{unwrapped}

{memory monday & memories of me}

IF YOU HAD TO PICK ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE PHYSICAL FEATURES, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

By far, I would have to say my eyes. I have always loved my eyes. Technically, they are an icy bright green...especially when I wear green. However, as you can see above, when I wear blue, they tend to look more blue than green.  Of all of my features, my eyes get the most compliments. LOL! A friend of mine once even said that I have "smiling eyes." Not sure what that means, but it sounds nice! So if I had to pick my one favorite physical feature, it would have to be my bright green eyes. Following closely behind might be my smile, but the eyes are definitely the winner!

And now, I need your help with this next fun memory activity for today. I saw this fun activity on one of my blog reader's blogs last week (Thanks Lindsey...hope you don't mind me copying this fun idea!) and LOVED it!!!!

MEMORIES OF ME

Here's how it works:

As a comment here on this blog entry, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot..just any memory that you still remember. (That sounded funny. Obviously it wouldn't help me any if it was a memory that you CAN'T remember. LOL!!!) I would ask however, that all of the memories be uplifting. It can be a good happy memory or a more sentimental one, but I would ask that if you do have bad memories of me (which I honestly hope you do not....I would feel terrible about that), that you only post good and uplifting ones here. Please also include the year, etc. of the memory (or a guesstimate, if you can't remember exactly).

Next, re-post these instructions on your blog (if you have one) so that all of us that know YOU, can leave our favorite memories of you!!!! Please join in for this celebration of WONDERFUL MEMORIES together!!!

P.S. A huge thank you to the fabulous Lori Muse for this fun portrait taken yesterday!!! MORE fun photos from this photo shoot to come. THANKS LORI! It's funny...the way I edited this pic, it looks like I'm kinda pasty white. LOL! Compare it with the picture of us watching the movie on the lawn. Weird. ;-)

{bbq & a movie on the lawn}

What a fun and great day today was. My day started out by sleeping in until 11:30! Chas came in at 11:30 and said, 'What....are you trying to start a record?' (A "world record" for the person who slept the longest....in case you needed help understanding Chas' joke that he thought was so funny. LOL!) I can't believe that I slept that late. I don't think I've done that since college. LOL! I was in and out between 7-9, but other than that, I slept HARD. I haven't been sleeping very well the past week, so that great night's sleep was definitely needed. Problem is, it's now 2 AM and I'm not even sleepy yet. :-)

Soon after waking up (right in time for lunch...LOL!), I headed to the mall to pay the wonderful ladies at the Clinique counter a visit to help with my "chalk face" problem that I mentioned in my last entry. They were awesome. One of the ladies there sat me down and gave me a complete makeover. I must say...by the end of that visit, I was lookin' niiiiiice!! ;-) I need to have a little miniature make-up gal that I can keep in my pocket for days when I want to be beautiful. LOL! She fixed me up with a darker foundation, powder and eye shadow...the works. The eye liner and eyebrow liner that she used were AWESOME too, but I had to pace myself financially and just chose the absolute necessities for today. And then, all prettied up after my makeover, I headed over to Costco to get some paper goods, turkey, grapes & treats for my Primary class (that so funny to include that...why will I ever care what I was buying at Costco? LOL! Oh well...). After Costco, I headed home and unloaded the groceries and then headed up to my friend Jodi's house to have my eyebrows waxed. Our friend AJ does hair and she was there doing Jod's hair, so I thought I would run on up and have her do my eyebrows while she was there. When I walked in, Jodi immediately noticed my make-up and told me that it looked awesome and that I seriously needed to do my make-up like that all the time. That was a serious compliment because Jodi is seriously a make-up and fashion connoisseur!! So yay!!!  Gooooodbye chalk face! LOL!

When I got home, our friends Neil and Saunie came over and we chatted for a bit and decided that we needed to BBQ tonight. Saunie was craving burgers, so I ran to the store to get all of the fixins for our dinner, including HUGE Idaho potatoes for Neil to make homemade french fries...which were DELICIOUS, by the way. We had such a fun evening. After dinner, some of our other neighbors came over and we visited with them for a while as well. After the kiddies went to bed, a bunch of the guys decided to go play XBOX over at Neil and Saunie's, so Saunie, my other neighbor Angela and I decided to set up a TV outside on our lawn and watch a movie! ;-) We even had it in SURROUND SOUND (we tried it just with the TV and either it was just too quiet, or we are already losing our hearing. LOL! So the surround sound was added soon after the movie started). We had such agreat time. We enjoyed the movie and talked for a long time after it was over. The picture at the top of this entry is of Angela, Me & Saunie hanging out watching our movie. When I set up my tripod before the movie, Saunie just laughed and said, "Of course..I should have known!" LOL! She is so funny. She says that I always take pics when she is feeling grubby and that I need to post a picture of her when she DOESN'T look that way. Well Saunie sweetie...you should know by now that if ya hang with me....yer GONNA be on the blog. LOL! And btw....you ALWAYS look beautiful, even in your grubbies...so stop your complainin' LOL! What a fun fun day AND night!!! *sigh* I LOVE summer nights and spending time with good neighbors and friends! Oh yay. Now I just need to find something that will make me sleepy! LOL!

{lots of laughs}

Tonight, I went out to dinner to Brick Oven in Provo with my friends Stephanie and Christy. I met Christy through my friend Deidre when I was in desperate need of someone awesome to do my hair. Christy has done my hair the past three time..and I love it. Every single time Christy has come over to do my hair, we talk and talk and talk and talk and are CONSTANTLY amazed (and perhaps a little "weirded out") that we have SO MUCH in common. SO MUCH that it just blows us away. She is a crazy girl..I love her!  Kinda funny that the first time I see Christy since she did my hair, I was wearing a hat. LOL! This is actually my VERY FIRST hat. Thought I would try it out and bought this one at TORID this week. I love it. It's kinda funky in pictures, because you can't see the back, but I had it in a pony and curled. Funny thing is, with the hat, the jewelry and this particular shirt which my sister Julie gave to me, I look a TON like her...my sister Julie, I mean. Crazy. However, I noticed after posting these pics, that I had SERIOUS "chalk face" tonight. I've gotten pretty tan lately and I just noticed in these pics, that my foundation is too light now.....TOTALLY didn't blend. I am off to the Clinique counter FIRST THING in the morning to get a new foundation. Can't be walking around chalky, can we?! LOL!

