My Favorite Grandaddy

I should be packing right now to get ready for our drive to Pensacola tomorrow. Wednesday we will be going to my favorite Grandaddy's funeral. He had a stroke Saturday afternoon and another one early Sunday morning that took his life. For some reason, though, I just can't bring myself to pack. Maybe it is because if I don't pack then maybe I won't have to go on this trip because he isn't really gone - or so I would like to think.

For those of you who didn't see my post a while back about my relationship with my Grandaddy this picture will probably appear quite odd. Yes, that is a picture of "roadkill". We always played jokes on each other. This particular day my grandparents were in town and were coming over for dinner. I told Aaron that I had to come up with a "Gotcha" as we would call it. I new that we were having steak for dinner so I created the body to go with it. When it was time to eat I took his plate into the kitchen and served him some "roadkill steak". It was great. In my previous post I also put the picture of the "gotcha" that he brought with him that day. It was a "Gotcha" Scoreboard. He had worked really hard to create it and of course he had more points that me.

I love my Grandaddy so much! I cherish all of the special memories that we have together. I wanted to find this picture and I couldn't. I almost thought that I had accidentally deleted it somehow and I was getting really upset with myself. I am so grateful that I found it because I think that it is the last picture that I have of him. I am so grateful that I know that he is in a good place and that I will be able to see him again someday. It is hard to wait, but maybe I can come up with a really good "Gotcha" before then, because I know that he will be working on one too. I LOVE YOU GRANDADDY!

Talk about a Slacker!

I am such a bad blogger! In fact that is an understatement. I think that part of my problem is that I would like to have a picture to blog about, but I have decided that I love reading other people's blogs even when they don't have pictures so I should just start writing. Also (and I know this is really not a good excuse because there are a million busy good blogging mom's out there) when I get a minute on the computer it is usually just enough time to read everyone else's blogs or check email and respond to one or two if I am lucky. I thought that I had a busy email before, but since becoming Relief Society President at church I get a million emails and usually I can't just ignore those. Anyway, I know excuses, excuses.

I have a few minutes to myself. Aaron is in Boston for a dental CE course. He has been there since Wednesday. He is probably almost on his way home. We have missed him lots, but the kids and I have had some nice time together. Last night we went out to dinner for my Dad's 60th Birthday. Happy Birthday Dad! It was nice.

So, I just got done telling my friend Jenn about this book that I Aaron and I read. I have probably already told most of you about it, but it is so good I thought that I would talk about it on my blog. It is called "The Total Money Makeover", by Dave Ramsey. I heard about it from my friend Shaela. It is by far one of the best self-help books I have ever read. It teaches you how to become completely debt free within 18-36 months (except for the house). Then it teaches you to save a 3-6 month emergency fund, fund your retirement, start college funds for the kids and to save money so that you can pay cash for whatever you want in the future. Aaron and I are officially starting it this month. Dave's motto is "Live like no one else, so that you can live like no one else". This book helps you to see how foolish we all are with our money and how some of the things that we thought were smart money decisions were really bad decisions. Anyway, enough preaching about the book. Just know that if you have any debt at all - even car or school loans with very low interest (the 'okay' debt, right?) then this is the book for you.

Well, "my time" just ended with Nathan waking up from his nap so I will go for now. Hopefully I can get back on here soon.

A simple life?

I have really been feeling the need for a more simple life. I am not a big city girl, but I have also never really had the desire to live out in the woods, either. Lately, though, I can really see myself out on a big piece of land (or at least not 5 feet away from our neighbors) where my children can get out and play in the yard. Here we have a lake just a house away, with alligators, of course, so I never let the kids just go out and play without me.

I envy the women who have nothing more to do than play with their kids and clean their house. (I guess I am assuming that those women are out there - maybe I am wrong). I feel like I am always running....from home.. to the office.. to the store to buy supplies for the office.....I can't ever catch up. I am sure that the "craziness" of my life is my fault. I am task oriented and rarely do I count laying around the house with the kids as a task.

I am just tired of all the extra stuff.....tv....house clutter.....cell phones.....email.....shopping...and even the computer....

Am I making any sense? Maybe in my mind the solution to getting rid of all these "extras" is to live on a farm with my own chickens and a garden so I don't have to "go and do" anything, but then I would probably feel like my list of things to do at the farm was never done either.

This really sounds like I am not grateful for my life. I am soooo grateful for my life. I would probably go crazy without all of the "comforts" that I enjoy. I know I am so blessed with a great husband, good kids, the gospel, a beautiful home, a beautiful place to live, reliable cars to drive (and the money to buy the gas), health, and even an amazing business. I don't know how I could be more blessed than I already am.......I just wish I could simplify things a little. Does that make any sense?

Well, thanks for listening to me ramble. I think I will ignore my "lists" today and see if I can't simplify my life - if even for a day.

I had to do this...I hope you all share a memory!!! Pretty please???

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Happy Remembering!

Lexy's last day of Kindergarten

Here are a couple of pictures from Lexy's last day of class. The first one is with her teacher, Mrs. Nesbit and the next one is with one of her best friends, Madeline.

Mom's Surprise 60th Birthday Party

May 31st - As I had previously noted in my blog we threw a surprise 60th birthday party for my mom. Her actual birthday was the 14th of May, but we wanted to wait until Julia was home from her mission. It was the perfect time because we also had Jonathan and Val here and some friends from Colorado (the Whitesides) that are partially responsible for my parents being members of the church. The best part of the surprise was that we had flown in one of my mom's best friends named Gail. It had been over 10 years since they had seen each other.

We had the party at our clubhouse. The plan was that we were all (our family and and the Whitesides) going to meet at my house so that we could go watch a movie. My dad called my cell phone just as my parents were leaving the house so that I would know that we had 20 minutes before they arrive. About 15 minutes later I called them and asked them if they could stop by the clubhouse to "pick up some papers for me from the association". This was the decoy to get mom into the clubhouse. Dad told her it was a box and it might be heavy so he should go in with her. When she came into the room we were all waiting and yelled "Surprise"

She was confused at first and then realized that this was all for her. She went around and hugged everyone in the room.

You can see in the first picture that we had a slide show ready to go. At this point her best friend Gail was hiding behind the door in the kitchen. We didn't want to make her stand there all day so we tried to have my mom sit down to watch the video as quickly as we could. The video was of pictures throughout her life. At the end we had pictures of friends including some of Gail from the 70's. One of the last slides contained a current picture of Gail waving with the caption, "I had really wanted to come for your surprise party............" - the next slide said, "so I did, turn around!" During the slide show we snuck Gail in so that she was standing behind mom. When my mom read the last slide she turned around and screamed "No, no way!" There wasn't a dry eye (at least from the women) in the room. It was awesome!

It is hard to see in this picture but Gail is standing on the left and my mom is bent over on the right.

Gail and my mom hugging.

We really had a great time. I have to thank all the people who kept this quiet so that it could actually be a surprise. Thanks everyone!

Welcome Home #2

Here are a couple of pictures from the "welcome home" in the Ft. Myers airport. We had actually talked to a few families on Tuesday and told them that we were going down to get her in Miami, but the Browne's and Patty Johnson still showed up to greet Julia.