Sister Post - June 10, 2012 & We Went to Paris!

It's been a full month since we last posted a sister update on Ie Li's blog!  Wow.  Below is the latest updated from a group of my sisters.

 RACHEL  

Last month:

• In the last few weeks since we posted a sister update, the main event in our lives is our trip to France!  Ken and I rented a tiny car and spent 3 days exploring Normandy and the surrounding towns (Bayeux, Caen, etc).  We toured various World War II sites during the day and watched episodes of Band of Brothers on the iPad at night.  It was perfectly lovely.  The weather was very mild and it was so nice to get some COLOR on my skin after too much time inside an office. 
  
• From Normandy we transitioned to Paris where we rented an apartment through VRBO on Ile de la Cite, right by Notre Dame.  It was a great location, very central to all the big Paris attractions.  Our apartment had no A/C which ended up being ok but we were quite worried at first when we arrived and realized.  Our favorite activity was renting bikes from the Velib stations and biking all around the city.  We didn't ride the metro very much because the bikes were so pleasant except for a few scary moments on some busier streets.  I look forward to using the bikes again sometime on another visit. 
  
• Ken came back to the US to work and I spent 3 extra days in Paris with my friend Kristen Hill.  It was great to have a few days to go around to some of the stores and places that don't make it to the top of your list when this is your first trip to Paris as it was for Ken. 
  
• I spent one day visiting the Orangerie in the morning to see Monet's water lily paintings and then jumped a train out to Giverny to see Monet's house and gardens in person.  The Orangerie is so undervalued!  People always skip it!  But the huge water lily canvases are so striking.  And it's not crowded and a perfectly bite-sized collection of artwork so you don't get overwhelmed or tired like you might at the Louvre or Orsay.  In the future, I will recommend this museum to anyone traveling with kids.  A good little dose of art and situated in the MIDDLE of the Jardin des Tuileries (good for pre and post museum ice cream & play time).  I of course wished Ken could have stuck around with me but we cannot bite the hand that feeds us!  (aka our real jobs...)
• We left for our trip on a Monday, which proved waaaayyy less stressful than blasting out of town on a Friday night.  We had the whole weekend to prepare and pack.  I came back Thursday afternoon so I went to work on Friday before being able to have a weekend to rest, a nice way to ease back into real life.  
• Saturday, June 2nd was a productive day of errands cleaning, and lovely updates about Sarah's BABY!!  CZ and I met with a potential photographer who is a big fan of Jon Canlas.
• Sunday, June 3rd I taught my primary class.  I'm always super stressed before church when I have to teach and need to find better ways to mentally approach the situation b/c I don't want it to be so unpleasant.  After church I met up with CZ at a dress shop where we saw some lovely wedding options.
• June 4-8 was a pretty standard work week.  It's hard to get fully back in the swing of things.  Ken worked a ton and tutored on the side during all his available time leading up to the June 11th LSAT test date.  It made me grumpy to come back from a great trip and immediately never see each other.  Whatever.
• Friday, June 8th I worked from home very productively, talked to a great florist for CZ and went on a date to Truckeroo! 
• Saturday, June 9th we went to the Vienna Farmer's Market, reorganized the house and went out to dinner.  I've made a lot of progress through Ken Follett's Worlds Without End, sequel to Pillars of the Earth.   
  
• Sunday, June 10th we had dinner at Steve & Ie Li's which was delicious and long overdue!  Mi Na is hilarious these days. 

Next few weeks:

• I found out on Monday, June 11th that I am being promoted to Senior Associate as of July 1.  Wooo!!  It's exciting and reassuring to reach the milestone.  I have a lot of new roles and responsibilities to think about.  Day to day I don't think much will change about my job, but I want to keep in mind the types of things that helped me and frustrated me as an associate so I can be mindful of those coming up behind me.  
• This Friday, June 15th CZ and I are meeting with the florist out in Lucketts, VA.  I hope it's a good meeting.
• June 16-23 we are headed to Carlsbad with Ken's family for some beach time.  July 2-9 we will be in Utah for some Z family time.
  
• Ken's 29th birthday approaches on July 2nd!  Gotta get some plans going.  Ken needs to renew his VA license before we fly to Utah since it expires on his bday.
• I will miss official Promotion Day in the office on June 22nd.  Too bad, but I can't complain about being at the beach! 
  
• Tuesday, June 26th I'll find out what my new compensation will be.  I'll need to block out the rest of the day to update my many spreadsheets :-)
• Swap out my work laptop for a new one.  This will be a hassle b/c I need to back everything up and then get the new computer totally up to speed. 
• Over the next few weeks I will continue helping CZ execute her dream wedding day!  There is a lot to consider and only 7 weekends left until the wedding (3 of which I am gone...). 
• Zero in on what I'm going to wear to the wedding.  I have bought and collected soooo many mint green items, it's time to start narrowing down and making final decisions. 
  
• Continue training for the Freedom Days 10K in Provo on July 4th.  I guess this means I'll need to go to the balloon launch on July 3rd??  I want to participate in both! 

 ANNEE

Past Month:

• Swim Team.  It's everyday of the week, including Fridays!  The lucky thing is, the kids are actually enjoying it this year.  No one really complains when I say it's time to go.  They are even participating in the swim meets this year.  Even George has confessed that the lap swimming during practice is actually pretty enjoyable.  I love it when I get positive feedback on their lives! 
• Piano is faltering.  I think tomorrow is our last lesson until August, due to our travel schedules (ours and our teacher).  At the beginning of the practice week I was telling everyone how this was our last week, so we were going to give it our all.  That fell apart after the first day of practicing.  So sad.  I'm wondering what we're going to do about piano in September.  I just don't see how I'll have the strength to make it happen.  The practicing, the discipline, the structure.  It just might have to go for a while.  I have to be okay with that.  We simply cannot do it all!  
• I finished my quilt!!  It's beautiful.  I'm so happy I made it.  I need to get it photographed and updated on MOM.  I dreamed about doing a bit more hand quilting on it while I sit at swimteam.  But it's pretty hot to sit there and have a quilt on my lap.  So, the hand-stitching might be to-be-continued over the years.  As soon as I finished I felt like I needed a few quick gratification projects, so I made the girls some skirts and dresses.  Two skirts and two dresses, in about three days.  I do feel like I've been doing a lot of sewing lately.  I've let myself sew quite a bit during the day, because I just figured my days are numbered.  Now I'm working on a little baby project, but had to slip in a pair of pajamas for Jane's last pajama day at school today!  
• Hosted book club.  We read "Wrinkle In Time" for the month of May.  I'm glad I read it because it's a classic, but I'll admit, I didn't love it.  It just didn't have enough character development for my taste.  Now I'm listening to "Wild Swans" an epic novel spanning the history of China, and reading "Room" while I sit at the pool.  
• Celebrated 14 years of marriage with the best guy in the world.  It was a weekday and we had swimming and baseball later that night, so we simply went out to our new favorite Mexican place for lunch, Mez.  It's really more like a Mexican-fusion place because it's super California in their use of fresh ingredients and interesting flavor combinations.  You have to order the chips and salsa as an appetizer which I always think is a ripe off.  But I'll go back anytime I need to celebrate, it's so good!  After lunch Darin came with me to the quilt shop, so that was romantic :)  It was a low key celebration year.  But we acknowledge the accomplishment of it all, and not to get all cheesy, but seriously, I love him more today than I did 14 years ago.  I love that part of my life!  
• Went to a random matinee movie a few days after our anniversary to finish celebrating.  We were the only ones there.  We missed our usually 65+ crowd, but apparently they were not interested in seeing "What to Expect".  It's a silly movie.  Nothing profound in it to be sure, but it seemed appropriate that we watch it this year.  We were certainly able to get our fair share of laughs out of it.  
• This past weekend we invited Jane and Ruby to come with us on our date on Saturday night.  We took them downtown Chapel Hill to the totally old theater in the middle of town to watch "Mirror, Mirror".  Afterwards we went out for cupcakes.  It's good to remember to give our kids more personalized outings every now and again.  I think they felt pretty happy about their evening.  
• Birthday parties, swim meets, scout trips, youth trips, block party, school events.  It feels like it's been non-stop around here.  But kind of non-stop of the somewhat mundane.  That's fine.  I am not complaining!  It's life.  And I love it.  

