September Birthdays

September is always a CRAZY BUSY month in our house. Mostly because when you count all the family birthdays, there are a total of 9 in this glorious month. I say glorious because MY birthday is in September! Oh yeah, so is Tim's.

For Mr Timmy's special day he wanted to go bowling. BOWLING! I hate bowling. It's dirty and germie and gross. Did you know that they have found poop in the finger holes in bowling balls? POOP I TELL YOU! Yucky! But, being the good little wife I am, I packed up my hand sanitizer and extra pair of socks, sucked it up and went. Other than the poop factor, we had a pretty good time. I wasn't even terrible at it. I actually got a strike once!

Now on to the real celebration. My birthday. I'm somewhat of a brat on my birthday, or really like the week/weekend of my birthday. I like things a certain way and to do things when I want to and on my birthday, I really don't budge. Like I said, I'm a brat. Lucky for me, Tim puts up with it and plays along quite well.

I wanted to do something as a family during the day before Tim took me out that night. So we decided to go to that park behind the WJ Courthouse. I had never taken Alyssa there and she loved exploring the place.

We happened to be there during their Health and Wellness fair. They had therapy dogs for people to pet. Lyss usually LOVE dogs, but the St Bernard the size of a horse scared her a little. They had the big bouncy slides and trampolines, which of course the little one insisted she play on. Then there was the helicopter. As soon as Lyss saw it she started signing helicopter just as frantically as she could. She was so excited it was hilarious. We took her over and she got to climb inside. What did she do in there? She found someones apple in a side basket and insisted it was hers.

Pretty fun birthday so far. But remember, the ENTIRE day is about me. Tim told me he had a "birthday surprise" for me and asked if I wanted it on my birthday or later on in my birthday weekend. Being that I like to extend the celebration as long as possible I told him to wait.

Later that night Tim took me to Olive Garden for dinner then we headed down to Thanksgiving Point for the Jon Schmidt concert. LOVE HIM!!! Loved the concert. It was outside in their amphitheater by a waterfall, which was fitting for him. How nice of Jon to put on a show just for my birthday!

After we got home and had the munchkin in bed, Tim asked if I wanted him to go rent a movie for me. I told him not to because the only thing I was in the mood to watch was Season 3 of Grey's Anatomy. Remember that "surprise?"
He bought it for me!!! I have the best husband in the whole world!

(ps, this is one of the many reasons my blog is behind. But seriously, can you blame me?)

Quote of Today

Organization is for people who are too lazy to look for things. A quote that is very fitting for... well... me.

What have I been doing?

Obviously not blogging! We have been way busy the last couple weeks, and I'd LOVE to tell you all about it. However, it it midnight, and I'm tired. So, instead I'll leave a couple of pictures to keep you somewhat interested and I will tell all about my busy September tomorrow.... Ok, so I wanted to post some pictures, but blogger won't let me. I guess he's tired too. So sorry. Have to wait. Bummer.

Desperate Housewives

I found this rather amusing.

Bitter-Sweet

Well, I guess it's official. I was released as the Primary President today. I thought I would be literally jumping for joy, and only part of me is. The part that has been relieved of such a daunting responsibility. But the other part, the part of me that LOVES to be with children is mourning a loss that I can't explain. I was called 2 years and 9 months ago to serve in primary. It was 2 days after we found out we wouldn't be able to adopt a beautiful one month old little girl. I was devastated, obviously. When Bishop Bowcut asked me that afternoon to be the Primary President, I immediately felt that the Lord knew me, knew my needs and was answering my prayers. After I said "Holy Crap!", I turned to Tim and said "All I wanted was ONE baby. Now I have like 500!" It was the best day. I had so many children that I was going to be able to get to know, and watch over and care for. It was the closest thing that I could have at that time to being a mom and I cherished it. I fell in love with those kids. The ones who licked that backs of their chairs. The ones who sang a beautiful vibrato to every song. The ones who whispered and giggled to each other. The ones who could put their tongues up their noses, very talented. The ones who loved to volunteer to pray. The ones who you had to coerce to participate. The shy ones. The boisterous ones. I love them all. I just got a call from little Rylee's dad. He had a story he wanted to share with me. He said they were enjoying some family time and noticed Rylee crying. When they asked her what was wrong she said "I found out today that one of my primary teachers isn't going to be there anymore." They asked her about the teachers that teach her class and she said "No, Cassie!" Thank you to the Mackey's for sharing that with me. I'm going to miss her too! I'm going to miss each and every one of those precious little ones. They made me laugh and cry all in the same day. Thank you to their parents for sharing them with me.

