Dead To Me

These are things that have annoyed me to the point that I am chosing to decide they no longer exist in the world we live in.

• girls/women that sit in the middle of the pickup truck, plastered against their sweetiepie instead of in their own seat like a regular human. Same thing goes for those of you sitting on the same side of the booth at the restaurant and nobody is on the other side. How in the crap are you supposed to have conversations that way?
• Jeans that drag on the floor cuz they are too long and when they get so tattered and torn then they are really cool. Hello? Is it just me or are your pants soaking wet when it rains? I don't like to voluntarily wear dirty clothes. If Mike hasn't done laundry - I might wear a shirt twice or something but dragging my pants in the mud is not my idea of fashion.
• The big cheap 1970s baseball caps tipped to one side that some of the younger males are sporting these days. Dudes...we laughed at these hats when they first came out cuz they were so ugly. Get a cool hat and stop.
• Thongs. I know this is controversial because of the whole panty line issue and I know everybody wears thongs even Oprah and they are like accepted now. Here's my issue with them. No matter how hot you are, no matter how beautiful your body, your butt, your skin...whatever...when you yank that butt floss out...it smells like ass. I don't care how big/small/cute/flat/jiggly you are in the trunk...your butt still stinks way down deep. Even Katie and Jessica know where poop comes from. Why drape lace all in there? yuck. just yuck. If you are concerned about the panty lines, try either going commando or wear your sweetie's boxers. But give up the poop thong ladies.
• DietCoke with Vitamins. They came out with that Diet Coke plus a year or two back that has vitamins in it. I drink like 18 diet cokes a day. Do you know what would happen if I injested that many vitamins? I think I'll stick with my Women's One A Days for now.
• The News - yep I said the news. You wanna make something of it? I know, pretty surprising for a proObama, liberal, feminazi, treehugging, tax raiser like me. I pride myself on staying up there with the current events. And I will continue to read the newspaper and news online. But the 6o'clock news just ain't healthy people. First, my husband is going to Afghanistan. Do you know what it would do to my mind if every night I found out something somewhere got blowed up where my husband is and that people are hurt? And if I couldn't contact him for some reason like the time difference or that he's doing his job I would go crazy. So that's numero uno. Second, my kids are starting to ask questions. There's way too much violence/sex info/hate/skin/suffering for a 3 year old. I think the news picks the very ugliest in us and makes it seem normal. So I'm on a news sabatical until February. My motto: you guessed it...no news is good news.
• Buffets. I have hated buffets for a long time. But recently, we went to Utah and we had a family dinner at the Chuck O'Rama. In case you couldn't tell, it's a buffet. It was even a clean one. But there's something about pasta salad being next to red jello being next to potato salad being next to chocolate pudding that puts me WAY off. And then the hot food. The steam seeping out, the sneeze guard glass, the ladle in the nacho cheese sauce. It's all just way to much grossness for me. So buffets are now dead to me.

Siblings

I've been thinking a lot about siblings lately. I've been thinking how I don't have any except for my adopted sibs that in actuality belong to Mike but whom I claim as my own. I've been thinking about how glad I am that my girls have each other. They are inseparable and literally can't stand for the other person to be deprived of something they get. Like they will refuse a treat if you aren't giving one to the other. And if you give them a treat, they automatically either ask for one for their sister or break it in half to share. And they snuggle in the morning. They say it's because they want to come snuggle with me and watch cartoons. But I know it's not. I know it's really that they love to snuggle down in my bed together and hold hands or touch feet while they watch cartoons and laugh. My mom and dad had them for 4 days at the beach and my mom said they did not say an unkind word to each other the entire time. I know that part is weird and won't always be so. But for now, it's all I know.

My Aunt Lori and Aunt Jayni are like this. They are totally best friends still to this day and they have a blast together. It gives me hope that my girls will not outgrow this stage and that they will still want matching pajamas at age 35 for Christmas.

But then I think about colleges and where they'll live/work. It's probably not realistic to think they'll go to the same college or live in the same town forever. I can't imagine them not living in the same town and in the same room. And lately they've been pushing for us to buy a bigger bed for them so they can sleep together.

I always swore to myself that if I had a sibling that they would be my best friend and we would pitch a tent in the backyard and sleep out there together.

I was talking to my mother in law about siblings. Her sister Annette died back in the early eighties. And her baby sister is courageously fighting a serious illness. And I saw how much pain she was in and for a nano second, I was glad I wouldn't ever have to feel that pain. Then, I thought of the famous "tis better to love and lost than never to have loved at all" and I realized how 100% I agree with that.

Mike always quotes the Garth Brooks song "standing outside the fire" cuz Mike is deep like that. But it's true, would you rather live your life safely never getting close to anyone, keeping things light and funny, having lots of surface friends and seeing your family a couple of times a year? Or would you rather roll up your sleeves, get in there and and get messy? I think intimacy in relationships is what life is about. Obviously I'm not talking about physical intimacy but really knowing someone at their core...good bad and ugly and them knowing you is really I think one of the main points of life. Doing that will bring pain, headaches, annoyances but will bring unparallelled joy as well. A lot of people spend a lot of time complaining about their family, how they annoy them and how they do this or do that. People fight over dumb stuff. Siblings especially.

If you are lucky enough to have a sibling, I hope you treasure them. I pray and hope that Katie and Jessica will always know how lucky they are and will never forget the feeling of what it's like to miss each other in the night.

Amy's Favorite Things Version 2

A few weeks ago I posted my version of Oprah's favorite things except without the multi million dollar endorsement and advertising benefits. I promised as I encountered new favorite things, I would post periodic updates here so you could either think "wow, that Amy sure is bored with her broken leg and all" or "wow, Amy is really insightful, generous to share her ideas and has impeccable taste." So here we go (and I have pictures this time)






My new perfume Sensuous. See previous LONG post about it.




The TV show Mad Men. I just watched the first 3 episodes yesterday on Demand from Comcast. The show on AMC started last year and the new season starts this week. So far, it's amazing. It's about Advertising Executives in the early 1960's when smoking was good for you, housewives dreamed of new washing machines and there were no computers, fax machines, email etc. What a different world we live in today. But taking a look at how different but also how much the same we are is fascinating. The characters are great, the stories are compelling the writing is solid. It's
a great show. No wonder it is up for so many Emmys.