This Week: 

• School's out on Friday!!  We can do it!!  We've had three sets of field days this week.  Plus three different ice cream parties on Thursday.  An awards assembly on Friday.  Kind of a joke if you ask me! 
• Second swim meet is this Wednesday.  I need to go into the website and get everyone registered for that one too.  It's so cute to watch them all swim as hard as they can for their events.  I love it!  
• A second baseball playoff game tonight.  The girls and I will have to miss it because we already missed swim team last night for the first playoff game.  It might be the end of the baseball season, finally!  
• Last piano lesson for who knows how long on Wednesday!
• Want to get my monthly pedicure before the kids are out of school.  I'll feel less guilty doing it while they are still in school :)  I've decided pedicures will be monthly from now until delivery day!
• OB appointment next week.  We will make a final decision about our summer travel plans after we do the glucose test and have the final in-depth ultrasound to check on everyone's growth, etc.  Fingers crossed!  
• Darin and I need to get to the temple too.  Maybe we can squeeze that in before school is out too?!  I'd better call to see if there is any room in the session.  We are a "by appointment only" temple!  One of the cons of these small sized temples.  
• I'm tired.  But sleeping at night is getting more and more complicated.  Piles of pillows.  Repositioning.  Moving out to the couch for stretches of the night.  Leg cramps, back aches, heartburn, bathroom breaks.  It's really awesome.  This is when pregnancy starts to feel like it will never end.  But I fully understand the function of this phase.  To break you down low enough that you will endure whatever child-birth and delivery entail, to simply not be pregnant anymore!  
• Um, find something to wear to the big wedding on August 4th.  I think about it a lot. 

IE LI

 Last few weeks:

• Infection #4.  This one was bad.  I was in bed for three days.  I went to a urologist about it and I'll be on antibiotics for a month. 
• I substitute taught in Relief Society.  It had been years since I'd taught in Relief Society so I was a little nervous.
• Ward Memorial Day picnic.  It was so hot. 
• Steve picked up a free bike for me at a garage sale.  
• Swimming!  I love going to the pool.  I love how it makes everyone so happy and so tired.  
• Purchased this mint dress for Christine's wedding.  Obviously it needs some sleeves and some more chest coverage, but other than that, I love it.  It is so comfortable.
• Started making dinner again.  I feel normal again and I really hope it sticks this time.
• Pirate day at Mei Li's school.  I made her some foil earrings.
• Went to Honey Pig again.  It's still my favorite.
• School ended!  As the kids got off the bus on the last day of school, mom and kids cheered.  When Mei Li got off the bus, she ran to me, hugged me, and wept.  She was really sad that it was the last day of school.  She said that nothing else could be as fun as kindergarten.
• Mei Li turned six on Saturday.  We had a quick breakfast, cleaned the church, came home for birthday waffles, went swimming, went to Stephen's T-ball party, and opened presents.  We're looking forward to more celebrating in Indiana with cousin Mylee later this month.
• Stephen's T-ball party was fun.  As the coach presented him with his trophy, he said, "This goes to the only switch-hitter I know of in T-ball."  Stephen is really proud of his trophy.
• Had dinner and cupcakes with Rachel and Ken on Sunday.  We stayed up late talking after the kids were in bed.

This Week:

• Register for the summer reading challenge at the library. 
• Bike riding!  Steve just installed the baby bike seat today.
• Swimming.  
• Start exercising.  I'm thinking I should finally use that prenatal yoga VHS tape that Ana gave me so many years ago. :)
• I don't really have any other plans.  I guess that's the beauty of summer.

ANA

Last Few Weeks:

• Honestly I have no idea what we've done over the last few weeks.  I do know that everyone got fed, dressed and to bed each night.  Jack made it to school almost every day.  One day I let him stay home just so  Zack could stay home too till 8am. That's what I call awesome parenting decisions.
• Friday is Jack's last day of Kindergarten.  It was crazy fast.
• Will is 8 months old.  That went crazy fast too.
• I'm so tired so much of the time.  I am now at the awesome level of sleep deprivation where I can't come up with normal words in everyday conversation.  It's fun.  Zack hates seeing me this way and keeps advocating for some serious night time sleep training, but I want to suck every last drop out of this baby experience since it's probably our last.  I know there will be years of sleep ahead and until then Will's chubby hands holding mine in the middle of the night make everything ok.
• Jack had his final t-ball game on Saturday.  He averaged 1 home run per game and had a lot of fun.  He is a patient fellow which makes baseball a good game for him. 
• Lost 70 lbs!  Still 10 more to go.  I now catch my reflection in the mirror and almost recognize myself.  It's been a long time coming although I think these last 10 pounds are going to be stubborn.  
• Bought Zack a new car!  He's happy and I am so happy he's happy and that the evenings full of finance discussions and car searches are over for a while.
• Will can sit up! Whoo hoo!  He can give high 5s and is starting to wave hi.  It's fun that he's becoming more of a real person.  
• Zack signed us up for an CSA box.  I'm up to my eyeballs in beets, radishs and kale.  Honestly I think we won't be renewing our subscription.  
• Decided to stay put for 1 more year.  I am relieved I don't have to pack up again.  By next June Zack will be in a more permanent position at work and we will know if he likes it or if he's looking to move on.  Then we will make our next moving decision. 

