1988 - 1990

A few days ago I got a face book message from a 

person I went to high school with.

I didn't recall the name, or the face even at all.

The message was short and basically said, 

I just wanted to write a short note and tell you 

thanks for the encouragement and friendship 20 + yrs ago.

Silly hu - that I would hold on to that.

It was a turning point in that experience and journey in my life.

I dug around a bit and got out my old year books and gained 

some recognition and a face to go with the message.

But truthfully,

I don't remember doing or saying anything kind or helpful

to this person.

Which is really sad to me.

I have often thought of my high school years as a complete waste of 

time and space.

A really tough time for me.

This is the second surprise message I have gotten like this

in the past few years.

Both times I have been completely surprised 

and extremely happy that I did something decent in my younger days 

that I wasn't even aware of.

It really got me thinking....

remembering, what I could, anyway.

I thought back about a girl that was a life line to me.

She came into my life with her bright smile and scooped me up.

She befriended me and sought me out time and again.

Camille Egan.

I don't know what happened to her after high school.

I have tried to find her on fb to let her know how much I appreciated 

her tender mercies.  

She was a year older than me.

Very cool, sporty, smart, popular and very good.

I was kind of a rebel that had no idea what I was doing.

Or where I was going,

or where I fit in.

Always felt like I was grasping at straws,

slip sliding every which way,

wasn't yet anchored in the gospel...and was blowing in the wind.

Probably making myself sound like such a pathetic case....

I always wondered why me?

Why is Camille seeking me out?

Who gave her this assignment?

My mom?

My seminary teacher?

Am I her personal progress goal?

Maybe she has a side job full of these floundering kids she

offeres her friendship to in her spare time to help them get a grip.

Who knows?

I never did know if there was more to the story.

I only knew she was my friend.

She did not need me to enhance her popularity.

I couldn't drive her anywhere....she drove...not me.

She had no reason to dump me....

I never pursued her, she came to me.

Time and again she made my day.

She introduced me to Amy Grant.....we went 

to her concert together.

I was reminded of her demeanor when I read her year book note....

Melissa.....thanks so much for being my friend, 

and making me laugh when I am with you.

I respect you a lot, and I'm proud to know you......

She made an imprint on my life.

I would love to tell her....

maybe it would make her day....

she probably hears it all the time.

Maybe, maybe not.

I can promise that you would never have known I was 

so insecure.

Fake it till you make it.

Smile.  Breath.  Walk in.  Eyes up.  Laugh a little.  Breath.  Smile. 

.....you don't care, and nothing matters.

I did have friends.....good ones.

I hope they would never think I felt differently.

I wonder if they felt the same as me sometimes....
not quite sure of anything.

I couldn't tell if they did.

 Look at our big hair!  My chubby cheeks....

My two brother in laws, and above them is Mel, my sister in law.

Pretty funny.

Be kind to others.

You never know when just being a friend is the only thing

 someone needs.

To be noticed, to be loved.

Shake that GROOVE THANG....

G N O -

Girls Night Out.

Bow-chicka-bow- wow....

 This GNO was Tina's making -

 the one in the stripes, mini mouse bow, and fake 

leg warmers.

She has been talking about going skating FOREVER.

The rest of us were always like, 

yeah, I guess, whatever.  

If you really want to.

I'll try and show up if you plan it.

yawn.

Finally her dream came to fruition.

Not sure why the leg up became a popular pose for the night, it was actually pretty dangerous

 for amateurs such as Christi, in the front.

to be quite honest.....

we had a DANG GOOD TIME!!!

Way to go Tina!

FYI - T is an 80's music LOVER...

she could not get her fill of Michael J, Madonna and the like.

She was off in her own little 80's world.

She also runs to the stuff....I get so sick of it.

 It was only us, and maybe four or five 10 year olds.

We had the whole joint to ourselves....

which meant one thing...to me anyway....

breaking rules ALLOWED!

We did whips, trains, backward skating whenever we felt like it,

and plenty of other stunts that would typically be 

frowned upon.

I could not get enough of this crunched down pose....I have been watching McCauley

pose way too often, she is rubbing off on me.