My own mosaic from flickr. You can make your own. You answer these 12 questions and then pick a picture that you like that comes up. This mosaic will tell you my name is Amy, my favorite food is fillet mignon, I went to Elk Grove High School, my favorite color is pink, my celeb crush is Matthew Mcconaughey, my favorite beverage is Diet Coke, my dream vacation is to go on an African Safari, my favorite dessert is creme brulee, I want to be an event planner when I grow up, my favorite place to be is vacation, a word to describe me is loud and my nickname is Aims. Cool huh? Google flickr mosaic maker and you can make one too.


These cool bowls. They are melamine and they are for everyday family use. I have white dishes but my kitchen and family room has poppy red and orange accents so this are perfect for us. And they are light weight and unbreakable.


I love these Appliques from Upper Case Living. Here's what I am doing to my fridge and stool below. They have all sorts of designs and sayings for your walls, kids rooms etc. Their stuff is really cute. I ordered a big Meeker Family sign for my family room and some really cool graphics. You can see their stuff at http://www.uppercaseliving.com/OurProducts/InspirationalIdeas/

My new kitchen stool. It is brand new, but totally retro with a big cushioned seat at counter level so I can sit and chop an onion and then these steps slide right out of it and I have a great step stool for my new kitchen cabinets that go with my new 10 foot ceilings. ugh. They come in red, black, yellow and white. I got the white because I am planning on adding black vinyl appliques from the company I listed above and making it a SUPER cute retro black and white stool that is totally pimped out. You can get these stools at Target.com for like $40.

Is this really the final one?

The latest in the Twilight series is coming out. And I have these questions. I just was on this girl's blog and she asked are you an Edward or a Jacob fan? Also, is this really the last book in the series? Also, when is the movie Twilight coming out? Who is playing Bella/Edward/Jacob? These are the questions my mind is pondering at this moment. Aren't I a deep thinker?

Just for the record, I love Edward but I want to love Jacob more because I think he would be better for Bella in the long run. But I can't help but love Edward the mostest!!! I'm like so a 14 year old girl inside a 36 year old body.

Ummmm....whatchyaguys doin?

Me? What am I doing you ask? Oh...nothin'. Just sitting around with a broken knee not doing anything. It's sort of making me a little insane given that I have ever so much to actually do. My sweet cousin Rachael agreed to come work for me from 9-2 this week and help with the girls so I can sit on my ever lovin' butt. And poor Rachael. My girls are just running over her with demands requests and questions. And I noticed something that I don't notice when I'm the one being ordered around. My kids repeat the same question over and over until you answer it. Like Katie can get a question out of her mouth 8 times before Rachael even has a chance to answer it. And you know what? It's not cute. It's annoying is what it is. And I can tell they sense that she is reluctant to say "no" to them. So they are tag teaming and steam rolling her into doing what they want. We want to go to the park, we want a bath, we want a Popsicle, we want to play outside, we want our shoes on, we want our shoes off, we want to paint, we want to color, we aren't done painting, let us paint more, LET US PAINT MORE. ugh. They are driving me crazy and I'm just having to listen to it. I've tried several times to correct the girls and tell them they need to obey Rachael and that she's in charge and I've told Rachael it's okay for her to say "no", or "no way" or "HELL no" or tie them to a chair and stick in a movie. just JOKING. It would not be okay for them to watch a movie, kids watch way too much t.v. these days. ha ha.

As for me, I'm deep into the latest FBI thriller by Catherine Coulter. She has a series that centers around 2 FBI agents named Agent Savich and Agent Sherlock and they fight crime around the country and world on various cases. Of course, the series didn't start out with them married. I've read every single one of the books in the series in order so it's been fun to see the characters develop and all the side characters stories and stuff. Plus the action in the books is awesome and her writing is great and funny and sarcastic and really easy to read. This is the 12th book in the series. If you are going to start from the beginning and I HIGHLY recommend that you do...go to your local Borders or Barnes & Noble and buy The Cove (1996) and The Maze (1997) or a book published in 2006 called The Beginning that has both of those books in one volume. The writer's name is Catherine Coulter. You won't be sorry. There's a lot of mystery solving, a little romance, a little espionage, kidnapping, intrigue and side characters that come and go along the way. For those of you that are language/sex/violence sensitive I would rate these books as PG 13 but not R. But I may be a little bit more liberal than you so if you are like one of my friends and cross out bad words in your books (don't get me started on art, censorship, integrity of the whole etc.) then these might not be for you. But if you normally read contemporary fiction like Clancy, Grisham, Deville, Conroy, Creighton etc. you'll find these tame in comparison.

Let's see...what else have I been doing? Oh, my grammie Bea is back from Portland. Remember she fell while she was there? And she had to stay? Well now she's back and she's staying at my moms and will be following up with her primary doctor and a physical therapist. We are hoping her concussion doesn't net her any long term brain problems and that she can rehab her shoulder so it doesn't give her problems in the future. She was dizzy when she woke up this morning though which makes me nervous. I feel so badly for her. Old people + falls = bad stuff. I really hope she'll be okay. My Aunt Lori and Uncle Terry took super good care of her and she was so thankful for them and I'm so thankful for them and I feel like a useless sack of garbage because I can't do anything for her but stuff I can do on the telephone. The girls were so happy to see her last night though and they made her smile so I'll take credit for them.

What else? Oh, does anyone have any good dinner ideas that are easy? I can't really cook unless I stand on one leg. I had Mike do an all BBQ meal of chicken, corn & zucchini and we've been doing a lot of nugget's ready to eat stuff but we are getting pretty sick of take out. I think I'll have my mom assemble a Shepherd's Pie and a Lasagna for me so we can heat those up. I have mostly what I need for both, just need a few extra things from the store and that would give us several days of being able to warm stuff up that the girls and I and Mike like. Any other ideas out there would be great. Like if you know of any good frozen entree sort of stuff that is good.

I think that's about it. My leg hurts super badly. I wish it was not broken a lot. The idea of sitting still is a lot better than actually doing it. FYI for anyone out there thinking about slipping on a blueberry.

Sensuous - Yep that's me!

My parents did some grocery shopping for us because I can't walk and Mike needed to finish loading up the rest of our stuff while the girls were napping because he had to watch all day since they need things like food, wiped bottoms and entertainment. My mom finished up some laundry for the girls and my dad picked up some empty moving boxes to take to the dump today. And when they brought over our groceries my mom brought me a bottle of this perfume that she picked up today on Macy's. Thank you parentals.