Next Weeks:

• I turn 32 in 2 weeks.  I don't even want to think about how fast this year went. 
• Jack starts playing in a basketball league.  Why do I keep signing him up for things that take up our Saturdays?
• Jack begged to be signed up for dodgeball camp.  It's mornings of his first week of vacation and he is super excited.  I hope it can live up to the hype.
• My mom comes to town.  It's been 6 months since I've seen her which is way too long.  

SARAH

Truman Axel Wiley
was born Saturday, June 2, 2012 around 1pm MST!!! 

CHRISTINE

CZ is busy planning her August 4th wedding so she has not contributed to this post today :-)

Sister Post - February is over now.

Hi all!

I seriously can't wrap my head around the fact that February is over.  This year has flown by in a blur.  I'm not as busy at work yet as I expected I would be by this time (busy, but not staying past midnight...).

2012 is shaping up to be a huge year in the Z family!  A wedding.  A Wiley baby. TWO Earnest babies.  Mom & Dad turn 60.  Big vacation (for the Fitzgerald's at least).  This means a lot of gathering (which I love) and a lot of photos. Time to get back in shape!  :-)

RACHEL

LAST WEEK (AND A HALF):

• Wednesday 2/15: I had lunch with CZ and Jon at Cafe Rio after they got engaged. 
• Thursday 2/16 and Friday 2/17: I cleaned and prepared the house for our guests last weekend.  It feels so good to get everything settled in its place!  It was so fun to have Annee, Jane and Ruby come to stay! 
• Saturday 2/18: I visited the American Girl store with Jane and Ruby for their birthday.  I love everything in there!  
• Sunday 2/19: I baked a vanilla cake with chocolate whipped cream frosting for our dinner at Steve's house.  It was the best cake I've had in a long time, light and cool and tasty. 
• Monday 2/20: Crossfit at 430pm then worked the rest of the night. 
• Ken applied to some interesting job postings and was able to connect with BYU alumni at each company who helped forward his resume to HR.  Hopefully something will come of it...
• Wednesday 2/22: I went to the Verizon Center with Christine and Ken to watch Jimmer (aka Sacramento Kings) play the Washington Wizards.  We went down on the court at halftime to meet the players.  I wonder if he gets embarrassed or gets razzed by his teammates for having so many enthusiastic fans everywhere he goes.  That's gotta be a little awkward.
• After the game we went to Ted's Bulletin a restaurant I've wanted to try for a long time.  Their shakes are crazy good!  Next time I'll try to homemade poptarts.
• Wednesday 2/22: Found out Annee is pregnant with TWINS!!!  Huge year for the Z's!!
• Thursday 2/23: We flew to Utah!  On the plane I ended up wearing the same dress I wore to the basketball game on Wednesday night.  Little did I know, I would end up wearing that dress for several days due to my lost luggage...
• My bag did not make our connection in JFK.  In fact, my bag was loaded onto a flight to DUBLIN instead.  I ended up being without my bag for the entire trip to Utah. No one could seem to figure out how to get the bag back from Ireland.  It was an incredibly frustrating situation.  Delta did pay $400 for me to buy some clothes while I was in Utah, and they provided us with vouchers for ski and ski clothes rentals since that was the purpose of the trip.  We also got $225 of Delta credit for our trouble. 
• Friday 2/24: We joined mom and dad for their setting apart by Elder Porter.  Lunch afterwards with Grandma at Blue Lemon.  We stopped into the Deseret Book downtown where there's a picture of Grandma's dad on the inside of the elevator doors. Later we dropped mom and dad off at the airport for their adventure in Morocco!! 
• Friday night 2/24: Ken and I got to go to dinner with Sarah, Scott and Courtney and Christopher Kendrick.  We went to Crazy Chuckie's in Provo, which I don't really recommend. Dessert at Awful Waffle which I do recommend!  It was a lovely evening overall.
• Saturday 2/25: PwC Ski Day event up at Sundance.  We skied and talked and recruited all day long.  By 430pm we were so tired!  Home to the Wiley's where we played games, watched Rio and went to bed early. 
• Sunday morning 2/26: We hung out with the Wiley kids more, made breakfast and queso (Oli's request) and everyone got ready for church.  Ken and I returned to the airport so we could spend some quality time in the baggage office. 
• Uneventful flight back to DC.  Upon landing, it was clear that the bag was back in New York from Ireland, but the bag did not make it out to Utah.  Many, many calls with the NY baggage office along with 2 calls to the Dublin office and 2 calls back to Salt Lake baggage office.  
• Monday night 2/27 at 1130pm I got my bag back!!  4.5 days after we gave the bag to Delta on the first flight. 

THIS WEEK

• No major plans this week other than to work a ton.  
• My VTee just announced she is pregnant!  I should do something for her this month.  
• File our taxes.  And work on another tax client who has already paid me so I better get that done!
• Continue sitting on an exercise ball at work.
• Download Bossy Pants.
• Read Lesson 6 & 8 from our Strengthening Marriage book in preparation for class on Sunday.
• Prepare Lesson 10 for my primary class next week..
• Our friends invited us to join them on their Caribbean Cruise in April. Must decide if we want to do this or if we'd rather do a Baltic Cruise/Morocco trip this April.  It takes so long to research everything.
• In light of all the events that will take place this year, I need to get my body back in control. So starting March 1st we need to cut out treats and carbs again.  Ugh, but I know I'll feel better and eventually more clothes will fit which will make me less depressed every morning. 

 SARAH

Last weeks:

• Spent Valentine's night at Sundance with Scott. 4-course fixed prix menu at the Tree Room was great - I even tried the oysters. I can't even tell you how nice it was to get away. I really love Sundance and it's so close we really should go there more. And of course it was hard to pull away even for the 18-hour period we were gone, but it was just so so nice to have that one-on-one time with Scott and just relax for a night. Breakfast at the Foundry Grill was yummy too. The overnight snow covering was a beautiful bonus.
  
• Went to Mountain View for 1 night and 1 1/2 days. It was fine but pretty boring and lonely. I got takeout Indian to eat in my room and then ordered room service for breakfast. But it was good to be there at work and see people in person and attend a few key meetings.
  
• Helped Brenden learn about the history and tradition of the British Monarchy. He created a timeline dating back to the 900s all the way to present-day. In addition to the timeline he needed to highlight 3 significant kings or queens. It was late and we were out of time and I couldn't do any more research to figure out which ones would be good to do, so I told him to call Grandma Z and ask her who, in her opinion, were the 3 most interesting and/or significant kings or queens in English history. I was once again impressed at the breadth of her knowledge when she was able to pull out of thin air 3 suggestions complete with interesting facts and significant historical events - all off the top of her head while driving in the car. Will I ever know that much stuff? Or more significantly will I ever be able to remember that much stuff?
• Turned 36. Scott and the kids did a great job making the day special. Scott got to skip his morning church meetings and made a great breakfast and as always so many nice gifts.
• Brett came for President's Day weekend and brought Peter & Tommy too. Brett took all the boys snowboarding 3 days in a row. Scott and I even tagged along one day. It wasn't until I was halfway down my first run that I realized my pregnant body might not balance or maneuver as well as I'm used to and maybe I should be a little extra careful.
  
