OO-EE-OO I look Just Like Buddy Holly

And ironically, we have the same birthday as well.

I got new glasses.  It's been a few years.  Glasses are a fab fashion accessory, but they're kind of annoying to wear.  I picked myself out a hip pair of nerd glasses in hopes that it would get me to wear them more often.  We'll see how it goes.

Dear March,

What's your deal?

Didn't you read the memo?

IN like a lion...
...not OUT like a lion.

Sheesh!  There's snow in today's forecast.  I had no intentions of waking my coat from it's summer hybernation.  Yet the weather has been requiring it all week.

Come on March, it's spring.  Get with the program.

The difference between Parker and Reid

I make the boys put their own clothes away.

Parker and Reid share a dresser.

And again:

Parker came out of the womb with these intense organizational skills.  I remember a time when he was still crawling (so younger than 9 months).  He pulled out all my mixing bowls and lined them up by size in an orderly row.

I don't know where he gets it.  Because if I'm being honest, my drawers more closely resemble Reid's.

I need to put Parker to work on the rest of my house.



For those of you wondering, Gray is somewhere in between.

Who knew...

...cardboard could look so good.

I followed THIS tutorial.

Stutzneggar

But we just called her Stutz.  Her first name is Carrie, but with 2 Carrie's in the group we preferred to call her Stutz.  She preferred to be called the Queen of Everything. 

(Funny side story...I thought her last name was Stutz for like 6 months.  When someone told me it was actually Stutzneggar I didn't believe it.)

I think the thing I admire most about Stutz is her work ethic.  She was the first one of my roommates to get out and get a job; a "custodial engineer" at a nearby middle school.  That job had great perks...like free toilet paper.  She's always been hard working. But besides that, Stutz is adorable, devoted, spunky and tough.

It took me a little longer to get close to Stutz.  You see...she had a boyfriend back home.  She did whatever she could to catch a ride home with someone every single weekend for a little extra time with the BF (despite our best persuasion efforts to the contrary).  I guess it paid off. After he served a two year mission he came home and married her. 

Now she's just as hardworking, adorable, devoted, spunky and tough to the benefit of her cute family.  She supports that same man as they've moved around the country while he goes to law school.  She has an adorable little girl (named Bentley...is that cute or what?) and another coming soon.

I'm a little sad at my limited number of pictures of Stutz.  But if you recall...she was never around on the weekends and she worked during the week.  I love her just as much, there's just less photographic evidence.  Looking back, I'm pretty impressed.  It must have been hard to go off to work day in and day out while we all begged her to come have fun with us. That girl has always had a good head on her shoulders.

Our lovely rendition of "My Little Buttercup" from the Three Amigos

 

A trip to Temple Square

 

We all had various places to go that night, but felt it necessary to take a group picture.

 

I think I might have realized at this point how few pictures I had of Stutz and I made her take a picture with me then and there.  I'm not sure how happy she was about that.

What college apartment was complete without an inflatable couch?  Just thinking about that one makes me laugh.  

Sophomore year (while her BF was on a mission and we saw a little more of her) Stutz's mom gave her a HUGE turkey.  She brought it back and slaved away all day to serve the whole apartment complex. 

Riding the LTD.  

None of us had a car freshmen year and we rode the bus to get anywhere.  The boy is only vaguely familiar...somebody's high school friend maybe?  It seems like his name was Brett? Did we run into him on the bus?  Why is he in my picture?

 

Picnic on the Quad

 

No better way to celebrate the end of finals week than a slumber party! (Preceded by the best apartment dance party ever!)

 I had to swipe a current picture off her blog to show you just how adorable Stutz and her family are.  My pictures don't do her justice.  Cute right?

Stutz has a busy couple months ahead of her...with a new baby due soon, a husband taking the BAR, a move a few states away, and a little visit with her family in the mix.  I have no doubt she'll handle it with ease.

Miss you!

You guys know Jeff, right?

Last night I was giving my kids the healthy eating spiel.  You know...healthy food is good for your muscles and good for your bones... (blah, blah, blah) ...eating healthy helps you grow.

Parker: So if we only eat healthy food, we'll be as tall as uncle Jeff?

Me:  Not necessarily.  That has to do with your genes.