It's the latest addition to the Estee Lauder line of fragrances. Now, normally I am not an Estee Lauder gal. I associate Estee Lauder with my Grammie Bea who has worn White Linen since I was born. Estee Lauder is for old ladies. Like everyone, I did my stint of wearing Beautiful in the 80's and I bought one bottle of Tuscany, Paradise and Pleasures when they first came out to try and them see, but they didn't stick with me at all. Now, in case you didn't know I am a perfume person. I wear perfume every single day of my life, whether I am leaving the house or not. It's part of my morning ritual like brushing my teeth and peeing. I have one perfume that I have stuck with over the years since the age of 14. It's Paris by Yves Saint Lauren and it will forever be my go to, everyday perfume. Then, for special occasions I wear Queles de Fleur. It's only sold at Nordies and perfume stores, it's way too expensive to wear more than about 6 times/year and was Princess Diana's signature fragrance. I wore it before I knew that Princess Di wore it. I was introduced to it at college where a rich girl named Katie lived across the hall and was generous with her clothes and perfume. As you can tell, I'm pretty loyal to my perfume. I keep my counter top stocked with Paris and Queles de Fleur and one other rotating fragrance that is usually new on the market and I'm just trying out. Right now, it's Wild by Ralph Lauren and it's okay, but I won't be purchasing a second bottle.

But today, oh today...might just have changed my life. I was going to wait until my next version of my favorite things but I can't wait. This perfume called Sensuous (I know, super cheezy name) is the best smelling stuff I might have ever smelled. I sprayed just a smidge on my wrist when my mom gave it to me and I keep holding my wrist up to my nose to smell it because I can't get enough. You guys, seriously, this perfume is amazing. And it's the type of fragrance that those that like spicey scents OR floral scents OR clean scents would like. I am normally a floral scent gal. And I would not call this super floral-ey but it's just enough to make me happy. But it's not super spicey or soapy it's just perfect.

Here's how Estee Lauder describes the fragrance. I highly recommend you check it out at a local department store near you!

Subtly different on each woman who wears it, the rich, mysterious core of Molten Woods and glowing Amber pulses with a warm, luminous, feminine passion. Enveloping this molten core of precious woods comes the unexpected scent of atmospheric flowers; feminine and airy. A veil of petal-soft textures: sheer Jasmine, Ghost Lily, lush Magnolia and an exclusive Ylang essence. Captivating traces of Black Pepper add mystery to the delicious woodiness and sensuality of creamy Sandalwood. Addictive Honey enhances the warmth, lingering deep within the fragrance while a surprising hint of Mandarin Orange Pulp creates a touch of juiciness to tantalize the senses.

Recent Conversations With 3 year olds

I haven't posted stuff the girls have said in awhile.

If you ask Katie what she wants to be when she grows up she will either answer a ballerina or a doctor. She wants to be a doctor for boys but she will stay a girl. However, Jessica has always wanted to be the same thing when she grows up since she was little and could answer this questions. When Jessica grows up she wants to be a ball. Now as she's gotten older, she has elaborated on the specifics of this dream.

ME: Jessica, what do you want to be when you grow up?
JESSICA: "I want to be a lots of colors bouncy ball. When I get big I'm going to marry a beach ball but not one that is too big."
ME: Are you going to be a mommy and have babies?
JESSICA: Yep. I'm going to have little beach balls and take them to the beach.
ME: So you are going to marry a beach ball?
JESSICA: Yep, or Leo. (from Little Einsteins)
ME: Why do you want to marry Leo?
JESSICA: Cuz he can drive me home.

Same conversation with Katie.

ME: When you get big, are you going to marry a boy?
KATIE: Yep.
ME: What boy are you going to marry?
KATIE: I'm going to marry my Papa.
ME: Why do you want to marry Papa?
KATIE: Cuz he takes good good care of me.
ME: Oh, that's a good reason. When you get big are you going to be a mama?
KATIE: Yep, and I'm going to have uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinco babies.
ME: What are you going to tell your babies?
KATIE: You better go to sleep and take a good nap or you won't get any treats!"
ME: Will you take your babies to the store?
KATIE: Yep, and SWIMMING!
ME: Are you going to teach them how to swim?
KATIE: Yep, but you still need to come with us mama, cuz I still need to hang on to you.
ME: okay, I'll come swimming with you, your husband Papa and your cinco kids and you can hang on to me forever.
KATIE: Oh good mama, that was a close one.


Jessica is pretty lazy and lately whenever we've wanted her to get something from her room, pic up her messes or whatever. So she's figured it out that she can get Katie to do it for her. The other day at the restaurant with my parents she dropped the lid to the salt. My mom told her to bend down and pick it up. And she said that Katie would do it. And when my Mom told her no, she needed to pick it up because she dropped it, she said "but Grammie Katie really really wants to get it for me."

When Katie draws pictures, she draws ovals on her paper and when we ask what they are she replies "it's my poo poo."

Jessica can draw the letter J. She's super excited about it. And she knows she has to go potty all by herself in order to start preschool next week. She hasn't had accidents in like months. But Katie has been struggling being consistent going pee pee in the potty. We told Katie that she needed to put her pee pee in the potty all the time so she could go to school with Jessica. The next day Katie had an accident and shortly following Jessica did too. Mike clued in right away and asked Jessica why she went potty in her panties? You guess it! She didn't want to go to preschool if Katie couldn't go.

Katie and Jessica love to climb on Mike and put their tummies on the very top of his head and balance there so Daddy can have a hat.

Mike makes a grumble sound whenever he is frustrated. It's like this sound that comes from his gut and vibrates. Katie can do it exactly and does it all the time now.

Katie has decided she will give up her thumb when she is 5. She just came up with it all by herself that 5 would be a good age to give it up.

Both girls beg to sleep in my closet.

The girls love to play outside in our backyard with sidewalk chalk. They draw the letter "H" over and over again with 3 different colors of chalk. One draws one line, the other draws the next while the first runs and gets the 3rd color and finishes the letter. If you look at my patio, it is full of letter "H's"

Katie is reading a book to Jessica right now. Instead of telling her a story she just points to a page and says "what do you think this one is?" And Jessica tells HER the story instead. But Katie is the one "reading" the book.

Jessica is convinced she has feathers on her bottom. (it's because she really wants to be a duck) Today, upon needing me to wipe her bottom she told me to be careful not to get poo poo stuck in her feathery bottom cuz that would be stinky and gross.

I love the age of 3!!!

New Chapter of Bossy & The Geek Posted Today

Back FROM the Beach

Grammie and Her Girls!

Mid-bounce

Playing at Capitola Beach

A very busy Jessica playing in the sand.

