Every Day's an Adventure

If you know my dad at all you know all about this 'thing' he does. He does it every time - without fail... You say, "Hi! How are you today?" and he says, "Every day's an adventure!" Really. Every time. It's actually quite endearing.


Today Bryan & I had an adventure of the boring and frustrating kind.


Back in February we were planning to fly to Utah to attend Bryan's parent's mission farewell. We went to a Boy Scout spaghetti dinner/silent auction and bid on 2 Southwest roundtrip tickets to the destination of your choice. Obviously we won the tickets. Then we discovered that the Boyer's wanted the girls to come too. (Of course they did - who wouldn't want to see those two cuties???) So we ended up driving the whirlwind trek to Utah in March and ended up with 2 unused tickets to anywhere we wanted.

Bryan and I haven't been on a vacation alone together since before Cara was one. I know. It's sad. So after much thought and debate, we decided on San Diego. We made arrangements for the girls to split our time away with Suzy & Courtney (thanks you two!), packed our bags and planned a VACATION!

Our flight was scheduled to depart at 8:30 am and we had to be to Dallas by 7 which means leaving the house by 6:15 which means waking up at 5:30... So we had the girls spend the night with Suzy even though we were still in town the night before we left.

That night we were treated to a ginormous thunderstorm complete with tornado warnings and massive lightning. When we left for the airport the roads were clear and the rain had stopped - apparently only momentarily. We got to the airport and found our flight was delayed and then eventually cancelled because the storm picked up again quickly and the plane from Austin that we were getting on couldn't land. They had to go back to Austin! What? It was, it seemed, the storm of the century.

To make a LONG story short we had to trade out our tickets twice and finally got on a plane at 2:20 to Albuqureque, NM where we found ourselves delayed again!!! We left there at 7 pm and suffered through young babies whose poor ears wouldn't pop and two drunk guys on the plane who had foul mouths and dirty minds. Fifteen hours later we arrived in San Diego. Phew!

Picked up our rental car and a Garmin (GPS is a beautiful thing!) and checked into the gorgeous Westgate hotel. The lobby smells like roses and is a re-creation of one of the anterooms in the palace of Versailles. It's right downtown San Diego in the Gaslamp Quarter and boasts such former guests as Sean Connery, Katherine Hepburn, Robin Williams and Richard Simmons (ha!).

When we got to the room and opened our suitcases we discovered that they were soaked through! Apparently our luggage sat outside in the rain the whole morning in Dallas Love Field. Really? They couldn't bring it in? Or cover it? I mean SOAKED. Our room looks like a laundry mat exploded when we finally had everything laid out to dry... and we lost a whole day of plans.

But, we made it. We're here and we're together. That's really all that matters.

Today. . . . .

Today. . . . . I am copying Lynne's blog.

Today. . . . . I actually showered before Bryan. He's usually the first one up and smelling fresh and clean whilst I stumble around bleary-eyed trying to get the children ready for school before I take care of myself...

Today. . . . . As I was dropping Jordyn off for her ride to Pre-K she did the whole puff-your-cheeks-out-and-swallow-a-gag-like-you're-gonna-puke thing. In someone else's car. I panicked, jerked her out quickly, took her to my school where I called Bryan to pick her up and stay home with her (I'm out of sick days...). The doctor says it's a virus. Great.

Today. . . . . I wished Jordyn had strep - for the sole reason that it can be treated with antibiotics and be a memory quicker than quick.

Today. . . . . I edited 45 biography/research papers. Ask me anything you want about Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, or Eleanor Roosevelt. **Note to self - next year no multiple biographies allowed - first come, first served...**

Today. . . . . I intercepted no less than 5 notes - one of which would make a sailor blush scarlet - and worried more than ever about the world and what's happening around us.

Today. . . . . I talked to Cara about the difference between the "New Testament" the Gideon's handed out at school and the one we use at home. Why do we need to dumb down God's word? We don't. I love that girl.

Today. . . . . I finalized plans for Enrichment Night next Tuesday. Oh, you didn't know I was released as Primary President last month? Hmm... Could it be because I haven't blogged in over a month? Yes, Enrichment Leader now...

Today. . . . . I played Mafia Wars on Facebook. It's slightly obsessive, I know. Blame my sister, Alison.

Today. . . . . I am thankful for my friends whose blogs I still stalk every day. Even though I might not leave a comment - they are read, they make me smile and I feel connected to you all from my peeps close by to those hundreds of miles away. Thanks.

Lastly, this horribly grainy picture taken at the end of "Today" is for Samantha. Love you!

It's Bluebonnet time in Texas!