Sorry to block you Sarah....I was a being a HUGE photo hog!

The upper right picture of Christi was taken just before she slipped and

bloodied her lip and chipped her front tooth.

See what I meant about being dangerous?

Christi how is your lip??

If I could sum the night up....I think this common quote will do it....

I think it goes like this:

"Skate like No One's Watching".

and we sure did that.

One of the craziest and most bizarre things of the night was that

when our civilized skating session was over at 8pm.

A HUGE gang of roller derby F R E A K S, humans came

traipsing in.  

There were tons of them.

T O N S! 

How many???  

25 - 50??

Tattooed, shaved heads, half hair - half shaved,

ringed and pierced to the hilt.

They were anxious for us to clear the rink and stop taking posed photos

so they could get on and rassle.

Who knew, in our little safe, innocent town we had such ruffians

in our midst???

We sure were surprised. 

PS - I am missing pictures of our other girls!!

I want to add you to the post....please send a few if you have any.

What was lost, is found.....

This morning we had on the docket a plan for a 12 mile run.

Unfortunately we woke up to drizzling rain.

My running clothes were all laid out,

M was planning on being woken up to stay at Tina's while we ran.

She was looking forward to hanging on the couch 

watching a movie while eating a baggie of sugar cereal.

I actually felt like getting out there....rain or no rain.

I sent texts to Tina and Christi.....

we were all on the edge of waffling...everything was in favor 

of not going.

In the end we pushed it through with a loose plan to 

end our run at anytime if it got too miserable.

Perfect.

I was testing out a pair of pink and white striped knee highs,

a possible addition to our marathon running outfit.

We settled M, and were off in our visors for the unknown.

M had suggested a prayer before we got out of the car, 

to pray for a light rain fall so it wouldn't be to bad on us.

We did that.

We were enjoying each others company as usual,

it was pretty dark.

Christi and I pulled ahead, T was not too far behind...

also as usual.

Around a mile and a half C and I wanted to double back and 

touch base with T.

How ya doing?

Fine....why are you two stopping?

we have barely gone over a mile.

Oh, you know, just checking in.

Well get moving!

OK, ok...

we were off.

(anything for a little break right Christi?)

We went another mile or so and turned again to get T in our view.

We were running.

Talking about implants, fake eyelashes,

how hard would it be to do our own lashes....was it even possible??

and so forth....deep stuff.

Finally after running back a bit we were like, hey where the heck is Tina?

How far back was she?

We sped it up....

oh, there, is that her??

hmmmm, no just a fire hydrant.

Running....running....

oh wait, is that two legs up ahead???

oh, no, just tree branches on the ground.

What the heck?

We went back and forth on how we could have missed her?

.....passed her?

Could she have passed us somehow?

We ended up running all the way back to her house,

not quite 6 miles round trip.

We asked the gate guard if he'd seen her, no.

We knew she hadn't made it home when we saw her garage

was still down.

Hmmmmm......we got in our van and decided to back track and 

find her on the trail.

This went on.

We went over the whole route,

which unfortunately we were a bit sketchy on.

We would have called each other,

but unfortunately again, none of us run with our phones.

We could not find her.

She was no where.

At what point do you call a spouse?

When do you call the police?

Well, for Christi and I we did both simultaneously,

right then.

It was go time in our books!

She called the police,

I called the Descovich residence.

Braden, her son answered.

Hey Braden, how's it going?....

oh that's nice, have you seen your mom?

oh, she's not back yet, well is big D up yet?

No huh....well, can you go wake him I need to speak with him.

Dread.

Hi Derek, um, I just wanted to let you know that we lost Tina.

W h a t ?

Don't panic, we are still looking, I am sure we will find her

but it just didn't feel right not keeping you in the loop...

We didn't want you to be surprised if a police officer

shows up at the house.

......and so forth....

We drove the route again, this time going all the way over the 

other causeway, just in case Tina became wonder woman

and forged ahead on her own covering the entire 12 mile course.

But  Nothing  - 

no single white female,

5'5, dark hair in a ponytail, blue tank top,

black running skirt, slender, late thirties.

No one like that was out running alone.

At one point Christi says,

Wow.  