Katie and Jessica went on vacation this week. On Monday, their Grammie and Papa took them to Santa Cruz, Capitola and the beaches south of Capitola. They took Papa's trailer that the girls named Tony the Trailer and they had an absolute blast.

We've been teaching the girls how to tell their very own bedtime stories. What we do is have of them start with Once Upon A Time. Then, the other says the next sentence, then back to the first for the next sentence. The goal is for a whole story to be told by the time they say The End. Surprisingly, they are really good at it. I wanted to thank my parents for being such awesome grandparents and taking the kids on a fabulous vacation. I think the very best way to thank them is to share with all of you tonight's bedtime story, by Jessica and Katie Meeker.

Tonight's Bedtime Story, by Jessica and Katie (Jessica started the story off with the first sentence, then Katie went next and back and forth. I separated it by sentences so you can see who said what)

Once upon a time.
A long time ago.
There were two girls.
And their names were Katie Kate and Jessica Rose.
And they were so so lucky.
Their Grammie and Papa took them to the ocean.
And there was a beach.
And we slept in mama's bed.
In papa's Tony.
And we rode rides.
At a BOARDWALK.
We rode a shooka and a dragon.
And a merry go round merry go round ha ha ha ha
ha ha haha
And we rode a train
And grammie came outside
Cuz we called her on the phone
And we waved hi Grammie.
And we bounced.
And a boy hurt my nose.
Poor poor little Katie.
Yeah, cuz he bounced.
(me interrupting...what else did you guys do?)
We went to the ocean the ocean the ocean (singing)
And there was a beach
And we made sandcastles
And put sand on Grammie's feet
And put crabs ha ha ha ha ha ha
Crabs ha ha ha ha ha ha
And Papa put our feet in the waves
Up to my knees
And we ran away
It tickled my legs ha ha ha ha ha
Tickle water ha ha ha ha
And we rode in rocket
(Me again, and today you came home?)
(with very sad faces) Today, we had to come home.
I love vacation.
I love our beach vacation.
The End
All Day Long
All Day Long

I don't think I've ever seen Katie and Jessica this happy after going somewhere. They were happy to see Mike and I but it was obvious that they had the time of their lives. I think my mom and dad had fun too. All in all - I think the 4 of them are a really good team. And I got invited to go on the next vacation. It sounded like so much fun, I just may have to join them next time. Good thing I'm invited.

I'm glad my babies are home. I really missed them. More than they missed me. It's hard to be the one that stays behind when other people go away. I've always been the one leaving the girls and going. This time, I had to stay behind and they went away for the first time. It was a lot harder on me than I thought it would be. I sorta felt lost without them around. I'm sure glad they are all back. And thanks mom and dad. The girls couldn't be luckier than to have you guys. And we are pretty lucky too.

I'll Comeah and Bustah Your Kneecaps...Capice?

I swear I don't owe money to anyone named Vinnie, Sal or Tony. But I do however have a busted kneecap. Yep. I broke my leg. My new dryer was being delivered by Lowe's yesterday and I was running to get some boxes out of the way so the delivery dudes could get in the laundry room and I slipped on a blueberry in the kitchen and was down for the count. I hit my good knee on the corner of a box first then on the floor. And when it was still hurting really badly last night, I had my doctor check it out. I caught her at 5:30 just as she was leaving for the day so Xray was already closed at our little clinic. She told me she thought I might have a broken leg so come back tomorrow and get an x-ray. So this a.m. I got the x-ray taken and my kneecap is fractured in two places. The fracture makes like a "y" over the kneecap. They don't put you in a cast when you break a kneecap. They just tell you to stay completely off your leg, put no weight on it and you can get up and go potty but that's it. They said the fracture will knit back together and it will either heal well if you stay off your leg or it will heal not well and will be weak and give you tons of problems for the rest of your life if it heals improperly. So here's my dilemma. Yep, you guess it. 3 year olds. AND on top of that I already have a bum knee on the other leg. And we have boxes to put away, pictures to hang and all sorts of moving tasks to do. And Mike has been working a million hours to get caught up so his office can launch a new software program tomorrow. And I have PMS. And, brace yourself for this one, I have to put my first baby, our dog Josh, to sleep this weekend. We were supposed to do it tonight but now because of my leg we aren't. But this weekend, I have to hold my little guy's paw as we gently and as humanely as possible let him go. He's 15, deaf and his windpipe is collapsing on itself and soon it will collapse completely and cause him to suffocate to death. He has LONG coughing fits that cause him fear and pain where he is trying to get his windpipe to inflate again and luckily so far it has. But soon, it will not and he would die in a horrible way, most likely all alone. So Mike and I along with my mom and dad have made the decision that it's time to let him go. Even as I type this I am sobbing and have been a mess since we made the decision on Monday. And now I have a broken leg on top of it. I feel like I am going to self implode.

So that's what's going on with me. The fun never stops around here. I'll be fine. My leg will heal, well or not. My dog will be at peace and I know I will see him again because I know that animals have a kinder and gentler soul than most humans do. And how could there be a heaven without our dearly departed pets in it? And we'll get moved in, eventually. Things could be so much worse. My kids are healthy, my family is intact and things really are okay. I know that deep down. But when I try to stand up and my knee gives a jolt and pop that hurts so bad it takes my breath away, tears just seem appropriate for the moment.

And that's how we roll. At least for now.

Open Letter To My Girls...

Dear Girls,

I need to ask something of both of you. As your Mom, I have many hopes and dreams for your lives. You might be surprised to know what they are. I do know however, that my dreams for your lives will be different than your own dreams for your life. I hope that we have the kind of relationship in which we can celebrate the fulfillment of your dreams and that you won't feel disappointed if they are different than mine. I had a lot of dreams once upon a time too. Some of them even came true. But some, will never come to pass because I made different choices along the way and my dreams ended up changing. The biggest dream of mine that came true is our family. I always wanted a husband who loved me and would be my best friend but most of all who would be a great Dad. And then I wanted two girls. I knew I didn't want one child because I was an only child and it was lonely. I dreamed that I would have two girls, at once and that they would be best friends. And you know what? So far, so good.

But like I said at the beginning of this letter, I have something to ask of you. No matter what your dreams may be or become, please don't ever dream that you will be like Tori Spelling. Who is Tori Spelling? You might wonder just this question. So google her. Then, study her life. Then, make the opposite choices. Girls, she is a twit. And dumb. And annoying. And most importantly, she has no contact with her mom. That's the biggest one. If your dream ends up that you really REALLY want to be a dumb twit...okay, I can live with that. But, if you grow up and choose to have no contact with your mom. NOT O.K. Also, don't get fake boobs. And don't muscle in on a married man, steal him away from his wife, get pregnant out of wedlock and then nag him on national TV. And please don't write a tell all book about me - no matter how desperate you are for attention. I know I won't be the perfect mom. I know I will make lots of mistakes. But please don't discuss them on the Tonight Show. That would really suck for me.