Stephanie was in our ward for a minute, but I didn't really know her when she was in the ward. I actually got to know her better through my blog and her "Get To Know You Card" that she mailed to me a few months ago. Christy and Stephanie are really good friends...small world. Just a few weeks ago when Christy was over doing my hair, we were talking and talking and talking and mentioned how much fun it would be for the three of us to get together. So, we decided to schedule it right away, just to make sure it happened! And tonight was the night. And oh....my...goodness. To say that we had fun would be a complete and utter understatement. These gals are by far two of the cutest and most outrageously FUN gals ever!

I have not laughed so hard in a long time. In fact, off hand, I can't even remember when I have laughed so hard. We were laughing so hard and for so long, that we were crying and our cheeks hurt so bad from smiling, that we had to hold them. They were SORE sore..which is why we look in pain in the pics of us holding our cheeks. LOL! But every time we tried to hold our cheeks and stop laughing, THAT made us laugh even harder. This picture of Christy pushing on her cheeks to stop the pain makes me laugh out loud even now. After tonight, I absolutely 100% believe that laughing burns calories. When we got up to leave, we were completely drenched as if we had just done a complete workout....all from laughing. It was such a blast! At one point, Christy was telling us what big lips she has...and I caught a picture right when she was making a face to show her big lips. LOL! We just about died when we saw this picture. Ha ha ha! Oh my gosh....I could have died...so funny. (Maybe you had to be there...but it was hilarious!) I don't think we stopped laughing for more than 5 minutes throughout the entire dinner! ;-)

We had such a great time. We all enjoyed the pasta bar and Stephanie enjoyed DROWNING her pasta in Alfredo sauce. LOL! She's hilarious. She always likes to take home some of the pasta and eat it the next day, but and since the pasta is dry the next day, she puts a TON of sauce on it so that the leftovers will be moist. You coulon't even SEE her pasta she had so much sauce. So funny. Stephanie celebrated her birthday a few weeks ago, so the servers all sang to her and brought her a free chocolate mousse dessert. Love this picture of Stephanie and Christy clapping to the Brick Oven Happy Birthday song. LOL!

 

Stephanie and Christy...I love you guys. To say that tonight was fun just doesn't do it justice. What a BLAST!!!!! We have GOT to do this again soon! Thanks for the much needed laughs. I am pretty sure that all of of the laughing will very easily make up for the fact that I won't be working on my abs again until Monday!!!! ;-) What a blessing it is to have good friends you can laugh so hard with!!!!

P.S. OH MY GOSH......*happy squeal of pure joy*!!!! I just noticed on THIS entry, that the photo bug here on Typepad has been fixed and my pictures look normal again. HAPPY DAY! THANK YOU TYPEPAD!

P.S.S. I was up most of the night last night for some reason and finally just got up at 4:07 AM for Jazzercise. I am so completely exhausted. I think I dosed off 2 or 3 times WHILE I was typing this entry. So please do forgive any typos. :-)

{six minutes, feeling stronger & grateful for rhythm}

I have officially been doing Jazzercise for 7 months now (actually did it 4 years ago, but it's been 7 months since I started up again) and I am officially in love with it. The first few months were difficult, since I was so out of shape, but now, although it is still a challenge (which is good...it would be pointless if it WEREN'T a challenge, right?), I am able to now go every morning without dying. LOL! I started out only 3 days a week and hoped to work up to 5 days, since the days I start with a work out are BY FAR much better days for me. However, a few months ago, they got rid of my 6:30 AM time slot and that left only the 5:30 AM as a possibility for me. I was SURE that I wouldn't be able to make it that early and even told my friend, who owns the majority of the local Jazzercise studios here, that I would just have to find something else. She encouraged me not to give up and to just try 5:30 AM for a month and see how it goes. And you know what? I....LOVE....IT! I still don't get to bed until about midnight on most nights (which is actually earlier than I am used to), but that 5 hours of sleep is just enough. And out of curiosity, I noticed the other morning, that it only takes me 6 minutes to be completely awake. That first minute is, by far, the hardest. When my alarm goes off, it takes every ounce of will power and determination to sit up. I almost have to just go...ONE...TWO...THREE...GET UP! and hurry and stand up. LOL! Then, I go in and put my hair up, brush my teeth, etc. and head out to the kitchen for a 6 oz. protein shake. That's at about 4 minutes after waking up. As soon as my shake is gone, my eyes are wide open and I am good to go....6 minutes later.

Who would have thought that I would be able to hop out of bed at 4:55 AM every morning to go WORK OUT?! But it is such an easy thing now...because I love it. I love how it makes me feel...both physically and emotionally. It's fantastic. If there are any of you who are experiencing sadness or even depression, I strongly strongly recommend a good and regular exercise program. It does wonders for the spirit AND the body! And the coolest thing is, although I'm not becoming the Incredible Shrinking Woman (did you ever see that movie with Lily Tomlin? LOL! It was a favorite rental when we were little. LOL!), I can very literally FEEL myself getting stronger and stronger. I give Chas a serious run for his money in a wrestling match now. LOL! I have gone from pushing myself just to get there, to absolutely looking forward to every minute. I love my heart beating fast, I love the rigorous and fun movements, I love the sweat and the music, I love lifting weights and doing routines that bring me to complete muscle exhaustion and I even love how my muscles ache the next day. I can see, very easily, how working out could very quickly become an addiction. I wish that I had caught the vision and gained a love for exercise when I had my COLLEGE body. It would have been so much easier to get started and to maintain my weight, instead of now having to push so extremely hard to lose so little at a time. So word to the wise..start exercising early in life. I write this to share my experience with others, but also to act as a reminder to myself, should I ever personally get in a funk and need a gentle reminder and PUSH to get back into it again. I need to remember just how much I love this and how fantastic I feel. I need to remember the pure exhileration I feel and the awesome feeling of strength and increased stamina. What a blessing it is to be here on earth and to have a strong and healthy body. It is exciting to finally be taking better care of myself...and to FEEL the results. Every time I am doing a routine that is so difficult I could just scream or I am so sore the next day that I can hardly walk, I am reminded of how fantastic it is to have a strong and healthy body and I am proud of myself for finally working so hard to make it even stronger.

