New Baby

My Sister Robin had her baby this morning, around 1am. Thought I would share the news.

Welcome to the Family, Leland!

Saige and Caius

Second cousins meet for the first time...and how cute! We especially enjoy the part where Caius puts his toe in her mouth, haha!

It was great to see Ben and Shanae and to have to chance to hang out with Robin and Neal. I didn't end up getting enough sleep but that happens I suppose.

Sisters

Yes, this is an older picture of my sisters and I, but I still like it much to the chagrin of our mother.
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Today was one thing after another reminding me of my sisters. It started with an Nsync song on the radio on the way to work, Nickel Creek and 5ive on the ipod this afternoon as I baked bread for the week.

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I got a coupon for Easy Cheese in the mail and an obnoxious person running through the aisles at the grocery store today made me think of them, all three of them and wistfully think back on the times before kids and life entered our relationships. Time and distance hinder us from seeing each regularly. Robin and I see each other about once a month since we live an hour or so apart while Jessica and Rachel live in the same town and can see each other more regularly.
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I miss the days of kicking the boys out to play video games we didn't understand, eating the good food we had hidden from them, watching dad turn purple, peeing on the stairs and making up weird songs. We aren't sure how to be grown up sisters I think.
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I wish we could figure it out, we are stronger together than we are apart. And these boys are going to start to think they are in control in the family...heaven forbid! haha

Merry Christmas to Me!

So, this is the Christmas Present from my sister, Robin...

I love this! My bedroom is done in yellow, my favorite color, and this is perfect! I am thinking I need to head down to Ikea and pick up a few other pieces to add to my bedroom. Thanks Robin!

She also loaded me up with dark chocolate, a new toothbrush and Twinkies, a family tradition. you will have to check her blog for pictures of the train I made for nephew Caius and the other bits and pieces.

Merry Christmas to all! (even if it a few weeks late.)

Shoot!

I had a long and crazy day my friends! I will give the quick synopsis and head to bed...

I went to work. Screaming kids annoy me. Smoking mom's annoy me. Screaming kids with smoking moms who won't come get their kids annoy me. I still love my boys.

Went to a photo shoot with my friend Cassie...she had her head shots and a bunch of pics for her portfolio taken. It was very interesting to be there and to see how the photographer and stylists worked. Very cool.

Went to provo and saw my sister, bro-in-law and nephew, Caius. We celebrated Christmas, a few weeks late, I know, but between schedules and snow, this was the first time we had a chance! I put Caius to sleep and he was so cute! We played a game a phase ten and laughed our way through it (It's a Prom party, you know, like a palm pilot!) and talked about some pretty funny stuff. We really enjoyed it. It was good to see family for a few hours.

I drove home the 75 miles completely on cruise control and munched on chocolate, belted out songs from the Ipod (from john denver, 30 seconds to Mars, Nsync, Pam Tillis, Cake, Yo-Yo Ma and some Ne-Yo).

Now I am home, after forgetting my camera at work today. I had so much to take pictures of today too! Oh well. I'll let your imaginations paint the pictures.

Oh, and don't worry, I will take a picture of my Christmas gift from my sister and post it tomorrow. You will love it. It is totally me and it is from (drum roll please!) IKEA. I can almost see Liv anxiously awaiting this post. haha!

Pizza and the 24th of July

Today was Pizza Night for my family. The tradition is that when someone has a baby that the family, well everyone but new mom and baby because they are generally still in the hospital, everyone else goes out of pizza to celebrate. In talking with my mom today she told me that it was that day to celebrate Robin having Caius. So in honor of my family, I called on my best friends and we got pizza to celebrate. For a moment I was close, at least in spirit to the family and yes I enjoyed my pizza!

PS, Liz, notice a very cute and very well used purse on the counter behind me? LOVE IT!

After we played a little guitar hero, which I must admit I am getting good at. I am as shocked as the rest of the world by this news. I blame Logan.




We went to check out the fireworks as well. I was a fun night to just hang out and enjoy my friends. I really enjoyed that chance to just be with friends. They slip in and take the empty spots left by family far away.

After the fireworks, we realized that some of the trees had caught fire and the fire engines were there to put it out. it was pretty cool.

Oh and for a demonstration of the things that you can teach little boys check out Rachel's blog. She has the twins learning all kinds of things, but this one is worth the minute video she posted. Really worth checking out!

Car Accidents, Sisters and Snow

Well, there has been a lot going on in the last few days. I will try to quickly sum it up, but some how I do not know that a blog post could even do these days justice.

I slept in thursday morning since thursday happened to be my day off so to speak. I woke up about the time that my friend Laura got into a pretty serious car accident. She called me and I ran to the scene of the accident, to see her fairly new car totaled and her in shock. Not a great way to start any day. I spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening at the hospital, getting perscriptions and making sure she got home ok. She was lucky that she is ok, except for the bruises and pulled muscles. This reminded me of how quickly things change and how much people really love you. There were people coming out of the woodwork to help, bringing diners, helping with laundry, and anything else that might need doing. It was a great way to see friends in action and I am grateful for a ward family who steps up to help when things happen.

I had a chance to see my sister this weekend. I have been terribly homesick the last few days. I called my mom and sisters to complain about it. My Mom seemed to sympathize before she bought airline tickets to go visit another sister that she just went to see in August. When I haven't seen her since the begining of May! Jessica has kids, so they are more important the the TWO daughters that are living in Utah. :)

But, back to seeing my sister...We went shopping and apparently all went on a shopping spree! My friend Ashley and I went down to visit, because Ashley's sister lives in Provo also, so the four of us get together on occasion. We had so much fun! I loved seeing Robin and it gave me a chance to get a little piece of family for a few minutes.Plus, it is always fun to watch her try stuff on, she bought some pretty fun shoes and a totally cute skirt and sweater. I know there was more, but t was fun to watch the fashion show of all of us coming and going and getting advice from everyone who was with us. We all have different styles, but it was a blast! It was good to see my sister and have a little bit of family time. It was what I needed, but Christmas seems very far away.

I was also introduced to the gas station drive-thru this weekend. Now, apparently here in utah this is normal! I have never taken notice or have never seen one. But to prove the point, my dear friend Jessica took me through one this weekend and we got GINORMOUS bottles of water. It was an experince. Now I can say, "Well when I went through the drive-thru at the gas station..."

And, as always I was working on the Nearly Naked Mile stuff. I am so glad that it is this week! I am ready to be done with it, and excited all at the same time! It is a wondeful thing, but I am very ready to not have to worry about it any more.

And then came Snow. It has snowed here a few times, where it didn't stick but this is the first snow that actually stuck for real! I am sure it will all be gone soon, but I to share with the friends in Texas and AZ what fall is really like...not 70 and 80 degree weather! ha ha ha! So enjoy with me, the first snow of the season...