nice it is to spend a week in warm weather, in a cottage, on a lake, surrounded by towns full of restaurants with food unlike anything in AZ... Aaaahhh, it's the life I tell ya! We have been blessed the last 3 years to spend 2 weeks in Wisconsin, but this year and upcoming years we will only be able to head back there for 1 week (unless AZ decides to start their school year later like it used to...).

Camping

Besides staying indoors for the entire months of June, July, August, and September, the only real way to escape the Valley heat is to head up to the high country. I can remember being young and hearing my parents talk about how it was time to take off camping to get out of the heat for a long weekend. We NEVER camped in the winter time, so obviously when the hot weather hits and I am desperately wondering how I will survive, my mind wanders to the mountains in AZ. A plan quickly forms in my mind for a nice weekend away, far enough from the heat, yet close enough to not have to take off of work for these mini-vacations.

Swimming

Another option in escaping the heat, besides staying indoors 24/7/120 (June-Sept.), is to take a dip! Not really take a dip as in get in and get out, but you must immerse completely from sun up to sun down (and in some cases, until bedtime, because it is still so hot outside after dark). You literally have to make sure your hair is completely wet or else you will begin to feel the heat on your head. Every inch of you must be wet to be completely refreshed! Seriously.

This was how I grew up! We always had a swimming pool and always had access to the swimming pool as my parents were always out there immersed! Since I have my own house, however, I have not had that luxury of the swimming pool access. Jeremy and I are dreaming of the day that we will have our own swimming pool to hang out in ALL DAY! In the meantime, we will commute to Gilbert for the swimming fun!

Swim Suits

Speaking of swim suits, this is an obvious reminder of summer! I used to thoroughly enjoy the season when the swim suits hit the stores. I would buy a new suit (if not more than one) each summer. I do not enjoy that any longer and do not want to spend the money for a new suit every year, but am dreaming of a nice pair of board shorts to match my suits I already own. I don't know what it is that makes this unenjoyable now, but I still get a little excited when I see the suits in the store as if I am going to be purchasing a new one. Hmmm... maybe it's the idea that summer is here when those suits come out. I don't know...

Fragrances

I have noticed that Bath and Body Works have there certain fragrances that only come out certain times of the year? There is something about these seasonal lotions and sprays that take me back to summers past just by smelling them again. Cucumber Melon is one with a memory behind it. I read in Seventeen Magazine once that a good way to cool down after a shower or getting ready is to refrigerate your body sprays. So, I refrigerated my body sprays and can specifically remember the chill of the spray hitting my skin and me being a little miffed at how COLD it was. Even if I was hot, I discovered I do not like the cold spritz of the spray on my skin. Maybe I'm weird, but I don't do that any longer. Plus, I felt it was weird to be spraying that stuff in the kitchen (not to mention what people must've thought to see sprays in the fridge.

Tanning

Another summer favorite is to sun bathe! I love it! And the fragrance of the sun tan lotion can almost be categorized in the aforementioned memory. I enjoy the relaxation of laying out by a pool or on a beach just knowing that I won't be so pale white after just an hour or so. The problem this year is I have no backyard landscaping and it is not so much fun thinking about laying out in dirt... Ugh. At least in our previous houses we had grass. I would have a pool set up for Andrew and I'd have my lounge chair next to the pool. If I would get hot I would ask Andrew to splash me (which he more than willingly does), or if that didn't help, I would have him scoot over so I could get in and drench myself before laying on my lounge chair again. The problem is, it is too hot for that in the later months. No mater how many times I get into the water and lay back out, it is still unbearably hot. At that point I accept that I am as tan as I will be on my own doing for the summer.

Clothing

This is similar to the swim suit topic above. I enjoy breaking out the tank tops and flip flops in the summer. However, I no longer wear shorts, but instead I sport capris or bermuda shorts for the most part. Capris don't keep me as cool as shorts, but I feel more comfortable wearing them. Getting older is a bummer when you have weird veins and lines, indents, cellulite, etc. But going back to the tanning category, as my co-worker Katie said, "tanned fat is sexier than non-tanned fat." Words to live by! Clothing is not so much fun any longer, but the flip flops are GREAT (even if they are worsening my bunions).

Working Out

This is in the summer category for me as it usually isn't until summer that I begin to do it! However, this is the year I plan on changing that. As soon as the swim suits and flip flops hit the stores, I hit the play button on my work-out DVDs or hop on the elliptical machine. This is how I muster up some courage to wear shorts the few times I do in the summer. I figure if I continue this working out concept throughout the year, how much better off will my cellulite legs be next summer? Especially if I tan AND work out!

