A Bunch of Fuzzy Pictures

I didn't realize until I was putting this together that every single picture is fuzzy and/or out of focus.

Oh well, you'll get the idea.

Sunday I went to Holy Spirit Episcopal church in Houston to hear JD sing.

I couldn't help but giggle thinking about how two children who were raised in Baptist churches every time the doors opened were "Sundaying" with the Episcopalians.

JD came to greet me before the service started and I actually had to quote Dolly in Steel Magnolias to make myself feel more comfortable, "Oh, honey, God don't care which church you go, long as you show up!"

The service was full of readings, responses, kneeling, and crossings (which I think were blessings). I did my best to blend in, but felt like a total heathen when I stayed firmly seated during communion. (I was very uncomfortable with their lack of mini Saltine-looking wafers and tiny plastic cups of grape juice.)

But I did get to hear JD sing, (I hadn't heard him since my wedding) and he sounded amazing!

And, of course, I took pictures during the service for you.

Choir processional

He's famous!

When we got back to Jason's dad's house we tried to have JR take a picture of us. 

Fuzziness aside, in case you were wondering just how tall JD is, and just how short I am...

My most famous and favorit-est former student!

Jeep Attack

So before I tell our tales of jeeping in Moab, I'll give you the short, short version for those of you under a time constraint. 

This pictures sums up the whole day.

Me holding on for dear life. (The arrow is pointing to my hand in full on death grip.)

And Jason smiling from ear to ear.

All kidding aside, the boys loved it!

Last weekend Steven organized a trip with 15 of us.

And Reed was immediately thankful that the group included hot, shirtless high school girls.

And besides cute high school girls, the kids also enjoyed plenty of jeeps doing things like this.

And this

(No, that's not a wolf in the foreground.  One of the couples brought their dog who, like me, would rather walk along side the jeeps than actually ride.)

And then Steven (with Liz in the passenger seat) did this and I almost had a heart attack.

While I wasn't hyperventilating, I did have some time to take in the spectacular scenery.

That's Reed still working on bringing home a new babysitter.

The best family picture we could get.

I'm smiling since there aren't 4 (or sometimes 3!) wheels under my feet.

Party of 14

This is what a heard of Texans living in Colorado who invade Phoenix for a long weekend look like.

And if you're thinking, "That looks like a bunch of kids."

Look again.

There's only ONE girl in the whole bunch!

'Cause You're Hot Then You're Cold

We had a blast the other day at what I lovingly refer to as "The Fancy Schmancy Club" up at Purgatory (or Durango Mountain Resort or whatever they're calling it these days).

I so love this picture, it's not often you get to see a swimming pool and ski lifts in the same shot!

We tried to get all the kids...there's still a few missing.

When Jason saw this picture you'd think he'd tell me how happy he is to be married to somebody as fabulous as me. 

Instead he said, "Is your hat big enough?!  Where'd you get that thing?"

Men. *Sigh*

Maddox, JR, and Steven warming up in the hot tub.

Yes Texans, 'warming up'.

You can't actually go swimming here without getting a little frost bite.

And I was totally thrilled to see that two things are still just as popular as they were when I was a kid (which was just a few years ago):

 The George Washington Roll Hair never goes out of style.

And the classic Waterslide Train is still a crowd favorite.

Sweet Caroline

Sure it's one of Neil Diamond's most famous songs, but I really do have a sweet Caroline in my life.

Caroline was the first friend I made in college, and we're still going strong all these (VERY FEW) years later.

On the VH1 series I Love The 80's, one of my favorite clips is Juliette Lewis saying she's "gonna seriously represent" and shows her seventh grade class picture to showcase her big hair. 

I feel exactly the same way showing this picture. 

(Although, if we're being perfectly honest, I always wanted my hair to be bigger.  But, alas, this was as big as I could get.)

 

And here we are now

Praise the Lord for highlights!

Caroline and I hadn't seen each other in almost two years, so it was great to spend Sunday evening laughing and giggling.

We even had to laugh that our topics of discussion never seem to change.

I Really Tried

I made it a goal to get a picture of all the kids at our house today.

And I still left two out!

The Dairy Queen red, white, and blue Starkisses were a total hit!

Red clown popsicle lip stain...totally worth it.

Happy Memorial Day!

Hang With Us At Your Own Risk

Kyle, Reed, and Koen (Cassidy's son) went to gymnastics camp yesterday.

When I picked them up, they all came out of the gym saying how hot they were.

(They were pretty sweaty.)

I told the boys to put on their shoes, and I turned to talk to another mom.

As I looked back to start the herding to the car process, here's what I saw:

 So I'm giving you fair warning.

Hang with us at your own risk. 

 Looks like our "lifestyle choices" rub off easily on others.

Gotta Wait on the S'Mores

I mentioned last week there would be wailing and gnashing of teeth if we had to call off the cub scout camp out. 

Well, being that Purgatory got 22 inches of snow from Wednesday to Thursday, and the campground is about 2 miles from there...yeah, we had to cancel.

Thankfully the wailing was short, and he didn't even have time to gnash since I followed the cancellation news with..."BUT! Daddy will take you out to eat and to see Pirates of the Caribbean!"

And from JR's positive response, that must have been the appropriate form of entertainment to counterbalance a cancelled campout.