I have never been more stressed.....

about another runner.

Why we started laughing our brains out over this I have no idea.

She comes up with some crazy stuff.

I think it was the worry and the pressure.

Not to long before this happened I made it a point to 

let Christi know that in fact it was not Tina who got us out running 

this morning, but it was all thanks to ME!!

Yeah!  ME!!

oh great, now I get to have that on my conscience forever.

We saw a police car,

we decided to stop and see if they had found anything out.

It felt weird pulling up to the car, 

usually when they pull up to me I am unhappy........

anyway, it was a woman police officer,

 after we got done catching her up,

her making several C-B calls and saying 10/4 a lot,

she finally said.

They have her.

She is fine, they are heading back to her home.

What? 

Really?

She is alive?

Oh HO HO!!

YES!

Whooohoo!

We tried to get more details, like where did they find her?

....in some bushes??

Is she badly hurt???

and so forth...but she wouldn't tell us anything else.

WE called D with the great news and sped back to their place

for the reunion.

D was out side, T was still not there.

Laaaadddeeeedaaaaaaaa......

waiting for a really long time.

I can't tell you every detail....but suddenly D goes storming in the house,

comes out with his machete and a bat,

throws them in the trunk and peels out of there, 

saying if she shows up to call him.

ummmm, yeah, but, wait!

After I phone the police again and was like what is the hold up???

The lady said when officer Noel found her,

she said she was fine,

he said he was told to find her, suicide watch or something.

Tina said to him, hey, do I look like I am going to commit suicide?

I am out on a run buddy,

 I am fine, just running back home.

Anyway, very long stressful story short,

Christi went and picked her up.

She shows up saying she had a magnificent run of 9 miles.

D comes speeding back down the street at a break neck pace,

flying into the driveway.

We all stood there feeling slightly awkward....

at least that is how C and I felt....

well I did anyway.

We went into the house so I could gather Cauley,

she had had a lovely time.

Then we drove home.

I was freezing from being sopping wet,  

so I took a shower.

I got a text from Christi after my shower.

"Ok. We're not idiots, right?!"

me - I'm not sure.

me- Debatable...

We have discussed new running rules that we will 

be implementing.

Girl Time....

Good Evening....

I donated blood today (Tina FYI- Blood Pressure 91/56)

and this was their promotional t-shirt!

It is the first AWESOME shirt they have ever had.

You may see me sporting it a lot over the next week.

Cuz 

a. it is cool.

b. it is Halloween week!

c. no men in the house to fix up for and impress.

Whooohooo!

Girl time!

The crew is outa here.

These guys are hunting pheasants with Kev, the uncles, and gramp.

All from K's side of the family.

This is an October tradition.

I hope they have a fantastic time.

Lots of male bonding.

From what I have heard so far Kevin forced

all of the boys to get "store bought" hair cuts right out of the gate.

This raised eyebrows from the boys,

he spent $60 when mom does this for FREE!

Always has.

What are you saying K?

Apparently the boys did not want a hair cut.

They didn't want them in a bad way.

There were tears shed and weeping and wailing for the loss

of their hairs.

I suggested that Kev save the trama for when they are home.

After dropping the gang at the airport I got stuck on the 528 on the way home.

It was a bummer.

I was anxious to get home lickety split and start my projects...etc.

Nope.

It was an hour long stand still...

I had an empty gas tank,

but had guzzled two things of water to cleanse my system, 

so a very uncomfortably full tank of my own.

Every one was getting out of their cars and taking walks,

holding up towels as cover to use the rest room.....it was so strange.

...but truthfully I was a little envious.

It was a roll over...bottom right.

The people were airlifted out.

I hope they were ok.

 The day the boys left M and I started up the party.

We attended the Mother Daughter Stake campout....our first ever.

The weather was perfect.

M had several of her good buddies there to have fun with....

....and I had several of mine!

Turns out Vanessa is a Shemale.....

over and over she stepped up and saved the day for us little dainty ladies.

She single handedly made this roaring fire.

(well the girls did gather twigs and sticks)

 She got the cockroach in the middle of the night so 

we could all get some sleep.

