Sunday, July 13, 2008

Whirlwind

We have been swooped up in the same whirlwind as Nancy. We have the great opportunity to spend a lot of quality time with our extended family. All of our kids' 9 cousins are here in Texas right now. Angela is here with her 5 kids, Nancy with her 3, and Kelly with her 1. It's almost like a mini family reunion, except that the men are missing. We spent a couple of days at Joe's parents house. There were bodies asleep everywhere! Since we live close by, and could sleep at home, we ended up on the floor. It was almost like a campout. I love sleeping in a big pile with me, my husband and kids (for a night or two). We arrived on Thursday for Roscoe's 13 birthday party. After the party I took my mom to the airport, so she could be back with my dad and sister.
Friday was probably the busiest day! In the morning, Haley and I made cupcakes. Slowly more and more people started helping out, especially when it came time to frost and decorate them.
Somewhere in there Liz also found time to go on a walk with some of her grandchildren.
Angela (Joe's sister) was going to a 3 hour yoga class. She kind of jokingly asked me if I wanted to come. I totally did! I just had 3 little problems; Winter, Sterling, and Ginger. Luckily I have a fabulous mother-in-law and sister-in-law, who agreed to take care of them. So we headed for the gym. When I walked in to sign up for a temporary tryout pass, the guy looked me over and said something to the effect of: "This is a very advanced 3 hour class! We hate to keep people from attending, but...." and "have you ever done yoga before? Just wanted to remind you that this is a 3 hour class". In hindsight, sitting here with a sore back, butt, and legs, it might have been smarter for me to start with a 1 hour class. But you know me... I can not be stopped! The class was very interesting. There were some strength parts, some stretch, balance, and meditation parts, as well as parts where I thought I was training to become a contortionist. There are just certain things my body will not do! Oh, and add to all of this the 97 degree room and 40% humidity, and you might see why it might not have been the smartest thing I ever did. At the very end of the class we practiced the handstand, and I'm excited to tell you that I held it for a few second on my own. Angela was amazing. She did all the crazy balance poses while being wrapped up in "the lotus".
After we got back from the yoga studio, we quickly had to get out of our sweaty, wet, stinky clothes, and into clothes appropriate for a date. Since we had all the girls together, we went out to dinner for a girls night. I had some great baby back ribs. We don't go to nice restaurants very often, so I appreciated the half rack of ribs at a nice sit down place even more
After stuffing ourselves with great food, we headed over to the craft store. My sister-in-law Nancy designs and makes jewelry, and she was going to teach us how. It was fun to pick out the different beads. I have never done anything like this, so I heavily relied on Nancy's expertise. We headed home, and spent several hours creating some fabulous bling. I ended up making 3 pairs of earrings, and 1 bracelet. And Nancy made me a super cool bracelet too. Thanks Nancy!
After the jewelry making party ended (because everyone was wasted), it was too late to go back home, so we crashed upstairs, on the ground, amidst all our family. Wonderful!!
I haven't had such an action packed day in a long time!! Today was time to unwind a little. We spent the morning at home, relaxing. Then, in the afternoon I went grocery shopping with my friend Anja. It was nice to get away from kids for a little while. The night ended perfectly with a good redbox movie, which we watched with the Dowdys.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Not 30 yet!

Today I turned 28. Some facts about my short/long life
I have moved 27 times
I have lived in 4 countries
I have 1 wonderful husband and 3 wonderful kids
I have been married 8 years
I have played the harp for 19 years
I am still 5 feet 6.5 inches tall
My hair is longer than it has ever been
I spent 19 years in school
I have lived in America for 10 years
I have visited 13 countries

Things I can't calculate but think I should mention
Chocolate eaten
Diapers changed
Times I have changed my mind
Miles biked
Hobbies pursued

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Love for games

Growing up, we played a lot of board games. To me it was the most normal thing in the world, and I naively thought everyone does this. Well, I married into a non-game-playing family. Joe parents didn't like to play game, because they didn't want their kids to be too competitive with each other. This is so foreign to me. Anyone that knows me, knows that I am very competitive. I don't have it in me to play nice, just to let someone else win or advance in the game. The only exclusion in that statement is when I play games with my kids. Of course I want them to have that great feeling of winning a game.
My mom is here visiting, and today she reminded me of my childhood. She plays games like "memory" with my kids. The kids love it, and it makes me feel guilty that I don't play board games with them more often. It really amazes me how smart the kids are, especially with their short term memory. I wish I could say that I play easy for them, but the truth is that I'm just not smart enough for that. If I don't pay total attention, I won't even come close to a tie.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Celebration of Citizenship

Yesterday we celebrated my 1 year anniversary as a United States citizen, combined with Independence day. I really became a citizen only 11 months ago, but it's the thought that counts, right?
I had invited a ton of people, because usually only 1/2 of the invited people show up. Well, most of the families we invited came! It was a lot of fun. I was amazed that it wasn't more crazy. We had 40 people here all together. Everybody seemed to have a lot of fun, and nobody got hurt! We had a great BBQ with food that everyone contributed.
If there were a scale of funness based on the amount of sunburns, we had a great success.

Disney Princess


You Are Ariel!
Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Headstrong and fiesty. You have a mind of your own that's full of romantic dreams about the world around you. Exploring exotic places is your ultimate dream, and although you can be a little naive you'll realize that there is something to be gained from your family's wisdom.


Which Disney Princess Are You?

The funny thing is, The little Mermaid was always my favorite Disney movie! I guess I connected with Ariel on a subconscious level.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Happy 4th of July

We had a fantastic 4th of July. We were at home for most of the day, and did projects. I fixed my chicken fence, and mowed the lawn. Joe fixed his truck, the lawnmower, weed wacked, and fixed the slide. It was very hot, but we had to get ready for tomorrow's party.
Then we headed over to the Allred's house around 4pm. Allison Allred is Joe's first cousin. She and Aaron have 6 cute kids ranging from age 3-14.
William: 14Samuel: 12Emma: 10Jack: 8Olivia: 6Josie: 3
We hung out, and had a barbecue with the Morphis cousins too. Aaron made up a fun game "towel ball". He taped up a towel with almost a whole role of tape to make it into a ball. There were 2 teams, and it was kind of played like baseball. Except, the only objective was to get to the fence and back without getting tagged. Some more family gathered at their house. Families there: Morphis, Ashurst-McGee, Allred, Ashurst, and Liz & Earl. When it started to get dark, we all headed to the park. There was a large orchestra playing, and when it got completely dark there were some pretty good fireworks. Everyone seemed to love them. Except Sterling. Sterling has always been very sensitive to loud noise. We all walked back to the house, and kept the party going with a bonfire and smores. It's past midnight, and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, so this is it for me, for now.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Close to home

As I read all my friends' blog, I realize that this year we mostly stay close to home. We haven't even gone camping once! It has a lot to do with our current location -TEXAS- where it's always hot, humid, bug infested, and flat. While living in Utah and Idaho we always enjoyed going to the mountains for some good camping, hiking, mountain biking etc. I think that's what I miss the most about the North West! I'm not saying that we are bored. To the contrary. We keep very busy. Between house renovations, adoption classes, farm work, and family, we have more to do than time to do it in. Last year we made many large trips, while this year we only have 1 planned, and it's not until the end of September. The one thing I would like to do while the kids are out of school is to go down to the beach for a weekend. Maybe we can do that when we have a free weekend (yeah right!) or when I can convince my husband to take a day or two off work (double yeah right)

Share buttons