Any Excuse for a New Dress

It is that time of year again....HOMECOMING!  It is so different from when I was in high school....wish we would have done it this way.....you don't have to have a date to go!!  Weird huh?!  But so great.

The Friday night football game is a must....and so is getting into the school spirit.

Then the dance on Saturday is a big deal.  M went with her normal group of friends and had a blast.  They did a bunch of pictures before heading to Johnny Carino's for dinner and then to the dance afterwards.  Village Inn was on the agenda for afterwards, but since M had gotten up at 6am AND played a softball game that morning, she was beat and headed home to bed instead.

She had a blast and man did she look beautiful in that deep purple dress.

TOFW

Ok, so this is starting to be an annual thing....and I am so okay with that.

A couple of weekends ago, my friend and I went up to Denver to go to Time Out for Women.  It was a fun weekend to just get away and rejuvenate and be uplifted.  We left after picking up kids from school and getting everything situated at home and went to Cafe Rio for dinner....yummo of course.  We met her cousin at the venue and we had a nice evening listening to Virginia Pearce and Sheri Dew speak and Julie Oaks Baker play her violin.  It was fabulous.  Then we headed over to the cousin's house to spend the night.  We had a great time eating ice cream and visiting before deciding that we had better get a little bit of sleep at least.

Denver Convention Center...see the bear!

Sheri Dew doesn't look too thrilled to be taking this pix, does she?

The next day we spent the day listening to some more great speakers.....Chris Williams, Laurel Christensen, Julie de Azevedo Hanks, Sara Wells and Kate Jones, and Anthony Sweat.  Mercy River was the musical group for the day and it was fabulous!  We even had time to walk to 16th Street Mall for a Pinkberry.  We saw so many people that we knew from old wards, others wards and cities and our own ward members too.

Afterwards, we did a bit of shopping around Denver and ended up at IKEA for a few things and of course the Swedish Meatballs and chocolate cake.  We are already talking about next year....

The New Normal

So I have had a hard time getting my feet back on the ground since T left!  He has been gone 5 1/2 weeks now and I find that I haven't gotten back into "life" yet.  It is so hard to explain.....I keep thinking he is only gone to scout camp or EFY and will be back soon.  You know how you live life for that week when they are gone....you do what you have to to get through the week just waiting for them to return so life can get back on track.....you don't feel you can really do anything until the family is complete again.  You kind of put your life on hold for that small amount of time, knowing that it will be over soon and it will be normal again.  It will never be that kind of normal again for me....I have to find the NEW normal and it is soooooo hard. 

T is doing so great.  He loves his mission...not so much his companion....but he is loving the area he is in and he thinks the people are simply the best.  He is loving the gospel and teaching those around him, even when he gets rejected he said.  I am so proud of him!  But I miss him terribly.  I think about him every day, wishing I could talk to him just to hear his voice......his laugh.  I want to see him wrestling with his sisters on the family room floor or petting Duke while watching Top Gear.  It is just not the same to always have an empty chair at the dinner table or not to have him in the front seat with me when we are driving somewhere. Yes, it has gotten better since the week he left.....but there are still (and always will be) times that I lose it and get extra sad that he is not here with me. 

But life goes on....and so must I. So I am trying to get back into a rhythm.  I need to get back to scrapbooking and blogging on a regular basis.  I need to dive in to a more consistent way of doing my calling.  I need to start planning meals better and cooking more (it hasn't helped that there has been 2 different games played on the same day at the same time in totally different areas of town at least twice a week).  I need to accomplish that TO DO list that keeps getting longer every day.  I need to be better organized.  I need to get rid of unwanted things and items I don't need anymore.  I want to get my craft on! .....I need to get on it and quit putting it all off!

Today is the day that starts!  I have to make myself do it and then it will get easier as time goes by.  So I hope to get some pictures cleaned up to post today...gotta get caught up with this journal of mine.  Gonna get some things done so I can cross them off my list and I am gonna enjoy the day with my family.  Here's to the new normal.....may I embrace it with all I have! 