She climbed the bunks to tear down the beeping fire alarm.

She made our tin foil dinners....(this was womanly)....

I am admitting I did nothing but eat, and enjoy of her labors.

THANK YOU DEAR Scout Master, MANLY skilled FRIEND!

I would never want to go camping with out you!!

 Take a good hard, close look at this s'more.

Blow it up and LOOK!

That is a KitKat, courtesy of Chrisi.

I had a number of these guys....

(see below)

and to be honest...I don't want to go back to regular 

"some mores" as Christi would say.

She had to really an.nun.ci.ate the two words....what in the world??

In the above picture you can also see the tinfoil meal.

Oh Ho Ho Ho......delish!

You know how food is when you are camping....right?

That is exactly what I am saying.

 Here we are.

 Some other stuff M and I have been doing.

Mixing Apple Jacks w/ Lucky Charms.....yep....I said it.

I have been watching old time movie classics, 

Exodus included,

as I work on compiling my recipe book....
just basically organizing my zillions of loose recipes.
I will show you when I am done,
I'm kind of excited about it.

Eating.... cake....you need to enlarge that bad boy.

Can you smell that?
Trust me when I say it tastes even better than it looks.

It is gone now, but I want some more very badly.

....it is from scratch off the Hershey canister....

try the dark chocolate recipe also.

You will not regret it....unless you will regret gaining 5 lbs.

I think it is totally worth it.

M had a 3-D field trip today....
all about making healthy choices....yikes....what a downer.
No, it was pretty good.

At one point during the show, the star of the production

was out picking kids to go up on stage to dance,

we were kind of up in the rafters....but next thing I know McCauley is

off to the stage with him.

She had a blast.

She sure is different from the boys,

I couldn't have paid the brothers any amount of money to

do something like that.

Well, Good night.

M and I have an early morning sculpting session
.....she will be tagging along at 5:20 a.m.
We both have our shoes and weights laid out.

My Friend down the street....

I mentioned in my previous post 

that I knew there was a Jewish family that lived down the street.  

I made frosted banana cookies today....

so yummy!!

I took a plate down to them a little bit ago.

The mother and her two little guys age - 5, and their

little one year old were at home.

She was super surprised, but very welcoming and invited 

me right in to visit.

I was so happy I stopped in.

As her older son was licking frosting off his cookie he was telling

me about how much they wished their grandma could come and 

visit, but that Ukraine would not let her leave.

This made them very sad.

  This girl is from Russia!

She met her husband in Israel!!

She is 37.

She has been teaching Hebrew up until June when they closed 

her school down.

Hebrew!!!

Right now she is unemployed, but studying to be a paralegal.

Her husband runs his own carpentry business.

Their house looks very nice,

they have done a lot of remodeling.

They just barely repainted and stuccoed the outside,

when they moved in it was pink!

I was so excited to tell her that I had just finished reading 

EXODUS....she was super happy and said that that is

her absolute favorite book ever written.

I asked how it is for her being a Jew.

She said the major persecution was before her time,
and that actually Israel
is one of the very safest places for children now.

It was a little difficult to talk because her 

boys started getting riled up.  

Her older was getting ready for karate,

so we had to cut it short.

She did tell me that her husband is really wanting to make a 

Sukkot (you can learn about it if you want),

and that there is a major Jewish holiday that 

begins on Wednesday, 

and lasts for 7 days.

I have been reading up on it.

She showed me the Lulov that they will all wave together,

as well as the special symbolic fruit, the Etrog.

They had me smell how delicious it smelled and 

she explained the different symbolic parts to me.

She wanted to tell me more, I wanted to hear more.... 

maybe another time.

It was so nice to visit.

We exchanged numbers and email addresses.

She said to please let her know of any questions I have,

she also said that Tina could contact her for any updates

that she would like from Israel.

I like her a lot.

I felt emotional being at their home....

that sounds really lame.

thinking of their connections with all of those places.

Having lived in Israel, walked there,

lived there, seeing all of those sacred grounds.

They are not my ancestors...why would I be so emotional?
I guess the book is still fresh on my mind.

T if you ever asked me to go there again with you,

I think I would do it.