I love you both. I'm so proud of you both. And I feel so lucky to be your mom. I hope you both make good choices and that you realize every one of your dreams, no matter what they are. I want you to have joy and I want you to have peace. I just really really really don't want you to be like Tori.

Thanks girls.

Lots of Love,
Mom

p.s - no offense to Tori in case she or her fans read this blog. I'm happy for you if your choices make you happy and you should call your mother.

Mama Mia My MY

Oh friends, how I wish I could have been in a theater with every single one of you as I watched this movie. Instead I went alone. My parents have my kids on an RV outing until Thursday and I took advantage and hit the first showing of MamaMia this morning. Oh -----eeeeeeeeee-------hahahahaha - it was stupendous. And glorious. And funny. And hip. And Meryl Streep. And Colin Firth. It was too much for me to handle. The end was the best part. Our entire theatre got up and danced and we sang the ending songs at the TOP OF OUR LUNGS like lunatics. It was joyful and fun and cathartic.

Please please please. Grab a sister, husband, friend or take yourself and go see this movie. If they don't sing and dance in your theatre in the end then get up and start the boogie yourself. I promise you everyone will join in. You can't help it....

Mama Mia -here I go again...my my...how can I resist ya?

I am moving to Greece and opening a villa on an isle in Greece and I will live out my days tan, happy, simple and singing and dancing with all the villagers in awesomely choregraphed numbers.

I need to be in a Broadway Musical. I am seriously getting scarry about it. But I can't sing, act or dance. ugh.

I guess the winner does really take it all.

YAYHOOOO.....go see this movie.

My Mosaic

This is really cool. You can go to Flickr and answer these questions and make your own mosaic that represents who you are. Each square has a meaning.

1. My name - Amy

2. My favorite food - fillet mignon

3. My highschool - Elk Grove High

4. My favorite color - pink

5. My celeb crush - Matthew McConaughey

6. My favorite drink - Diet Coke

7. My dream vacation - African Safari

8. My favorite dessert - creme brulee

9. What I want to be when I grow up - Event Planner

10. My favorite thing - vacation

11. A word to describe me - loud

12. My nickname - Aims

In Outer Space

This past week I had no Internet, no television, no home phone and didn't really go anywhere except for to our old apartment and to the new house. Needless to say, I felt pretty disconnected to the world. A few years back, I took a break from the world when we went to live in Hawaii for 8 weeks during Mike's 3rd year of Med School. He did 2 back to back Internal Medicine rotations at Tripler Army Hospital and I took 10 weeks off work and went with him. For the entire 10 weeks I watched no TV, read no newspaper, checked no email and talked to no one on the phone except for my mom and grandma occasionally. It was a very cleansing, healing time during a period of my life when I really needed to reconnect with myself. I sat on the beach, read book after book, wrote pages and pages in my journal, got a wickedly cool tan, lost 20 pounds and just all around centered myself and felt very zen. It was great.

This past week though? Not so great. I felt grumpy and out of sorts and very much like I was missing out on some really rad high school party because I had chores to do. I realized that sitting on the beach breaks are different from sweaty moving breaks which aren't a break at all. And this lack of technology inspired communication was Comcast's fault not my own choice. They couldn't hook up my cable until Friday.

It was awful and I just don't need that kind of stress ever again. I'm so glad to be back and have many hours of TiVO waiting for me which makes me absolutely giddy. Pioneer Woman had a whole entire week of feeding cows, bailing hay and making yummy treats without me and as her secret best friend, I just am glad we got to catch up and I'm sure she feels better as well. Or at least she would if she knew my name or that I existed.

I'm not sure of the point of this post other than to say, I'm back baby! (that is a quote from Joey Tribbiani from Friends)

Friday Confessions

I haven't done a Friday confessions in awhile. I have been without Internet service for like a week now and I feel vulnerable and out of touch completely with the world. I haven't had TV either. It's been a very strange week for me. But that's another topic for a different post. Because I haven't done a Friday confession for awhile - I feel out of touch with my Catholic part of myself. There's a part of me that has always wanted to be Catholic in case you are new to this blog. It's only for the going to confession and guilt and wine drinking parts of Catholicism that I am absuredly attractedeto. I am really good at guilt, I love getting stuff I've done wrong (or feel guilty about) off my chest and the wine drinking part just sounds like a good idea as I sit on the couch this Friday night while my kids are climbing on their father screaming at the top of their lungs that their hair is tangled and their tummies hurt. Yep, wine drinking sounds awfully good right about now.

So here we go for the week...

• I work at my own pace. When moving from one house to another, you become very aware that other people have a different pace than you. (as in my Dad) My Dad goes at a much faster pace than me. My pace is incorrect and definitely not fast enough. I move a box, unload a box, take a break. I unpack some stuff, drink a diet coke, check out what Pioneer Woman is doing then go get another load. It maddens some people. I am sorry for that.
• I have ignored my kids a lot. My husband works very long hours as in he rarely has gotten home before 7pm for the past 2 weeks. So the majority of the moving, loading, unpacking, hanging of artwork, organizing cabinets and shoving, I mean, putting away my stuff has been left in my hands. This kind of work does not lend itself to paying attention to kids. 3 year olds have a tendency to get bored with the tasks involved in moving pretty quickly. And they suck at unpacking boxes. AND their little arms are weak and can't unload the van. So they've been pretty much on their own.
• I am not cooking again. Remember the previous Friday Confessions where I confessed I haven't been cooking? Then I felt guilty and made lasagna for my family and they shoveled it down? Well - the lasagna is the last thing I cooked. This not cooking thing has gotten way out of hand.
• I have a bad attitude. I know it's hard to tell via internet but I have a bad attitude right now about the majority of things in the world. People, places, weather, food...if you can name it then it's probably making me insane. I'm even mad that the Dark Knight is making so much money at the box office because I think it's people's sick fascination with the death of Heath Ledger and not because they are excited about the movie. But one thing I don't have a bad attitude about is Mama Mia coming out this weekend. Can I just say how excited I am? Yippeee. (and the fact that America would rather shell out their hard earned cash for a sadistic dark depressing movie about a psychopath terrorizing a city than a happy quirky musical set in the Greek isles STARRING Meryl Streep AND my secret husband Collin Firth makes me seriously concerned about the direction this country is taking.) See? Bad Attitude.
• I am secretly annoyed at Mike that the moving responsibility is in my lap and that he is having to work so much. Yes, it was my idea to move. Yes, I picked out the house. Yes, I chose the date we would occupy the house. Yes, I knew Mike had no leave or vacation scheduled during this time. Yes, I knew his clinic was losing 2 doctors and one other provider and that his already crazed work schedule would be even worse right now. Yes, I have the support of my family here to unpack boxes, load stuff up, help with the girls and inspect mechanical stuff for me. Yes, people still get sick during my moving dates and need their doctor to be available. Yes, he is being of service to people that really need his help. But no, none of this makes me feel better or gives me the desire to cut him some slack. I still think he should magically clone himself so he can help me move. I would like to clone myself while we are at it and have my cloned self move us too. So the two clones would move our stuff, the "real" Mike could go to work and the "real" Amy could go someplace super fun and tropical. See? Bad Attitude AGAIN.

