Happy Birthday Crazygirl!

I can't believe she is 12!!! This has been a really fast 12 years, she was 10 days early and hasn't slowed down yet! You can't be in the same room as her and not have a good time, she is usually the life of the party and has no problem making a fool of herself! On the flip side though, she is a very tenderhearted girl, who will do anything for you, and is always rooting for the underdog. She is always coming up with ways to make money to send to people who need it, and has a pretty grand plan for opening a shelter for animals. She has been a blessing to our family, and really fun to have around!
I will post pictures of her party after this weekend. Since all of her friends have the same wacky sense of humor, it should be quite a weekend!

Do you really think we wouldn't have been there?

Last night was the long awaited-by-every-teenage-girl midnight release of Twilight at Walmart. They were throwing a big party, starting at 10p.m. so of course we had to go. Amanda even got the scoop that there were 5 locations around the US that would have stars or makers of the movie there(we interpreted that as the key grip, or best boy) Surprise! it was Victoria who drew the short stick and got to go to exotic Riverton Walmart! Hmmm, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Riverton. Highlight of her career I am sure! We were in the same room as her, as well as a few thousand of her other favorite people. Honestly, we didn't even stay to buy the movie. We went home to try and catch ourselves on the news! (and bought the movie today, with no lines to wait in). It was fun, and we can say we were there (and would have bought the t-shirt, but those weren't going on sale until midnight either...!)

'tis the season

Bought my first flip flops of the season today... Optimism is running rampant right now!

What an experience!

We just had our stake youth fireside tonight, where we kicked off the youth temple celebration. I am in awe. I am overwhelmed. I am grateful. I am close to tears at any given moment of the day.(Good ones!) What an incredible opportunity we have to be a part of this. I came home to the sweetest email from a young women I have never met. SHE thanked US, and told us how excited she is to be a part of this. They don't understand, and won't for years, but it is US who need to be thanking THEM for the blessing of working around them and their incredible spirits. Once in a lifetime, that is what this opportunity is. I am so ready to get to work. The preparation time is over, we begin on Tuesday. The next few months are going to fly by way too fast, but they are going to remain with me, I am sure, for the rest of my life.

Benefit Concert for Paul Cardall

If you have nothing going on April 6th, or even if you do...you NEED to take your family and friends to this concert. Not only is it going to be filled with great music, but it also is helping my friend Cheryl's Brother in law, Paul, who has been waiting for a heart transplant for over 200 days now. His music is incredible, and some of his friends in hte music industry have gotten together to do this fundraiser for Paul and his family. Please go!

Dancingqueen takes on barbershop

Dancingqueen was able to attend a special choir workshop at Westminster College on Sat. They learned harmonizing and Barbershop. Dropping her off at the edge of the college campus that morning was a reality jolt, that it will be happening for real sooner than I hope! We got to attend the concert that night, they did incredible! There were students there from all over the region, and she was chosen to sing lead all day for the event. Pretty cool!

zebra...worth the wait, I know!

Bug's team song is "real Wild Child" by everlife. They are so stinking cute! See, I told you pictures of zebra print were going to be better than my rambling!

rambling

Stinkin blogger won't let me upload photos, and I have some doozies...so you are just going to have to deal with my ramblings for now until I figure out what the "internal error" is that is preventing all of you from seeing my 7 year old in zebra stripes. Compelling stuff, I know!
SO just to clear the air (Kristin!!!!) Stress diarrhea is figurative, not LITERAL! A favorite expression of my fave mission comp Cheryl and myself during a certain summer in "we call it Catty". We had a few stressful moments, mainly by elders who chose to play practical jokes on us...often. I forget that the world might not get that there is not Literally stress diarrhea happening...but enough of bodily function talk! Also, no, there is nothing happening on the adoption front other than our yearly home visit. We decided to keep the paperwork active for one more year, but then we are done. I am both happy and sad about that. It varies hourly.
My sweet sis-in-law had her baby yesterday. I got to be there with her for the whole thing, including the amnio done at the Dr. office beforehand. Boy, did that bring back nasty memories of pain! She gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, and we are so excited for her and my brother!
Dan and I were asked in January to be the stake event coordinators for the temple youth celebration. We are combined with 23 other stakes for this incredible event. It has been so fun to see it happen from the ground up, and to be a part of that. We have our big kickoff fireside this Sunday for all of the youth in the stake, and I am READY to get this thing going! I had 3 meetings for this event in a row on Sunday after speaking in our Sacrament and then going to another ward conference, so I was pretty wasted by Sunday night.
See, I told you that you'd be better off seeing a 7 year old in zebra stripes than to hear me ramble!!!

Some weeks are like that

This week is pushing me out of my comfort zone. I'm trying to look at it as "what can I learn from this" but come on! I had to (oops!was blessed with the opportunity to) act in a camp skit for the girls camp kick off. The audience was dressed normal. We were not. 'nuf said! I get to speak in church Sunday. 'nuf said. I had to go to the dentist today. I have to go back next week for him to fix one of my childhood fillings that is getting old. Nice. Even my fillings are old. I am trying to get our house together for a home visit from our case worker next week for adoption, and it seems to be getting messier instead of cleaner. Seriously, if we are never home, who is coming in and messing up my house? That is a question I would love an answer to! Although yesterday, I got cheap labor out of Crazygirl and Dramaqueen. They cleaned the mudroom and downstairs bathroom for a dollar each...wahoo! (just doing my part to create jobs to stimulate the economy...it has NOTHING to do with my own personal disdain for cleaning either the mudroom OR the bathroom!)
And okay, I really do love how clean my teeth are after seeing my dentist, and he is a really fun guy. He is one of the dads at our dance studio, so we have done Disneyland together. How can you not like your dentist after doing the Happiest Place on Earth together?
And okay, the skit was REALLY Fun, even though I refuse to watch the video because then I would never do it again, but at least in my mind, we were girl's camp funny!And my talk, well, as always, it has really brought me back to what is really important in my life, and made me want to be a better person, so I guess that is worth all of the stress diarrhea and anxiety
Maybe it hasn't been that bad of a week after all!

Dramaqueen wants it all!

Dramaqueen takes dance through our after school program and loves it! It is very non-competitive, and she is thriving. It doesn't hurt that it is taught by one of my best friends,and her daughter, whom Dramaqueen idolizes! They just had their performance on Thursday night and did a jazz dance to "I want it all".
It was so fun to watch...they all did a great job!