In addition to my love for exercise, I am so so grateful for the gift of rhythm. That sounds so funny....but as I work out every morning and see that some very easily find the beat and others have to try harder to follow the instructor simply to keep to the beat, I am so grateful that music is in my blood. Music has been, and still is, such a HUGE HUGE part of my life. There is rarely a time when I'm not singing to the radio or just singing SOMETHING out of the blue. I feel like my life has a constant soundtrack of some sort...I even walk to a beat or a song in my head. It is not a rare thing for me to have someone walk in on me singing or even dancing to myself. In fact, the other day, as I was driving on the highway, singing "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley into my Cover Girl Lip Gloss, I looked over and saw a guy smiling and laughing in a car next to me. LOL! Busted. I'm pretty sure that if you held a stethoscope to my heart and listened carefully, that every now again, my heart would switch over to a drum beat and you could hear a melody in the background as it flowed through my veins.

Oh I am blessed. I am blessed to somehow have caught the vision of regular exercise. I am blessed to somehow be able to get up early in the morning every morning, even when I have only had 3-5 hours of sleep and have energy to get through the day, get things done and play with my kids without tiring easily. I am blessed to be feeling strong and healthy and happy. I am blessed to have music and rhythm in my heart. And for that reason, it is worth that six minutes it takes to get me up and running and out the door to a fabulous start to the day!

{auf wiedersehen}

(Typepad is still having issues with my pictures appearing pixelated. Please click on each individual photo if you want to see the true image.)

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while now, have heard me mention our friends Christian and Jodi. Christian has been our mailman for over 5 years and he and his wife have become our good friends. A quick recap for those who don’t know the story….About 4 years ago (he had already been our mailman for a while), Christian started noticing that I was receiving “Der Stern,” a church magazine (The Ensign) in German. Since he was from Germany, he was curious as to whether or not we were German as well, since we received that magazine on a monthly basis. One day, he came up to the door to deliver a package and just asked who the German speaker was at our house. I told him that it was me and we immediately started speaking German together and found that he actually grew up in a city that was in our mission in Hamburg and knew so many of the same people that we did. Crazy how small the world is. Anyway….after that, we chatted casually here and there and I provided cold beverages, etc. on hot summer days as he passed through our circle and left goodies in the mailbox for holidays (both American and German holidays) and soon started chatting on the phone with his wife on a regular basis. A few years ago, we finally got our families together and our kiddies got along so well and both Chas and I completely meshed with Christian and his wife Jodi! And so, in short, an awesome friendship was formed! It still sounds so funny when I explain to people that we are hanging out “with our mailman.” LOL! (As you can see, even out kids love Christian. Every time we see a mail truck..no matter WHERE we are, Kaden yells...'There's CHRISTIAN!" LOL!)

After 5+ years of servicing our route, Christian and his family decided it was time to move to Germany so that he could finish school. As hard as it will be to see them go, it is a great decision for their family. They will probably be there 3-5 years…just until he is finished We will miss them so much, but the upside is, that I will have one more place to visit when I am over there next! YAY!! Another good friend that will struggle with Christian leaving, is our friend Ursula. Ursula has lived here in the States for over 50 years, and has become very attached to me and Christian. She lives close to us here and is pretty particular about the visitors that she allows to come see her. I think my automatic “in” with her was the fact that I could speak fluent German with her. She took to me immediately and I have really enjoyed visiting her the past 4 years. I haven’t visited her as often as I should, but ever since the funerals we have had this past month, I have gone to see her every week. I don’t want to have any regrets…and with Christian leaving, I know she will need me even more. She too, was on his route and he was always so great to take her mail right up to her every day. She is so funny…she is so mad at him for leaving. She’s lectured him over and over about it. But beneath it all, I think it’s just that she will really miss him. I met up with Christian in the middle of his route the other day, just so I could take a picture of him with Ursula. I framed a 5 x 7 of this awesome picture for Ursula and will be taking it over to her when I visit this week.

The day before Christian’s last day on the route, I e-mailed all of the gals in the neighborhood whose addresses I had, to let them know, and ask them to leave a note or token of appreciation in their mailboxes for Christian the next day. I made this plaque for Christian and Jodi (from us as close friends) that says "You meet many people in your life. But only true friends leave their footprints on your heart" in German, and left it in the mailbox, along with a package of Cracker Jacks (from us, as Christian's "customers" on his route)for our “Crack Jack Mailman.” LOL! I know…cheesy…but oh well! I was so thrilled to hear later, that he had found MANY cards, etc. in mailboxes in our neighborhood on his last day. I didn’t tell him that I had told many about his last day…and it made me so happy to hear that so many had left him something. THANKS to all of you that did that…it meant so much to him!!

A few weeks ago, we got together with Christian and Jodi and some of their other close friends, the Gouldings (who I am pretty sure are going to become good friends of ours too…they are FABULOUS!!!) at Mimi’s. And of course, since it was our last official get together before they moved, we took a million pictures. LOL! I absolutely love how they turned out though. We had such a fun night. I get so attached to people, that every time I thought of them leaving, I would get a knot in my throat and my heart literally ached. I feel my emotions so much physically as well. SUCH a fun night with great friends.

 
This past Monday night, we went to the Christian and Jodi’s farewell party. Christian served in the bishopric in his ward, so there were a lot of ward members there. It was so funny….they kept introducing us as “friends on Christian’s route.” LOL! Everyone got a kick out of that….that we had become such friends through him being our mailman. It was great to meet Jodi’s family and all of their friends. Funny thing is, Chas has been following Jodi’s brother, Justin Sorenson, a new BYU kicker, since he played in high school. He even went to a few Bingham High School Football games just to watch him, after BYU announced that they would be recruiting him. I remember watching the special on Justin that I linked you too on his name above, and having Chas RAVE about how seriously INCREDIBLE this kicker was. It wasn’t until after a few of our get togethers with Christian and Jodi, that we found out that Justin is Jodi’s baby brother. LOL! Again…small world. Unfortunately, Justin wasn’t there at the farewell party..and I think Chas was secretly sad that he couldn’t meet him. LOL! Okay…probably not, but we still joked with Jodi and Christian that we would have to get him to sign a football for us or something.