Back From Portland

I love my cousins! Ali, Tara, Susan and Me - I love these girls. They are the sweetest girls on the planet. But they are all a size zero and make me look extra chubby. I mean, they are sweet and all but could we get these chicks some freakin chocolate?



Bella Mafia - The Godmother (my grammie Bea in pink), the consiglierie (my auntie lori - middle in white jacket), the baby (my auntie jayni - in back behind my grams), the bride (my cousin susan - the cute young one in the front. "you commah to my grandaughter's shower to ah ask me a favah." ) and the family hammer (my mom - in the black shirt on the right).






My Auntie Lori and Susan - mother of bride and bride - so -oh beautiful!






Suze - me - grams - mom - I picked out gram's outfit. She looked so cute!


I love Portland. It is truly one of my favorite cities. Especially in the summer which is so mild compared to the sweltering heat of California. I especially love three things about Portland. The green landscape, the food of the Pacific Northwest (berries and salmon) and the people that live there...my Auntie Lori, Uncle Terry and my cousin Susan. I found myself in Portland this time to celebrate Susan's bridal shower. She is going to be the most beautiful bride in the known universe and history of brides. And she is nicer and kinder than she is pretty. She's one of those kind of people that you just love to love because she is loving, thoughtful, sincere without being pretentious or superficial. She has awesome style, loves girl things and is just neurotic enough to be real and relatable. She's one of my favorite people in all the world. And the guy she's marrying is her perfect match and is also friendly and kind. And you know how you can tell people are totally in love and crazy about each other without them being cheesy and disgusting and mauling each other in public? There's just a quiet gentleness and care that they have between each other. That's something Mike and I have never mastered. We're more of a squabbly, sarcastic and joking sort of twosome and it puts people off at first. Some stick around and get used to our rhythm and find deep love and friendship behind all the jokes and squabbles. And we fight big. Not often but when we fight it's better to get out of the way or risk getting run over. But we love big too. And this post isn't about us. I was just giving a contrast to Susan and Kevin and how we wish we had that quiet click between us where people know without a shadow of a doubt that we are a team and that we are totally in love. That's how you feel when you are around this young couple.

So back to Portland. The shower was beautiful and Susan was so kind and gracious as she got the coolest gifts I've ever seen. And playing with my cousin Jeff and Ali's little girl was the best. She is two and funny, sweet, smart and so fun to play with.

The only bad thing that happened was my Grams fell on the stairs. We are lucky that it wasn't more serious. She hit her head and really wrenched her shoulder. But she had a CAT scan and Xrays and nothing is broken and there doesn't seem to be any head damage. She is staying in Portland for a few days then will go up to Seattle to stay with my other Aunt and will come home as soon as she can and then my Mom and I will have her stay with us. We should be settled into our new house by then and I'll have an actual guest room ready for her. I love my Grams so much and I am so sad she's hurting but I'm so glad she will heal.

So all in all it was a great weekend with that one setback. I love my family so much and it was a blast to get to share in their happiness.

My Favorite Things

I'm starting a new post dedicated to Amy's Favorite Things. This is sort of like Oprah's Favorite things except I actually USE these things, I don't get endorsements from these companies, they don't advertise in my magazine, I don't have a magazine and I don't have billions of dollars or get invited to the Oscars.

The things Lady "O" and I have in common however is a love for John Travolta, large hips, dark circles under our eyes, enjoyment of the occasional macncheese AND a desire to share our favorite finds with others. Every once in awhile I will reprint this list AND the explanation with new stuff added to it. And if an item falls from grace I will delete the item and show no mercy. (name that movie)

Here's my first edition of Amy's Favorite Things (and explanations)

• Diet Coke - there are a lot of diet fizzy drinks out there that have tried to lure me away from my one true love. (pepsi max) But alas, I always return to suckle at the teat of the DC. It' s my love, my nemesis. It's the truest love/hate relationship I have ever known. Dang you Diet Coke, I love ya.
• crazy8.com - This company is owned by Gymboree and has similar quality of clothes but the styles and patterns aren't as European as Gymboree. Gymboree itself can get a little bit annoying with it's patterns. I like em...but I know a lot of people that don't . Crazy8 is a perfect blend of cute, trendy, quality and good prices. Notice I said, good prices. Not GREAT prices. Old Navy is still cheaper.
• OPI nail polish. I know people think nail polish is nail polish but it isn't so. OPI stays on way longer and doesn't chip as easily.
• Really good ice - I love really good ice. The kind that crunches perfectly because it is aerated. Mike says hospitals have this sort of ice. I know Whitey's in West Sacramento has the PERFECT ice. And they have Cherry Diet Cokes with the old fashioned cherry syrup like from the 50's. And they have fresh fruit shakes. Right now, it's all about fresh peach shakes. I should have just put Whitey's down as one of my favorite things. Also, my mom and dad used to go on dates there. But I think it was called Kelly's or Casey's. Or maybe it was still Whitey's. It's a drive in burger place where they still wrap burgers in waxed paper.
• Car Washes. I hate washing and cleaning the inside of my car by myself.
• Flip Flops. I just bought a pair of Chacos. They are REALLY expensive so don't tell Mike. But let me tell ya. I like Reefs. But Chacos are the best sandals on the planet. You can even like mountain climb, raft, hike and run in them. Not that I will be doing any of this. I hear they are really good for hanging out at the mall, grocery shopping and going to the park too.
• Flipping Out - This is a show on Bravo about a guy that is a house flipper in So Cali who also has OCD and literally FLIPS out on every episode. He hires these people and they sort of work for him while he flips out and fires them all the time. It's seriously so funny. This dude is a freak.
• Sproutlette - this a TV channel that advertises TV programming for your preschooler from WAKETIME to BEDTIME. They have stuff on for 3 year olds from like 5am to 11pm. Now I limit my kids TV to like 6 hours a day only. Just joking. But I like sproutlette because I know if I need them they will be there for me. Even though I don't use them that often, it just makes me feel better to know they are out there, waiting with appropriate shows in case I need to like take a shower or type out a needless list of my favorite things.
• Low maintenance friends. You know the kind. They love you no matter what. Even if you don't call for ages, even if you don't check their messages, even if you need to talk about yourself and not about them. They just are cool with it all. These are the best friends ever. I try to be this type of friend. I will never ever sweat my friends for not calling. It's just how I roll.
• Procrastination. I don't really love this, I just feel guilty cuz I'm doing it right now so I feel I need to embrace it. I better go, I got stuff to do.

