I Got the Munchies Today

This is what I had for lunch.  He is delicious! 

How can you not munch on a face like that?

The Day Started Out With This

Amy and I ran a 5K for Zion's Children of Haiti. It was quite a small event, but it was fairly well-organized. It was held at Sugar House Park, which is a lovely venue (except for the nasty bathrooms!). We had to do 2 laps around the park. That was hard. But Amy got me through it, and I helped her, too. We're a pretty good team.

We stayed for the raffle, and we didn't win anything. But that's OK because we were having fun together.

Biggest part of this portion of the day: We are going to try to do a sprint triathlon together (hopefully with Ashtyn and Breezy, too)!

P.S. Do I love running? No, I do not. But it is fun to do something active with other people like Amy and Spencer and Bob and Stacy and Dan and MaryKay and Suzie and Phil and Kayla and others. Running hurts my muscles and it makes my heart beat fast and sometimes I get sunburned. But when it's done it makes me feel really cool and capable and generally awesome.

P.P.S. Anybody wanna join us for a sprint tri?

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

Last week Amy emailed me to say we was thinking about maybe going for a walk around Temple Square, maybe around 1:00 ish. Woot! Here I am with our Thomas. He and his mommy let me squeeze him and hug him and kiss him. They let me take off his socks and munch on his toes if I want to. This time I even got to babysit him while his mommy had a meeting with Karleen (our dear friend, pictured here with us). I love this boy! (Thanks for sharing, Amy!)

Bitter. Sweet.

First thing this morning I had a conversation with a co-worker (keep in mind that I have worked with him for 2 1/2 years) about the time that we spent living in Peoa, Utah. His eyebrows went up, and he said, "My wife grew up in Peoa. I think she may be older than you." When he told me her name I screamed with joy. This woman was 2 years older than I, and she was WONDERFUL. We sang together in Tapestry. We marched together in drill team. We did stuff together in YW. And when she was a senior and I was a sophomore we became good friends. That was when I moved to California, and I haven't seen her since. That was 25 years ago.

Today I learned that she and her husband, who adores her, have 6 children and live in Riverton. Their home is paid off, and they bought a small home in Randolph, which they hope to move to someday. She has a huge garden, a wonderful family of 3 boys and 3 girls, and a husband who thinks she is as wonderful as they come.

I adore Pam, and I'm so, so grateful to learn that she has had a happy life (her husband mentioned that her younger sister--my age in school--has had it more difficult). It brought tears of joy to my eyes as he showed me pictures of her and their beautiful family through the years. Their oldest is an RM; they have a daughter in college. The other two girls are teenagers. The boys are 8 (almost) and 4. They are beautiful, and I swear, Pam has not changed a bit. I smiled for so long my cheeks ached! Life is wonderful, and I hope that I will hear from her in the near future.

SWEET!

At the end of the day my friend Karleen yelled "Noooo!" from her office. She came out to my desk, her head hanging down and said, "I just got an email from Amy. She's gotten another opportunity, and she is not coming back." While I was sort of prepared for this (because what new mommy doesn't look for something that will allow her to be home with her family?), my heart is breaking. Except this is my sister-friend who I love deeply, so I am so happy for her to have this wonderful opportunity. Except I feel completely abandoned. Except it's better that I'm abandoned than her son, right? Yeah, right. Except my heart hurts.

I called Spencer to have my little cry at work. He said (rightly, I might add), "Well, Babe, you have gotten a friend for life out of this." I know. But it still makes me sad. Does that make me a bad person?

Rotten. All the way around.

Then I came home and got dinner started when Bri called from school. They needed their holsters for their class finals. And then Spencer said his teacher was wondering if, when I came, I could stay and have a massage (cuz they have an odd number in their classes). Oh, twist my arm!

So I got a wonderful Swedish massage for 50 minutes. From Rianna. For free. Gotta love it.

Sweet!

Take a deep breath. Tomorrow is coming.

