Keeping up!

It's been a couple of weeks again and they have been FULL to the brim with things to do. I think I hit the ground running back on July 25th and I haven't stopped yet! Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your kids!

Of course I've already mentioned Sally's b-day and then that Sat. I was in charge of a big activity for our stakes activity day girls (8-11 year olds). It was a fun service project where we made 100 school kits for humanitarian aid and then made musical instrument kits for each wards nursery. It was fun but a lot of work. I think the girls liked it and got a taste of how much fun service can be. I wish I could be there when they deliver their kits to their ward nurseries. They're going to make a lot of kids happy here and across the world.

The next day we headed up Heber City way to a cabin for a family reunion. It was really fun. We stayed till tuesday in this really great cabin and just talked and played games and ATE for 3 days! It had 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, a full kitchen (with all the utinsels for cooking) and 7 person jacuzzi on the deck. There was a great view no matter where you looked but right off the deck was a little lake. It was peaceful and quiet and great fun. And yes, I am the queen of Rook! I was on all the winning teams! I am not so great however at Apples to Apples but it's so fun that it doesn't matter if you win. I'll have to see if see if I'm smart enough to post some pictures.

Friday we made a quick trip to St. George for Text-guys football game. It was a good trip, I read Eclipse (if you haven't read Stephenie Meyer's 'Twilight' series you really must!) all the way down and back and finished it up Sat. morning. We had fun at the game, yelled a lot but we didn't win. :( Oh well, there's a game today so hopefully this will be the start of a good season. Text-guy is pretty psyched!

Mickey will arrive from CT tonight and we are all looking forward to seeing her. She and her Fam are coming to Text-guys varsity game tomorrow. I hope he plays some so they get to see him play. Sally even agreed to let Mickey trim her hair! She won't do that for anyone else!

I also have a big work party tomorrow that I'm in charge of. It's going to be great fun. We are renting out a bowling alley and having Hawaiian food. We have great prizes that aren't based solely on your own skills so hopefully I can win something!

Gotta jet...a little billy for the road..."don't ask me why"

Football Overload!

Well, I guess it's begun for this year-Football! From now till bowl games are over it will be the #1 subject at our house. While I enjoy football, it gets a bit wearisome to me. It's all Bri-guy and Text Guy can think about. Text Guy went to football camp yesterday and won't be home till Saturday afternoon. Bri-guy texted him and asked how practice was and he sent back a text saying, 'great! for third time today!' That's right, they had 3 sessions yesterday and he loved them all! I'm glad I'm not going to be the one to wake him up this morning! He is grouchy when he's not had enough sleep. I just hope he stays healthy-no injuries. Besides the obvious problems with an injury, he would hate not playing. The coach told him he can compete for the position of starting center on varsity because they are probably going to move the one they had there to another position. He's excited about that prospect.

Starting next week with a trip to St George for his first game (an exhibition game against a st george team) I will probably be at a football game every Thursday and Friday night till the end of the season and HOPEFULLY through play offs! I love to watch his games and I think I may embarass him sometimes but I know he likes how much I yell! I figure why go watch if they don't know you're there!? Up to now the crowds have been fairly small but now going to JV and varsity games there will be a much larger crowd watching so maybe my vocal cords will get a bit of a break!

Sally is loving her new phone! She and it are never parted! I admit I am enjoying it too when she wanders off to look at school supplies (yes, school supplies, she'd rather buy pens and pencils than clothes-I know sick, but she gets it from me so what can I say?) at Wal-Mart, I can find her and tell her where to meet me. She also rode her bike to 7-11 with a friend the other day and it was nice to know she could call if she had any trouble. So far she's been great with it too. We got here a cute little purse with an "A" on it and a long strap so she could carry it everywhere and so far it's working great. Her purse is also good for her chapsticks and lip gloss-did I mention she's addicted! She told all her friends that's what she wanted for her birthday and I think she ended up with like 15 chapsticks! And she carries them ALL with her! I guess she'll always have soft lips! I think one of her other favorite birthday presents was a 'baby name' book- her request and grandma supplied! She pours over it for hours, laughing at all the weird names and finding out what names mean. I think her favorites so far are that her friend Cameron's name means 'crooked nose' and her friend Bronwyn's means 'white breasted!'

