Yay for Memorial Day

We had such a great weekend. Friday we headed up to our nation's capital to spend the 3 day weekend with Matty, JZ and Troy. It was fantastic. We got there in time for dinner, and Jeanette had prepared a most exquisite dinner of tater tot casserole which has made it onto Spencer's favorite foods list. After dinner we went over to meet their friends the Taylors. SOOOO MUCH FUN! We played games for about 5 hours. We played Scum (known to some as Presidents and A$$holes)...Unfortunately and to no one's surprise Matt was reigning President for the majority of the time if not the whole time. After that...we played Mafia. Okay, what are the bloody odds of this... I drew the KILLER card 4 out of 5 times!! Are you kidding me??!! However, I have discovered an untapped talent.....deception. Some may call it lying...but I think when it becomes a skill, it should be promoted to the title of master deceptor. Even after killing my friends 3 times in a row, I was able to convince them to not lynch me.. muahahahahahahaha. good times..
The next day was Saturday and after the boys played soccer while Jeanette and I got some sun we had a barbeque picnic at a nearby park with the Taylors.

Tina and Lewis brought an extra Diet Coke bottle to perform a science experiment with. They stuck Mentos in the bottle and this happened.









Let's talk about some awesome photography for a second...little Katie was balancing a stack of frisbee's on Jeanette's head and I snapped a shot the moment they fell...classic. And Tina just wanted to get a shot of me taking a picture....LOL.











How does Jeanette DO that??









I've decided that making kissing faces makes my face look infinitesimally smaller and more chiseled.









Matty made us gourmet s'mores. He put a strawberry on top instead of another graham cracker....soooooooo yummy. He too is a fan of the kissy face.










And here we have a picture of me and Troy. He is living with Matty right now until Matty and JZ get married, and until he finds a yacht to live on. (that's right ladies...ignore Matt if you hear him call it a 'small boat'...it's a yacht!) It was so fun having him up there. No one can ever replace Daniel but having Troy around is like having a second brother around again. He is so nice, fun, and his stories get better and better. And not to mention...easy target for picking on which is essential in a sibling. Love ya Troy!!









Spencer has been sorely underrepresented thus far in the pictures so here he is with Lewis. Probably laughing at something Gary said. Gary is Lewis's dad who was an absolute HOOT! Seriously a blast to play games with!! He was your high school shop teacher who everybody thought was awesome!









And here we have the whole gang..Troy was taking the picture.. Gary and Evalee are in front of Matty and JZ on the far left. Then Tina is next to JZ and Lewis is in front of her with their 2 gorgeous daughters Ashley and Katie.














Thanks for a great day everyone. Oh and the weather was unbelievably perfect.

Alrighty then...next day was Sunday. Church and more games with the Taylor's.

Monday...MEMORIAL DAY!
Great day. I learned how to golf! Real golf...not putt putt. We went to a driving range and I was frustrated for about 5 minutes and then I finally hit one! and then I was really nailing them. And I actually got a ball past the pink flag.

The highlight of all that however was Matty's golf swing......"Holy Happy Gilmore minus the running, Batman" But he is really good!!










I had 3 teachers telling me 3 different methods. Troy taught me first and he gave a good basic idea of what to do....then Spencer helped and that is when I started hitting the ball and then Matt.....ha ha ha...is a really great teacher but as you can see...very interesting approach. But I did get it down. However I almost took Spencer out when I used the Driver. He was hitting in front of me and I hit the ball with the front of the driver instead of the side and it flew right by his head....good times.









Then we went to the putting green and played boys against girls and we tied!
Here is Spencer showing his skills












And these two just make me laugh whenever they stand or sit next to each other...



















While the boys were playing the XBOX Jeanette and I decided we wanted to be nerds too! So we got on our seperate laptops and found Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Brothers...yeah that lasted maybe 30 minutes, if that, until we decided to make Memorial Day cupcakes.










I forgot to mention that after golf we went to Old Towne Alexandria for lunch and drove by the Memorials. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures in Alexandria. Such a beautiful little town. And we had the best lunch I think I ever had and ice cream. Troy got a skinny little cone with a glob of ice cream on top as big as my head....watching him eat that in 88 degrees outside while walking was a great experience all in itself. Jeanette, if you read this, please leave a comment naming the restaurant we ate at.....soooo good. Need to remember and go again.

At the end of our delightful Memorial Day and cupcake baking we all played games again! But nothing gets better than playing UNO when Jeanette gets slap happy and Spencer gets tarded. [ Jeanette has to draw 12 cards and immediately in a kind and loving tone Spencer tells her to be grateful] Oh how I love my family.

Let's see.....more highlights
Spencer blurts out BS in the middle of our game of Mafia.
Matty claims he isn't going anywhere until him and jz can do something.
Sitting by Gary while playing BS.
Jeanette getting ready for family prayer
"frrrrrttttt"
Troy's rules
the traveling fart
Calling my dad and having him tell war stories in honor of Memorial Day..capturing the enemy flag.

I LOVE AND SUPPORT ALL TROOPS....PAST AND PRESENT. THANKYOU!

