New Years & The Earl Family Reunion

This is matt and his cousins from the reunion (no spouses or kids)

This year was our family's turn to host the Earl reunion.  It was the week of New Year's and we kicked it off with a big new years eve party at the church.  We had rooms with toys and dress up and games for the kids, in the over flow we set up our Rock Band game and Barry brought their new wii.  We had lots of food, kiddos sleeping in pack n' plays in classrooms and a talent show, that was lots of fun.  At 11pm (all the parents voted not to wait until midnight) we did a countdown and opened the stagae curtains and pushed TONS of balloons out into the gym and the kids had mardi gras beads and noise makers and we yelled "Happy New Year", then we got to clean up and head home.

It was a pretty fun night and Lily stayed awake the whole time!  I was SO suprised!  Contrarily, Izzie slept the whole time (from about 6:30 pm on), so that was nice!  Matt and I played our guitars and sang "lucky" by Jason Mraz and Colby Callet (I don't remember how to spell her name??), Lily sang the 'wise man' song, and wanted to sing another, but we cut her off. I wan't sure how she would do because sometimes she is pretty shy, but she totally got up there and sang out right into the mike and didn't want to get off stage.  She couldn't be our kid, could she??  Anyway, she did great, and I think that she was inspired by her cousin Langley who is 3.  She got up before us and sang "popular" along with the wicked sound track, she knows all the words and is a bit of a ham, so it was hilarious.  she stole the show.

Langley, Tom & LilyMatt & Me singing "Lucky"

The next day we hung out at matt's parent's casa with all the relatives, well really I ended up with all the boys (mostly inlaws) and Matt watching the Oregon vs Ohio State game.  We are big oregon fans, so it was a bit of a devastating loss for us.  One of Matt's cousin's family is living in Ohio right now, so they were happy...grumble, grumble. Anyway, we ended up watching Football for alot of the time instead of socializing, but we had a good time.

Saturday morning was the 'family olymipics', which I was solely responsible for.  They turned out great, and I am SO glad, cause you just never know how those kinds of things will go.  We played the spoon game, had a funny relay race where you had to pull out a funny thing to do beofre you could run back or else a fun way to go back, did a board walk, classic 3 legged race (which matt and I TOTALLY would have won had we not been DQ'ed!) and then parent/child blindfolded pudding feeding.  Everybody was great sports and participated and said nice things to me about it being fun, so I was really happy with it.  I made gold medals for everyone and my mother-in-law bought a big bag of candy to hand out afterwards.

Later that day most of the guys went golfing and us girls sat around and gabbed for several hours, it was lots of fun.  That night was a girls dinner, since the guys went golfing, but I skipped it because I am lame.  No...Well...ok, yes.  But I was really worn out and the boys didn't get back from golfing until 7, which is when the girls normally go to bed and we had to take them home and bathe them and I still had all my Primary stuff to prepare for the next day, plus I was really tired and worn out from setting up/running/stressing out over/cleaning up the family olympic stuff.  Anyway, maybe next reunion when I am not in charge of anything I'll go.

But hey, I stayed and visited with all the people ALL DAY when matt was golfing.  I didn't go home at all, which is huge for me.  I don't come from a big happy/loud family that gets together alot [they are loud, just not happy or at least not big] :) and it has taken me a long time to get comfy with Matt's big family situation. I LOVE them, but lets face it, it is kind of intimidating to be left alone with them with no spouse as a buffer :)  They are a big crowd who all know each other really well, and I tend to get quiet and just kind of shut down when faced with big groups of people (I am much better in small groups).  But I am finally pretty comfortable with all of Matt's family.  I have always really loved them and appreciated them, but like I said the first 5 years I was a little scared of them.  I guess that I am just too used to dysfunction :)

Anyway, in general it was the most comfortable I have been at an Earl family reunion yet.  I had a great time and LOVED getting to know people more.  I am actually really looking forward to the 2011 reunion in UT.