It has perked my ears up to the Bible,

and references in the Book of Mormon.

I am not obsessed, just more appreciative.

It reminds me of when Kev and I lived in 

Jigger, Louisiana 

shortly after we were first married.

When the girls I worked with at CATO found out

I was Mormon....

they were shocked and amazed.

They couldn't believe they were looking 

at an actual Mormon.

I looked much more normal than they 

would have thought.....

(it really seemed like they were looking for horns

or something.)

One of the girls asked me how Kevin felt about 

me being Mormon.....she just about fell over

when I told her he felt great about it,

he was one to!

Sweaty Workout Girl....

This morning at 5:20 I met Tina at
the Eau Gallie Library parking lot to drive to our destination
and start our run.
We left my car and drove back over the
bridge, then made our way to the 192 Causeway,
and over it, then parked her car off to the side at the bottom.
I am still amazed that that trek is only 7 miles.
In the car it seems like forever.
We are working the mileage back up in preparation for January's
marathon - today the goal was 7 miles.
We started out.
 As we were nearing the assent of the bridge we could hear
loud singing and chanting,
sounded like a big group of people.
We were curious.
It was dark.
We thought we'd go take a look.
It was quite clear that it was some kind of religious revival
down by the water.
I was pretty excited.....
I felt like I was living my current book out in real life..
thank goodness not really at all,
(It is extremely freaky).
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,
I won't recommend it to anyone due to some language,
and gruesomeness, etc.
but I am in the thick of it at the moment.
It is a murder mystery.....I don't usually read those.
Sneaking around with the intention to spy was
very invigorating.
We were slinking up closer to the spot, still listening to the singing
when two men came out of the bushes ahead of
us a little way carrying two large bags of something.
Maybe clothes, maybe limbs....from trees, or otherwise.
It was enough to get us hightailing it out of there
and cutting up the grass to the bridge.
We are not cut out to be spys.
............................
Tina and I have different strides.
We do not run at the same speed, so we usually have
some light chit chat, a little catching up,
then we pop in our headphones and jam out and run at our own pace.
  I will switch back through out our run and check in,
especially if I think of other stuff I want to talk about.
Anyway, for some reason today right at the beginning of our
run the topic of deodorant came up....
for the life of me I cannot remember how or why.
(looking back now, maybe it was a set up by T herself)
none the less,
I said, you know what, I really don't use deodorant very often,
a stick will last me forever.
She was like,
WELL MAYBE YOU SHOULD!
What?
Why?
huh?
What are you saying?
Are you saying that I need it?
Have you "smelled" me before?
YES!
oh my gosh.
are you serious?
YES!
You have smelled my B.O.?
That is what I am saying.
When?
Twice.
Once about a year ago and then again a week or two ago.
Whoa.
ok, sorry but this caught me off guard.
She knew what I was wearing when the offenses occurred,
and described the most recent outfit to me.
I will not disclose the outfit because I love it,
and I do not want anyone to pass judgement on it.
I was blindsided and kind of shocked.
T on the other hand was dancing on air,
shouting hallelujah, and air punching while saying,
YES!! Finally I got that off my chest.
Can you believe that?
Tina I am aware that you will be reading this.....
Hello.
I feel I need to get it off my chest as well.
It is burdensome isn't it?
Well, as we went on I disclosed that I was fine
with it, because guess who loves the smell of my sweat?
yup, K.
I said thanks for telling me....
but I don't think I am going to do anything about it.
I do love my little honest Abe friend.
.....................
Finished at 8miles.
It was an excellent run.
Very motivating to look across the causeway and see the other
bridge waaaaaaaaaaaaaay over there.
It was hard to believe I was just over there less than thirty
minutes before that.
I want to take a picture next time so you can see
what I mean.
.........................
I thought I would leave you with a fairly accurate
account of being a runner.
Running no doubt will be a more frequent topic on my blog
as the months draw closer to January.
I think it will be fun to include some fun little snippets like this one.
T posted this on FB recently so most of you have seen it.
HB....thought you might enjoy it.

Have a great night.....

from the "Sweaty Workout Girl"

Do you have any smelly stories to share?

