FRIDAY FIELD TRIP

I'm telling you: The fun just NEVER ends around here!

Last Friday, I went on an extremely glamorous field trip.

Parker stayed home from school sick and I wasn't feeling so hot myself.

I had scheduled a doctor's appointment for a physical that afternoon and figured we would keep the appointment.

We just changed the "well baby" visit into a "sick baby" visit.

Yes, I know he is 14 but that is still a BABY in my mind.

And it was just like old times!
We got the exam room with colorful fish and crabs and seahorses painted all over it.

Just to relive, his childhood, he asked me to read him a book while we were waiting for the doctor. In doctor's office tradition, we read something by Dr. Suess.

They didn't measure his head circumference, but they did check all of his other vitals.

Tiny Baby is..................tiny.

At 4'11" and 91 pounds, he's in the 5% for weight and the >5% for height.

Like we needed a chart to tell us that.

Amazingly, this was the first visit I didn't have to prep my kids with the "answers." He a) told the truth and b) passed.

"So...do you eat a variety of foods including vegetables and fruits? What about meat?"

Does eating a chicken breast with sushi and a salad immediately after school count? I don't know where the two popsicles fit but he did eat the official dinner of pasta with red sauce and steamed broccoli and zuchinni too..........before the bowl of ice cream.

Anyway -

"Food?" Check

"Sleep habits?" Check (kinda - she didn't ask how much sleep and we didn't tell)

"Exercise?" 15 hours of lacrosse a week, plus random running around. Check

"Do you wear your seat belt?" Check

"Do you have good friends? Do they smoke or drink?" Check - I mean Check they don't.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" NO! right answer! Check! That alleviates going down a whole other line of questions!!!!!

I did allow him a small sliver of dignity - barely.

I left during the "private" part of the exam.

I was feeling generous.

Evidently - everything is Check.

Oh and he's recovered (mostly) from the random crud he had.

MINI/MIGHTY MIRACLES

When I am looking, I see the Lord’s hand in my life every single day.

The key is not whether He is participating but whether I am LOOKING/paying attention. I see the tender mercies of the Lord, small miracles and even big miracles in my life and the lives of those around me ALL THE TIME.

Sunday, we attended the Vail Branch. There is a miracle right there! It’s a relatively new branch. We have been visiting Beaver Creek for more than 10 years and the closest church is the Frisco Branch turned Ward about 25 minutes away. Brian has been visiting that branch for nearly 30 years.

But now, Vail has its own branch right in Avon. (For those of you who are unfamiliar with these towns, they are all little ski towns 2 hours outside of Denver).

We went to the Vail Branch for the first time this weekend. The building is BEAUTIFUL.
We were greeted by the missionaries. The chapel was packed. About 75% of the congregation was visiting.

The opening song and the opening prayer were in Spanish. One Sacramental prayer was in English and the other was in Spanish. People bore there testimony in English or Spanish and sometimes in both. The missionaries translated the Spanish into English and the English in Spanish.

It was wonderful. It was church. The miracle is 1) the people in that area have their very own branch to attend 2) the people get to attend a meeting in their own language 3) the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the same wherever you attend and 4) the Spirit speaks the same language to everyone.

It was beautiful!

Don't HATE!

It's everyone's favorite day- RANDOM THOUGHT TUESDAY with Keely at The Unmom! When you read about my exciting life, you're going to be terrribly jealous! Try not to HATE me! This weekend, Garrett had 48 consecutive hours off of work. (You can be jealous of him!)
So we decided to head for the hills.

Never mind that most of us were feeling like DEATH! Parker stayed home from school sick on Friday. He and I sat on the couch all day and argued over who felt well enough to go fetch a DVD for us to watch. I won – he had to go get the DVD. I lost – he brought back Tom & Jerry.

Anyway, we figured a change of couches would be good for all of us. We hung out in the condo and played a couple of games, watched TV and just vegged out. The boys went in the hot tub while we lounged around the firepit. We did get in a round of mini golf and managed to down three plates of the famous Blue Moose Cheese Fries.

Are you jealous yet?

I’m doing some major shopping today! Yep, I’m dropping big coin. I’m getting FOUR NEW TIRES for my car. I can hardly wait!!!!! And if that’s not exciting enough, we’re taking Garrett’s car in for new tires too! WooHoo! We’re going to look so cute and hip and stylin with our new tires! Can’t think of anything more fun to purchase. I think I’m going to go for………….black.

You’re jealous! Admit it! I just heard on the morning news that we're (the U.S.) is #2! Switzerland is #1 now because of our recent economic troubles. I want to be #1! I'm officially jealous of Switzerland and their numbered bank accounts, chocolate, time pieces and their #1 status. Give us back our #1!

Are you/your kids watching President Obama’s speech? Whether you chose to “let” your kids watch or not, consider this: It is a sad, sad day when Americans refuse to allow their children to hear the President speak. Back in the day before the integrity of the office was destroyed (I’ll let you decide EXACTLY when that happened, President of the United States was a revered position and demanded the utmost respect. Boys and girls went to bed at night dreaming of someday being the President of the world’s most powerful country. Regardless of politics, all Americans at least had respect for the office. What happened? Don’t answer that!

Guess what I got in the mail Friday?
GOLD! Pure Gold!
Okay, it came in the form of a photo card.
Trammell sent home his photo card with 416 pictures of Cambodia.
He had given us strict instructions NOT to put it in our computer, because evidently it’s been in several virus infected computers all over Cambodia internet cafes.
I did what any excited and responsible person would do – I put it in Costco’s computer.
It only took 40 minutes to burn two DVD’s.

Now you are jealous!!!!