As soon as the reunion was over I got the stomach flu.  Yuck.  Which I then gave to Matt and Lily.  Non-stop puking for 2 days followed by intermitten puking as you clean up your 2 years old vomit (including having to wash it out of her hair) = MISERY.  Right afterwards I got a sore throat, which I was hoping was just from the ridiculous amounts of throwing up that had been happening (I still don't know where it all came from) but then it turned into a full blown cold just in time for Izzie's birthday party.  Which is what my next post will catch up on.  Not the cold.  the birthday party.  and maybe the cold.  a little.  but mostly party.  Stick around folks, cake covered 1 year old baby pics coming soon!

Christmas

Ok, so I am a little overwhelmed at the fact that I haven't blogged in over a month and during that time we had Christmas, new years, a family reunion, Izzie's first birthday (I know I can't believe she is one!) Matt started school full time, and switched to a full time night shift schedule so he is crazy busy, Matt Lily and I got the stomach flu following which all of us (and Isabel) got colds.  So yeah.  Lots to blog about.  And I haven't posted pics in over 2 months, and when I went to download pics off my camera, ther were hundreds.  Over 300 pics to sift through with all the family stuff that has been going on.  So right now I am going to post on Nov-Christmas, then I'll do a new post for the family reunion, then a new one for Izzie's birthday, etc.

Anyway, we had a great Christmas.  I still wasn't feeling great with what they now believe was probably severe Labrythitis (the vertigo/dizziness), which I am FINALLY better from!  I even started driving again 2 weeks ago, which I hadn't been able to do for almost 2 months, so it is great to be feeling mostly normal again!

Anyway, back to topic!  CHRISTMAS!  Matt had to work on Christmas day so we had Christmas on Christmas Eve (you can do that when your kids are still so little), and since it was Christmas Eve and not Christmas (Santa's sleigh only works on Christmas), Santa was Awesome and gave my mom (who has been one of Santa's official helpers as long as I can remember) all the girl's stocking stuff.  So she came down on the 23rd and brought her gifts for the girls and also all the stocking stuff from Sants, which was SUPER wonderful of her since I was still feeling bad and couldn't drive and had done NO shopping, except for buying a couple DVD's online. I got the girls a movie each and Matt and I got movies for each other.  The rest of our christmas money went to buying a new laptop for Matt for school.  Wonderfully my fabulous sister-in-law Heather gave us a TON of toys that her family had outgrown (she has 4 kids and her youngest is 1 year older than Lily) that were perfect for our kids.  She gave them to us a couple weeks before Christmas, she was purging in order to make room for new Christmas stuff.  So we wrapped all of that stuff up and gave it to the girls for Christmas and they LOVED it.  It was a great morning we had so much fun!

this is lily plaing with some bath soap/paint from santa. it was a big hit!

That night we had a family dinner at Matt's parents.  It was SO much fun!  It was everyone else's Christmas eve and we had a delicious dinner followed by cookie decorating for the kids to decorate for santa.  The kids also acted out the nativity while Boopah read the Christmas story.

One hilarious part of the night was the gift that we got from Matt's brother Barry and his wife Janeal.  Every year we exchange gift witht them (Matt's sisters exchange and he and his brother exchange), anyway we usually do movies or something for each other, but this year we hadn't really told them what we were interested in (we usually give them a list of movies we would like and they pick one), so when they brought out our gift we had NO idea what it could be.  It was huge.  And they said they were so excited to watch us open it.  They made us sit on the couch in front of everyone and they stood right in front of us with the camera while we opend it.  When we were handed the gift it was clear that it was some kind of art in a big frame.  It felt very sturdy and we had no idea what it could be. Matt's brother warned us that it was mostly for matt in a seriosu voice.

Then we ripped it open.

And laughed.

It was pretty funny.

It was this.

(our real gift-a video game-was taped to the back)

Barry said he took it out from under a teenage girl who was standing oogling it and probably actually really wanted it.  It was so random and the fact that something like this actually exsists is pretty great.  I think I'll bring it to the next white elephant party we go to!  Here I am being obsessed with Edward.