• Rachel & Ken came to town!! It was so nice to have them here albeit way too short. We got to go out to an adults dinner one night which was so fun (note - not yummy, just fun). And Rachel was super helpful - so great to have another set of capable mom hands around. So sad to see them go and way too long till we'll see them again.
• Brenden, then Scott, then Oliver, all got sick with a yucky stomach bug. The boys each missed 2 days of school. Scott did not have that luxury and had to work through his bout. The rest of us seem to have been spared (knock on wood). [Note that all of the patients this time were of the older variety - those who don't make messes and don't require much while sleeping through most of their sick days. This is a good thing for a mother who's not a very good or compassionate nurse.]
• Said a very sad and sentimental goodbye to Mom & Dad as they headed off to Morocco. OK well maybe it wasn't so sad & sentimental, and maybe we didn't actually get the chance to say goodbye, but... we noted their absence on Sunday for dinner and explained to the kids that they went on a little trip. (It's ok to not be sentimental about those sorts of things, isn't it?) We will miss them and look forward to their return. Crazy to think they will get back and then our baby will be born so soon afterward.
  

This week:

• Scott's working at home a lot over the next couple of weeks. Need to try not to distract him too much, and teach the kids that they have to pretend like he isn't here, so he can actually get something done. Listening to the music coming from downstairs reminds me of our old days at 39 West.
  
• I might need to make another quick trip out to Mountain View at the end of this week.
• The kids all need haircuts. ASAP
• Another rooftop planning meeting with a few new volunteers. Hopefully we'll beef up the work force a bit so as to reduce my load. I also need to work on solidifying the lineup.
  
• Scramble to finish the last couple requirements for Oliver's Wolf award - Blue & Gold banquet is on Wednesday.
• I really need to make follow-up appointments for the kids at the dentist. We never did all the work we were supposed to do after our last checkup.
• My mind is blank right now. Probably we'll do some other stuff. I'm tired.

ANNEE

LAST WEEKS:

• -on Valentine's day we announced to the kids, and our family that we were having a new baby!  This was exciting and big news. We were excited and told all our friends shortly thereafter.
• -a week later went to my first OB appointment at 9 weeks. Routine blood work, etc, but given my OB history, we were going to do an ultrasound too. It was revealed that we will be having ANOTHER SET OF TWINS!  The shock is only now, almost a week later starting to settle.
• -took the girls to VA for a super fun girls weekend. We went to the American Girl store for hours, then out to lunch. The rest of the day was spent chilling at Rachel's house. The next day we went up to Steve's house for dinner and a mini birthday party. It was all lovely and perfect. Except for driving home in the only snow storm this entire winter. That part was annoying. Added on two extra hours!
• -with all that driving I finally finished Unbroken. It is a world war two story about survival. It was really good, but there were parts that I hated about the abuse in the prisoner of war camp. I know it was real and non-fiction but the abuse was so unrelenting that it was hard to read about.
• -absolutely no sewing. I'm in a rut. Mostly because I'm exhausted.
• -Darin left for Oregon the day of the ultrasound. He's been gone ever since. I've been doing the single mom routine for about a week.
• -basketball season ended!! Three final games on Saturday. It was great. Henry's team made it to the play offs. We'll see if we make it past round one tomorrow night.

THIS WEEK:

• -I hardly even try anymore. I'm so terribly exhausted. If I wake up in the morning, make it through the morning routine of sending everyone off to school fed, clothed, and lunched, I practically need a nap once they're gone. Not a joke. Today, I sat down on the couch at 8:30am to just check the news for a minute. Next thing I knew, I was waking up at 10. I would feel embarrassed, but there isn't anything I can do about it. To make up for my mid morning nap, I doubled my efforts at getting all the laundry done before Darin gets home. I've also worked hard at getting rid of the random piles of papers. These things bug him really bad, and it's my way of missing him to want to clean up.
• -I'm in charge of cooking enough rice for 120 people at the Blue and Gold banquet this week. I'm not very excited about it.
• -trying to help George finish all of his Webelo Requirement before the banquet on Wednesday. We're really close!
• -I go to bed every night between 9 and 10. I try to say that I'm just going to sit down for a minute, and then I'll get back up, but I never get back up. Will this feeling ever go away?!
• -started looking at twin strollers. I seriously never thought I'd be shopping for one again!
• -the girls alarm went off at 12:20am last night. I was in a deep, deep sleep when Ruby came in asking me to help her find tights. She was all dressed. Talk about middle of the night confusion!  She and Jane were both getting ready for school. I'm glad they were able to fall back asleep.
• -Jane threw up on the bus ride home from school today. She was devastated. She says she could feel she was getting car sick but didn't know what she could do about it. I feel so bad. I'll probably pick them up from school for the rest of the week.
• -we're off to a great start :-)
• -on Wednesday I'm having Darin take me to our local Indian restaurant's lunch buffet. I've been craving it the whole time he's been gone. It will be our "we're having another set of twins" celebratory lunch date.

ANA

Last few weeks

• -Watched Jacks Valentines Day performance at school.  They learned a number of songs and poems and it was adorable!  Jack had kept it a huge secret not even singing the songs at home so it was such a lovely surprise. He was supposed to wear red to school that day but when I asked him if he wanted me to buy him a new red shirt but he told me he had it all planned out.  That day he woke up and came into our room completely dressed having taken an orangey-red football shirt and turned it inside out.  Boy was he proud of himself, and I fought the urge to insist he wear a shirt right side out to the school performance.
• -Got Jack all ready for his first t-ball team.  They have there first game Saturday and he can't wait!
• -Drove to Irvine to meet my dad with my sister and the kids. William did remarkably well and it was a lovely day! 
• -Spent all last week hanging out with Jack.  He had President's week off of school.  I was a little nervous to have him home all day but it was a blast.  I think he and I both remarked on how much fun we were having together at least a few times a day.  He even said I was more fun then school.  Which for Jack is a big deal!  I am actually looking forward to the summer break (which for me is a big deal!) 
• -William has started to adore Jack once more.  There were a few days there where it didn't look promising and Will kinda screamed like the world was over when Jack got close to him.  Now he thinks he hung the moon again thank heavens.
• -William shows signs of rolling over every now and again but changes his mind, which I'm totally fine with.  I want to suck up as much little baby time as possible after waiting so many years for his arrival.
• -Jack passed his swim test and is now in the last level before swim team (where I guess he has to be able to swim at least 6 lengths of the pool doing the crawl stroke without stopping).  He loves it while he's there but doesn't want to do swim team.  Zack really wants him to but I'm staying way out of this one.  I have enough of my own battles to take this one on :)
• -Went out on a kid-less date (thank you Dani and Sean). It was really amazing.  Just being in the car not worried that someone was going to loose it in the back seat was pure bliss.