FRIDAY FIELD TRIP

Last Friday, Margaret, her beautiful daughter, Laura and I went on a little excursion.
We visited FOUR cupcake stores.
On purpose.

Posh Pastries in Parker

I thought I would write a review of our adventures,
But to be honest, even thinking the word “C.U.P.C.A.K.E” makes me a little sick to my stomach.
Can you believe it?
I OD’ed on cupcakes.
Is that possible?

I only ate ½ of three cupcakes.
By the time we reached the fourth store, I could only purchase some to take home to the boys……….who never touched them.
What is wrong with my kids?

Don’t answer that! That is a whole different post.

I was going to review each store, its décor, ambience, cuteness, flavors, frosting, cake density. But really? Who cares?

So I’ll just show you a few pictures.

Mulberry's on Colfax (skip it - shortening frosting)

And my only advice- cupcakes aren’t meant to be analyzed.
Who cares if it’s made with vanilla bean or vanilla extract?
Who cares if it’s made from scratch or from a mix?
Okay buttercream should be made from BUTTER and not shortening….
But just eat the dang cupcake and enjoy it!

The Shoppe - the BEST!

Mini Red-Velvet from The Shoppe - or what was left.

I couldn't even wait until we got to the car.

If you want to read a real review about the flavors and frostings of these cupcake shops, go see Facts From a Fact Woman for......the facts!

I sure hope I feel up to indugling in cupcakes again soon!

Lovely Confections on Colfax - good

Best sign ever!

UNSOLICITED ADVICE

It's Thursday! Yea! It's almost the weekend!
But first, we are going to play along with Kat at http://mamakatslosinit.blogspot.com/

It's time for Writer's Workshop.
Go look at the prompts.

I chose: # 5 -Share some ADVICE with someone who you think needs it.

We’re going to Back to School Night at the High School tonight.
Our high school is the best! Seriously! It ROCKS.
But while the teachers have a little advice for us about how we can help our students succeed this year, I have a little advice for some of them as well……….

Dear Security Guard –
You are white.
You are 30 something.
You are not black.
You are not 17.

Quit trying to kiss up to the very thugs you are supposed to be busting.
Did you really just go up to one of the football players and say, “Come on Jameel and let’s find your daddy and see if he’ll give me some money for being his baby’s mama?”


Dear AP Lit Teacher –
I like you.
You’re a really good teacher.

Quite hassling me to put my kid in your class.
Boy #2 passed AP Lang and the college he is going to won’t give him anymore English credit. So he really doesn’t need the brain damage of ANOTHER AP class.

I know! I know!
You went to the National AP Conference this summer (sorry your summer sucked.)
And they have PROOF that seniors who don’t take a billion AP classes don’t do as well in college.

That explains why Boy#1 only got a 3.9 his freshman year.


Dear AP Lang Teacher –
I don’t like you.
Yeah my boys both did well on the AP test.
I still don’t like you.

You’re married.
Flirting with high schoolers and asking teenage girls about what they do with their boyfriends has NOTHING to do with English.
Stick to the subject.


Dear Assistant Principal –
Fire the BAD teacher already.
How many letters do you need in THAT file?
The fact that 45 parents called you and removed their kids from her class BEFORE school started doesn’t say enough?


Dear Spanish Teacher –
I need you to teach my child SPANISH!
That is why he is in your class.

DO NOT tell my kid to watch Al Gore’s movie or “Who Killed the Electric Car” for extra credit (unless you want them to watch it in Spanish).

If you would like to discuss politics everyday,
go teach Political Science.
Your a Spanish teacher.
Teach Spanish.

Well, hopefully everyone will get my notes and we'll have a super year!

WHAT? NO UFC?
The Bonehead Brothers Improvise!

I went down to the basement one morning last week and saw these little pets on the counter.

Me: “Where did these come from?”

Tyler: “Me and Garrett went to the pet store and got betas so we could watch them fight...............
And they’re stupid.
They’re just swimming around.”

No blood and gore for us this weekend!
(They didn’t even buy beta food!?!)

SICK and TIRED!

It's RANDOM THOUGHT TUESDAY with Keely at theunmom.com

It's my favorite day........except that I am so tired, I can hardly see straight!

*I don’t know why, but we’re all exhausted around here.

We’re all trying to adjust to the back to school schedule of getting up at 5ish. It’s really not working so well. And now….Garrett is sick!

He has this obnoxious dry cough and a headache. I think he is achy too. I don’t know if he has a fever. Because I didn't "feel his forehead." That's how we take our temperatures around here.

Hey! Maybe he has Swine Flu.

*Swine Flu – I’m not calling it the H1N1 flu.

That’s a stupid name! I don’t care if the pork industry has asked us not to call it that. They aren’t the boss of me! Since when does the pork industry rule the world? I know, I know. They are afraid that we’ll all freak out and stop buying pork products. I promise! The Swine Flu isn’t going to keep me from eating bacon every day!

*But there is one thing that I will not eat for awhile.

You will NOT believe this.

What have I talked about and talked about the whole summer?

Well, I went on a little excursion and OD’ed. (I’ll tell you more about the excursion on Friday).

But get ready – I don’t want to SEE another CUPCAKE for awhile. Just saying the word…..C.U.P.C.A.K.E makes me feel sick to my stomach. Can you believe I feel that way? I must have the sugar flu!

*Is it bad that we’re only 6 days into school and I am SICK of making lunches? Maybe I have the lunch flu?

*Is it bad that we’re only 6 days into school and I am SICK of school? Maybe I have a rare autumnal form of Spring Fever.

And you know what? I'm so tired that I'm sick of Random! I can't even be random!

Go get your random on!