While we were at the farewell party, we were able to meet the LDS missionary that baptized Christian and his family in Germany when he was only 15. It was the first time that Christian had seen him in 19 years. So great to be there for that reunion and to meet this great former-missionary and his family. AWESOME!

Anyway…it was a great night. They had a dinner at a park and a dessert bar. Of all of the desserts I ever made for our dinners, Christian’s favorite was actually the Marie Calendar’s Chocolate Satin Pie that I didn’t make. LOL! Not sure what that means, but oh well! Anyway…so I brought two of the pies and they were gone in a SECOND. I think Christian literally had 3 pieces before anyone else got to it. LOL! He was always such a crazy eater…we very rarely had ANY leftovers…andI always made a LOT of food. LOL! Anyway…it was Jodi’s birthday yesterday, so they had a birthday cake and I brought my pie server that sings “Happy Birthday to You”…and everyone loved that…until Christian broke it trying to cut some brownies. LOL! Oops.

We brought a little birthday/farewell gift for Christian and Jodi (Thanks to Chasy for assisting in the photo above. LOL! I forgot to take a pic of everything before we left....so it's a minivan driver's seat shot. LOL!). It was Chas’ idea to buy them a webcam so that we can talk and see them on Skype (awesome idea Chas!) and they LOVED IT…especially because they didn’t have one yet. I framed one of the pictures of us at Mimi’s and then also bought a mini 4x6 fold out album and put in all of the pictures from all of our get togethers throughout the past few years. So fun to look back through all of those. They absolutely loved it. Christian said they worried that sometimes people become distant and it’s weird when people move back after being gone for a long time and that they hoped that wouldn’t be the case for us. I highly doubt it. We love them and are positive we’ll be in touch. And I’m pretty sure that I will see them in Germany while they are living there!!!

I love the German language for so many reasons. One of the greatest, is that “Goodbye” isn’t “Goodbye” in German. “Auf Wiedersehen” is “until we see each other again” which is so much more hopeful and happy than goodbye. And I know for sure, that this is NOT “goodbye” to the Albrecht Family. Christian, Jodi, Hannah, Jens, Max & Heidi…..wir haben Euch sehr lieb und wuenschen Euch alles gute. Wir werden Euch ganz doll vermissen, aber sind sicher dass wir einander in Deutschland wiedersehen werden. Bis dann. Alles liebe…..und bis aufs wiedersehen!

{a scrapping weekend}

(Typepad still messing up my pics. Please click on each pic to enlarge and see true quality and unpixelated versions.)

I have been counting down to this past weekend since about February….the Mini Scrapbook Retreat at The Memory Box in Midway, Utah. The retreat starts at noon on Friday and goes through Saturday at midnight and it is an absolute BLAST!!!! I heard about Memory Box Scrapbook Retreats for the first time a few years ago when I was invited as the Guest Manufacturer to teach a class. It was so much fun that I knew I for SURE wanted to go as a "normal" scrapbooker!! My first retreat, I went by myself and was the only one there that went by myself. However….for those of you that know me, you know that I am absolutely 100% cool doing things by myself. I don’t have many close friends that scrapbook to the same degree that I do (as far as being interested in it as much as I am. In fact most of my girlfriends don’t scrapbook at all), so I just decided to head there on my own. Every single retreat has been AWESOME and I have become such good friends with all of the “regulars.” I am still the only one that is technically there “alone,” but as soon as I get there, I am surrounded by friends. It is such a fun mixed group…different ages, different backgrounds, etc. etc….and we have an absolute BLAST!!!(LOVE this cute picture of my friends Cindy & Amy! SUCH awesome gals. Cindy is Amy's aunt and they are both SO much fun!!!) 

In preparation for this retreat, I was up almost every night last week until 1:30 or 2 AM editing pictures, preparing the layouts for my layout kit swap with my friend Lori, etc. etc. and then getting up at 5 AM for Jazzercise. Friday is the only morning I missed Jazzercise last week because I was STILL up working at 4:30 AM. Eeek! This time around, I decided to make a little happy thing for all of the 14 ladies at the retreat (there are generally 12-15 at the mini retreats and 50+ at the BIG retreats in Altamont, Utah April and October…and yes, I am already counting down to October. LOL!). I found these cute jars at my dollar store for only 60 cents each. Then, I printed “So-and-so’s Scrappin’ Treats” in black vinyl (used a font called ELISE. Love it! So crazy and fun…totally fit the mood of the retreats!). Then, I bought some black/white fabric and tore it into strips and tied it in a bow around the tops of the jars with a piece of sparkly white tulle and VOILA! Then, I filled each of them with treats…licorice, a HUGE Charm sucker, candy bars and chocolate covered raisins. They turned out really cute.

When I arrived on Friday, I met up with my friend Amy who took me up to the condo I was staying at….all by myself….during my stay. I was SO THRILLED to be able to stay all by myself. So nice. Amy is such a great friend to arrange that for me!! Then, we hustled out to Sonic in Heber to get our Diet Cokes (with lime for me, with lime and extra ice for Cindy and with extra ice and no lime for Amy) for the day. When we got back to Memory Box, just about everyone had arrived. At each of our scrapping areas was a little stack of gifts....journaling embellishments, Making Memories Embellishment Containers, etc., along with our name tags and retreat schedule. Fun fun stuff! It was so fun to see so many familiar faces and a lot of new ones. I was SO SO excited to finally be able to meet the absolutely adorable and outrageously talented Wendy Sue Anderson this time around. Wendy and I were both designers for Paper Crafts Magazine for years and years and years…and yet somehow never met. We e-mailed back and forth a few times and saw each others’ work in each issue, etc. and FINALLY, we were able to meet up at this retreat! So great to meet her. She is an absolute doll…so fun to meet her and the friends she brought with her.  Friday night, Memory Box took us all out to Tarahumara for Mexican Food (Tarahumara named Best Mexican in Utah in the Deseret News this year). It is SO YUMMY and I don’t even care for Mexican food. They have a salsa bar that is to DIE for. My faves are the mango salsa and the creamy cilantro salsa. I also ordered the shrimp with tequila & orange…it is seriously tasty! If you are ever in Midway, I HIGHLY recommend it. We went there at the last mini retreat and I was so excited to hear we were heading there again. After dinner, a few of us “regulars” had a few pictures taken outside of the restaurant. So funny how they turned out. The first one, which actually is really cute with all of us smiling looks SO funny how we are post. Nice arms wrapped all around each other. What is up with that? LOL! And then the other ones, we could NOT stop laughing!!!! This group is so much fun….SO FUN!!!! (First Photo From L-R....Amber, Laurie (Amber's Mom), Cindy, Me & Amy (Cindy's Niece))