Parker:  That's why uncle Jeff is so tall?  He wears skinny jeans so he can just squeeze his body up taller and taller?

I went on to explain the difference between genes and jeans with my 7th grade knowledge of genetics.

And I used to think learning about genes would never help me in the real world.

To see Jeff in all his skinny jeans glory and to get a sneak peek at his strikingly beautiful fiancee, Olivia, you can check out their engagements HERE.

Hell Week

I'm talking about finals week. 

As hard as finals week was when I was going through it myself,  I think it's even harder when Spencer goes through it. And by harder, I mean harder on me.  I'm selfish like that. 

I'm not sure if I really need to refer to it as finals week.  He doesn't have any professors giving actual tests.  It's all about the papers.  And papers when you're getting your PhD in philosophy are not a walk in the park.  Spencer has been on campus until 10 or 11 every night only to come home and work on the computer until 2 or 3 in the morning. 

I'm exhausted (because I'm selfish like that). And I kinda miss Spence. 

It's all over tomorrow (though he still won't be home for bedtime).  If I'm this worn out from the past week and a half, I can't imagine how tired Spence must be.  He has a break on Thursday.  Then the poor guy has a scout camp out to be at on Friday night.

Next week we have one blissful class-less week before spring quarter begins.

High Above Me

This is the entry way between my kitchen and family room.

Zooming in...

And we have chocolate milk.  On the ceiling. 

I can think of numerous possibilities for how chocolate milk ended up in that unreachable spot; each possibility involving any combination of three crazy boys.  I'd love to give you a humorous account of what they were doing to get the milk to it's final resting place.

The thing is, all three boys have alibis for when this incident took place. 

That, my friends, is the work of Chief.  My dog.  Please explain that one to me because I can not quite figure out how a dog managed to get chocolate milk so high.

I have a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeves...

Pet Peeve:

Image from GAP.

Dark shirts with white sleeves. 

We have at least two navy blue shirts with white sleeves at our house. (And several white baseball T's with navy sleeves.)

How in the world am I supposed to keep these sleeves white?  Can't wash it with the whites.  And washing it with the darks turns white sleeves less-than white. 

Advice?


(RubyAnn...are you reading this?  You're the queen of clean laundry.  I need help.)  

Surprises let me know she cares!

And Heidi was FULL of surprises!

Heidi was another of my college roommates and the most loyal friend I've ever had.  Can I still call her loyal if we haven't talked in a couple of years?  It's just that she's off on a foreign adventure and time zones make it nearly impossible. 

I was immediately drawn to Heidi for her hilarious sense of humor, her good nature and her infectious laugh...as is everybody.  It's impossible not to love that about Heidi.  But after living with Heidi and developing a deeper relationship, there are so many things I love even more about her. 

Heidi brings out the best in people.  She is compassionate, self-less, in-tune, and a great listener.  Despite her petite size, Heidi is a spiritual giant.  She is a huge nature lover and the most adventurous of all my roommates.  She spent her summers in far off and exciting places; places like Norway, China, Alaska, and Coeur d'Alene.  She has spent the past few years working on her master's degree in England and liked it enough stay after graduating. 

I think it's impossible to find fault in Heidi.  I love her so much.  So much that I thought if I ever had a girl, I'd like to name her Heidi. (Or at least the middle name because I think Spencer thought it was a little funny to name a kid after my roommate.)

The majority of the pictures I have of Heidi are depicting her funny side. For example:

I am happily posing, oblivious to Heidi and Brooke in the background.

I can't tell you what the outfit was about, but I'm pretty sure that was the infamous pan, clearly labeled with Heidi's last name.

 Just for a laugh.

Thanksgiving, freshman year.  Leah, Heidi and Tiffany dressed as Indians. (Excuse my political incorrectness.)

I can't have a Heidi montage without a dog picture.  She loved dogs more than anyone I know.

On a spring break in So. Cal.  Heidi insisted on being buried in the sand.  And Brooke is about to get fresh with mermaid Heidi.

I was surprised how many pictures I have of Heidi, Tammy and I in our Sunday clothes and aprons holding up a dessert we just baked.  Apparently it was a favorite Sunday past time.