One of the funniest parts was that after we opened it and first turned it around to show everyone what it was Lily was right by it and stroked his face very gently and said, "Its a little boy. He's beautiful" in an awed voice.  It was pretty funny.  She is saying the funniest things all the time and I am LOVING the almost 3 year old faze!

Now the only question is, what do we get for them in return next year?

On Christmas Day I rode over with my in laws (at 7am) to Heather and Tom's house.  We had breakfast with them (waffles and bacon and eggs and OJ and eggnog..pretty amazing.  thanks guys) and then watched them open their gifts, which Lily was really great about.  I was a little worried how she would do watching and not having anything to open, but I reminded her that she already opened her presents yesterday and we brought the puppy "goldie" that Santa gave her as a reminder of her new toys.  She did pretty well.   Though I did feel a little awkward.  (side note: lily LOVES that puppy.  almost as much as her woobie. seriously alot.) Then Nana & Boopah (matt's parents) left and I satayed and spent the day with Heather and Tom's family.  It was alot of fun and nice to just kick back and relax.  And it ws great of H & T to invite me out and let me invade their family Christmas.  That night after Matt got off work he came over and we sent the boys out to get some Jack in the Box (a yummy christmas dinner for us grown ups :) and then we stayed up too late and watched 2 movies "just friends" which H&T hadn't seen and "startrek" which matt and I hadn't seen.  It was Awesome!  We love those guys and miss living close to them in the East valley where we got to see them alot more often.

Tommy also randomly decided to give Matt a gift (even though we don't usually exchange with them...SUPRISE!) and it was...

GOLF CLUBS!  Can you believe that!  What a nice gift!  And some galf balls and a cleaner brush.  It was so crazy!  Tommy got new ones and decided to give Matt his old ones (which he probably could have sold, so thanks for thinking of us!)  He even tied a bow on the clubs for Matt (tom's a man's man, so i was impressed).  Anyway, now Matt is hooked on golfing and I am just sad that he won't have more free time in the next year to go.  And I am happy that it is much cheaper/less time consuming to go to the driving range and practice and that he won't be paying for full out golfing very often this year! 

During our family reunion 5 of the guys went golfing and I was glad that matt got to go and do boy stuff and that he has a new hobby.  Also, my dad and my papa both golfed alot.  I remember my papa watching golf on TV all the time and going out golfing.  He loved it and I always wanted to learn how.  I have been to the driving range but never been actually golfing (unless you count mini), so I am excited that Matt is getting into it so that he can then teach me and it can be a fun outdoor activity for us in the future!  :)

My brother Charlie came and visited us several times during Christmas Break, it was great to hang out with him and he is always so sweet to drive over here (it's like 40 minutes people) a few times every months and be the girls' play slave.  Seriously he indulges them way too much, but they sure love him!  And after all what are uncles for?!

Anyway, that was Christmas.  We definetly felt the spirit of Christ this year, even if we didn't do alot of our traditional Christmas things, due to me being sick.  We feel SO blessed to have such wonderful & generous friends and family. We love you guys!

Are you afraid of scary stories?

Because this is one.

At least for me it is. I haven't posted in a while, and this will be brief (jenn style brief..which really isn't that brief), because just looking back and forth from the keyboard to the screen is making me want to puke (sorry for the blunt-ness of that statement).

Last month in the week before thanksgiving, i woke up and found that I couldn't turn my head without experiencing the most violent vertigo imaginable. Literally. I don't think you can imagine a more violent spinning, no rollercoaster or nasa simulator could compare. I was holding on for dear life, it was several minutes before I could let go of the sheets with one hand in order to grope the area next to me deperatley for Matt to wake him and tell him what I was experiencing. Everything was spinning/rolling with such force that I couldn't hold up my head. Really all I could do was vomit, and I couldn't even lift my head to do that. Yeah. Gross.