This week:

• -Jack's first baseball game.  This kid takes Patriots losses hard....I hope he won't take his own team losses as hard (here's dreaming)
• -Zack's big work project is due.  He's working a ton.  Too bad its also my busy week at work.
• -Keep exercising.  I'm down to 20 pounds to lose.  Wow that sounds like a ton, but when I started with 80 to lose it seems less depressing.  If only my body could do pregnancy differently.

IE LI 

Last couple of weeks:

• Made new valances for Mei Li and Stephen's room.  I started making bunting for their room, but have not yet completed it.
• Tested out a new paint color for their bedroom, but Stephen protested.  With the new valances, the present paint color looks really great. So I probably won't change it after all.  Mi Na's room, though, is a different story.
• Nursed Mi Na back to health from her UTI.  It's so nice to see her happy again.
• Steve and the older kids went to see Jimmer in DC.
• Listened to much of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.   I anticipated that it would be next month's book club book.  I'm not sure if  I'm right yet.
• Attended both sessions of stake conference.  All the talks were really excellent and I was very inspired.  Elder Scott gave a  talk on the sanctity of womanhood.  It was really great.   After stake conference, Steve whispered instructions into Stephen's ear to tell me nice things like "that smells delicious" and "thank you for all you do."  It was pretty funny, and it made Stephen totally embarrassed to say such mushy things.   
• Discovered these amazing lemon crinkle cookies.

This Week:

• Chore charts!  The kids did great the first day.  Let's hope they (I) can be consistent.  It's so hard to keep children on task!
• Library trip with Stephen today.
• Help out with Stephen's class during parent/teacher conferences.
• My friend Leanna arrives Saturday evening.  She and her little girl will be staying with us for a few days for some fun, including an Anne of Green Gables marathon.
• Do some mattress research.  I think that my hip is suffering because of our old mattress.
• Keep up with the housework.  
• Hang out with Ie Ling.  I really love having her with me everyday.

 CHRISTINE

Last Few Weeks (sorry this is probably going to be somewhat vague, I know it's been awhile since I sent an update in so I'm having a hard time remembering everything):

• A lot of work.  I'm in between clients now so things have slowed down, which is nice, but at the same time stressful since I feel like I should be busy with work.
• Loved having Annee and the girls come to visit and getting to celebrate their birthday at the American Girl store.  Sunday dinner at Steve and Ie Li's was the perfect end to the weekend.  
• Took the bus to Morgantown one weekend to hear Jon give a talk in church.  It was my first experience with taking the bus from DC to Morgantown and it was actually great.  The weather was super bad on my way up, tons of snow, so I was definitely glad I hadn't attempted the drive.  I even got to talk to a couple guys on the bus about the church which was pretty awesome.  I was eavesdropping (typical) on two guys sitting behind me as they were talking about religion.  Mormons were brought up and I bit my tongue as I heard one claim it was a cult, but as he started asking the other if he knew much about the religion, I knew I had to say something.  I admitted to having been listening to their conversation and that I was in fact Mormon.  At first they were very apologetic if they had said anything offensive, but then they continued to ask me all sorts of questions about it and what made us different from other Christians.  I talked to them for a good portion of the ride and it was really fun.  Ultimately nothing really came of it, neither of them came to church or anything, but I'm glad that I was able to at least give them a little more information.  
  
• Spent some good time with friends as one was leaving for Afghanistan for a few months.  We had Saturday brunch at Southside 815 which was amazing.  It's honestly my favorite place for breakfast, it never disappoints. 
  
• Went riding one Saturday.  I'm starting the search for a barn out here where I can ride a little more regularly.  This first one I tried probably won't end up working out, but it was still fun to at least get to ride and be around horses again for a little bit. 
  
• And... I got engaged!!  Valentine's day Jon ended up surprising me by coming to town.  I had been a little sad/mad throughout the day since I wasn't going to get to see him and I had basically just resigned to working late for the night.  With a little creative convincing that didn't give away the fact that he was in town, he convinced me that I needed to go home and there he was waiting.  Of course getting me home took longer than he had planned on, so most of his plans and reservations had already passed.  But we got to go out to dinner in Old Town Alexandria and I was thrilled to get to spend the evening together.  Since he had just surprised me a week earlier for the Super Bowl I really didn't think anything of the fact that he was surprising me and didn't assume that it had anything to do with him proposing.  But this time he did in fact propose, and after confirming that he wasn't joking this time, I said yes!  Date and plans are still TBD, thinking about all that stresses me out a little, but I know it'll all work out one way or another and I'm thrilled with it all!  
• Went to Morgantown another weekend to watch Jon participate in the cheer-off between the final four applicants for the Mountaineer.  He did amazing and everyone loves him.  If he doesn't get it there's something working against him in the whole process and it'll be tragic. 
  

This week:

• Try to find work to do.  My group at work has been a little slow and as I'm in between clients I have pretty much most of March open, which means I have to find something to do.  It's a little stressful.  You'd think I could just enjoy the fact that things are slow again, but I think it may be more stressful trying to find work.
• Try to remember what it means to exercise.    
• Go grocery shopping so I can stop eating out for every single meal. 
• The announcement for the Mountaineer is tonight.  I'm so nervous, I don't think I've ever been this nervous for anything. A lot depends on this.  Ultimately whatever happens will be for a reason, just need to remember that. 
  
• Maybe try to pick a date for our wedding?  That's probably a good thing to get nailed down so that all the other planning can get started.  Oh goodness, too much to think about. 

Z Sisterz Update - 12.5.2011

Hi all. So I was hoping you would allow me a slight deviation from the "normal" sister post.  My update includes a few more pictures than usual, mostly because this is the only time I ever update our blog, so I feel an obligation to include just a little extra.  

Also, all of you should join instagram on your iPhones and let me follow you and/or follow me.  I post a lot of photos.  Annee and CZ already bit the bullet.  My username is rachelzf.  Do it! 

Now, on to the rest of the show!  

Rachel

Last Week:

• Ordered the table clothes for the ward party after much discussion amongst the old ladies.  In the end, a great Cyber Monday sale meant ordering fabric clothes was the same price as plastic and red can be used for many holidays.  In case you're curious, this is my decor inspiration. 
• Did laundry, put lights on the tree and decorations around the house (fireplace DVD included), finished an ethics exam for Virginia that I've been meaning to take FOREVER.
  