"After much tribulation come the blessings"

Crazy storm here this evening!! We were even expecting to get yet another tornado warning, but about 10 minutes after a savage beating of rain drops and thunderous racket, the sun peeked out revealing...

Gotta love laughing babies!!

Changes are afoot...

For the past 2 months Spencer and I have had in the back of our minds that it is time for him to leave his day job at Bulwark and go full time at home with Renegade Marketer....unbeknown to one another. Well, 2 weeks ago something horrible happened at work and we both said at the same time...why don't you leave. And we felt SO great about it. We prayed, we fasted, we went to the temple, and it just felt right. So Spencer put in his 2 week notice and this past Thursday was his last day.
You know the movie 'Armageddon'? The line right before blast off, from Owen Wilson...."I'm 90% excited, and 10% scared...or it could be 90% scared and 10% excited." That is how I feel. Yeah, we aren't going to have the comfort of nice solid paychecks, and there is always the possibility of failure with anything..but at least we can't say we didn't try. And Spencer is so self motivating, and great with people, and he's got the Renegade Marketer down pat, so really, we have nothing to fear but the unknown...and that is what is so darn exhilarating. But if we do come a knockin on YOUR door for some food and shelter..please take pity..:)

You know the saying "If you build it, they will come". Well, I am taking a little different of an approach to the same theory. "If you paint it, they will come." 'Paint' meaning...my spare room, and 'they' meaning...kids.
Please keep that in mind when you see the finished paint job. The yellow turned out a little brighter than I had hoped....(being called Optimistic Yellow should have tipped me off... if I had only seen a Pessimistic Yellow). I do like it, but I am more of a rustic mediterranean-type style, and I don't think I'll do this combo again. But again...for a kid whose sex I do not know...this is perfect.
Tell me what you think. (not that I am going to change it if you hate it, I just like feedback) In case you are wondering the other 3 walls you can't see are that Yellow color....luckily this pic doesn't do the brightness justice.
Oh, and no worries...crown molding and window treatments are my next project for that room.


So, I am reading a great series right now. The books are "The Twentieth Wife" and "Bed of Roses". No, I'm not and nor do I support the polymagist sect of those that call themselves mormons. These books are historical fiction set during the Indian Mughal Empire during the early 1600's. Fascinating. But so glad I did not live back in those days as a woman, except for all their jewelry and colorful clothing...other than that...Im glad it is at a 'reading about' distance.

A few weeks ago we had a tornado scare here...it passed just 5 miles away from us. So of course, I give the obligatory "I'm safe" phone call to my parents. And they give me all their pointers on what to do and all the signs...(they themselves having never experienced one). They live in the Northwest right on the pacific coast. Well, 3 days ago my mom calls me and tells me that the day before had been over 100 degrees (recordbreaking) and so she opened the windows at night to blow in some cooler air. While she was sleeping she awoke with a fright to hear what sounded like a freight train outside of her window, and the wind was screaming and blowing everything everywhere. Turns out.. up the Redwood Canyon in which they live....tornadoes. One tornado ripped up a Redwood and put it right on top of their barn. The inspectors found 15 other GIANT Redwood trees all uprooted and tossed. My point in bringing up the previous story with me and a tornado here is this. Spencer and I think we are prepared if we were to have a tornado. But we may not be prepared for earthquakes or volcano's cause those just don't happen here. However, I am starting to see a trend in mother nature as of late. Crazy things are happening all over the world in places they have never happened before and people aren't prepared for them. So this is me on my soapbox of saying please get prepared with emergency equipment no matter where you are. If you don't know where to start...my opinion....at least get water! Water bottles or barrels of it....just get extra water. People can live without food for a few days...but water is essential. A water main broke around my neighborhood a few days ago just for 3 hours...and some homes were left without running water. Within 1 hour the Harris Teeter and Bi-Lo were completely empty of ANY water they had for sale. And that is your lesson for today. Thank you and I'll be here all week.

Painting

so the construction of that bloody bookcase has set into motion a slew of renovation projects. Now that i have all those books and boxes out of the spare bedroom, I have decided to paint it before I move in all the furniture. Well, anyone who knows my love of painting and design, knows that I have to make it the most impossible project to complete in only one day. Im doing 5 different walls 3 different colors. (promise..it's gonna look awesome). I must pat myself on the back for getting the 'dark' (Java) wall done AND the ceiling (Vast Blue) all done in only 4 hours last night. But my excitement to possibly complete the project in just 2 days has come to an utter and complete halt....errrrrrrrr. Since I haven't done this type of painting yet, I didn't take into account that I can't cut the "Java" wall until the paint has set for at least 48 hours. And since I have plans Friday night, that means I can't get it done til Saturday...grrrrrrrr. And the rest of the house is a tragedy b/c all my furniture is spread throughout the whole of it. So I find myself settled into blogging and about to watch "The Bourne Identity". love that movie. Maybe that worked out good, cause my left arm...yeah..not feeling too hot after the rigorous motions of painting last night. But oooohhhhh...how I do love it.