Since then I have been to the dr. several times. After the first time I saw them and the meds they gave me did nothing to improve my condition they sent me to St. Joseph's Hospital (the Dr.'s office I see is on the campus of St. Joe's and my doc is an Attending there), so that I could get a bunch of tests done "in-patient", so that we could get results quicker, and they could take care of me easier, etc. [because at this point matt was picking me up and carrying me to the bathroom twice a day while I tried (sometimes successfully) not to throw up or pass out].

Anyway, I came home from the hospital in the early hours on Thanksgiving, so we had a pretty pitiful holiday. My dear husband has been AMAZING in caring for me and the girls, since I have been 100% useless. He took the first week off work, and after that my wonderful in-laws let me move in with them so that my incredible mother in law could take care of me and the girls.

I am getting better and starting to be home on my own now, though I am pretty hopped up on meds and so I can't drive, etc. But atleast I can walk now. Being on the computer and watching TV is something I can do now, but typing is alot harder, so if I haven't answered your emails/facebooks personally--that is why. I can point and click, but the vision changes from keyboard to screen is too much for me still.

In general, this past month has been horrifying for me. The worst physical experience I have ever had. And the getting better process is very slow for me, which is incredibly frustrating-as patience is one of the many virtures that I desperately lack. I have missed alot of commitments, some small and some heartbreakingly big, due to this ridiculousness. It doesn't usually take normal people this long to recover from positional vertigo, but the Dr's said that I have the worst case they have ever seen (which justifies me, but is also frustrating). And if you are thinking "Oh, I know someone who had that, I bet I could tell you what to do to make you feel better". Thanks. That really is sweet of you. But honestly, I was at St. Joe's, home of Barrow's Neurological Institute, when i had my neuro consult, and Barrow's is basically the best neuro place in the country, so I feel pretty confident in the quality of care I am recieving. I only say this because I have had dozens of people/relatives say "have you tried this'? of "you should call this guy", which is all coming from a good place, and I appreciate that those people love me and only want me to feel better but...

Anyway, things are on there way up and I just can't wait until I can get of these drugs that make my days pass in a blur and have a day where I don't feel like puking without popping pills.

Oh, and did I mention that my mother in law (seriously LOVE her SO much) took SUCH good care of me that I gained 5 lbs while at her house?!  She brought me all kinds of things that I could finally eat while drugged up and I lay on the couch for 2.5 weeks. I worked really hard to lose those 5lbs in Oct and now I have to do it again. :( But I am not really complaining, just eating and being so well taken care of was a HUGE blessing.

So basically, I have lots of good news and cute pics, but they will have to wait until I am feeling a bit better. Also a coule of my awesome friends have tagged me in their blogs this past month (which I just noticed this week on my return to being able to look at the computer, I have been tagged before, but always ignored it, but I am going to do that whole "interesting little known facts" thing...eventually.

Ok, so now I am super nauceous and must stop typing. This is in NO WAY a "feel sorry for me" post, it is just because I have recieved lots of emails and messages on FB asking what is going on and there is no way I can type an individual response to you all right now. So if you have left me any kind of contact in the past 4 weeks, don't feel shunted, I have not answered anyone.  So there you have it here in a very brief minimalized nutshell is what is going on. My body WILL normalize and adjust itself, I just have to sit and wait, and do some vestibular therapy.

Thanks to all for their love and prayers and especially to the primary kids who made me cards. You are so sweet and help me and effect my life more than you know!

Holy Catch-up Batman!

Lily is a girl who LOVES her dinosaurs, and trucks and other boy toys.  I thought it was funny the other day when I went into her room and found that my tom-boy had been accesorizing her dinosaurs.  Definetly a girl toy now right?