We finished up Friday night at midnight and I headed home to the condo where I would spend an hour and a half trying to get the internet to work. So frustrating. Never did get it to work and headed to bed at 1:30 AM to enjoy the best night’s sleep I have had in AGES!! I seriously was asleep in about 3 seconds (that never happens…it usually takes me a good 30-45 minutes or more to fall asleep) and did not even BUDGE until my alarm went off at 7:45 AM and check out the gorgeous view out of my window that morning. BEAUTIFUL! The condo very literally sits RIGHT on the golf course at the Homestead. Last time I was there, it was covered with snow and this time, it was green and gorgeous. During my stay,golf balls smacked right into the windows at least a dozen times. They must have SUPER windows that don't break very easily. ;-) ) I was out the door at 8:10 and on my way to pick up my friend Lori, who is in charge of the retreats along with Lindsey…another fab Memory Box gal! After I picked her up, we headed over to eat breakfast at FRESH, where we enjoyed FABULOUS cinnamon rolls (and a delicious blueberry scone that I bought and saved for later). Yummm! All Saturday morning and into the afternoon, we had 4 classes that are included in the retreat. All 4 classes were fantastic!!! SO MUCH FUN!

 

After lunch, my back was starting to bother me a bit and after so little sleep all week (only about 15 hours all week…if that), I had to take off back to the condo for a little afternoon nap! SO SO glad I did that. I returned a few hours later completely refreshed , in less pain and ready to tackle the rest of the day and get a lot done!!!  Saturday night, we went to dinner at a local grill. I wasn’t up to eating much, so I ended up taking my meal home with me. We scrapped and scrapped when we got back and put out our layouts to be judged for the three retreat contests…Best Sewing, Best Journaling and Best Overall. And guess whose layout won Best Journaling? WOOOHOOO! Me! All of the entries have to be layouts completed AT the retreat and mine was one that I designed there for one of the circle journal entries I still needed to complete. I will share that with ya, along with some of the layouts that I completed during the retreat throughout the course of this week!

At midnight, we were cleaned up and ready to go home. I was so glad that I was staying another night at the condo and wouldn’t have to drive home that late. I ended up sleeping in and driving home Sunday morning. This was another absolutely FABULOUS retreat. This one was a little unique in that I feel like not only was it a lot of fun, but we really were able to talk, have some great conversations and really get to know each other better. Love that. It always feels like I’m leaving Girls’ Camp when I leave the retreat…so sad. But the months fly, and before I know it, it will be October and I will be back in Altamont for the big Memory Box Retreat! Can’t wait! Thank you Lori and Lindsey (shown in the picture above with me) SO MUCH for all of your hard work. Having put together retreats myself, I know first hand just how much work goes into these and sometimes it is overlooked. Please know how much I love and appreciate all you do!!!!! As for the girls at the retreat…the fab “regulars” and the awesome gals that I met for the first time this time around, I am so very fortunate to have you as friends and can’t WAIT for October!!!! Love you guys…and I LOVE MY THICKERS TOO!! LOL!!!!! ;-)

P.S. I apologize for no Memory Monday last night. I actually had another internet issue last night and lost the entry. I had typed up THI entry in Word, so I didn't lose that...but then I just typed the Memory Monday here in Typepad. Not smart. My internet went down and it was gone. Will do the same question for next week. Until next time....make today a GREAT one!!!

{operation:army guy party}

Since Kaden’s birthday is pretty close to the 4th of July, it makes it a little difficult to plan parties with people going out of town and having family commitments. So, we usually tend to do his birthday party with his friends either right before his birthday or shortly after. This year, we had his party after his birthday, on Thursday the 10th. Kaden decided shortly after Christmas that he wanted to have an “army guy birthday party.” So that is exactly what we did. I decided long ago that I would not do homemade invitations for my kids, since they are too young to really appreciate them and it is so time consuming. It’s just not necessary for me, so it’s a great way to simplify my life. So, I was thrilled when I found these “army guy” invitations (in a set with Thank You notes as well) at Zurkers. Inside of the invites, along with the party info, I also wrote “Come in your camo if you have any!” I thought it would be fun if they were all dressed up for the theme.  Some of them went ALL OUT….gotta love the fun face paint on Kaden’s friend Spencer’s face. SO FUN!!!  When our friend Neil brought over his two kids to the party, I had to laugh that he was wearing camo shorts too. It was purely on accident that he matched for the party…but I had to take a picture. He stayed and chatted with Chas during the party, so he fit right in with the army theme!

This year, I also did something a little different. Kaden wrote his party invite list all by himself. I remember growing up, there was one little girl that I was always forced to invite because our moms were friends…and we BOTH didn’t really like each other. I promised myself after I grew up, that I would never do that to my kids…I would not make them invite kids simply because I was friends with their mothers. Kaden is 6 years old and that is plenty old enough to say who his friends are. So I gave him a limit of how many kids to invite and he wrote his list all by himself. There were a few that weren’t invited that I’m afraid might have been offended, but it was Kaden’s party and his choice of who he wanted to be there, so that’s just the way it is. The majority of the kids at the party were actually kids from his school class that aren’t even in our neighborhood, which resulted in him having fewer “slots” open for his little friends here in the neighborhood, since I had given him a limit. Anyway…it turned out great and all of the kids that Kaden invited were such great kids and had a great time!