Well, that's more than enough for today-hope it's not to boring for readers. Hummm, a little Billy to finish on...how about..."You may be right, I may be crazy...."

11 Year Old Girls!

Yesterday was Sally's birthday-11, I can't believe it! It was quite a day. We surprised her with a cell phone-she's wanted one more than life itself for a very long time-and told her it was a chance to show how responsible she could be. Her first call was to cousin Mickey (her other mother-only fitting since I'm Mickey's other mother! right?) Now, 36 hours later, so far so good! Mostly I'm worried she'll lose it and to date she hasn't taken very good care of electronic devices so we gave her my old phone for the time being. We'll get her a newer niftier one if she proves she can hang on to it. She just has such a care free attitude that she never worries much about anything. Hopefully this will improve her responsibility.

The real adventure of the day was taking her and 6 of her friends on a hike and picnic up the canyon! Brian knew of a hike starting along the road to Squaw Peak down to Bridal Veil Falls that was all downhill and by his accounting would only take half an hour. I just said, 'okay honey' and settled in to wait with pizza, soda and cup cakes at the bottom. They arrived hot and tired about an hour and ten minutes later but for the most part they had had a good time. However, I don't think Sally will let her dad plan the entertainment for her parties in the future! They ate up pizza and bread sticks ravenously and then walked to the base of the falls and played in the water at the bottom. They were just going to 'wade' but you know how that goes. It's slippery and before you know it they're wet to the neck! Oh well, they had a good time and wore themselves out. The really amazing thing was the group dynamics! What a sea of hormones on the verge of puberty! They are buddy buddy one minute and mortal enemies the next and back again before you can turn your head! They got along well for the most part but I had to check them a few times and remind Sally that she was the hostess of the party and that she needed to help ALL her guests have a nice time! I came home and promptly fell asleep!

We went to dinner (the fam) at Panda Express, Sally's favorite restaurant and then she had a friend over for the rest of the evening and Text Guy went off to a friends. I guess you can call that family night? Oh well, it's done and I'm sure by tomorrow Sally will be planning her next party. It's one of her favorite pastimes all year long.

Mostly the day made me grateful for her life and existence in our family. Her mood had swung to sad by bedtime and I had to coax her to sit down by me so I could tell her how much I love her and how glad I am that she came to our family 11 years ago. She is my sunshine and her wit, giggle and smile have saved my life a hundred times over. There's no one in this world or the next that could convince me that she wasn't meant for our family. The old poem is so true, "Not flesh of my flesh nor bone of my bone but still miraculously my own. Never forget for a single minute, you didn't grow under my heart, but in it." I also have to pause and reflect on her birth mom and think about what this day must mean to her. To give her to a family who could offer what she could not is one of the greatest acts of love in the world. I'm very grateful for her every day but especially on Sally's birthday. Okay, enough sap, that's not really my thing but it's all true.

Humm, a little Billy to end on for the day??? How about, "we didn't start the fire..."

Back again!

Strange how things never turn out quite as planned. I was going to write more often and now it's been over two months again. A lot has happened and life has been very busy.

Just 3 days after my last post, on May 28th, Brian's mom passed away. It was a hard few days as we prepared for and had the funeral. She slipped away quietly and Robin was with her so it wasn't too bad. We had been anticipating it for a couple of weeks and Brian's brother had come from Alaska and had a visit with her during that time. We're really glad now that he came while she was still able to enjoy his visit and know he and Sonia were here. The rest of us enjoyed seeing him too. Brian's sister in Michegan is having some pretty serious health problems of her own so she wasn't able to come. However, she was here for a visit a few months back so she had also had some good time with her mom not too long ago. Grandma was 83 and had lived an extraordinary life. And, while her passing was anticipated, it still leaves quite a hole. Brian got extremely grouchy-his coping mechanism I guess- and that wasn't fun but has come around nicely and is glad his mom is free from all the physical problems of this life. May 28th was also memorial day so when we buried her a couple of days later the cemetery still looked beautiful. She would have liked that! There were of course flowers everywhere! She was a woman who I really loved and admired in so many ways. Most of all, her indomitable spirit. She always took whatever life gave her and made the best of it. She found a way to be happy no matter what. She didn't ignore or deny her problems, she met them, but her attitude was always positive. She could find something good in every situation.