Yeah, so if you haven't noticed, I haven't blogged in FOREVER!  It is because the past month has been sheer madness.  Madness I say!  So this is going to be another HUGE out of control recap blog, which is NEVER quite as fun as "in-the-moment" blogs, but oh-well.  You are reading MY blog, so clearly you must not have very high expectations :)

Ok, so before our "no vacation" TRAGEDY in my last post, we had our Anniversary. It was LOVELY, and Matt brought me home these pretty roses from work that night, which for my husband IS A BIG DEAL.  It was a great night, I had already given him the quilt I made him out of his old high school football T-shirts and the new T-shirts to replace his old ratty ones, plus some books that I got him.  And I had already gotten the MP3 player that he told me he wanted to buy for me and then I picked out. :)  But that night after work we had dinner and I gave him a card and he gave me flowers and we watched our wedding video and it was LOVELY!

I also FINALLY got around to making Isabel's baby quilt, so here are some pictures of my craftiness in the month of OCT.

Since I blogged last we had about a week and a half of total quarentine for Isabel during which I also wasn't feeling well.  My AMAZING friends Sarah and Vanessa dropped off a sweet care package for us which had movies and books and food and treats for us grown ups and coloring books and crayons and toys/games and all kinds of goodies to help us keep Lily entertained.  It was SOOO awesome, and really most of our (especially Lily's) entertainment that week and a half came from that care package.  SO THOUGHTFUL!

Anyway, it took about 2 weeks, but Isabel was fine, so Thanks to everyone for your love and concern for her!  We went to go and house sit for Matt's parents while they were in CA for about 2 weeks and that was GREAT, the girls loved it and so did we!  While we were there we had lots of Pre-Halloween Festivities!

We had a family pumpkin decorating night

And Matt and I went to a "Murder Mystery" Dinner party that our friends Sarah and Jeremy threw, which was SO much fun! (Especially right after being quarentined for 2 weeks!  :)  Thanks guys!  I made Matt and my costumes and it was so fun to be wearing a costume and getting into character, it has been WAY too long.  I REALLY miss the thee-at-ah.

Lily also had a costume party with some of her nursery friends, whe LOVED it and I love watching her as she gets to the age where they start wanting to be social and interact with each other.  SO fun!  It was also great because she got to wear her Halloween costume 3 different times this year.

Then we had a Ward Party/Trunk or treat the night before Halloween.

Then on Halloween I went to Thatcher with the girls since Matt had to work, I couldn't find my camera until the last day I was there, but EVENTUALLY my mom will send me the pictures of Halloween, and all the Grandkids, and of us going to feed the ducks while we were there.  I would say that this is a HINT to my mom to send them  to me, but she doesn't actually read my blog ever so... Anyway, it was also Fall Sing (the choir department's fall program) and EA's Homecoming that weekend, so it was SO fun to be in Thatch.  And Fall Sing was SOOOO good.  I forget sometimes how MUCH I love music!  It was also great to see my Family.  It was my oldest nephew's 9th birthday that weekend also.  And we went to my Grandpa's grave with some of his favorite treats for Dia De Los Muertos, and they finally got his headstone and all the rocks in.  My GG kept the flower arrangment that I made him there and it all looked so pretty!  I should have taken a picture.

Tuesday in Thatcher I had some things planned and was going to go home that night, but I woke up early in the am SICK.  So I slept most of the day and then drove home so I could go to the Dr the next day, where I was told I had the flu and was sent home on quarentine until the following tuesday.  So I am finally starting to not feel like death :)  Which is good. 

Yesterday since I was officially off quarentine I decided to take Lily to her Gymnastics class.  I didn't really feel up to it (I am still just tired and worn out though not really sick ), I normally would have just skipped it, but it is cancelled next week and not having for a few weeks in a row is a long time for a 2 year old.  Anyway, I took lots of pics!

Halfway through gymnastics Lily started coughing a bunch and kept it up the rest of the day and so far today, and now Isabel has a cough too.  I am hoping that it is allergies or something and that they aren't getting sick now that I am finally getting better!  I swear we have had maybe 7-10 days TOTAL this past month where we are all healthy at the same time.  It has been OUT OF CONTROL, and I have been seriously praying and fasting for a healthy family!