Another way I have decided to simplify is in regards to the cake. I am NOT an exotic cake making mother. I probably could be. I’m sure I could do a time-intensive shaped cake covered in millions of frosting flowerets if I really wanted to. But that sure seems like a waste of time and energy for kids who take one look at it, say it’s COOL and then devour it without a second thought. So…I am NOT even going to attempt it. I am a cupcake mom – easy to make, easy to serve and easy to eat! And when I finished the cupcakes for Kaden’s party, I took one look and thought, “Why would I even spend the hours and effort on a “tank cake” or something of the sort, when these cupcakes are AWESOME!?” LOL! I seriously love these. I just frosted  the chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting to match camo colors and the sprinkled forest green and yellow sugar sprinkles on top and topped them with the “army guy” cupcake toppers that I also found at Zurkers and VOILA! SO FUN!!! I had the cupcakes on our kitchen table on a camouflage table cloth next to a army tank centerpiece and bouquets of army green, brown and black balloons inside and outside. It looked really fun!!

As the kids arrived dressed in their camo, I gave them each a homemade camo ID tag with their name one it. I found these “Do It Yourself ID Tags” at Oriental Trading Company and thought they were so fun. Originally, I was going to have the kids design their own. However, when the ID tags arrived and I saw that they were a slick surface and would require designing with MARKERS, I decided against it. The thought of 12 kids coloring with markers on my kitchen table was quite a frightening thought. LOL! So literally 10 minutes before the first guest arrived, I colored the tags with green and black sharpies (I wish I would have had brown too, so that it would look more like real camo) and wrote their names on the reverse side.  Had I known that I wasn't going to have them make their own, I would have just ordered the camouflage ID tags from the get go. Oh well. The kids liked them and that's all that matters, right? LOL! As they arrived, I sent them to the backyard to shoot hoops until all of the kids had arrived.  We ended up with 8 out of the 12 that were invited, but it was a perfect size group!

After all of the kids had arrived, we started out by playing “Air Force Academy.” The first part of this game, was teaching them how to make paper airplanes. This part actually took a little while to make sure that each child had folded everything correctly so that the plane would actually fly. I put each child’s initial on one of the wings of their airplane to set it apart from the others. Then, I had the kids all stand in a row and on my count, they threw their airplanes to see whose airplane would fly the farthest. Such a simple game, but they were really into it.

After “Air Force Academy,” we played M.I.A. (Missing In Action), which simply involved having the kids search all of the yard for M.I.A. Soldiers that I had hidden earlier in the morning. I purchased a bag of army guys from the dollar store and had hidden them all over our rock walls. Whatever guys they found, they were able to keep. However, we kept 7 of the found soldiers for the next game.

The next game, Kaden made up and called “Army Guy Ring Around The Rosie.” LOL! It’s basically his rendition of “Musical Chairs.” We had 8 kids, so there were 7 army guys. All of the kids stood in a circle and each one held an army guy, except for one. Originally, we were going to pass the army guys around the circle to music, but I realized last minute that I don’t even have a tape/CD player. So I clapped, stomped my foot and sang. LOL! It was hilarious….but it did the trick. The kids passed the army guys around the circle until I stopped singing. Whoever ended up without an army guy when the music stopped, was out. We only really made it halfway through this game, because we were ALL in serious need of a drink. It was well into the high 90s and we were SO SO HOT!!! We took a hydration break (the first of many throughout the party) and the kids sat and rested for a minute.

After our drink break, we played “Drill Sergeant Says,” which is really just a variation of “Simon Says.” However, when I explained that if you follow the instructions WITHOUT the drill sergeant saying, ‘Drill Sergeant Says’, you would be out, Kaden corrected me by saying, ‘They won’t be out, they just have to do 5 push ups.” LOL! So funny that he came up with that by himself. So throughout the game, as some of the kids would mess up, they would immediately drop and do 5 push ups. At one point, they ALL messed up and all had to do push ups. It’s weird…they thought it was fun. Push ups…fun? I don’t get it. LOL!

After “Drill Sergeant Says,” we played "Water Balloon Granades." In theory, the kids were supposed to be in pairs and throw the water ballons back and forth, trying NOT to let them hit the ground. The girls were PERFECT at following the rules...the boys just wanted to grab all of the balloons and throw them everywhere. LOL! So we just let them go at it. They threw the balloons everywhere and even tried to shoot hoops with them. It was fun...and refreshing...on such a hot day. 

After "Water Balloon Granades," we got together and sat on the grass to open presents. Kaden ended up with some really fun toys. He was in heaven!!!  During the presents, I took a picture of Kaden with each child and the gift they gave him. That way, I can remember who gave him what. I will also include a picture with each Thank You note (like the one shown here)…to personalize it a little bit. After presents, we brought out the cupcakes. The wind was blowing, so we couldn’t get the candles lit. So, we just sang to him and then Kaden PRETENDED to blow out the candles. LOL! So funny. Then, the kids enjoyed their cupcakes in the shade and looked through all of Kaden’s presents.

After the kids were done with their cupcakes and before their parents arrived to pick them up, Kaden and I brought out  the “Goodie Totes” that we had for each of his friends. A pet peeve of mine in the past has been having to spend money on goodie bags that are usually just filled with junk. Isn’t that the truth? So this year, I decided that I would spend the same amount of money and plan ahead so that I could buy something NICE instead of just junk. So, each of the kids there received one of these nice canvas camouflage totes (green for the boys and pink for the girls). (Chas laughed at me when I was taking pics of all of this stuff. I shot a ton of pics just to get the "perfect shot" and he kept saying, "Better take a fewmore pics. The totes might have moved or blinked in a few. LOL!!! Smart alleck!) I knew that the mothers would appreciate having them come home with something useful - I know I would. Kaden has one of them and uses it for his church bag. They are really nice and the kids loved them. However, in addition to the totes I also filled them with a bag of army guys for each child, military stickers and a  pencil/notebook/sticker set…in each of the totes. The kids were really excited about their new totes and the prizes inside. I wasn’t sure how excited Kaden’s two cute girl friends would be about the army guys, but I figured if THEY weren’t, their brothers would be. LOL!

Overall, it was a complete success! Kaden and all of his cute friends had a great time. Originally, I had planned on having a “real” army guy come in his fatigues and help do some of the games with the kids…but that didn’t end up working out. That would have been really cool…but it still ended up great! By the end of the party, I was so hot I felt like I was going to pass out….but SO HAPPY that Kaden had had such a great day!!! 