Maybe deodorant preferences??
 I might be in the market soon....

but I doubt it.

The building and demolishing within 24 hours.....

Today was a great day.  I worked on many holiday projects, even finished a few of them,

all while doing wash and listening to Steven R. Covey's

The 7 Habits of HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE

I have really enjoyed it over the past month or so.  I gave this set of cd's to Kev way back when.  I came across them a while ago and thought I would give it a go.

I don't like having the t.v. on in the day, but I really like listening while I putter 

around the house and do my work.

I just finished going through the 13 cd's for the first time (minus the first 5, they were lost in Kev's truck....until today.....I just dug them out...whooohooo!)

I am going to start over now.

I learned a great deal the first go round....and that was starting in the middle....so this will be a real treat.

I already like so much that I am familiar with the terms he is using...

ex - Paradigms - the lens in which we see the world.

I have mini notes all over my planner of little nuggets of knowledge I would like to retain.

One of the habits that I am really working on is sincere listening.  

Listen without my own agenda in mind.

Listen to understand.....not to reply.

Seek first to understand, then to be understood.

Empathy = Understanding

.....now you know.

OK, on to the post.....

Last week we had a sweet time making ginger bread houses w/ a few good buddies.

Vanessa pulled it together.

We all had a lovely time making our ammeter candy cottages.

Although.....some people took it WAY more serious than others.

ie - the bottom two photos.

These people were in it to win it.

Focused they were.

 The rest of us were more like Kevin here,

mostly in it for the candy.

Ours is that bad boy down on the left side.

Scrumpsh.

 Who wouldn't want to live there???

Well, the idea behind these houses was that we would make them and then go give them away.

You know....spread the cheer.

The kids were a bit down on that idea....because in the true spirit of Giving,

they really wanted to give it to themselves to eat.

I was like...you would eat that thing??

That is super disgusting....I mauled all that candy.....it was handled on numerous occasions,

by a number of children and adults.

Well, after some thought and a sweet invitation from our good friends, 

the Tolands, to come and enjoy 

the Sunday night Christmas devotional at their place, we knew where we would 

be placing our delectable gift.

Let me just say it was well received.

The kids tore into it.

I was amazed, and our kids were thrilled.

They really made a dent in the embellishments.

The devotional was wonderful, and we enjoyed each others company.

Great night had by all!

The next morning I was going around doing my house work, vacuuming and 

reminiscing about the lovely evening before....and the sweet placement of the house.

How happy every thing was......when I came up to our garbage can at the curb.

I was stumped.

I was really befuddled.  

I was so confused, because if my eyes did not deceive me,

 it seemed like I was looking at our ginger bread house

 stuffed in our garbage can.

huh?

How is that even possible?

I flipped the lid.

YES...that is our house.

The house I know we left at the Tolands.

Kev happened to be home at the time....I went racing into the house...

"Kevin.......!!!   why is our ginger bread house
stuffed in the garbage can??"

He had to drive his truck over last night, so left just after us.

He said that when he was about to drive off Stacey came running out of the house carrying it....

She insisted he take it...."we don't want it here".

at first I was like....

?

...but truthfully as a mom, I do get it.

I know exactly how it was....she did not want to have the candy sitting around for 

her kids to eat non-stop, and thought ours might be able to continue to enjoy it.
Well, K made an executive decision on that one....
yeah, one I would have to agree with.
That little house had been loved enough.
I was exasperated at first because I thought some how K brought it back home by accident....
luckily my Paradigm changed once I heard the explanation.
How do you like that????
Pretty sweet use of my new lingo!

Giving Thanks......

I can't believe Thanksgiving has been and gone, 

THANK GOODNESS for leftovers!

This pie was not pretty enough to take to the Feast....actually I just made it yesterday...

(the day after the feast) but I will get to that.

I just posted a zillion pictures....I don't want to write a book today....just acknowledge the wonderful day we had on Thursday and GIVE THANKS.

One of our favorite family traditions on Thanksgiving morn 

is to get up and run the Turkey Trot  in Suntree.

I have been the only one running up until this year....but happily this go round 

we got the whole gang involved, except McCauley, who stayed with friends during the run.

