April's ending on a good note...

Can't believe April is almost over but at least it's going out happily for us. I have so much to be thankful for and it's been a good two days.

Yesterday was pleasant enough at work partly because I had something to really look forward to after work. Several of us surprised our previous Women's Center manager with a night out to show appreciation for all she's done. She is such an awesome person with such a wonderful heart. It was a fun night with Mexican food (you can never to wrong with Mexican!) and fun socializing. We love you bunches, Kathy!

I missed Karen's and Whitney's Pampered Chef party (story of my life - 2 things or nothing - always - sorry, Karen and Whitney, but I do want to order something!) Addison had dinner with Wesley (Karen's son) and went to their house but watched "Greek" with Wesley instead of learning to cook some good stuff with Pampered Chef - priorities, Addi, priorities! Ha! Just kidding!

Today was a fun day. Addison is feeling much better - thank goodness. Joey picked Addi up from school and brought her to the hospital for her internship and we so enjoyed a picnic lunch together outside in the beautiful sunshine. Wasn't it a gorgeous day?!!! The weather was just cool enough and just warm enough in the sunshine. Thanks, ya'll for a perfect lunch picnic date! Two of my most favorite people in the whole wide world!

This evening Addison worked 4 - 10 PM and we had ball practice at Jessica's house. It was tough (yep, I'm much more out of shape than I'm willing to admit!) but I'll get better. Determination...determination...determination! Also, their horse gave birth to a colt today and it was cool watching the baby "dancing" around on her own next to her mother. Following practice Chloe and I went to visit Joey and Alex until time to pick Addison up from work. Oh, what a beautiful day! I hope the last two can be just as perfect as these two have been.

One last happy thought - Ethan finished up final exams and will be moving home tomorrow for the summer! Yippee!!! And, last but definitely NOT LEAST, Erika will be home in a week...a WEEK...wow, a WEEK!!!!!! We can hardly wait!

Sister Oakley's farewell party, Janet for the weekend, and Sunday at Mom's

It's been fun rest of the week but my how time flies on the weekend when you're having a good time! My week at work ended okay, had a few bumps in the road but nothing that doesn't work out in the end. Sometimes when things go wrong and you know you've done all you can do you just have to turn loose and hope for the best and that's how I've chosen to approach several things right now.

Now on to more positive things - Janet arrived safely on Friday - I picked her up from the Columbia airport about 10:30 PM Friday night and we had so much catching up. After dropping all her bags off at the house we had our "traditional Walmart" trip - at 2 AM! Saturday she and Sister Oakley met with the realtor and looked at houses in the area and today found one she thinks might be "the one." (I'm keeping my fingers crossed!) Mom and Dad and some friends from Ridgeway Ward hosted a farewell get-together for Sister Oakley and it was really nice. There was singing, great food, socializing, and friends doing special tributes to Sister Oakley in appreciation for her hard work, dedication, and service during her 18 - month mission here. What a beautiful lady and a wonderful example she has been to so many. We'll miss her but thrilled that she and Janet will be moving back here mid-July after her visit to England to spend time with her son and family.

Today we had a nice visit and Sunday dinner at Mom and Dad's after Addison started feeling a little better. She has had a time this past month with strep throat and after 2 rounds of antibiotics she began running a high temperature again yesterday. She worked anyway for a few hours last night and came home going straight to bed. This morning at about 6:30 her temp was still around 100.7 so I let her sleep as long as she could. Ethan was home for the weekend and went to church for us today at Ridgeway. (Bless his heart!) Once she felt better we headed to Mom's and enjoyed a great lunch with family and friends and my sweetheart when he woke up. (Joey's on night shift this weekend - poor guy!) It wouldn't be complete without the after lunch ride on the golf cart to see the goats and chickens and I had so much fun with Spencer, Andrew, and Carson on this venture! They are growing up so fast and I love spending time with them!

I hope everyone has a great week and I'm going to try and not get so excited I can't do anything else because "ERIKA WILL BE IN NORTH CAROLINA IN JUST OVER A WEEK!!!!!"

I cAn HaRdLy StAnD iT i'M sO eXcItEd!!!

What a joyous Mother's Day it will be! Also, best of luck to Ethan on his last couple final exams tomorrow and Tuesday - then he will have completed his Sophmore year at FMU - way to go, Ethan! I'm so proud of you, son.

Happy "last few days of April" and I hope May comes in on Thursday bringing tons of smiles and sunshine to everyone around the world. That's what the world needs more of these days - more smiling faces! (P.S. My friend Janet commented on our South Carolina plates - 'Beautiful places - smiling faces' - so let's not let her down when she moves clear across the country to adopt our friendly state as her new home...)

WINNING NIGHT!

Hooray - we won our first game of the year! The score was 7 - 5 and it was so fun! Everyone played well and we've improved so much since we began! Way to go Kelsey for backing me up, Monica for a super hit, Jessica for some awesome pitching and a great hit, Crystal for so much fun in the outfield and a super hit, Ashley for some great outs at first, Jenny for some awesome stops and great hit, and way high fives to Stacy, Jody, Marie, Amanda, Tina, Louise, and both Lindas who were great moral support tonight. It was such a fun night! We had such a fantastic spectator turnout tonight, too, that made it really neat including Joey, Mom and Dad, Ginger, Darla and kids, Doug, Lucille, and a bunch more. Thanks, ya'll, it was a great night! (And I still haven't struck out - that's really saying something! Ha! Ha!) Afterwards we made a stop by Sonic to pick up Addi from work and enjoyed an ice cream cone. Great night!