Nights

This is a favorite for me for the summer. This is the only time I enjoy being outside as it is not too cold for me. I will willingly attend Jeremy's softball games in the summer. I would rather sit on a warm bleacher, sweating a little, than to be huddled in a heavy jacket with my feet being cold, and me physically shivering. I also enjoy having a BBQ at night and just sitting out on a patio or in a park hanging out and eating (as long as there are no mosquitoes). Good times!

Traffic

There is less traffic in the summer on my way to work. It must be because of the teacher and students being off. I LOVE it! I don't have to sit in bumper to bumper traffic as it is now, but it is noticeably less dense which increases my chance of getting through the stop lights on the first green light and it's easier to merge onto the freeway, etc.

How about you? Did this make you think of anything about summer you really enjoy that isn't on my list? Do you share any of the same nostalgia for summer?

Subway Fresh 500

Hi y'all! Holy smokes; them cars drive fast!
I spent my day yesterday at P.I.R. (Phoenix International Raceway). Talk about in the middle of nowhere, AZ! It's crazy; you take the I-10 West and exit as soon as all of nothing appears... Then you head South until more of nothing appears... Then you back-track East on a road that appears to lead to even more nothing... After about, I don't know, 50 miles of nothingness (except some signs that reassure you are heading in the right direction by saying something about "Race Traffic."), you turn a corner and suddenly there's life! Life as in 100 + THOUSAND people and their RVs. Not to mention flags... I mean flags of all sorts; American flags, Racing flags, flags I don't know what for most RVs have 3 flags attached so that would be about 300 + thousand flags. I know; math wiz I am! Jeremy are you proud? To quote Kevin (one of our camping buddies and Nascar pro), "More flags than you could count!" (I hope I'd be able to count up to 300 + thousand; I mean the numbers just go in order...).
Anyway, an entire city is erected in this week leading up to tonight's event. People are everywhere! They erect showers with hot water, bathrooms that are kept surprisingly clean, and they even erect an entire Basha's grocery tent; with aisles and everything! Impressed? Well, I was!
We headed out to P.I.R. yesterday morning. We were meeting a group from our church out there to do some volunteering. We weren't sure what we were to do exactly, but we knew I was working yesterday and Jeremy was working today. That way someone would be with Andrew at the campsite each day.
Yesterday was the qualifying race so it wasn't very busy people-wise. I got the duty of passing out maps/event schedules to everyone at Gate 4. I was by myself, but it went rather smoothly. The people were really nice for the most part and the weather was decent. It got a little hot when the breeze would quit blowing, but it wasn't long before the breeze would pick up again. Once the sun went down it got a little chilly, but not enough to need a sweater or anything.
Once the race started I was told they would move me to an Information Booth. Boy, was I praying the Good Lord would allow me seating in this Booth! My feet were HURTING by hour 7 of handing out fliers.
Well, all praises to God, I DID have seating in the booth I was assigned to! Plus, I was assigned to this booth with 2 other members of my church! We were assisting handicap folks in getting a golf cart ride up the hill to the Tram. It was very easy and there were not very many people that needed a ride. They were all fairly nice and I was in a good mood knowing I was nearly finished with my duties.
We were back to camp by 11 pm. That was probably the fastest 12 waking hours of my life, but probably the most tiring! I got back to camp and ate a little chicken and went to bed. I slept GOOD too! Even amidst the Nascar fans' partying!
We woke up, had a great breakfast, and packed up camp. Jeremy headed off to do his work today and Andrew and I headed home. There wasn't going to be anyone left at camp after about 1 pm so I figured I might as well leave to get stuff done at home. I was home by 1 pm and have been able to do odds and ends stuff here that is really helpful. Plus, I was able to unpack everything, get Andrew and me showered, and we will go to sleep and wait for Jeremy to call us that he is almost at the church and we'll head over there to get him; angrily that he woke us up, of course! Haha! He'll might be the one to be angry that we will have slept the last 4 + hours when he probably wanted to be doing the same thing. Who can blame him?!
Andrew and I just flipped on the TV to discover the race on TV. I started watching it... It's interesting!
People would ask me yesterday who I was cheering to win and I would look at them blankly and say, "Who's playing?" It wasn't until after a few people laughed at me that I figured out the proper term is probably, "Who's racing?" Either way, I'm sure I would've been laughed at for asking such a question. I did get complimented (I think) by a guy that responded, "Well, at least you didn't just say, 'Junior.'" I didn't tell him that my instinct was to say 'Junior' since he's the only one of the racers that I know his name. Well, I know more names now, but at the time. You know what I mean.
I didn't get to see any of the race, but I can now officially say that I am willing to give this sport a chance. I'm gonna get off of here and head downstairs to watch the last of the 312 laps with Andrew. It's really some interesting stuff; I saw a couple mini crashes, the race completely stopped for a power steering leak on the track, and a neck-and-neck intense moment for 1st between Jimmie Johnson and Dale Jr. That's some good stuff right thrrrr!
I do have a question for ALL of you (Nascar fans or not):
"Which driver(s) do you like?" If you don't know anyone, "Which driver(s) have you heard of?"