If you're from the great Lonestar State you know what I'm talking about.

It's the annual search for the best spot to take your children's picture surrounded by the state flower, the bluebonnet! Seeing vanloads of people stopping on the side of the highway to snap photos is a common occurrence and this year was no different.

Suzy and I decided to try our luck yesterday since it was a school holiday and she's never taken bluebonnet pics (which very well could be illegal around here...).

We found a great spot off Spur 408 and Grady Niblo which allowed us to park under the overpass and shoot pictures somewhat below the highway which ended up being much safer! :) It was a little too windy and was kinda chilly but most of the pictures turned out super cute.

Dancing Fever

Our school district started to participate in the Dancing Classrooms program last year. Every elementary school's fifth grade class gets to have 10 weeks of professional dance lessons during their PE time at school. You might have heard of Dancing Classrooms from recent movies like "Take the Lead" with Antonio Banderas.

It's a good thing.

It has been so fun to watch the students go from "I don't want to dance at school," and barely willing to touch a member of the opposite sex to every one of the kids wanting to be on the special dance team made up of twelve students who represent the school at competitions!

Cara has really enjoyed learning all of these dances. The kids learn the Merengue, the Waltz, the Swing, the Tango, the Rhumba, the Fox Trot, a Heel-Toe Polka and the Cupid Shuffle. The culminating event for the 5th graders is a performance for the school during the day and an evening performance for parents which was tonight.

The gym has horrible lighting so the pictures aren't that great... Here's Cara introducing the Merengue where "the hardest part is keeping the party in the 'basement' and the 'upstairs' still." Ha!

Dancing the Fox Trot with Mikko who looks to be counting the steps. :)And here she is dancing the Tango with Michael. What a fun night!

If I can figure out how to upload video to the blog I'll add it soon!

Cough, cough, hack, hack, wheeze, wheeze

Wondering where I've been lately??

Me, too.

It's not pretty, folks. I've been battling what was diagnosed as bronchitis and then turned into pnuemonia. It knocked me down - hard. Ask the girls. Thank goodness for Bryan. Seriously. I'm slowly getting better. The cough is the worst because I cough so much it gives me a huge headache. By the end of the day I'm done.

I'll try to post soon.

Pajamagram Plug

I am a serious pajama girl. If I could live my whole life in pajamas I would give it major consideration... I'm not sure pajamas in church would go over well.

So, Bryan got me a pair of pajamas for Christmas. He ordered them online from a website called Pajamagram and, bless his heart, he thought I would enjoy this particular footed pair.

I might actually like them - if I were 50 pounds lighter and looked like this jammy model... As it is, I tried them on and they left nothing to the imagination. Every lump and bulge said, "Hello!" to everyone in the room and the fanny flap (that, as a bonus, can be embroidered with your name) wasn't very easy to manage.

Because he is a good man, Bryan encouraged me to find a replacement pair of pajamas. Pajamagram has a great return policy and so after I checked out the website and all they had to offer, I exchanged them for this pair.

This is more like it. They are SOOOOO comfy cozy. The fleece is soft and snuggly and the ribbon trim around the ankles, wrists and neckline reminds me of my baby blanket.

In a word: Yummy!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow...

I have a love/hate relationship with my girl's hair.

I love it when it's clean and fabulous-smelling. I love it when they let me actually "do"it. On the other hand, I hate it when it already looks ratty five minutes after I just "did" it. I hate it when it's so long it becomes unmanageable. A certain 10-year-old I know still needs help washing it and only puts conditioner in it under death threats.

Jordyn has had issues growing hair, period. She's had exactly two trims in her five years on the planet so far. She's been begging for a hair cut for a LONG time now and Cara finally consented to a hair cut for herself. So, despite just getting over a stomach bug that forced me to leave school early on Friday (that's another story... I'm just glad I didn't hurl in front of my students... can you imagine the mental scarring that could've inflicted??) we set off to the magical land of Kool Kuts for Kids.

Jordyn's before. A windy afternoon...
Cara's before.

That's some long hair!

We went at the best possible time because the girls got right into the chairs and it seemed like people just streamed in behind us. Jordyn entertained her self by watching Barbie's Prince & the Pauper and Cara got to play Star Wars Lego on whatever game system they have there.

Without further delay, the finished products...

Jordyn's after. A sleepy smile...

Cara's after!!

Isn't that adorable?! They cut off 12 inches of hair that Cara is going to donate to Locks of Love. She looks so grown up! It's crazy to me how time is flying so quickly. I was pleasantly surprised that Cara loves her new 'do. So far there is no haircut remorse and I hope it stays that way. ♥