Isabel is getting SO big SO fast.  It is hard to believe that she is only 2 month away from her first birthday!  She is pulling up on everything and so proud of herself that she can stand up by herself.  She was SUCH a more mellow baby than Lily was, but I think that she will be a more michievous toddler!

My girls are growing up and loving being sisters more and more, although it is also becoming a little harder to share sometimes!  They have both been REALLY good this past month, especially since we have been cooped up alot.  Here are some random pics from the past month.

I'll be honest, the past month has been EXHAUSTING.  I have definetly been slacking on all of my responsibilities and anything social or fun.  Even taking a shower a couple times a week has been an accomplishment.  Lily has watched WAY too many cartoons, while mommy "rests", and there have been VERY few days where the dishes weren't piled high in the sink, and the laundry in the bedroom.  I feel like I need a couple of days to just sleep round the clock in order to recover from trying to recover.

Luckily I have a wonderful husband and great kids who have been with me every step of the way, and who haven't even complained once about my severe exhaustion this month (they can probably sense that mommy is hanging on by a thread!).  Oh, and we were also supposed to get family pictures done last weekend, but do to sickness they were cancelled, so no Christmas cards for us.  Matt and I have never had family pics done in all our marriage, so we are going to have to reschedule something...sometime...

Anyway, if you read this all GOOD JOB!  I would give you a gold star if I had one!  I have a couple of videos that I wanted to post, but the little film strip icon is no longer on my toolbar and I don't have the energy to figure it out.  Mayber next time, or maybe a reader will be helpful and clue me in!  :)

It's a sad day :(

Seriously.  You should feel sorry for me. 

For the past couple of days I haven't been feeling very well, and Matt has been working (6am-8:30pm).  We were SUPPOSED to leaved today for our California trip, so even though I was feeling like crap, I was still running around trying to get everything ready and done for the trip.  You know the usual shopping and laundry last minute whatever, packing, house cleaning, etc.  Anyway, yesterday Isabel spikes a high fever, I give her meds and like most seasoned parents I hope that it is just teething or some temporary thing, and figure I'll watch it and REALLY hope that she isn't sick.  Because lets face it, it has been 2 years since our last vacation and we are REALLY looking forward to/needing some relaxing time, and we have been planning this and looking forward to it for 6 months.  Not to mention that we have already told Lily that we are going to the Beach and that we will see her cousins there and she is SOOOO excited.  Seriously won't stop talking about it.  Anyway, I hope and pray that she will feel better in the morning.  Matt comes home and I tell him about it, but I still want to get the car all packed up and us all ready to go... being positive... pushing through... needing a vacay.

Izzie wakes up several times in the night, we are piggybacking the Motrin and Tylenol and her fever still gets up to 104.  So we call the Dr as soon as their office opens, they have an opening at 10 so we decide not to make a decision until we talk to the Dr.  We drive down to the Dr (in our car that is packed full of all our vacation gear), still hoping and praying that it is going to be no big deal.  But she tests positive for the flu.  And the Dr says that so far the seasonal flu hasn't been showing up much, and for her age range, factors, etc (she did recently get the regular flu shot), the Dr thinks it is most likely swine flu.  Of course the in-office test doesn't show that, it has to be sent out, but the Doc says she thinks it probably is H1N1 and to keep her quarentined for a week.

So now I am totally worried about my sweet baby who is acting like she is feeling more miserable by the minute (we had already decided not to go on our vacation before the results came back), AND I have a heart broken 2 year old who keeps asking "We go a beach mama?".  All 'n all, it is a pretty depressing day.  Oh yeah, and I still don't feel well.  So we will be staying home trying not to spread our germs around.

