It was on this day...

16 years ago that this man and this not-quite-a-woman had their very first date.  It was a date to end all dates.  It was marvelous.  It was the first day of the rest of her life.  The stars aligned, the birds sang, and right then she knew that there would never be another man for her, or another date (unless you count the dates she went on while he was on his mission - which was basically just passing time - they didn't mean anything, I promise).  Now, sixteen years later the stars are still aligned, and the birds are still singing (literally and figuratively).  The only thing that has changed is that Reed no longer wears a smokin' hot mullet, and Natilie has crows feet. Oh, and now they have three kids that keep following them around, and a house, and adult-type jobs, etc.  But what I am really getting at after all this rambling is this:  I still love him more than anything else in the whole wide world.  

Happy First Date Anniversary Baby!

*Afterthought:  In case you were wondering what we did for our date we went and got ice cream at Baskin Robbins (Quarterback Crunch) and then went four-wheel driving (is that what it is called these days?) up in Hog's Hollow.  Neither places are there anymore {{shrugs}}.

Oh, the agony...

of the first day of school.  Where did the time go?  Why did it go so fast?  I want my kids back! These thoughts all ran through my head as we began the back to school walk to school parade.  The morning went well.  The kids were up and excited to get going.  Taylor let me do her hair.  She looked beautiful (see picture).  Look at those eyes.  She spent the morning primping and looking at herself in the mirror.  What has happened to my Taylor? She is all grown up.  It is her last year in elementary school.  She is probably going to come home with a boyfriend or something, and then I will cry.

Aah, Torey.  She is a fourth grader.  She will stay in elementary for a few more years like a good little girl.  She also looked beautiful for her first day.  She wore her backpack all morning, chomping at the bit to get going so she could see all of her friends.  School is purely a social event for her.  When, in my deepest depression about the kids going back to school, I thought about home schooling, she was the reason I decided it was foolishness.  There are not enough kids in our house to make it social enough for her.  I think it was for the best that I decided on public education, but it still hurts just the same.
Here is one excited boy.  He will be enjoying first grade this year, or as Taylor put it, "Five and a half hours without Momma."  She is such a butt to rub it in like that.  Jake was thrilled to get ready for school, though we did have some trauma about itchy tags.  Thank goodness we got that all worked out.  He tried to get in some last minute reading before school, just so he was ready.  I tried to get in some last minute instruction about holding the lunch tray with both hands, and not tipping it, and maintaing the precarious balance of the milk/food ratio before the stress of the situation almost made me crack.  Then I just had to bite my lip and move on.
This is probably one of the saddest things I have ever seen.  What am I supposed to do now?

Tagged - Quirks...

1.  Link the person who tagged you...Haley

2.  Post these rules.

3.  Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.

4.  Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them.

1.  My biggest pet peeve is an unfinished project.  I cannot stand to see something just sitting there partially finished.  I am worried that I will die or something before I get it done and then someone else will be left with a stupid, unfinished project.  Besides, it is a huge waste of money if you don't finish something.  This is also the reason why I read books really fast.  Can you imagine dying before you finished a book?  You would spend the rest of eternity wondering what happened and how it ended.

2.  I alphabetize my Disney movies.  I don't do it with the others, but the Disney movies are in order.  It is a very weird quirk of which I am fully aware, but no one else probably notices. If the kids get into the movies it drives me nuts until they are back in order.

3.  I am an obsessive compulsive hand washer and I hate to touch public things like doorknobs, shopping carts, etc.  It's like I can feel the germs crawling on me.  I get totally grossed out.  I also have a hard time shaking people's hands, which is something I know I need to get over.  I can pinpoint a research paper written on pandemics for this recent OCD.

4.  I can't stand not knowing how to do things.   

5.  I lay in bed at night and instead of dreaming I will map out projects in my head and redo them until I think they will work.  It's weird and entirely subconscious, but then I am able to wake up and most of the time be successful at whatever it is I am attempting.

6.  I love the smell of the first day of school, with all the new clothes and school supplies.  Crayola crayons have the best smell, as well as new, fruity erasers.  I also love to look at office supply stores and see the fun they have to offer!

I tag Niki, Jen, Alice, Caroline, Alisa, and Dusty.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Special things about my mom:

1.  She always gave us the most wonderful birthday parties.

2.  She is very creative, and always went the extra mile to help us with school projects, costumes, prom dresses, etc.

3.  She is a party!

4.  She is very strong emotionally, and freakishly strong physically.

5.  She is a black belt in Jujistu.

6.  She is a petter when you are sick.

7.  She is there when you need her.

8.  Anything a man could do, she could do better.....

9.  She is beautiful.

10.  She is loving.

We love you and hope you have a great birthday.

Camping...

I would love to tell you that we spent our camping trip hanging out by a roaring fire...

creating tasty s'mores...

and visiting with Grandma and Grandpa.

I would also love to tell you that there was also a lot of cooking and having fun...

and making and painting crafts...

but if I didn't tell you that there was a lot of time spent inside, keeping ourselves entertained while mother nature poured out bucketfuls of rain upon us, I would be lying.  There was a lot of rain - torrential rain - and the angriest thunder I have ever heard.  It was a magnificent storm -the storm that camped out right on top of our campground. 
But when there was a lull in the action, we found the time to have a great time, except for one small crash....
but lucky for us we knew someone who had the ability to fix it.  Some serious cleaning of gravel from a wound, the resultant screaming due to an over agressive cleaner, a fancy clear bandage, and a hug from Daddy made it all better.  And when it was all taken care of we went outside and dodged the raindrops again.  And I will tell you what - we had a great time, raindrops and all!

We're Off...

to a fun filled family reunion.  Let's hope it is fun filled anyway.  It is supposed to rain while we are gone so we will probably be spending some quality family time cooped up in the trailer. Heaven help us.  I will hopefully have some fantastic pictures to post when I get back.  You know, filthy kids, aging grandparents, hopefully a fish or two - who am I kidding, probably no fish with our luck.  Anyway, I will be reading "The Last Lecture" while I am gone, so that will be nice.  Now I am rambling so I will go...

Husband of the Year goes to....

After informing Reed that I was planning on making a midnight run to Walmart to get  the much anticipated "Breaking Dawn" he said, "You'll be too tired.  I'll go get it for you."  And do you know what.  He did!  He went over to the Lindon Walmart at 12:00 a.m. expecting to run in and pick one up for me.  I don't think he had any idea of what he was getting himself into.  He called me and told me the line was about 1000 people long.  I told him to come home, that it wasn't worth the wait.  And guess what?  He didn't.  He stayed in that line consisting of 997 women and three men and bought me my book.  He returned home around 1:00 in the morning and presented it to me with a smile.  Apparently Walmart was being very efficient that night because I didn't expect him that fast.  I asked him how it went, if he met any new friends, etc., and he just shrugged.  Truth be told, I'll bet he was hoping the ground would open up and swallow him before someone he knew saw him, but I'll also bet that the other women present were wishing they had such a great husband.  Or maybe they were wondering if he had somehow gotten in the wrong line?!?!  If this doesn't earn him Husband of the Year, I don't know what will.

P.S.  If you read it let me know what you thought about the funky twist the book makes.

P.P.S.  There is just something about a backwards hat that makes me feel all squishy inside.  It reminds me of when we were teenagers and he used to turn his hat around to kiss me.  Those were the days  {{aaahh}}..... But I digress.