  
• Got a lot of the tiny nagging to-dos crossed off my list at work.  Thank goodness!  Also, Steve got an email from an recruiter at Intuit inviting him to explore career opportunities.  Wouldn't that be hilarious?!
• VTing meetup at McDonalds.  Their hot chocolate is actually quite good.
• Wednesday Ken put up the lights and garland outside our apartment.  I met with the decoration ladies for 2 hours at the church to plan.
• Wednesday we got some disappointing news about the job Ken is waiting to start.  The bid protest will not be resolved until March.  What do we do now?
• Thursday I FINALLY moved my iPhone onto PwC's network and ditched my blackberry for good.  
• Did not eat a single treat or carb all week.  Rough.  
• Walked/ran 1 mile each day per Darin's challenge (Run 1 mile per day each day between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Surprisingly hard!). Sometimes this meant bundling up for an 11pm stroll.
• Last possible visit to Anthropologie for price adjustment refunds.  Did some light Christmas shopping with Ken around the mall.  All his Christmas dreams came trust at the See's cart.  Bought poinsettias at Home Depot for the house.  Watched the BYU game.
• Crashed the other ward's xmas party to scope out their decor.  They took down all the overhead wires we were planning to use for the lights and lanterns we want to string overhead!!!  Ahh how annoying!  More work for us now.
• The Hot Chocolate race turned out to be quite a disaster due to poor organization which you can read about here. 
• On Sunday I was super depressed because I never got a shipping notification about the paper lanterns I ordered from a store in CA.  This meant they would not arrive in time for the party and there was no plan B.  So I slept all afternoon.
• CZ came to pick up her couch, it was mostly nice for her to come visit.  I convinced her to get more Christmas decor.  Your holidays are only as good as you actively make them!!  
• We moved the rocking chair and white chair over to the spot where the couch was.  Ken says our apartment has much better feng shui and he's right.  It's sad to see the couch go but really for the best.  Gotta go visit CZ's place now.
  

  

  Before & After-ish.  Still gotta tweak the area.

• Sunday night we went to the Stake music concert and the First Presidency message.  It was very lovely.  A small group of kids sang a Christmas song, they must be in DC's equivalent of the group my friends were in (Los Angeles Children's Chorus) because those kids sounded amazing.  It made me really want to go to a children's chorus Christmas concert.  Nothing quite like that sound.
  

  

  Christmas Devotional matching outfits.  Yesss.

This Week:

• Craft the cranberry topiaries I've been meaning to complete.
  
  
• Finally sew up the Christmas light wreath I started forever ago.  In my defense, I'm out of thread.
• RS Christmas dinner on Tuesday night. (Although today is actually Tuesday and I feel so sick and blah that I think I'll pass on this tonight.  Plus I can't eat any cookies soooo what's the point)
• I'm working on a new project at work which requires me to send work to our processing center in India.  Wednesday, I have a call with them at 7:30am.  Yeeeaahh....
• Thursday is the Mobile Discovery event at work where I can learn all about the international opportunities I'll never actually get to do.  Cool.
• Thursday night is major go-time at the chapel.  The 75 red paper lanterns have arrived safely  !!  Crisis averted!  Can I have my Sunday back?
• Friday is a client meeting in Baltimore.  On the way home I think I'll stop at the floral wholesale place to buy carnations.  I want to make a couple carnation wreaths for the Christmas party.  Or maybe this will get cut from the list.
• Friday is the PwC Xmas party.  Exciting!
• Saturday = go time.  Ward party.  I hope we don't disappoint!
• Our Christmas cards should arrive on Saturday.  Remember how I started that process in September?  Yeah, me too. 
  
  
  

 ANNEE

 Last Week:

• Took the entire week off from work!  I turned a job down on Monday because I just needed a day to recover.  On Friday, I simply forgot that I had scheduled myself to work a half day.  That was not my finest moment as a substitute teacher.  My friends at the school promise they will forgive me my first major blunder!  Anyway, that's how I accomplished not working at all last week!
• Honestly I should have a huge list of all the other amazing things I did.  But I just kind of don't.  There was some return to running.  There was quite a bit of work done on some Christmas presents.  There were two lunch days.  A shopping date.  A volunteer morning.  A doctor's appointment.  A shopping trip to enjoy my last hoorah with the Anthro 40% sale.  But that's kind of it.
• Saturday was nuts!  I thought it was going to be awesome and we were all going to be sleeping in and taking it easy.  But it was about as opposite to that as it could have been.  There were THREE service projects that all or parts of our family participated in.  There was food to prepare and bring to the church.  Presents to wrap.  Basketball practices.  Trips to the stores.  It was insane.  When I hit the pillow at 1am last night, I wondered if I could have been anymore tired.
• Sunday afternoon, as per my picture, Darin and I took the ladies to their first live performance of The Nutcracker.  It was delightful.  I hope it's a new tradition.

This week:

• Working Monday-Thursday.  It's going to be intense.
• GET A CHRISTMAS TREE.  Might not happen until Thursday.  That's real sad.  But, we do have all of our other decorations out and about, so the house is mostly festive.  I miss the tree though.
• Darin's in finals week.  That means he's gone totally nuts.  We're leaving him alone until next Monday.  Expect on Thursday night when I must insist he take his family to get a Christmas tree!
• Buy a Christmas present!  What's my plan?!!  Seriously.
• Host the Primary Teacher Appreciation Open House here at our house, next Sunday night.
• I'm tired already.  Whatever.

IE LI

Last Week:

• Stephen had his four-year-old check-up.  
• We finally got lights up on the Christmas tree.  We started decorating it with ornaments, but we still have more to do.
• We started our Christmas book advent.  The kids are loving it.
• I hung our stockings and our new mitten garland.  They look very sweet.
• I ran on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
• Got a quote from a fourth furnace salesman.  We're still not quite sure what to do about replacing our furnace.  But I'm sick of salesmen.
• Ward Christmas party.
• Sunday dinner with friends.

This Week:

• Relief Society Christmas party.
• Exercise.
• Work Christmas party.
• Steve's out of town until Friday.  I'll be plenty busy.

 SARAH

Last week(s):

• Made it up to the Anthro sale on Thursday - thanks to Mom for watching H&J for the day. Found a few good "transitional" pieces, and some great xmas gifts
• Got Christmas decor 75% up. Tree still needs lights & ornaments. Can't seem to get myself to put up the last few things, but it'd be nice to get the boxes out of the entry hall
• Brenden stayed home from school 4 days last week. I took him to the dr hoping for a strep diagnosis but he said it was just a cold. It was tenacious and by the end of the week he was so bored  he was begging to get back to school.
  