My Dad Rocks

Today is my dad's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! My dad is awesome. Let me tell you some reasons why.

When I was in high school my dad was a body builder. He was HUGE! Big ole' tough muscles! On the rare occasion that I had a date, he would often "conveniently" be lifting weights in the garage. With the door open, mind you. One time this boy came over and drove past my house like 4 times. I finally went out and flagged him down. He said he was afraid to come to the door. Dad sure did a good job of weeding that one out!

Dad took me skiing. Mom came too, but while Mom was leisurely snow plowing her way back and forth across the mountain, dad was taking me through the trees and off the jumps. He gave me guts! He's a 4-wheeling maniac too. When you get on the back of an atv with my dad, hang on tight. You're about to go for a ride.

My dad drives a Harley. He even bought a book for Alyssa, "Why Grandpa Rides a Harley." Riding a Harley is, after all, a very peaceful experience. Right Dad? Kind of like saying a prayer?

My dad is an awesome grandpa. He gives Alyssa airplane rides and tickles her face with his goatee. She thinks it's just great. When he puts her down she goes over to him, and says "more? more? peas?" Of course, he can't tell her no, so up she goes again.

My dad does cool stuff on the computer. He even swapped tricks with us at our photog class. He was the only dude there, and he didn't even mind too much. He's restored old pictures that my grandpa had and touched up pics of my little bro that's made him look like quite the stud. (Wink, wink, Mike.)

My dad saved me from a massive rodent (or bird) trapped in my dryer. Tim the turd wouldn't come home from the Turkey Bowl to save me, so I called my daddy. He came up, unleashed the ravenous beast and saved my life.

My dad introduced me to Roy D Mercer. Enough said there.

Last year for Christmas, my dad gave me the best gift ever. He took a TON of pictures that we had taken over first year we had Alyssa and made a DVD for me. He put the best music to it ever. Every time I watch it, it makes me cry. I love it!

I love you dad. Have a Happy Birthday!

8 Things About Me?

You gotta love the game of Tag, right? I am it, and YOU are about learn 8 new fun and exciting things about ME! #1 - I can play the piano upside down. Nothing spectacular, mind you, just Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but I can do it. I don't remember how it came about that I had this hidden talent, but it's been used and abused many times. #2 - I absolutely can NOT stand it when people scrape their plate with a fork or knife while they are trying to cut their food. Good grief! When you've cut through it, YOU'VE CUT THROUGH IT!!! Why are you trying to saw the plate in half too? Can't stand it. #3 - While I'm thinking about food, because I'm starving, I also can't stand loud chewers. Tim is the WORST! I have to turn up the tv so I can't hear his jaw popping and his teeth smackin' together. (Ha, turn up the tv, can you guess how often we eat at the table?) #4 - I LOVE the Sizzler! I always get their Malibu Chicken and Salad Bar. But my favorite part(s)? The dipping sauce, the cheesy toast (how do they only toast one side?), and their Ice Cream Bar. Love it! Don't know why, I just do. #5 - I used to Clog. I still remember a lot of the dances we did too! Every now and then I treat Tim to a jig down clogger lane. He is so lucky! #6 - I say dumb things. All the time. Things that you would not believe have actually come out of my mouth. The type of things that people make into blonde jokes. The thing is, I'm not dumb! I like to think of myself as somewhat intelligent even. But, every now and then I will see a sign for a blind sale and ask "What's a blind sale? Is it a sale for blind people?" Yup, it happened. #7 - I have a geographic tongue. I get groovy little patterns on it that change all the time. One time it looked like there was a smiley face on my tongue. #8 - I've had a wart on my elbow for about 5 years now. And oh the drama about trying to get rid of it. I tried duct tape, vinegar, having it burned off at the doc, burning it off at home, all the silly little home remedies shy of rubbing raw bacon on my elbow and burying it in the backyard and waiting for it to decompose. Then my mom rubbed some prescription on it that she had for my brother. Turned out it was liquid poison ivy, I got a staff infection, broke out in hives, figured out I was allergic to Rocefin, my forearm swelled up like Pop-Eye, had to get a shot in my butt, and cried a lot. Then the damn thing came back. We're good friends now. Now I would like to learn 8 new fun and exciting things about.... Renee Leslie Sam