I am trying my hardest not to worry too much about Isabel, they gave us a prescription that we have to take to an apocathery so that they can make a suspended compound.  The CDC approved an emergency dosage for kids under one, but it actually hasn't been tested on kids under one (over one was fine) the Dr said that she had given it to 4 other infants and none of them had any reaction to it and were fine...so here's hoping!  But with the serious complications that can result from the swine flu (and the age range with the highest complication/death rate is by far children under 1), we feel like we don't really have a choice, we have to do what we can to try and keep her from getting any sicker.  So anyway, I am trying to just stay positive, and feel glad that we caught it within the first 24 hours of her showing symptoms.

I am also trying not to think of that beautiful house right on the sand of Newport beach.  Or the sound of the ocean.  Am I horrible for being really bummed about the timing of this?

Anyway, when am I EVER going to learn that you NEVER tell your kids that you are doing ANYTHING fun until you are in the car on the way there.  This would be alot easier if Lily wasn't so disappointed.

Anyway, ENOUGH of my little pity party (but really...poor me).  I had a nice anniversay (matt worked and I was feeling sick, but after he came home it was great :), and I would love to post all about it and put up lots of new pics, but for now I just wanted to vent about my morning while the girls are sleeping, so that I can get it off my chest and go take a nap myself.  So off to bed I go.  And I really do already feel better just putting all my bad juju out there, in with the good, out with the bad!

Another Anniversary Post!

I can't believe that another year has already gone by! It is CRAZY! This year instead of writing a big long mushy post like I usually do for Matt, I am simply going to make a slide show of pictures from our years together! I only did 21 Pictures, so as not to overwhelm you. I love you Matt.

oh, and lots of the pictures are out of chronological order, except the last few...sorry about that

Condensed Blog

Hi!  I have about a million things that I could blog about right now.  Seriously.  But I am going to ATTEMPT to make it semi-brief.  I would say brief, but lets be honest.  Have you ever met me?  I am not so good with brief.

Anyway, Sunday before last was our Primary Program (I am the chorister), and our kids were WONDERFUL.  Enough said.  Seriously, they were AMAZING!  Usually when I have been chorister before, the Priesthood bretheren will sit on the stand for the opening/sacrament and then go and sit in the audience to watch when they turn the time over to the Primary.  But not this time, they stayed up there THE WHOLE TIME.  AND because of the placement of where I was sitting/standing to lead the music, they were literally RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME.  Like not even 10 feet in front of me, staring right at me, while I am being all goofy and trying to help the kids remember the words and remember to smile, etc.  I don't know why, but having all those adults (our 3 bishopric and 2 stake pres members) made me SO nervous.  I was literally shaking.  But whatever, the kids did GREAT, so who cares if I am a total nerd and 5 guys know it?  They probably already did.  I just felt like I was singing and making cheesy faces RIGHT in their face.  Oh well.  Maybe next year they'll move.  Seriously they could probably smell my breath from there.  Ok, not really, but it felt like it to me.  Alright, sorry about that, I KNOW!  I said BRIEF!  DANG!

Then this past weekend we made the trek to Thatch.  It was SOOOOOO great!  Some of my peeps were performing in a benefit concert for my friend Kameron on Friday night, so we really wanted to be there to support them, and also help $upport the Haban Family.  Anyway, the concert was AWESOME!  Here is a pic that I stole from my friend Jordan's blog.