In years past the boys have always handed out water and Gatorade w/ the scouts.

This race was started about 4 years ago in honor of Dr. Brent Gooch.  

He suffered from Juvenile Diabetes, the procedes from the race go towards help in finding a cure.

There is a 5K and 10K.

Believe it or not, last year our family was on a cruise during this time.....

we were bummed to miss it, and break tradition....but we managed : ) !

The best thing about running this year is that we ran not only with each other....

but also with our dear FRIENDS!!!

Whoohooo!

Ethan made sure he would start strong by stuffing his face w/ a powdered doughnut.

There is Kate, one of my Ragnar girls.

V was pumped....I loved seeing her all nervous and excited for her first run.

Look at these guys go!!

It makes me emotional to see them and cheer them on.

Tina who just finished her battle w/ thyroid ran the whole way!!!

Vanessa has just recently got the running bug and in finally getting it!

She is GETTING IT!!!

I love it.

Nate was rocking the house (V's husband) until he pulled or poped something....but he kept at it and held his own.

Kev kicked hiny. 

But this is the ultimate finish shot!

One day I want a shot like that of myself.  All stretched out and just going for it!

You can see Ethan's leg on the other side, there has been much controversy over who won between the two.  It looks like an even tie to me.

On a side note, Ryker was actually very sick.  He woke up with a major headache.

When he got to the race he threw up.

Poor guy...I could not bring myself to post any of the before pictures I got of him....he looked awful.

He was determined to be a part of this race. 

Good job buddy.

As the day went on, he took a long nap and felt much better.

OK....let the second race begin.

THE COOKING OF THE TURKEY!!!

oh my heck.

This turned into panic time.

We got home around 10:00am, turkey was still in the sink.

I had a smaller turkey, but then got afraid it would not be enough so I went back and got a 23 pounder.

For some reason I volunteered to bring the turkey to the festivities at the Quigley's home.

They took pity on us and invited us over for the feast.

Tina called to see how the turkey was going.....um, it is not going yet.  

What?

What time are you supposed to eat?  3:00.

She said they were eating at 3:00 also, and hers had been in since 6:00am.

Let the Sweat- fest begin.

I solicited some helpers.

Lawson was in charge of chopping the onions and celery for the stuffing, 

(hence the goggles because his eyes were burning).

Why don't I ever think of stuff like that?

I think Ethan really enjoyed breaking the bread.  I know for a fact that he was imagining him self doing the sacrament.  Which I think is wonderful.

The amazing news is that the turkey got done pretty dang quick...I have a convection oven, I am sure this shortened the time considerably.

Now...

I am not a turkey expert.  I have done two my entire life....my mom always did her
stuffing like this....  

she would stuff the bird and then pack the rest around it.

Tina was shocked to hear this and tried to make me dig all the stuffing out of the pan and bake it separately.  By the time I finally got it in the oven there was no way I was touching it.

When we got to V's house, she and her sisters were also not loving the dressing in the turkey pan,

I felt like I was out of my mind and making up the details I had remembered.

When we dug the stuffing out of the bird, I thought it looked normal.

I think I saw V have a little gag reflex going on....but I'm not positive, 

but they were insistent on putting what stuffing was in the Turkey into a pan to bake and dry out,
and the rest "we" 

threw in the garbage!

So, needless to say there was a scant supply of dressing....but I loved it....rebaked and all.

For your information.......when my mother called later that night and I was telling her of my dressing faux-pa....she said, no my dear...you did not have a mix up...

there are TWO stratagems for doing dressing....

WET   and    DRY

Your grandmothers have always done wet.

So I have always done wet.

So you to were doing wet dressing....if people are used to dry.....then it may be a huge turn off for them to attempt the wet.

HA!

I knew it!
DISCLAIMER: I really do think I will switch to dry from here on out...the possibility of bacteria could be a concern w/ the stuffing in the turkey.
I just felt I needed add that in support of the nay sayers....they are probably right.

Yes, the turkey looks remarkably dark....but it was decent.

Kev did the honor of carving.

Here is the crew.  I think we just got done toasting to Hayward's mustache in the photo below.

