a long awaited post...

I'm not going to apologized this time for not posting in so long. I'm just going to admit that I know I have gotten bad at it. "They" say that the first step to recovery is admitting your faults. Hopefully I have a quick recovery.

So...here's my update.







On Friday evening my friend Anne had a surprise birthday party for her brother, Hayden. It was his 16th birthday, and the theme of the party was...elephants. Don't ask any questions...please! He was extremely surprised, in fact, he actually went red. I've never seen Hayden go red before! I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that he is 16 now. I still remember playing beanie babies with him and Annie while the three of us (yes...the THREE of us) danced around in our tutu's. I mentioned this to him that evening, but of course, he doesn't remember that. All he can remember is me "tying a string around his precious Elmo's leg and dragging him through the wet grass. Then...horrors, throwing poor Elmo into the fish pond." Tell me, does that sound like something I would do??? I didn't think so.

On Saturday was our Church's Chili Cook off...that was so much fun! I signed up to help the college and career group with keeping the water/lemonade jugs full, so I had to be to the church at 12:30. Jeff came over at noon to pick me up. After we had been at the church for about an hour, we left to go pick his mom up. Saturday was the first time I met his mom. She was super nice, I really liked her. (I actually got to meet his sister and brother too. I've yet to meet his other sister, who lives out of state. He (Jeff) definitely comes from a good family.)We headed back to church, finished our serving shift, and then just hung out for the rest of the day. I had so much cotton candy that day!! I only get cotton candy once a year (and that is the chili cook off) so that is the one thing I look forward to the most about the chili cook off. How lame is that? Dinner was amazing. I usually do not like the taste of meat...but that tri-tip...whoa!! I could eat that every day. After dinner, it was ice cream time. (Another highlight...) I had the most amazing ice cream bar I've ever tasted. It was a snicker's ice cream bar...and seriously, words can't even describe how awesome it was. After ice cream, came the square dancing. Jeff and I square danced for a little bit, but we ended up leaving after the break. We took his mom back home and headed back to my house. By the time we got back to my house, my family was home. We all made sandwiches (we went to the ocean the next day) and Jeff and I made cookies for the next day. We ate more ice cream and then he headed home.

The next morning, Jeff was back at our house by 8:00. We all packed our backpacks and loaded the small ice chest. After everyone went to the bathroom and filled their water bottles, we loaded up and headed out. After driving for about an hour, we stopped at Casa De Fruta. We all ran around and played on the playground, threw rocks at the small fish in the pond and took a million pictures. Finally we loaded back up and didn't stop again until we were at the ocean. The day was an absolute blast!!! It was really chilly, so we ended up building a fire in the fire pits that are on the beach. Having a fire on the ocean is a ton of fun. We all cuddled up in our blankets, jackets and towels and relaxed. We never built a sand castle, but we did play a family game of football. This was one intense game! Only Daddy and Jeffrey knew what they were doing, the rest of us just ran around like ducks, trying to tackle the opposite team. My team won the first game, with Jeff leading us to infinity and beyond. My dad was stunned and a bit offended. When was the last time someone beat him at a game of football? But in a weird way, he (my dad) really enjoyed it. It was a challenge, and it was nice for him to have someone who actually knows what was going on and was good at it. I believe that the second game was won by Daddy and his team. Jeff and I went on a walk during the afternoon, we took so many pictures! They turned out beautifully!! We packed up and left around 5:00. I wanted to go to Marianne's Ice cream...(most amazing ice cream EVER!!) but my dad just wanted to go home. We did stop at Taco Bell for dinner before heading home, though. Jeff and I tried watching "Napoleon Dynamite" on the ride home, but I ended up totally crashing. Which was a good thing, since after we got home we ended up watching a movie. After we got home (8:45) all the kids cleaned up and headed to bed. Jeff and I served ourselves a big bowl of ice cream (this is really sad...but we are COMPLETELY out of ice cream right now...please pray for me as I have to attempt to live through this tragedy.) and sat down to watch "Wild Hogs." (We have clear play.) My dad watched part of the movie with us, and we all laughed so hard! That movie is hilarious...but definitely a clear play movie. Jeff left somewhere in the 11:00pm hour.

I would write so much more, but Jeff and I are going to the afterglow at church tonight, and we need to leave in about 45 minutes. I am working on two slide shows of pictures: our ocean trip, and the chili cook off. Check soon for those.