I didn't feel very well the entire month of June so I feel like it was a wasted. The kids got out of school and plunged into summer in a big way! Text Guy has been to scout camp and had a great time and is now doing '2 a day' practices for football. They work him so hard in the heat and he still comes home with a smile on his face. I could not have foreseen these days when a few years ago when he still loved football but thought practices were so tough and dreaded going! Now he's a fit and firm 6'2" and 237 lbs! He's anxious to start hitting and you'd have thought it was Christmas when he got his helmet and equipment last week! I'm glad he has something he loves so much and that he's really throwing himself into it. He's still 16 and acts like it now and then but for the most part he really knows what he wants and is working hard at it. I think he's starting to see that his dream of playing football at BYU is a real possibility. He's got the grades, the football smarts, the build and the determination. I hope he can keep it up as girls start to enter the picture!

Sally is Sally is Sally! What a girl! She delights and drives me crazy all in the same day-sometimes all in the same moment! She'll be 11 on Monday and I guess she's just growing up and the hormones are raging accordingly. She's always been a drama queen but lately it's extreme! She's elated one moment and on the verge of tears the next and back again a moment later. It wears me out! She is still so quick witted and makes me laugh though! We passed a guy in a gladiator costume in front of a business (promoting something I suppose) the other day, and what a scene: buff guy, black skirt, red cape, Trojan style helmet, gold arm bands and boots, sword in one hand and dialing the cell phone with the other! It was very comical indeed and the first thing she said was, 'oh, they do NOT pay him enough!' Well, that sent us both roaring with laughter and we can't even think about it now without cracking up all over again. It had been a hectic stress filled day and that just made our day! She also cracked us all up when I told her that her cousin Twinkie (who has a shopping addiction!) is going to India for a month in January. She simply said, "well, India won't be a poor country any more!" What a delight she is.

I feel blessed to have two such great kids! Well, being sick consumed June but don't asked me what happened to July! We had a fun party on the 4th and my brother the Prefect came from Washington for a quick visit-it was fun to see him. Got to see Harry (Potter) on my birthday and then spent the weekend of the 21st reading the new Harry-loved it! I was right on with many of my predictions and wrong on only a couple-just glad Harry survived and that I was right about Snape! Sad that it's over though and can't bring myself to read anything else yet-guess I'm mourning the end of a wonderful series and am not ready to leave Hogwarts behind just yet.

Brian went back to selling cars at Low Book mid June and has been doing well there. I get a little sick of his moods following how successful he is at work but he is just working hard to support us and wants to do well. The hours suck but it's an income and hopefully it won't be forever. In the meantime, if you need a car! Go see him!

August is going to be nuts too. We have Sally's birthday, a huge stake primary activity that I'm in charge of, a family reunion, the aforementioned 2-a-day football practices (I'm so glad he can drive now!) and school starting on the 21st and the associated shopping. Tonight I'm taking dinner to a friend who just had a baby and my friend Jo is trying to finish what has become a very long and problem fraught remodel of her home and I want to help her! On top of that I would like to get up to my mom's to make blackberry jam and go to the fair-don't know if that's going to happen! Add to this my off-track exercise and diet (due to being sick in June) and I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed--Oh well, I guess there's nothing to do but keep going!

"Slow down, you crazy child, you're so ambitious for a juvenile, you've got so much to do and only so many hours in a day...when will you realize, Vienna waits for you..." from Vienna by Billy Joel, ahhh, I really love Billy!