Happy Birthday, Anne!

Happy Birthday, Anne! I hope you have a great time in Vegas and a safe trip to Hawaii next week. Love you bunches and miss you so much. See you soon!

This is my best friend, Anne. Although we live on opposite ends of the nation and many miles separate us we are truly soul mate best friends. Last year she surprised me showing up at Erika and Jack's reception in Idaho after 16 years of not seeing each other. It was an amazing reunion -- probably the biggest surprise I've ever received! As we talked (after the shock of seeing her after so long) it was like no time had passed and then we'd laugh and say, "Can you believe we're in our 40's now?!" It was hilarious. I stayed with her and her oldest daughter, Stephanie, the last night before we flew out of Salt Lake City and we talked and laughed until 4 AM just catching up on all the years. The three years we spent together in Hawaii in the late 80's were the best of my life. She was Erika and Ethan's other mother and taught me so much about young motherhood. We served in the Young Women's presidency together, were visiting teaching companions, beach bums together (with all our kids), shopping buddies (yes, with all the kids with us, too!), and just the very best friends imaginable. We were inseparable as were all our kids. One of my favorite memories was one day we decided to go to the big Ala Moana Mall in Waikiki and get our hair done - and we had 5 small kids between us (ages 3 months to 5 years old). We took turns getting our hair done while the other had a baby in the front carrier, two in the double stroller, and the other two on either side of the stroller. Anne's daughter, Jennifer, had no fear as a toddler and made a dash for the escalator and I can only imagine how I looked dashing after her with all the before mentioned kids hanging on! Our hair looked good when we got finished, though, and we laughed all the way home on the other side of the island. So many days we'd just load up Anne's van with all our kids and half the neighborhood kids and spend all day into the evening on the beach - those were the days...She taught me so much about life and family and friendship and most of all fun. You are amazing, Anne, and I miss you so much. I look so forward to seeing you over the summer! Happy Birthday! I love you bunches!

Yay, ERIKA!!!

Congrats to Erika! She just called to let me know she passed her Final Skills Exam for her Nurse Tech class with flying colors! Great job, Erika! I knew you'd do well and I know you're glad that's behind you. Keep us the good work - I know you'll do great in nursing school. Love you bunches!

1/2 way through the week...(thank goodness!)

To me it seems like it should be Saturday already - anyone else feel like this has been a long week already? It's all good, though, there's been good stuff going on this week but I won't be sad when Friday afternoon rolls around.

Update on the week:

First of all, it was so great to see Jack Saturday and Ethan got him to Wilmington all safe and sound. He and Erika have a great apartment for the summer and it's such a neat feeling knowing he's just a couple hours away and Erika will be here in about 10 - 12 days!!!!! I'm so EXCITED!!!! She'll start driving on May 1 and one of her best friends, Jamie, will be driving with her from Idaho. I can hardly wait!!!!

Secondly, Addison had a fun prom night. She commented that before and after the prom were more fun than the prom itself - she wasn't fond of the music they played and the dancing...well, pretty risque' according to her description. (Proud of you, Addi!) She and Wesley looked really nice and he's such a nice young man.

(Quick note of interest: Joey and I used to double-date with Wesley's parents, Karen and Bubba, and it was pretty neat that Addison went to prom with Wesley. Funny how things come around and it's been fun reminiscing about the "old days" when Joey and I were young and sweethearts years ago. Karen, her daughter, and I went out to San Jose' after the kids left for prom - it was a fun night!)

Last but not least, (and trust me my sore muscles are seconding the "not least" phrase!) - we had our first ball game last night and it was SO FUN!!! We lost according to the score but we were definitely winners because we all gave it our best! Fun was had by all and we have improved so much already from the first practice I went to. I have so far to go in my skills but I'm just excited to be playing. I hit both times I was up to bat but the first one was a pop - fly and they caught it. Second time I got out at first but hey, I hit the ball! Woo Hoo!!!! I forgot my camera last night but I'll post photos of tomorrow's game later.

Lastly, work has been busy and we've been anxiously engaged preparing for Nurses' Week coming up beginning May 6. Stacy (one of my bosses) and I are putting together a video for the Gala and it's been neat going around and interviewing/videoing various hospital staff and getting to know some of the staff better. There are so many awesome people at KCMC - we are very fortunate to have such great nurses, physicians, CNAs, and nurse techs at our hospital who take their jobs so seriously and personally in the field of healthcare. High five to so many great and caring people!

Hope everyone has a happy and safe rest of the week!

Prom Night - 2008

Big Brother gives last final approval...(It was priceless!)

Prom 2008
Addison and Wesley
Careful, Addi! I think Wesley was getting nervous!

Great photos just before the rain came...

The day has arrived and hopefully Addison and Wesley are enjoying their junior prom as I'm writing this. She looked just beautiful and matched Wesley's camo vest and tie with his black tux just perfectly. I think she had a fun day ahead of time even though she had to work this morning at 7 AM! After work she began getting ready and had lots of help drying her hair from Kayla and her friend. Then she went to her hair appointment where Sami @ Studio 318 (EXCELLENT STYLIST!) did a fantastic job with her hair. She chose to wear just a little pulled back on top and the rest very curly -- it looked gorgeous! Before prom we went over to the Jackson's for photos by their pond which I think turned out really beautiful! They were going as a group to Olive Garden for dinner and then to prom. Hope they all have a fun night and all arrive home safe and sound. I can't wait to hear all the fun details when she gets home shortly...