My Little Hobo

The Acitivty Day girls had a mother/daughter night a month or so back...it was spa night.  We went with our daughters to the leader's house and did pedicures, manicures, and facials.  It was a fun night to be with K.

So not to be outdone....there was a daddy/daughter night this past week.  It was Hobo Night and K was thrilled that it was rescheduled so she would be able to make it.  Of course, they had to dress the part and this is the outcome.....(complete with dirt on her face)

She looked great and they had a great time playing games, cooking hotdogs and smores over a fire and did some square dancing.  So glad she had that daddy time...it doesn't happen often enough.

Real of Fake?

That is the question I get from everyone that comes to my front door....Is that real or fake?

Oh....it is REAL!

One night when it was dark several months ago, J and I were coming into the garage and noticed something on my pedestal on the front porch.  We couldn't quite figure out what it was from the car, but it looked like a nest.  I said to J...what would a nest be doing there and where did it come from?  So after parking the car, we went up to see and sure enough, that is what it was.  We went inside and asked around.  Come to find out, K was playing with the girl next door and she had found it in her yard or tree or something and gave it to K who put it there.  It was a real live nest with eggs in it.  So we left it there and have enjoyed it ever since.  The color of the eggs are the most beautiful blue.

But then one day a few weeks ago, I came outside and noticed that an egg was missing and only one was in the nest.  I couldn't figure out where it went.  The nest had not moved, it was not knocked over and the egg was not smashed on the porch or rocks, it looked the same as it always has but one egg short.  We still have no idea where that egg went, but I thought I better take a picture before the other one disappears and then we will have to throw it away....or put fake eggs in it.

Bumper Crop

I thought we had a lot of grapes last year from our garden, but this year there was even more!

So now it is on to making jelly....anyone want some?

Missing One

So we had our first family outing without T last weekend.....and it was so strange.  It felt so weird not to have him with us as we played together.  This obviously is the first of many so I better get used to it.  I doubt that will ever happen, but we will have to accept it nonetheless.

We had a groupon for Jump Street that we didn't get to use this summer, so we went to Denver early in the afternoon to.......JUMP!

It was fun and we wore ourselves out.  There was a maze....

A bull to ride.....

Dodge ball to play.......

A foam pit to jump into.....

And of course, JUMPING......

It was a two hour pass and we were bushed and starving by the time it was over.  It was lots of fun, but it was on to Cafe Rio for some yummy food.  It tasted so good and would hold us over until later when an ice cream was in order.  But first.......

We were so excited to finally get to a Rockies game.  We haven't been for several years and so when I got an email that it was BYU Alumni Night, I couldn't pass up the discounted tickets.  We had pretty descent seats and it was nice weather, so it was a great game to watch. 

And they won, so that was even better.  They hit a GRAND SLAM in the 8th inning to make it an awesome finish. It was great to see everyone waving the purple towels and doing the wave.

Way to go Rockies!  Let's do it again next season.

Batter Up!

It is that time again....SOFTBALL season!  M sure loves to play.  She was happy to play summer ball even though she missed a lot of games, but she is happy to be back on the school Varsity team.

This year will be a hard year though.  There are only 4 returning Varsity players and those that played JV last year are not at the Varsity level.  But you can't have a SB team with only 4 so the best of the JV were brought up to Varisty.  That is not saying much as non are good enough to play Varsity.

M was hoping to play 1st base as she did all of last year, but we lost our catcher and so she will have to play that position some of the time too, if not most of the time.  She is not happy with that, but will do what she has to do for the team.  They have not done very well.....most games they have lost.  But they will keep plugging along and give it their best shot.

 

Good Luck Ladies!

Sky Sox

I forgot to post the Ward Sky Sox game in July.....

Every year, the ward goes together to a Sky Sox game and it is always so fun.  We love being so close to the field and having $2 Tuesday...makes for a cheap family event.  This year it rained a bit, but it was still fun.  This actually ended up being the only game we went to all season.  We always say we will go to a lot of games and then life gets in the way and we don't.  So we were happy to get this one in at least.