To the Fathers in my Life

"I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren't trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom." -Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum

I've learned a lot from my dad, mostly in moments when he wasn't trying to teach me anything at all. His example, his actions and reactions, his life has been a lesson for me as to how I should be living mine.

Happy Belated Father's Day!

These are two of the fathers who have had an influence on my life:

My wonderful dad! I have no idea what he's doing... Haha!

My handsome hubby! He was a fun uncle to his nieces and nephews, and then became a great dad to Andrew and David. I wouldn't trade him for the world!

I'm not gonna write anything mushy; I just wanted to quickly say that I know how blessed I am to have both of these men in my life, and that they've loved me and grown with me and helped me become the woman I am today.

Secret: I really don't like drinking milk. When I was young, my family went to visit my grandparents in Idaho one time. There was a big storm, and the electricity went out. I was really thirsty, so I got some milk. Maybe the milk was going bad, or maybe I was just getting sick anyway, but after I drank the milk, I felt sick and ended up throwing up. Ever since then, I really just don't like the thought of drinking milk. I have the same bad experience with someone else barfing after eating coconut... to this day I can't eat coconut. Bad associations taint my taste buds, I guess...

A Reason to Smile

"All the statistics in the world can't measure the warmth of a smile." -Chris Hart

We've been smiling a lot lately. Keep reading for one of the reasons why.

After experiencing REALLY hot weather in Florida (high 80s plus a TON of humidity) last week, the weather here has felt perfect!

Yesterday, the high was in the mid-70s, and it was like heaven. My dad and I took the boys and my niece outside to go for a walk, ride bikes/tricycles, and to enjoy the sunshine outside. Here are some pictures to help me remember the experience.

Starting to ride! My dad helped David, who has gotten pretty good at actually pedaling, but can't steer for his life...

No serious faces from this boy!

Sweet Andrew :)

David and Dad playing catch-up.

I can't believe how big he's gotten...

Miss Zoey loved the grass. (although she hated it last summer!)

Tricycle time!

My and Zo's toes, basking in the sunlight.

I love Spring. I know, I know, it's almost Summer, but it feels like Spring out there! Spring and Fall are my favorite seasons. Spring means new life and comfortable warmth after the cold Winter. Fall means rustling leaves and beautiful colors and wonderful smells and comforting coolness after the green, hot Summer. (Ok, so Fall is REALLY my favorite season, if you can't tell... but I DO love Spring...)

Who else loves Spring?

Secret: I love Disney animated movies. The Little Mermaid has some of my favorite music in it, and Beauty and the Beast will always have one of my favorite stories. I love Finding Nemo, Mulan, Aladdin, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty... They're wonderful! Disney just has some masterful story tellers!

Life is Beautiful. Aaaaand crazy. Very crazy.

"I would imagine that if you could understand Morse code, a tap dancer would drive you crazy." -Mitch Hedberg

Random quote for a random (catching up!) entry.

Holy smokes. It's been a long time since I've updated the blog. Five months, right? Sheesh.

Looking back, a lot has happened, but as it was happening, it felt like nothing was happening at all out of the ordinary. Let's do a run-down:

• David turned 2 in February. He has since become a bossy little bugger and a much pickier eater, which can be unpleasant, but he is at such a fun age, I can't help but smile every time I see him.
• I babysat. A LOT.
• Jason finished school! Almost. He's done with classes, and has one last HUGE project to finish before he can officially graduate.
• My mom, sisters, and I went to Time Out for Women, and even had our picture taken with John Bytheway at the airport! (He even tried to steal some of my sister's chocolate! Ok, he was just kidding about it, but it was hilarious all the same, especially because at that point we had no idea who he was...)

  

  Carrie, on the far right, looks like she's an old geezer, leaning over like that... lol. (And I'm pretty sure her mouth is stuffed with chocolate...)

• We took a jaunt to Indianapolis with on of Jason's friends for a few days. That was fun.

Walking down the street in Indy.

• Jason's brother and his wife were able to get sealed to their adopted children in the Washington, D.C. Temple, and we were able to attend. I have such tender, sweet feelings about that experience. Those children are so blessed to have the wonderful parents they have, and Paul and Jennifer will forever feel the blessings of being able to call those beautiful children their own.

  

  Paul and Jennifer and their forever family - Michael, Neil, and Grace.

• We moved out of our apartment and moved in with my parents. This is not the ideal situation, but our apartment's contract was up, and we didn't want to sign a bunch of new papers to stay if we weren't sure how long we'd be around anyway. (Hopefully it'll only last a couple months, and we'll move out as soon as Jason has a job, wherever it may be.)
• My parents took us on a trip to Disney World to celebrate Jason being done with school! (Even though, officially, he's not quite done...) David got sick on the trip, but recovered in time to spend the days we spent in the park with us. The boys LOVED it! I think Andrew's favorite might have been Splash Mountain, and who can blame him? And they ADORED Mickey!

  

  They ran up to him and gave him a HUGE hug!

• Jason stayed behind in Florida when the rest of us left so he could catch a flight (taking off tonight, actually) to El Salvador, where he served his mission from 2004-2006. It's going to be not-so-fun with him gone for a week and a half, but I hope he has a great time. He's been wanting to go back there since we started dating, but he decided the spend the money he was saving back then on an engagement ring for me instead of a plane ticket, and thank goodness he did! :) He was able to get a cheap ticket from Orlando, so we figured he could go now.

And now we're in limbo. Jason's pretty much done with school. We're living with my parents. He doesn't have a (real) job. Pray that we'll survive this period in our lives with our sanity!

Sooo... I think that's most of the major stuff. Now that Jason's done with school - mostly... - hopefully I'll get back to updating the blog more regularly. We'll see how that goes. No promises.

Secret: If I don't write things down, I usually remember nothing. This means I have to-do lists and to-read lists and packing lists and meal lists and grocery lists and lists of names I like (for any future children we may have) and lists of things I want for my birthday or Christmas and so on and so forth. This also means that a lot of my wonderful memories, if not written down, have been forgotten. I have a horrible memory. I really hope I can do better at keeping this blog up so I don't forget what my life was like at this point, and what my boys were like. Life passes so quickly...