How The Freak Am I Gonna Get It All Done?

I have to go out of town to a bridal shower this weekend. Let me rephrase. I GET to go out of town this weekend, on a plane, with my mom and grams to a fun girls weekend in celebration of my awesome cousin's bridal shower. It's going to be fun fun fun. But see, here's the thing. I am moving. Notice I did not say WE are moving. It's because WE are not. I am. The other half of me is buried in work. He took off for a week and he is being buried alive in lab results, telephone messages from patients, charts, charts and charts. So he is a little distracted and not really into this whole moving our house thing. I'm trying to be cool about it but he's going to need to priority shift. I'll give him another 24 hours and that's about it. But that's another story for another time.

Tomorrow my new fridge gets delivered. I have taken over and unpacked the contents of the linen closet, entry and coat closets. And that's it. The movers come on Monday and move the big heavy pieces. But someone, not really sure who, has to empty all the furniture and make it so the movers can actually take these pieces over to the new house. Plus, I have to pack for my trip out of town, get the girls settled and ready so Mike can manage them all weekend. And my family is being so sweet and really wants to help. My Dad has been totally devoted to working on our yard sprinkler system and accent painting inside our house. He's been majorly helpful. I can tell it's sort of worrying him how it's all going to get done. Frankly, it's worrying me too. But I can only go as fast as I can go. And being alone in the process, makes it so I got a little slower. See, I have these two items on my to do list that keep popping up. They are named Katie and Jessica and they need food, bottoms wiped, hugs, naps, baths and to be entertained. So it's not like I can just pack, unload, put away and repeat.

I waited until 9:40 for my furniture to arrive yesterday. It was supposed to be there between 2 and 6. It was not. ugh. It's all taking so long.

Mike is going to have to get stuff done this weekend. And take care of two girls. He does not multi task well. We'll just have to see how it all goes down. It might not be pretty but it will get done right? RIGHT?

This Heat Is Making Me CRAZY

I've been in heat before. I lived in CA all my life then endured the sweltering summers of Washington DC where the humidity and temperature are the SAME for the month of August. I have lived through Nebraska tornadoes which always spike in the heat and dry white lightening storms in the muggy hot of Mississippi. I've always sort of liked the heat. I love being tan. I love swimming and wearing lose clothing that billows. I love lemonade and iced drinks, cold watermelon and BBQs. I love the feeling of stepping in from the heat into a cool air conditioned house that keeps you comfortable while the world sizzles and cracks outside.

But today, something inside me snapped. We're moving and I had boxes to load and unload. I had cleaning products to transfer over to the new house. I had to go to Home Depot and buy a ceiling fan, paint and other odds and ends. Then, I saw what I thought to be an Oasis in the Home Depot parking lot. Baskin & Robbins. I thought it would be a great idea to take the girls to get an ice cream cone on a super hot day. Not so. Chasing the girls around even a little bit, even at B&R, even while enjoying a scoop of Oregon Blackberry on a sugar cone was too much for this woman to handle. Getting the girls loaded in the car made me sweat like I had just run a marathon. Not that I have ANY frame of reference whatsoever as to what I would sweat like if I ever ran a marathon. But I imagine it wouldn't be any worse than today. The forecast predicted it would be 110 today so it will be interesting to see how hot it actually got.

So I hate the heat. Do you think my current landlord would mind if I took until November to actually move all of our stuff over? Moving + heat = major bummer.

Happy 2nd Birthday Princess Emma

Happy Birthday to my cute niece Emma Marie. Emma is Cayden's little sister and much beloved by Katie and Jessica especially. She is cute obviously. But she is feisty, brave, funny, sweet and stubborn. She is going to give Chuck and Amber a lot of smiles and laughs and equally as many gray hairs.

She used to be known in our house as "Baby Emma", but she is no longer a little baby. So now we call her Princess Emma and I have a funny feeling the title is going to stick.

If You're Curious About What We Did...

I'm not going to assume that anyone out there is interested in what a bunch of Meekers did for our family reunion. But I would like to tell the story. A. so my kids will know about their first family reunion. B. so I can send this post to Mike so he can add the written text to the DVD of the footage of all the family fun. So, let's get tarted shall we?

We made the LONG drive to Utah on Monday and Tuesday. The girls were awesome in the van. They watched endless episodes of WonderPets, Dragaontales and Thomas the Train. They napped when they should nap and laughed when they should laugh and were quiet when they should be quiet. They had zero potty incidents and zero minutes of getting on our nerves. By the time of our arrival Tuesday at the cabin we were in great shape.

That night, we unpacked and the boys rode 4 wheelers while the kids got reacquainted with each other. For some, this was the first time we saw each other. We had never met our niece Chloe, Ken and Faith's little girl. It was super fun to watch the kids play, read them stories and make up games. After the kids went to bed (after lots of jumping on the bed) we sat around and visited with Chuck, Amber, Rick and Heather until Bill and Marilyn arrived with Ken and Faith at about 1 am. Ron and Steve didn't come up until the next morning.