• Met Courtney's cute new baby Erin and heard her crazy unassisted-delivery story. I think she's going to blog about it this week. She is crazy. And kind of brave.
• Spoke to the YW in the ward about being a "working woman". Interesting lesson and hard to know exactly how to pitch it to them.
  

This week:

• Host one of the RS mini-Christmas dinners (rather than a big dinner at the church, they divide up the sisters to go to individual homes to have a more personal experience). I guess this will force me to finish putting Christmas stuff up.
  
• Major Christmas shopping week. I need to make some serious progress here. I have Kelsea coming twice a week for the month of December to help facilitate this.
• Sort through the maternity clothes. It's time to make some serious cuts in this collection. Speak up if there's something you remember caring about.
  
• Maybe I should do goodie plates for the neighbors this week? I've already given up on Christmas cards this year, so I think I can handle the goodies. Maybe next week.
• This doesn't sound like a very ambitious list. What else should I do?

CHRISTINE

Last Couple Weeks:

• Enjoyed Thanksgiving and all the surrounding activities with family.  Didn't so much enjoy working Black Friday but I guess it's an experience to have.  I was surprised how many people ended up showing up for our early hours and Black Friday deals, it definitely got pretty crazy in there. 
• Studied as much as I could in between the work and family time, but probably not nearly as much as I should've.  Took the first part of my CPA exam last Wednesday, now I'm just waiting to hear back on if I passed or not.  It's really hard to tell how anything went coming out of it.  
• Continued to not have a whole lot of work to do at the office.  I'm definitely taking full advantage of all the self-study trainings that PwC has to offer.  
• Had dinner with Melissa at the new Cafe Rio in Falls Church.  It's so close to my place, I'm thrilled about it.  
• Finally picked up my couch from Rachel and Ken's place (sorry!) and started somewhat furnishing our downstairs family room.  
• Had some friends over for dessert Sunday night with the roommates. 

This Week:

• Get on a better sleep schedule.
• Start studying for my next CPA exam.  
• Find time to get some sort of exercise. 
• Go to Utah Wednesday-Friday for a recruiting event.
• Come back to DC in time for our work Christmas party, I'm actually really excited for this.
• Spend Saturday in Philadelphia with friends seeing the sites and going to a concert that night. 

Ana is tending 2 sick kids this week so she gets a pass!

Z Sisterz Update

RACHEL

 

Last Week:

• Took Tuesday off and had a great day hanging out at home.  
• Pulled out every single item of Ken's clothes, had him try on each one, sorted into keep, mend, or pack away. It was a really fun project!  He's lost weight so he has a grand total of 4 dress shirts and only 1 pair of jeans that fit right now.  I have a list of the needs in each category of the wardrobe and now need to go fill them!
• Costco run.  
• Client meeting on Thursday.  
• Had my car detailed on Thursday as a bday gift from Ken.  It's so clean!
• Dinner with CZ and Jill at The Rio on Thursday evening.  So fun to get together.  That restaurant is good.
• Pack and drive down to NC on Friday.  Lunch at Chick Fil A.  Annee made Banana Cream Pie cupcakes per my request and they were SO good!!
• Friday evening we went to Anthro so Summer could get some items via CZ.  Then we ate a snack at Cheesecake Factory. 
• Saturday we made tons of progress buying decoration items I need for the Trunk or Treat.  We snagged the last spooky tree from Michaels.  Thanks to Summer's couponing I got it all for 75% off!
• Sunday I got to go running and we had a nice Sunday dinner.  We crafted away in the evening.  I love my felt garland!

 This Week:

• Finish off the tombstones and table top displays.  The coffin is lifesize so maybe we'll put that in the photo backdrop area.  I know, we're doing more than we need to, but it's really fun for me so who cares.
• Full-day training in the office on Wednesday.
• Friday is the last Truckeroo of the year.  Looking forward to trying out some of the new foodtrucks.
• Hopefully hear back about Ken's job interview.  The HR person was out of town all last week.  
• Run and craft every night.  
• BYU game on Friday night.
• Halloween party setup on Saturday.  I think we'll go as Jelly Belly bags.
• Defrost the turkey and cook it Sunday afternoon.  
• Visit teach both girls Sunday afternoon.
• Bake a pumpkin treat.  

SARAH

Last Week:

• Spent a day and a half moping around before I finally kicked it into gear and got my work project done. The black cloud disappeared at that point so I could finally think about and do other things.
• Did lots of yardwork out front. Still tons to do out back before our last green can pickup this week.
• The kids were on Fall Break Wednesday, Thursday & Friday. We didn't go away anywhere, so tried to do some other fun activities around home.
• I took Brenden bike riding to American Fork, Eagle Mountain, and Park City dirt jump parks. In Eagle Mountain we had a sad experience where not only did Brenden fall and hurt his hand so he couldn't ride for a few days (xrays showed nothing), but someone stole his GoPro camera that he'd left on a nearby picnic table. Brenden was quite upset and had a good idea of who had taken it, so we reported it to the police although didn't have too much hope it'd do any good. At 9:30pm that night the police officer called to say they'd found the kid who confessed to taking the camera and had gotten it back. Amazing to see the system work like that!
• I attribute my ravenous appetite to being pregnant, yet pair that with ingrained bad eating habits means I am definitely on the upswing of the weight pendulum right now. I don't mind the new-found cleavage, but had to pull out my box of transition clothes much sooner than I should have.
• Made a great cream of butternut squash soup and served it in bread bowls - Brenden and I were the only ones who ate it but we thought it was delicious.
• Went to the movies with Scott for the first time in about a year. Saw Moneyball - very good - and ate buffalo wings at Wingers. 
• Had Kelsey come over to bbsit on Monday when I had a number of back-to-back meetings. Thinking I should make that a regular weekly thing. She's great.
• Made my first couple christmas shopping purchases! I'm on my way. Need to come up with a plan, though, and not just purchase indiscriminately.

This Week:

• It's probably about time I do something about my hair. I have no idea what, though. Seems like every haircut ends up being the same no matter how new or different I think we're making it - all because I can't or don't take the time to fix it properly - or more likely actually don't know how to fix it properly.
• Prepare Halloween costumes - Huck & June are set and somehow miraculously June hasn't wavered since the original choice to be a BYU cheerleader (which then pairs well with Huck's BYU football player). Oli says he wants to be a nerd, so we'll head to DI to find a good getup. Brenden is at a loss still.
• Attend Brenden's school play - Shakespeare's Tempest. He's doing 8 performances over 2 days - probably we don't need to go to all of them, right?
• Oliver's Pinewood Derby is on Wednesday. Scott helped him finish his car today. He's hoping for awards in both speed and design.
• Attempt to cook Vietnamese Pho - I bought some paste to make the broth and Virimicelli noodles at a local Asian market so I'm hoping it's not too hard beyond that.