Another year, another successful party with a HAPPY birthday boy!! I have to say, and this might come across a little weird to say this openly, but one quality that I like in myself is that I am able to pull off things with not much notice and make it look like I spent ages preparing. I have been that way since I was young. I was able to do school projects the night before and make it look like it had taken weeks and weeks and weeks of preparation. With very little notice, I am able to kick out high quality results. I really like that about myself...as awkward as it is to toot my own horn here on my blog. LOL! A few of these things were planned ahead, since I had to order them, but to be completely honest, I really kinda pulled it all together the night before...and I am really pleased with how everything turned out. HAPPY DAY!

{dance for your life}

Just getting caught up on the 8 episodes of "So You Think You Can Dance" that I have had TiVod forever and am just getting around to watching while I edit pictures for my scrapbook retreat this weekend.  Does anyone else watch this show with their mouth wide open saying, 'What?....What?.....What?' over and over again? Serious. The younger generation (weird to say that, since I still FEEL young) now says that something is "Sick" if it's just way over-the-top cool. When I saw this solo, I realized the true DEFINITION of "sick!" Oh.....my....gosh! I just finished watching this one 30 second solo OVER 25 times. You heard me...25 times. And I do NOT plan on deleting it anytime soon! I do not watch reality shows other than this one....but this show blows me away. To take dancers who are only professionals in ONE style of dance and then watch them turn around and look like MASTERS of a completely different genre in mere DAYS is just....well...SICK! LOL! The talent is just MIND-blowing. But this solo....oh my gosh. What? Are you kidding me? Maybe it's because I am partial to the hip hop/beat/street dancers/break dancers, but seriously......What???? 30 seconds to impress the judges. That's it. THIS.......now THIS is what 'DANCING FOR YOUR LIFE" looks like!!!

And on that note, it's time to turn in. Off to Jazzercise in 4 1/2 hours!! More updates soon!

{splash park & 4th of july}

**Typepad still hasn't resolved the pixelated photos issue. Please click on each photo if you would like to see the true quality of the photo.**

Last week, I took the kids to the splash park by our house. A large group of gals from our neighborhood was going and I thought it would be fun…despite the anxiety it gives me to have my kids running around with millions of other kids. They are so great to plan such FUN outings for our little ones during the summer to break up the monotony. They even had tons of popsicles (of which Seneca had about 10. LOL!) for all of the kiddies...and US! ;-) I just have such a hard time when there are SO MANY kids playing. It is SO easy to lose them…especially when my little Seneca is a serious wanderer. Right when we got out of the car, a cute gal that had just pulled up next to us said, "Is your name Heather?" When I told her yes, she said, "You don't know me, but I love your blog!" :-) So fun to run into people here and there and meet new friends through my blog. Such a fun blessing to blogging!

Anyway...the kids had a blast at the splash park and I threw caution to the wind and ended up getting just as soaked as they did – which was FAB, because it was SO HOT! They played and played and played and then took a quick breather to eat their Lunchables. :-) The splash park proved to be a GREAT idea for the kids and just about as stressful as I thought it would be for me. There was a large group of moms that was able to relax and the rest of us walked around constantly taking inventory of our little ones and commenting that this was just too stressful to be enjoyable. There were probably a good 50 kids there and my kids were constantly camouflaged in the middle of the action. I need to get them bright orange suits or something. Once, while I was even watching Seneca, somehow she slipped out of my view for a second and my heart immediately started to race.  There is a huge hill at the park and I had the worst feeling she had gone up over the top of it and into the road on the other side. After searching for about 10 minutes and just as I was on my way down the hill and on the way to a serious panic attack, my friend Lynette walked out of the men’s restroom with Seneca – who had locked herself inside. *sigh* Had the kids not had the time of their lives for the 2 ½ hours that we were there, I would have regretted the whole thing, to be honest. I was a nervous wreck the whole time.

I know…..I should relax…I am as serious stress case when it comes to watching my kids. But if you could see Seneca and how she is able to magically disappear very literally in SECONDS…you would stress out too. She is seriously a  little HOUDINI!! However, despite how stressful it was for me, seeing how thrilled the kids were and how much fun they were having, made it all worth it. Kids will never really know how much their parents worried about them until they have little ones of their own…that’s for sure! And the whole time, I just kept on thinking, "This is GREAT for the kids...this is great and fun for the kids!" LOL! So phew…..quite the experience, but in the end, I survived without having a heart attack and my kids thought I was the “best mama ever”….so everybody came out a winner! LOL!

We had a fantastic 4th of July this year (even thought it was the first year ever that I forgot to get 4th of July shirts for my kiddies. They didn't even noticed. Valuable lesson. LOL!). We started out the day early with a neighborhood breakfast in our circle. There was a great turn out and I hear the breakfast was delish. LOL! (I did have a plate, but ended up taking a few bites while I was running around after Seneca and then decided it was just too difficult to focus on her AND on eating…so I threw my plate away.) After the breakfast was over, however, I did have a chance to dit and visit with a few of my neighbors and friends. We have some seriously great neighbors. Chas took these pictures of us (Holly, Saunie, Me & Dania) and he gets a little excited about how fast you can snap pictures on the Rebel xTi, so after about 30 shots, it was hard to stay serious….as you can tell! LOL!

My awesome neighbor Dania is in the black tank. I just have to say....isn't it uncanny how much she looks like Marisa Tomei? From the moment I met her years ago, it seriously tripped me out. I feel like I live next to a movie star. LOL! Anyway...while the girls chatted, Chas and our friend Neil sat on the lawn and visited as well. Chas and Neil have pretty much become inseparable. They golf all the time and have just become really good friends. We give them a hard time about how close they are, but really it’s awesome that they’ve become such good buddies.  Neil is a great guy and it makes me happy that Chas has such a good buddy that he can hang with and one that I also really like and respect. Plus, his wife Saunie is FAB too and we get along so well....so it makes it fun for us all to hang out. YAY!

While we were visiting, a few of the older gals in our neighborhood were painting faces of some of the little ones. Kaden and Seneca were first in line to get their faces painted. Kaden got what was supposed to be a firecracker (LOL!) and Seneca insisted on the flag. Seneca stayed completely still while she was getting her face painted. I love her face in the picture below. LOL! She is so serious.