Loving the bubbly...the candles, the mini tables, the people.

Hayword (another invited guest from our ward) insisted on us singing 

"Because I have been Given Much"

so glad he did.

Because we have.

PS - Tina, there was a huge puddle in the oven from the turkey.

I guess my juices did flow over....I just didn't know it until the next day when the oven started smoking like mad as I was baking my pie!

McCauley kept saying the pie smelled like turkey.....sure didn't stop me from eating it for breakfast, lunch and snack.

Thanks to you....

Nicole, Vanessa, Colleen, me, Samantha, (the rest of the table was getting their salads!!  Hi Deborah in the back ground!)

This was the RS broad cast.  These cup cakes were DIVINE!!  V got the recipes!  

We have been in Florida for 10 years now.  I would never have guessed that we would stay here as long as we have.  No way.  At times I really miss being close to  our families in Utah.  I am sad about all of the events and fun times we are missing by being so far away from them.    

I am a girl that LOVES change.  I seek after it.  So yes, I would love to be getting the heck out of here.  Out of this house.  Out of Florida.....to anywhere.  (Preferably closer to UT.)  

But then I really stop and think about what I am saying, or thinking.....AM I.....Crazy??  I do love it here.  Our home is fine....it is sufficient for our needs, which is of course what matters.  I am surrounded by wonderful women whom I respect, admire, and enjoy.  I would be a lost lonely sole without them.  There would not be a single reason to stay put right where we are  (except for the fact that the kids can ride to school on their bikes, and we are on a safe street w/out a bunch of freaks, we did just find a pretty sweet piano teacher (not as amazing as you Liz!) and the fact that Kevin's job is still here, and we have that little company we started also......) if it weren't for them.

Our family has been very blessed by our associations....Thanks for being the best part of Florida!!!  These pictures are just a few of these ladies.....I am missing so many....all my girls from GNO, Church friends, my Visiting Teaching partner, my girls I get to visit, running buddies, but this is a start....

When I look at my list of wonderful women in my life.....it is impossible not to notice all of our many differences, strengths and weaknesses.  You inspire me.

(Excerpt from Diapers and Divinity Blog - she says it much better than I could)

  Yep, you may do lots of things better than I do, and I’m so glad for your family that you do.  There are things I do differently, and I know they bless my family.  I teach them, love them, lead them in the ways God made me able.  There’s so much we have in common, all the mothers in the world and me:  we are daughters of God, we love and care for His children, and we have His help.  And yet, we all do it so differently because we have different gifts.  This is why President Monson’s recent counsel to stop judging each other and comparing ourselves is so important. (Remember that the process of “judging” always places us either above or below others.)  I believe our Heavenly Father would rather that we honor one another’s gifts and draw strength from them.  I believe He wants us to ask about, discover, and develop our own gifts so that we can reach our potential and bless others to our fullest capacity, especially our families.  I believe He already knows we do some things “worse” than others do and still sees the beauty in our individuality. I believe He loves us and wants us to do a better job of loving ourselves and loving each other.

“God, who oversees the interlacings of galaxies, stars, and worlds, asks us to confess His hand in our personal lives, too. Have we not been reassured about the fall of one sparrow and that the very hairs of our heads are numbered?  God is in the details! Just as the Lord knows all of His vast creations, He also knows and loves each in any crowd—indeed, He knows and loves each and all of mankind!”  ~ Elder Neal A. Maxwel

Tina and I - this was for Shelly's T-party baby shower....forever ago!

(not to brag but......I won best hat prize!!!...you can see why :)

This is Vanessa.  Displaying the amazing actress that she is.

(See...no sound!  How do I turn that on?)

I love you ladies....

p.s. we are not going anywhere. 

no plans to leave our house, or FL any time in the near or remote future.

p.s.s.  If this post makes it sounds like I hang out tons with any of these girls I don't.  It is just that I know that they are available at any moment if I need them to be.  It is a support system that is comfortable just to have in place.  It is the little unexpected emails or phone call.  The once a month GNO, the occasional birthday lunches or just a random compliment that boosts me up.  It is a shared personal experience that makes me feel trusted and needed.  It's Just enough.