I'm Back

I had to re-emerge from my funk with a book review. It totally helped. Man, was it hard to shake off this one, though. Some remnant is still clinging on. My fuse is pretty short. But it isn't lit now, so la-de-da-de-dah.

Nothing earth shattering to report. Memorial Day weekend was a huge let down. For the past nine years, it's been a pretty major weekend. We usually run in the boulder bolder. Or Bolder Boulder. I can never remember which way it goes. Anyhoo, one year we blessed Seth. One year, Jay graduated from Med School. My expectations are high. But Jay's boards are in less than a week, AND we only deal in cash now, so doing our usual trip to Denver to see family and run in the race was out of the question. I should have come up with some better alternatives. I didn't and I paid the price.

Let's see....Friday night we went to Wendy's for dinner. Woo-hoo! Let's get this party started! Jay and I watched a good movie called Saint Ralph.

I hadn't seen a lot of Jay last week so it was nice to get in a movie night. Saturday, Jay gave the boys haircuts then took off to study at the hospital the rest of the day. I sort of wandered around aimlessly, gearing up for nothing, and finally headed out to the valley of the strip malls to get an oil change and grocery shop at the dreaded Wal-mart. Which is never a good thing to do on a Saturday. I know that. But I was driving down to see cousins and sister Sarah after church on Sunday and was already 2,000 miles overdue. Off we went and guess what? The funk began.

I don't know if they train their checkers to be super friendly and incompetent (nice disguise, huh?) but I swear every time I shop there, I get behind someone who decides to become best friends with the check-out lady. Which distracts check-out lady who feels she must start talking with her hands which prevents her from picking up the items and gently running them over the bar scan laser. And no amount of heavy sighs and neck tilts seems to remind anyone about the crazy lady with the three kids crying for candy behind them!

Home, kids in bed and Jay comes home. We watched another movie called The Illusionist. I loved it. Who knew Ed Norton was a hottie? We watched the interviews with him afterwards and...yup...it was the make-up. He's not. But the goatee and the hair he's got going on in the film? Hummity hummity! (Sorry Jay. Now you probably won't give it five stars.)

Tiny picture...but he was looking pretty fine.

Sunday, church. It seemed extra noisy to me. I didn't get to sit with my family but kind of enjoyed the break anyway. (Sorry Jay.)

I went home during the third hour because I wanted to leave right after church and Henry is just hard, so used him as an excuse to run home and pack. I changed into capris and drove back to the church hoping to catch the boys on their way out. But Jay had a meeting with a bishopric member so I had to go in. In Capris. Ten people probably made some kind of comment. Of course they were on the opposite side of the loop so I had to do a full lap around. Just so everyone could see.

Henry has become a bad traveler. Last month, when I drove to Utah, he was an angel. I think now that he's walking, he's no longer content to be strapped down. I can't go longer than 20 minutes now without him screaming. So, I ended up putting on my Ipod headphones and listening to music while the boys watched a movie but I was still all jittery by the time we were done with the two hour drive.

Jen and Christopher took a trip back east for their ten year anniversary so Sarah came up to watch their kids while they were gone. It was a lot of fun to be with her but it was also a lot of work. Single ladies. Seven kids. I swear it's always meal time when there are that many kids. From the prep to the clean up.

Breakfast of oatmeal and cocoa and toast. We joked that they looked like Double Dare teams from Nickelodeon. Remember that show with all the slime??

Yet another Meal

Borrowing cousin Sadie's pink bib. He used to kind of look like a girl with his longer locks but with the buzz....no more.

And Jen has more toys than we do. Sammy noticed. Out came the little plastic army men. Out came the tiny legos. Out came the tinker toys.

Sarah hates when I take pictures of her. But, she learned a trick to say, "Don't take my picture, while smiling!:)

Once the boys were in bed (they were so cute...Seth and Ansel shared the bottom bunk and Sam and Jonas were together in the top. Priceless), Henry shut away in the dark walk-in closet (I LOVE the closets with no windows!!!!!) and Sadie and Owen down, we broke out a game and Karaoke.

Isn't this sign adorable? Of course, I defied them!

Seth and Ansel

Sammy doesn't look too comfy here. Still cute, though.

I came home Monday afternoon and went to KariAnn's later that day for a BBQ. She has the best yard. There were twenty-five kids there and it didn't even seem really crowded. I'd love to have a yard like that.

KariAnn's poor roses took a beating.

My funk was pretty heavy that night so I probably seemed like a downer to my friends, but I was trying. Jay hadn't been around me for most of the weekend so wasn't aware of my latest mood and by the end of the night, he seemed kind of scared of me. (Sorry Jay.)

Tuesday you know. Henry caught a bug and the day started with him throwing up. Jay had to work that night and it was the last book group and I couldn't find a sitter and then decided to stop looking because Henry didn't feel well. It felt tragic but I just let it go. I went to bed at like 8:00 and when Jay came home at 9:00, he told me to go but I had already given up. I was able to read and finish a book and really was o.k. letting it go. No more book group. Then Andrea called at 10:00 and said they were still talking so to come on over. The girls in the group had got me a lovely parting gift so I went to Carolyn's and was there until 1:00 in the morning!

Pretty bracelet. Thank you girls. You are all lovely.

Wednesday, Henry was still sick and I was surprising sluggish from my late night:) I was really tired of my funk, and it was leaving me alone for stretches throughout the day, but it never quite left. Then, in the afternoon, I felt the pang of the stomach bug. My stomach was hurting and my head started pounding. Jay came home earlier and fed the boys his ancient family recipe of goulash (I was kind of thankful for my upset stomach as an excuse. Sorry Jay.) and put them to bed while I read in bed.

Yum, Yum!

I did stumble out in my jammies to watch So You Think You Can Dance. Oh. My. Gosh. All I can say is, thank goodness for dancers from Pleasant Grove, Utah. Winker and Hiccuper took the funk far away.

Today was fine. I went out to the mall to return some stuff while Sam was at preschool. Washed the car. Vacuumed it out. Even Armor-all-ed it. A clean car helps any mood get better. Then I went to Seth's school's book fair and watched the boys salivate after books (I love it!). Some playtime outside enjoying our 80 degree weather and off to Taco Del Mar for dinner. I saw someone there from my ward who I've never talked to before and asked if I could join her and we had a really nice conversation. Then bath time, books, prayers and bed.

Jay isn't home yet. I can't believe how hard this week must be for him too. His eyes hurt and yet he can't not study. Thankfully, this will all go away in a week. Just one more week.

Now...one more hour of auditions for So You Think You Can Dance. It's like the final chapter really. Thank goodness for Nigel and Mary. And all the people that think they can dance, but can't. Really....thank you!