Fun With the People I Love

Today we hosted a baby shower for Amy at work. Here are some things that you should know:

1. Ashtyn is wonderful. She was shopping with me last night for a l---o---n---g time. She has great taste in flannel. She has a wonderful memory. I love Ashtyn.

2. Briana is wonderful. She helped me get everything together for my big day, l---o---n---g after everyone else had gone to bed. She even stayed up after I was in bed to finish making this blanket for Amy. She did beautiful work, too. I love Briana.

3. Amy is wonderful. She is the epitamy of graciousness. She is happy and excited. And I'm pretty sure she really is going to let me munch on her baby boy! I love Amy.

4. Tahnee is wonderful. She made the most adorable invitations, and then she made decorations to match. Everything looked so cute! AND she made the most delicious brownies EVER. I love Tahnee.

5. Karleen is wonderful. Not only did she bring a gorgeous green salad AND Lion House rolls and honey butter (!) AND a darling gift for Tommy, but she also manned the phones for the entire party so I could be there. And she treated it as time worked. I love Karleen.

6 through 15 (at least). The ladies we work with are wonderful. Amy got some seriously adorable stuff, PLUS a $71 gift card to Target so she could get whatever she needs or wants. I love the people I work with!

It's a good day.

My Babies

I have three babies, did you know?

Two of the babies are the falcon chicks that are currently living at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in SLC. I watch them all day at work. They grow amazingly, and we have begun to identify them. Amy and I will have to come up with wonderful names for them. But for now you will be glad to know that we have decided that one is a boy, and the other is his older, bossy sister. Maybe we'll name them Aundrea and Brant. Or Briana and Taylor.

I went away to Youth Conference and came back to find both babies have survived. They have grown a ton. They have gray and black feathers. They are not wobbly. Amy took good care of them in my absence.

My other baby is Baby Thomas, whose arrival is expected some time toward the end of October. He's kinda naughty because he's made his mommy really sick for far too long. But he's also beautiful. I know, because I've seen his picture. And his mother is as beautiful as they come, both inside and out. So how can Tommy be anything BUT beautiful? His mommy says I can be Aunt Aundrea to this precious boy and that I can munch him as much as I want.

But I went away to Youth Conference and came back to learn that Thomas and his parents are probably going to move to Montana. All I can do when I think about it is cry. I will miss Amy terribly. I won't get to munch on Tommy at all (because by the time I see him, he won't let me).

But I know Amy will take good care of him in my absence.

Blog This, Baby!

I've been trying to find an excuse for WEEKS to show you a picture of my friend, Amy. Here it is, only I'm not going to tell you about Amy this time.

This time I'm going to tell you about Tahnee. (Her picture is below). Tahnee is a beautiful, talented, confident, funny, and very thoughtful friend I have at work. She is a great secretary (VERY mediocre!). But the thing I love best about Tahnee is how teachable she is. She will joke her way through everything, but in the end she is so willing to learn and to try to improve in every way, including secretarials skills, gospel learning, and personal growth.

Today Tahnee sent me and Amy each flowers. The card says "For everything you've done, and for being a great friend!" I don't even know what I've done, but I'm sure glad I did it!

Some things were just meant to be blogged. :)

Thanks, Tahnee!

Random Stuff

I had planned to write a blog which had the word "doctor" in every sentence. I still could. Except you gotta read today's edition of my friend's blog, "Two Scoops." That will top any day! And the funniest part is that my mom knew before I did, because she read the blog first! Amy laughed and said, "I LOVE your mom!" I replied, "What DON'T you love?"

For any who would like to join us, Amy and I are celebrating on Monday by having a Hawaiian Day! I'm wearing a hot pink lava-lava (which will look wonderful with my jacket from Alaska that I wear constantly so I can stay warm), and she's wearing a flower in her hair. We will eat chocolate chip cookies (they have chocolate chip cookies in Hawaii, don't they?). We will hug and maybe dance the hula. OK, maybe not the hula part. I'm going to download...Never mind. :)

You should come. I'll see you there!