In Demand

It's been a year since I've posted anything! I've been busy!!!!
My last post was about going back to work so guess what's been keeping me so busy?
If you guessed work... well, you are somewhat wrong. It is part of the reason, but not the full reason.
The short answer is: I've been keeping myself busy.
The long explanation is: I've discovered in the last year that I have an addiction of saying YES to everything I am invited to do or anything I want to do!
I keep a day planner and I almost feel incomplete if there is a blank space anywhere on it. You see, it's not like I really enjoy being super busy and usually stressed out, but I sometimes long for a quiet/lazy day (or at least a couple hours) at home with just Jeremy, Andrew, and myself.
About once a week Jeremy will ask me what the calendar has in store for us for the upcoming week. I say, 'I don't know, let's see.' and pull the trusty planner out of my purse. I then proceed to list off the items on our to do list. When I come to a day that we have nothing I say, 'hmmmm, we have nothing planned for such and such day!' in a baffled yet slightly excited way. In the same conversation we usually come up with one or two things we could be doing that day. The most common being having dinner with friends or family we haven't seen in a while. We can always think of something that we should do to fill that empty spot in the planner. Sometimes one of us will insist that we must keep that day open for just us, but in the meantime something will usually come up.
What keeps us so busy you ask?

• Work - it is part of the reason. I leave the house at 6:45 am and return at 6:15 pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursdays. Jeremy is gone before me and usually home after me. The nights we don't have anything planned, we have just enough time to cook dinner, the boys take showers while I clean up after our cooking, and then we go to bed around 9:30 pm if we are lucky.
• Church - besides every Sunday morning service and the once a month preschool rotation we are on, we have some regular weekly activities that keep us somewhat busy. We have Home Groups (Bible Studies) on Tuesday nights from 6:30 pm-at least 9:30 pm. By the time we get home and ready for bed it is easily 10:30 pm. Jeremy and I both teach kids on Wednesday nights at the church. We leave the church at about 8:30 pm and we are usually ready for bed by 9:30 pm. Then there's softball on Saturday evenings. We used to play co-ed and Jeremy would play men's, but that was resulting in our entire afternoons and evenings being spent at the ball field each week. I learned to say no to playing co-ed (not to mention I was a terrible softball player and it made me mad at myself). Jeremy and I also have a monthly gathering called a Connection Group for our church. These are usually held on one Friday evening each month from about 6:30 pm-9:00 pm. There are also random activities each month which we are happy to help with, but they add up quickly. This month we had the Easter Egg Hunt for the Community, we have the Church Picnic this Sunday afternoon, I have a Leadership Conference to attend from 9am-4pm on Sat. Apr. 5th, we have a Nascar event out at PIR on Apr. 11-13, Jeremy has a Golf Tournament on Apr. 26 and I am organizing a Bake Sale Fundraiser for Apr. 27. We are a small church and we are always willing and happy to help or participate in these events. I am not complaining about this stuff and I realize there is plenty in here that we can "cut out" of our schedule, but we feel that one of our callings from God is interaction with others and it's stuff that we really enjoy doing. Sometimes there are more activities than others during a month and March/April is one of them!
• House - In the midst of all of this, I have two days off during the week that I desperately try to use for keeping my home in decent condition. Cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, bill paying, etc. easily whisks those days off in a hurry as if they didn't happen. I am thankful I have these 2 days or I would be scrambling amongst my jam-packed weekend to get this stuff done. How do you full-time workers do this???
• ETC - I love scrapbooking and seeing "Chick Flix" so when I have a free day or night I chose to do those things. Jeremy and I love going out to dinner with friends and family or especially having them over for dinner. And Jeremy enjoys riding his bike and playing basketball, softball, or golf so when he has a free night or day he usually occupies it with those activities.

Most of these activities are not very time consuming, but they certainly add up along with all the other shorter time frame items.

Does anyone else have this problem? If so, how do you keep your sanity? If you don't have this problem, how do you maintain a non-packed schedule? Can anyone else put my schedule to shame? Let me hear about a day or even month in your life! This will be fun!