{Jordan, Cindy, Ryan}

For some reason not included in this picture is Jason Spencer, who is a ROCK GOD.  Yeah.  He is SICK.  It is out of control.  He played guitar and sang, and it was DISCUSTING it was SO freaking good.  I remembered how good he was from like 6 years ago or whatever at EA, but MAN I forgot.  And of course All the other acts were awesome.  My friend Jordan, is still bringing the same spunky attitude to his wonderful performances that just make me smile.  Ryan sang alot of Jazz/bluesy music and you could really see how much he has grown since EA (and he was a ridiculously talented kid even then), he is amazing.  The Acappella choir sang a few songs and it was SO good to hear them sing.  It made me miss Dr Bishop and singing in choir, WAY too much.  Really.  Kinda painful.  But we did all circle up and sing "The Lord Bless You" at the end, which was great.  They also had a little folk group, who were really good.  They suprised me and I was impressed.  Dr Lunt played Bass for the band that backed up the soloists, and some guy I don't know was on drums.  Sorry guy, who ever you are that I can't give you a proper shout out.  But BY FAR (in my opinion :) my friend Cindy (one of my all time BFFs) stole the show.  All of her songs were world class.  I mean honestly, to hear that kind of performance I would have paid the exact same kind of $ that I would for Christina or Kelly or Micheal Bubble or any other performer out there.  Her performance of the song "Gravity" literally brought me to tears.  She gets better everytime I hear her sing, and it just BLOWS MY MIND.  The next day, I spent some time convincing her to get out there.  I looked up audition info for America's got talent and American Idol (who isn't auditioning again until next year).  But seriously she is SO good.  I am making her at least try for some of this stuff.  If I had her talent, you wouldn't be able to shut me up!  I would be that guy from singing in the rain, knocking on door and stopping people in the streets "gotta dance!"  And I know you might be thinking, Jenn your opinion is probably pretty scewed, I mean she is one of your all time BFF's.  But honestly, I have ALOT of talented friends.  That is how I roll.  This concert proved that to me.  Alot of people who are my good friends have been blessed with extraordinary talents.  But if you know me, you know that when it comes to talent and actually saying that somebody "could make it", I am extremely judgmental.  WAY TOO judegmental.  I have a hard time not judging when I see people perform in any compacity.  It is a character flaw of mine and I am working on it (especially because I am not really that talented...but I have a critic's eye :).  Anyway, getting back to brief, Cindy is PHENOMENOL.  End of story.

They next day (Saturday) we went to my nephew Riley(8) and Tanner's(6) football games.  It was SO fun to see them play and to sit with my family and cheer for them.  Tanner plays flag (riley play full padded tackle), and T is AMAZING.  Seriously, he score all 5 of his team's touchdowns, leading them to victory, it was great.  The games were at Safford middleschool that week and that was right by the Salsa Festival that was going on all day Saturday- booths, activities for the kids, music, salsa tasting, jalepeno eating contests, etc.  They had main street in Saf closed down for it.  THAT is why I LOVE small towns, there is always something going on.  Small town community culture.  I love it.  I also went to my sister Ang's new house since it is right in that same area (we walked) and played her Wii to get out of the heat between games (so fun).  I spent the afternoon at my Grandma's with my mom and Izzie working on a sewing project.  It was great.  I miss my grandma, SO much.  Everytime that I am there, I wish that I could just stay with her.  She took care of me so much of my life and I just want to take care of her.  I LOVE HER. Period.

Then that evening Matt and I hung out with Cindy for a while, we walked back to my mom's (another thing I love about small town life!) and I left Matt there to watch a movie while I went to Walmart and bought some flowers to make an arrangement for my Grandpa's grave.  The next morning I met GG(my grandma) there early (like 7am or something) and we cleaned out the few weeds that were there and I put up my flowers and we sat and talked.  It was nice.  I feel like I haven't had enough quiet, alone moments with her.  Then she left and I got to be alone at my Grandpa's grave for the first time since he passed.  Usually someone asks if they can go too, and of course, I say yes.  But it was SO good to be alone there.  I just really felt like I needed to talk to him.  To say everything I have wanted to say to him since he's been gone.  I know that it's a little cliche to sit and talk to a grave, and I know that it is just the resting place for his body and that I could talk to him anywhere, but I really felt his spirit near me.  It was a beautiful experience.  I still miss him everyday.  And I pray for my GG everyday.  I love those people.

Anyway, it was a GREAT weekend.  It did make me miss home so much though.  It is always so great to be there and a little depressing to come home :)

But we are home and back in the busy swing of things!  I CAN'T believe that it is Oct already, we are going to have a CRAZY busy month (really-I probably won't blog again until Nov :), but it is going to be a GREAT month!

Brief.  Right.  I'd better go.