In the morning the boys all went shooting. Chuck bought a couple cases of bottled water and they used those as targets. Mike said it was cool because they erupted when hit and the sun made the exploding water look like an actual explosion. Sort of. I figure boys are easy to please when a gun is in their hand and they are exploding something. While they were gone, we did an art project with the kids. We made crowns with stickers and coloring all over. Then, Amber and I took Cayden, Nora, Katie, Jessica and Emma for a walk. The kids collected fist fulls of wild flowers for their Grandma. There were yellow and white wild flowers and beautiful columbine in the classic blue/purple. The kids trudged up a big hill up to their waists in wild flowers with no fear. Nora was the only one that was a unsure about going into the tall grass. I have to admit I was worried about snakes, ticks, spiders etc. but the kids were having such a blast picking flowers I just let them go. We all ate lunch and then the girls and I took a much needed nap. Ambers sisters Becca and Rachel came up and took our family pictures. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner then had our family talent show. This part of the night was so much fun! Jessica sang the Animal Fair song. Katie was supposed to sing the Patience Song but decided at the last minute to do her own talent of spinning around in a circle, standing on one foot, spazzing out then yelling TA DAAAA. Our family talent was a WonderPets skit. I held up the stuffed animals and explained to everyone what the WonderPets were and the basics of the plot. Then Mike, Jessica and Katie came out in their WonderPet capes and did a skit called "The WonderPets Save The Chick Fil-A Moo Cows". It was super cute and the girls had a blast. Chuck, Amber, Cayden and Emma did a super cute skit where Emma was a princess and got kidnapped by a monster (chuck) and Cayden the Prince had to come kill the monster and save Emma. It was so cute and Cayden loved getting to stab his Dad with a dagger. Bill played the jewharp for the kids and they thought the music it made was funny. Steve did two magic tricks and the kids thought the fact that his quarter went into his skin and up his arm was really cool. Sariah sang "Keep The Commandments" with the help of Ken. She is two and it was so cute. She knows lots of sign language so she signed some of it too. Marilyn told the story of Tommy Harper and the cabbage patch. Jessica got sad for Tommy because he was so careful to count his 12 cabbages then they got eaten. She was NOT happy about that. Ron did the funniest talent of all. He did the Night Before Christmas - Around the World. Each sentence of the traditional Night Before Christmas was done with a different accent. From a Bronx New York accent, to Irish, German, Vietnamese, Middle Eastern, Russian, Australian, Surfer etc. It was hilarious!!! We all laughed so hard. Then, the kids sang the Birdie song and a SUPER LOUD version of I Am A Child Of God. It was really loud. And funny. But mostly cute. That night we hung out and talked about finance and investments and just joking around ton. Mike, Chuck and Ron made Bill laugh so hard at one point that he literally curled into a little ball on the couch and couldn't breathe. It was just one of those fun nights, hanging out in jammies, laughing and talking and eating chocolate chip cookies.

The next morning, everyone but Heather and me went to a park and had a Meeker Olympics. They played games, three legged race, relay races etc. They all ate a picnic lunch then returned to the cabin. The kids went down for naps and the adults had the family meeting. We decided not to have an official family government or pay dues or do a newsletter. Ha ha. It was funny how different we organized things than the way Mike grew up. We decided to have the next family reunion in the summer of 2010 in upstate New York. After naptime the boys took the kids on a nature walk. They had to collect specific things and put them in their bags. Katie ended up with rocks and dirt. Jessica ended up with exactly what she was supposed to collect. Go figure. That night, I (with the help of all the girls) served a Hawaiian dinner to everyone. We had leis, decorations, island music and for the meal had roast pig, rice, sweet potatoes, oriental salad and fresh fruit with dip. We had lilikoi (passion fruit) chiffon pie for dessert. It was a fun night. We played a game Steve taught us which was basically charades & password all combined. It was so funny. Amber, Faith and I stayed up late into the night talking and getting to know each other better. Ron told us funny story about his friend who is a Navy SEAL and we all just sat around telling stories and laughing.

The next morning, Ken, Faith, Ron, Steve, Marilyn and Bill had to leave early so Rick, Heather, Chuck, Amber, Mike and I cleaned up and packed up the cabin and headed down the mountain to the Huntsman Family Reunion. The Huntsman family is Marilyn's (mike's mom) side of the family. We had a family picture taken, had a family meeting that ended up being super fun and funny, had a big BBQ (it was 4th of July) and another talent show. (I guess we think we are pretty talented) Then, we went back to our hotel in Salt Lake City and got up the next day and went to the park with Mike's cousins and their kids and went out to Mexican food for lunch. Then, we hugged and kissed everyone goodbye and hit the road for home. We made it the whole way home even though Jessica begged to stay in a hotel so she could sleep with her Katie Kate.

The highlights for me were watching all the kids play with each other. They got along perfectly with no fights or disagreements. I loved spending time with Heather and Amber who have become two of my very best friends. I loved seeing Mike's cousins, the Werners, who I love as much as my own family. Mike has the best cousins. We missed our VERY favorite person on that side of the family though...Uncle Lucky. Mike's Uncle Lucky is seriously one of my favorite people in the whole wide world. He was P.O.W in Vietnam and had to go back to Florida for a P.O.W thing and couldn't make the reunion. I missed seeing him and Mike's Aunt Judy and cousins Travis and Marie. We always laugh a lot when we see those guys.

Finally, I just want to say how much I appreciate and love Amber and Chuck. Amber planned, researched, shopped and put together this entire thing. She is a totally organized person and a great planner. She did so much work and put together a great event for SUPER cheap. It cost way less than a hotel and eating out and was way more fun. The cabin/house was ginormous and slept all of us comfortably. It had a great stone floor and big stone fireplace. A HUGE living room and was nestled in a grove of Aspen trees and wildflowers. It was cool at night and really pretty during the day. Amber prepared and planned the reunion with love and a desire for everyone to have a good time and grow closer as a family. Amber has the best intentions of anyone I know. I had fun hanging out with her and laughing and enjoying watching our kids together. My kids think her son Cayden is an actual rock star. Anything he does, they laugh hysterically at. He is their own personal super hero.

All in all we had a great time and actually came home relaxed and refreshed. If you can feel that way after a week on the road with 2 three year olds, you know the trip had to be good!!!

Our Family Reunion

The Whole Gang July 2008, Timberlake Estates, Utah


The Zoolander Boys - Steve, Ken, Rick, Chuck, Ron & Mike



8 Grandkids in all. Score Girls 6 - Boys 2

We just got back from Mike's family reunion just outside of Park City Utah. It was 4 fun filled days up at a ginormous cabin/house. Here is a picture of the boys, the kids and the whole family. I'll email reunion highlights and stuff ASAP as well as post more photos. We are so tired from driving but we had such a great time too. I'm going to try and put some video clips from our talent show on here tomorrow. Stay tuned!!!