 Trying to explain what is going on in this picture wouldn't do it justice.  But I hold this moment as one of my all time favorite college memories.  Leah is on the left and Heidi on the right.  Those girls were a riot together.

Heidi broke the freezer.  And apparently the cupboard in the background. Don't worry, it was Heidi's cupboard. She's the only girl I know to label her stuff with animal pictures.

I think Heidi got these in the mail one day.

Picking wildflowers.   This is one of my favorite pictures.

 

Leah and Heidi.  In braids. 

When Heidi left for her semester teaching English in China I was so sad.  We decided that a pirate party would ease some of the pain.  We even played pin the eye patch on the giant blow-up Heidi that we kept posted on the inside of our pantry door. 

Happy 30th Heidi!  

( a few weeks late)  

Miss you.

Meet George Jetson

I have to say I'm a little disappointed in the 21st century.  Here we are 11 years in and we have yet to be cruising the airways in our flying cars. 

The kids found The Jetsons on DVD at the library last week.  It was fun to watch a little blast from the past (about the future).

My biggest disappointment in the 21st century however, is not the lack of hovering automobiles, but that homes don't come equipped with robot maids.  I could make good use of Rosie.

unpredictable

Sometimes life is unpredictable.

Like when
Gray decided to jump pants-less on the trampoline.  (Gray is full of laugh out loud unpredictability.)

Or when
Reid announced that there was a poop-smear on the back of the toilet that looked like a Valentine heart. (Thanks to whoever left that special one-of-a-kind Valentine's Day surprise.)

Or when
Parker was disappointed when he saw me curling my hair.  Turns out he prefers it spiked.  (I kind of always worry that my kids might think I have boy hair.)

Or when
I came home and found Spencer like this:

 

I laughed myself to tears. 

(Don't worry, his beard grew back and I once again find him very sexy.)

Or when

After 20 months of serving as the ward Primary president, I got called to be the first counselor in the Relief Society presidency.  (Now if all goes well, I'll actually get released from primary too.)

My Funny Valentine

My lover had a late night class on V-Day.  By late night I mean he didn't get home until almost 11pm.  Don't worry about us though...we made time for a little Valentine's romance over the weekend.

I spent the evening with the other boys in my life.

What happens in Ohio when it warms up to 35 degrees?  We play outside without coats.  We're having a heat wave this week.  This is the first time in about 6 weeks that we haven't had snow on the trampoline and the boys have been itching to jump again.  (As much as I enjoy the warmer weather...this is the ugliest time of year in Ohio.  UGLY.)

Then after some heart shaped pizza, I sent the kids to bed, slipped into something more comfortable and spent the rest of the evening figuring out how to do this:

Why yes, that is news paper print on my fingernails.  I saw it somewhere and HAD to try it.  It's the perfect manicure for a nerd like myself.

We Both Kinda Liked It...

Breakfast at Tiffany's that is. 

As I was belting this tune down the freeway the other day in my efforts to drown out whining in the backseat, I had to laugh at the lyrics. 

A couple is falling apart because they have nothing in common.  In an effort to keep from breaking up,  the guy points out that they both kinda liked Breakfast at Tiffany's.  Now there's a strong foundation for a relationship.


Even still, it's one of my favorite songs, ever. 

I'm a child of the 90's.  What can I say?

My boys recently found some tapes that Jeff made me back when I drove a car that only had a tape player.  It included this song and many, many other of my favorite 90's tunes. It's about time I get myself a digital version of what Jeff so appropriately named, "Music That's Not Lame." 

Also included on the tape (and also good for drowning out whining) I'm Gonna Be (500 miles).  I can't write about 90's music without mentioning Cake, Weezer, Bare Naked Ladies. And I went through a ska phase...Reel Big Fish, Save Ferris, Buck 'O Nine, Mighty Mighty Bosstones.   Oh shoot.  I don't like to post about music.  I have way to many 90's favorites.  It kills me to leave out so many good songs. 

Ahh the 90's.  What are your favorite 90's tunes?

F-I-V-E

 If you're wondering what five looks like these days...

But if I'm being honest, it probably looks more like this...

 

My favorite is when it looks like this...

It makes me laugh every time.

(ps. If you're wondering what the cake is supposed to be... it's a giant Lego.  I think it's my worst cake to date.)