After she was done, she told her friend Chubbers to get one too. (His name is Ezekiel, but we have called him Chubbers since he was born…so not many even know his real name. LOL! Seneca called him ‘Wadda” up until the 4th….no idea where she got that. However, on the 4th, she finally started saying, “Chubbas.” LOL!) This picture of them together is SO SWEET!!! My gosh. So glad I caught that Kodak moment!!!

Another few fun pics of Kaden and some of his buddies with their faces painted!  I absolutely LOVE the second picture....Kaden's eyes look so awesome!!

The kids had so much fun running around the circle all morning. After a while, Kaden went to a friend’s house to watch a movie and all of the other kids in the circle went inside and Seneca was left all by herself. However, she soon found her friend Riley’s car and she spent over an HOUR playing in it. We couldn’t BELIEVE it held her attention for so long. CRAZY. She is usually running here and there and EVERYWHERE and she stayed put and literally drove in circles for over an hour. We actually got to sit and relax for a minute. I think it was also because I don’t usually let her drive them, so she was taking advantage of the opportunity to play around and figure out how to drive it on her own. She was so proud of herself. Such a cutie!!

In the afternoon, we all took a rest until early evening, when we got together with Neil and Saunie and their kiddies for a 4th of July BBQ.

As soon as Chas saw Neil wearing his Hawaiian shirt, he ran inside (to my dismay) and grabbed his legendary shirt that he’s had since BEFORE we got married. (I stress that, because I do not want you to think that that shirt would have made it past me after we were married. LOL!) Oh man..it is so ugly. LOL! I even bought him a NICE Hawaiian shirt and this ugly one still trumps it.  LOL! So here they are…..best buddies, ready for a Luau! Chas only lets me take about two shots before he starts posing and acting like a model. So if I don't get a good one on those first two, I'm out of luck. LOL! What a goof.

We were only two families, but MAN….did we have a spread!! Neil BBQed the most INCREDIBLE chicken. OMGOSH…it was heavenly. He’s from Louisiana and always throws in some Cajun something-or-rather into everything he makes…and it was DELICIOUS! Since they did all of the meat, I provided homemade baked beans, barbecued zucchini and asparagus, bbqed sourdough bread with olive oil and fresh parmesan, chips, corn on the cob and watermelon. It was definitely a feast!!! The food was absolutely HEAVENLY. Even the kids ate and ate and ate.

However, as you can see in the picture above, Seneca had more fun pouring the grape Crystal Light from one cup to another...and another and another. LOL! She didn't really eat until AFTER everyone ate and THEN, she just kinda walked around and ate. LOL!

Some of the other neighbors in the circle were also barbecuing with friends and family and after our meals, all of the kids just kinda played around. Seneca and Chubbers just kinda kept on eating and playing and I was able to get a few more fun shots of them. Seneca is hilarious. She is constantly giving Chubbers loves and doing these fake over-the-top laughs when he smiles at her like she is saying, “Oh Chubbers…stop it..you are SO funny!” LOL! Hilarious...love that second picture above of her throwing her head back in one of her "Oh Chubbers.." fake laughs. LOL!

Goodness.She is so like me in so many ways, but also in that we are both very lovey and affectionate. I just hope I don’t have a little flirt on my hands! LOL! Oh dear....I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it!? Eeek!!! For now though, they are just little cuties and love to play together, make messes and eat dirt. LOL! Good times.

About 8 o’clock, we had Seneca do some sparklers, since it was already past their bedtime. Then, we put her to bed and decided to let Kaden stay up. Every year, our neighbor Jason (and the past two years, his brother Colton has helped as well-both shown in the picture below) has done a fireworks show for us in the circle. The kids LOVE it. This year was no different. The kids sat and watched the fireworks and played and Kaden was in HEAVEN to be up past bedtime.

After the fireworks, Neil and Chas went and brought out Neil and Saunie’s fire pit (we have GOT to get one of those! LOVE IT!) and brought it out into the circle and a bunch of us sat and roasted marshmallows and made smores. We ended up putting Kaden to bed after 10 PM and we stayed out by the fire until after midnight. We talked and talked and talked and laughed so hard. Seriously....I can't say enough, just how fortunate we are to have such incredible friends and neighbors. Happy happy happy happy day!!!!

Overall, we had such an AWESOME AWESOME long, full & FUN day. The weather was really toasty, but there was cloud cover ALL DAY, which made it bearable and even pleasant. SO much fun…a full day filled with seriously awesome friends, good food and fireworks!!!!

And aside from all of the festivities, I want to publicly share my love for this country. I am so grateful, more than words can describe, for the many men and women that sacrifice their time and often their lives to preserve the freedoms that we too often take for granted. I have such a great love and respect for all of you as well as your families….your wives and children that sacrifice being with you on a regular basis while you are away protecting our freedom. My love and prayers are with you always. Without a doubt, I am proud to be an American….God Bless the U.S.A!!

{memory monday}

Saw this fun Mother/Child interview on my friend Laurie's blog last week and thought it would be fun to do for a Memory Monday. This interview could be done with a son or daughter, grandchild, nephew or niece or any little friend. I sat down with Kaden this morning and asked him the following questions. Some of the answers are funny and yet I was also surprised to see that he actually answered many of them right on. He knows his Mama well.....

What does mama always say to you?
**"That you love me."

What makes mama happy?
**""When I'm nice to you."

What makes mama sad?
**"When I'm mean to you and when I don't listen."

How does mama make you laugh?
**"My funny faces."

What was mama like when she was little?
**"Um..I don't know because I just don't know."

How old is mama?
**"30"

How tall is mama?
**"I do not know."

What does mama like to do?
**"Go fun places with me."

What is something mama doesn't like to do?
**"This one's really tricky. Well, you don't like to use the lawn mower." (Not sure where he got that. LOL!)

What does mama do for a job?
**"Work on your computer."

What is mama's favorite food?
**"Maybe spaghetti and sauce?" (That's HIS favorite food. LOL!)

What is mama's favorite color?
**"This one's tricky. You didn't have to write that mama. Red." (Right on bud!)

What do mama and Kaden like to do together?
**"Do fun stuff, like we like to pretend we're asleep. Pretending to be asleep is funny!" (LOL!)

Hw do you know mama loves you?
**"Cuz you tell me."