ANA

Last few weeks

• Had a baby! A whopping 9lbs after 18 hours of labor, and 2 epidurals. I don't think Jack hit 9lbs till he was 2 months old.
• Between my doctors visits and Will's doctors visits we have had 7 doctors appointments in the last 2 weeks.  It's been a much harder recovery this time around.
• Found my feet again.  They may still not be pretty but man alive are they skinny.  Maybe the rest of me will follow their example someday :)
• Trying to figure out how to manage a newborn, a 6 year old and work.  I made my first work calls in the hospital when William was 1 day old.  I miss maternity leave.
• Unbelievable gratitude for my blessings and all it's taken to bring this baby into the world healthy.

This week

• Convince William to sleep in his bassinet not on my chest
• Work...my busy week is fast approaching
• Get Jacks Halloween costume ready.  I tried to convince him to let us buy one this year but no dice.
• Sleep.  Ha. 

IE LI

Last Week:

• Preschool parent meeting.
• Checked out books from the library.
• Ie Ling got engaged to Blake!  Looks like we'll be in Los Angeles over Christmas break for the wedding.  I've been busy searching for wedding attire.
• Ran three times, including an 8 miler on Saturday.  I think I might need a hip replacement someday.
• We went on a fall drive.  We didn't get very far into the Shenandoah Valley before we had to turn back, but we did get to stop at a local park and play for a while.  I'm hoping we'll have another opportunity for a longer drive soon.
• Our ward trunk or treat.  Mei was Snow White, Stephen was Spider Man, Mi Na was a ballerina.  They looked awfully cute.Stephen preferred handing out the candy rather than collecting it.  Mei Li was timid about collecting candy, worried that she wasn't supposed to go to the same car twice.
• Had a relaxing Sunday, minus the whole copier fiasco in the library.  After dinner, we all walked to the field and played there until dark.  

This Week:

• Endure Steve's absence for a couple of days.
• Clean, clean, clean.
• Run, run, run.
• Bring dinner to my friend who just had a baby boy.
• Aside from running, I'm hoping to incorporate yoga and pilates into my routine.
• Visiting teaching.
• Halloween parade at Stephen's preschool.
• Go on a date with Steve.

ANNEE

Last Week:

• Substitute taught on three days.  That is really pushing the limit for me.  It's awesome to be in demand at the school, and it's awesome to have my ideal part-time job.  But when I sub three or more times per week, next to nothing gets done at the house.  By Friday many things were on the very brink of chaos.  Also when I sub, it makes it really hard to run.  I come home with the kids, and once they are all home, it's really hard for me to up-and-leave when my presence is so essential.  By the second day in a row of not running I was getting a bit cranky.  I decided to pack running clothes with me to school.  At the end of the day, I changed into the running clothes and ran the seven miles back home.  It was perfect.  
• One of the two days I wasn't working was a half-day.  By noon all the kids were back home again!  I think in the three hours they were gone I managed to run, do the dishes!  Not nearly enough to make me feel like Wednesday was productive at all!
• I finally executed my Halloween front porch decorations.  I've had this idea since October 1st.  Black painted branches, stuck into pumpkins with black crows clipped to the branches.  It's awesome.  I'm sad it too me so long to execute, but so glad that I didn't give up on the idea!  I'll post pictures soon.
• Thursday we got the kids out of school early and took them to the State Fair.  We bought so much fried food we should be embarrassed.  But we weren't.  As we were leaving, we discovered that I had exactly $5 left in my back pocket.  We stopped at just-one-more stand to see what fried item they had on their menu that we hadn't tried yet that was $5 exactly.  Henry tried exactly one too many fried items.  He woke up Friday morning sick to his stomach.  The 12 inches of fried cookies dough was determined to be the main culprit.  Live and learn! 
• Hosted the grand meeting of friends!  It was so great.  It just so happens that I am exactly half way in-between Summer, CZ and Rachel.  It just so happens that Summer was due a momcation, and hadn't seen CZ and Rachel in too long.  They all arrived about 6pm on Friday.  We kicked the weekend off with a whirlwind stop at Anthropologie before it closed at 9, followed by a three hour sojourn at the Cheesecake Factory.  It was too much fun!  I hope these girls need a half-way meeting point again sometime before we leave.
• Started the Hermione costume.  It's SO CLOSE TO BEING DONE.  But it's not done.  And I'm soooo tired.  When will everything get done?!  

This Week:

• Monday, said "good-bye" to our company and prepared to go on my final, longest, marathon training run.  The goal was 22 miles.  I should have settled on 20.  Right at 20 the outer edge of my right knee started having that old familiar shooting pain that caused me to drop out of the last marathon I ran four years ago.  I am going to hope that new shoes will be a good enough solution for now.  I am running this marathon!
• Tuesday, Henry is turning 12!  We have gathered a few gifts, but after sending him off to school, I need to go find the last two.  He wants to have dinner at Chili's, and come back home for the famous chocolate chip cookie dough filled cupcakes!  So I'll be doing lots of baking tomorrow too.  
• Wednesday, finish sewing Ruby's Halloween costume.  I won't do anything else on Wednesday until it's done!
• Thursday, stop by some thrift shops and find George's Halloween costume.  I won't do anything else until I have all the pieces I need for it!  At 2pm I have another massage scheduled.  I can't wait!  I can't wait!  I can't wait!  Thursday night, host book club!  We read Frankenstein (or I will have read Frankenstein by Thursday)!
• At some point before Friday make Henry's costume.  At least it doesn't involve any sewing.  Just crafting.  Maybe this can get moved over to Darin's list for the week.
• Friday, set-up the ward trunk-or-treat party in the morning.  Then fly over to the kids school to host one of the game stations at Ruby's class party, while hopefully sending Darin over to Jane's class to participate in her class party.  Fly home to get everyone dressed and ready for the ward party.  Somewhere in that day make a pot of chili and clean out the trunk in the van!  Then rush to the church for the big event!  Which hopefully will go off without a hitch.  I think Friday won't be very fun.  
• Saturday we've been invited to a family Halloween party.  Hopefully we'll be sleeping in and doing nothing for most of the day.  And hopefully since I won't be in charge of a single thing, the Halloween party on Saturday night will be a lot more fun than the Halloween party on Friday night!  
• Make hotel reservations for the marathon!
• Dream about sewing anything other than Halloween costumes!
• In the back of my mind I'm carrying around the idea of a fall foliage Christmas card photo.  We waited too long last year, and we had to just be standing on top of a bunch of fallen leave, but the trees in the background were bare.  Every time I see another leave hit the ground, a little panic button is triggered inside of me!  
• Order new running shoes to get here in time for another weekend run!
• Dream about falling asleep on Monday night and waking up on Sunday morning with everything behind me!