stranger things

Most surreal night ever. We had our friends over tonight to play games after our kids went to bed. They are expecting their first child and are excited and of course there was baby talk about my deliveries, how things are going with her pregnancy (her due date is in about 2 weeks), and the nature of parenting. We had hardly started our game when the mother-to-be excused herself to the restroom (job hazard of being pregnant--needing to pee every 40 minutes or so). She poked her head out a minute later and announced to the unassuming crowd in the room that her water had just broken. Seriously. There was about 3 seconds of tomb-like, unbelieving silence, then Michael & I started clapping, saying congratulations and hurrying the deer-in-the-headlights expecting parents out the door and on the way to the hospital. (By the way, I hope you enjoy the waterfall image to tie in with the story. You're welcome.)

Honestly, I think it's the coolest thing ever that it happened at my house and now we can be a part of someone else's birth story. That was a few hours ago so I'm going to call them before hitting the sack and see what the progress is. How crazy that one minute you can think you're settling in for a nice night of game-playing and suddenly you have a new baby to take care of and your life is changed forever. I think I will go hug my kids now.

sunbeams all around!

Happiest thing on earth: my toddler making me sing at least 17 times a day, "Jesus wants me for a sun-BEEP!"

Happy summer...while it lasts!

recently

I spent the weekend on the most awesomest trip ever to Seattle with a bunch of my friends from high school. Four days spent laughing, shopping, eating, sleeping, and doing whatever we wanted (including ordering pizza and watching in-room movies at night--I'm 30 years old and have never done that before, how is that possible?) and having no responsibility whatsoever. I had the misfortune to LOSE MY CAMERA CHARGER so I couldn't take any pictures...but I'll try to steal a couple from someone's Facebook page.


(Oh, look, found some! Not sure what is going on with my hair but everyone else looks fab.)




(Aaaaaand, a lovely open-mouth shot. Best seafood bisque I've EVER had.)


On another note, Michael and I just celebrated our FIFTH anniversary. It's hard to believe two people could pack so much into 5 short years. We have 2 (and a half) kids, we lived overseas for 2 years, we've lived in 5 different places of residence, we're on something like our 5th job (some of those were simultaneous), and we still enjoy being together! :) We decided we'd make our anniversary day a 'Happy Birthday to Our Family' party. So we took the kids out to dinner and celebrated our family's 5th birthday! Then we can go out this weekend with just the 2 of us. I can't find anything wrong with celebrating something twice, just means more cake. :)

I love you, sweetheart, and I hope the next 5 are just as adventurous!
-xoxoxo

Sunday Inspirations

Today my cousin Wendy taught our Relief Society lesson and it was about...well, Relief Society. You know, the usual bit about its organization, how it works, what the purpose is, etc. It's a great lesson to have and I love hearing about it cause I love Relief Society, I really do. But here's the kicker. I've heard a thousand times about how the whole thing started because of women who wanted to help with work on the Nauvoo Temple. They started sewing shirts for the men, started getting organized, turned to Joseph Smith...and voila, the Lord turns around and thanks them for their efforts by sanctioning an official women's organization. OK, I knew that part. But for some reason the thing that stood out to me today was the fact that the WHOLE entire was started by two women. TWO. One woman and her seamstress decided to help out, they got some other women to help, and apparently it snowballed from there because the Relief Society is often touted as the largest women's organization in the world today.

It was so inspiring to me to think that two women with some determination and desire to serve could make such a world-changing difference for good. I wonder what change for good I will make in the world.

a moment of silence...

I was listening to the oldies station in the car the other day and was mortified to hear "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. On the OLDIES station.

Wait, did you hear that sound? In case you missed it that was the sound of my adolescence crashing and burning unnoticed by the side of the road. It was a relatively quick and painless death, but it is dead, nonetheless.

But to make me feel better I got a wicked awesome haircut today. So there is balance in the universe.