JR picked to eat at Sushitaraian, and even got his own frequent diners card. (Cause every almost-8-year old needs a punch card at a sushi restaurant, right?)

We girls already had babysitters lined up because we thought the boys were going camping.

So glad a cancelled campout didn't affect us!

Seriously, velvet wallpaper doesn't get more fancy than that. 

(Diamond Belle Saloon "revered as one of the most famous original ragtime piano bars in the Wild West".)

Fire and Feathers

I have to give credit to Cassidy for the title of today's post. 

We were at our friends, Liz and Steven's house around the fire pit when this picture was taken.

Now check out Liz's drink.  (She's the one in the pink that looks like Teri Hatcher.)

She's got a fun feather koozie!

(Definitely gonna have to pick up a few of those.)

It was then that Cassidy said, "You'll have to put this on your blog! You can call it Fire and Feathers!"

And I really meant to take pictures at our Fire and Feathers evening, but as usually happens when you're having lots of fun, I totally forgot.

10 kids running around, jumping on the trampoline, roasting marshmallows and the only picture I took was of Kyle petting their cat.

And a picture of Kyle when we pulled into our garage, proving that the evening was a total success.

Valentines-ed Out!

I seriously feel like we've been celebrating Valentine's Day since Friday!

Friday was JR's party at school, and Jason and I went to an adult dinner with our friends Brad and Cassidy (and some of their friends from Houston).

Then Saturday JR met up with one of his Valentine's for some skiing.

(JR and his friend Emma)

But, being that JR's only 7, I'm pretty sure he was way more excited about running in to his friend, Steven, for lunch.

JR was out of school yesterday, so we drove down to Farmington to visit Jason at his office.

Durango and Farmington are complete opposites when it comes to restaurants.  Durango has quite a few nice restaurants, but only 2 chains (Denny's and Applebee's).  On the other hand, Farmington has all the chains.  So we picked the "nicest" of the chains for Valentine's lunch. 

Recognize those cheesy biscuits?

Popcorn shrimp all around!

When I got home I found a package on my front porch with this inside:

I know! Yum!

Let's have a little close-up, shall we?

Deeee-lish!

Now That's a Bunch of Boys

With JR off from school today, I decided to make the trip down to Farmington to go to lunch with Jason, and most importantly, make a Target run.

I talked my friend, Cassidy, in to coming with me since:

A. She's super fun, so I knew she'd make the hour and ten minute drive much more entertaining

and

B. Her husband works with Jason, so we could all easily have lunch together. 

I assured her it would be no problem to get all the kids in the car.

And here's what that little circus looked like:

Yep, that would be five boys.

Five boys ages 7,4,3,3, and 20 months.

I'm not sure if I should call it a "What Were We Thinking Day?" or "Wow. They Did Really Good Day".

I'm sure people who aren't used to boys would have thought, "what were we thinking?", but we Boy Moms didn't skip a beat. 

Kids jumped off things, screamed, cried, fell down, needed changes of clothes due to "bathroom issues", begged for candy, and said "fart" followed by hysterical laughter over and over again. 

Just a normal day as far as I'm concerned...except I got to go to Target!

Come On In!

Jason and I hosted our Annual Christmas Open House last night. 

I had the camera set out so I would be sure and take pictures. 

But I thought, Hum, maybe I should take a picture of the table before everyone arrives.

And then I said, "Here Jason, take a picture of us...just in case."

 And those were the last two pictures taken. 

We had a great turn out, and so much fun!  I think we had about 30 adults and 20+ kids. 

Speaking of kids... 

They had their own little party downstairs in our play room. 

So it was with a deep breath that I went downstairs to check out the "damage".

I quickly started laughing when I spotted this.

A sock sticking out of the piano! 

Is this the kid version of the lampshade on the head?

I think it's safe to say we all had fun.

I Guess I Should Mention It

So I figured I should write about Thanksgiving day since that is the reason we went to Texas in the first place.

First, and most importantly, it was Jason's birthday.  And though we celebrated what felt like a million times, and this picture was taken a few days before at his dad's house, I figured I better include it so I don't hear, "Why didn't you say anything about my birthday being on Thanksgiving?"

My parents had 31 family members over for lunch, or as we call it in the South, "dinner". I didn't get out my camera since I was too busy talking and stuffing my face, but my cousin, Kristi, did snap this picture of our boys right before they left.  It was one of those, "Oh! We need to take a picture of JR and Caleb!"

JR and Caleb are 6 months a part and both in 2nd grade.  JR certainly has some growing to do if he's going to catch up to Caleb.

That evening we had a visit from everybody's favorite friend, JD. At one point I felt like JD was the celebrity guest star on the Muppet Show.  My 3 children surrounded him on all sides (one above his head) while they played the keyboard, a toy horn, and sang. 

JD also inherited a "cool" new nickname.  Kyle started calling him "ABC".

I'm not sure if Kyle just gave up on all the initial names (JR! JD!), or it was because when I told them to sing for JD (isn't that what you do when an opera singer comes to visit, make him listen to your kids sing?) that Reed broke out into his rendition of the ABC Song.  I'm guessing the latter.

Before I go I just had to add this little extra bit. Kyle just climbed in my lap to look at the pictures.  He pointed at JD and said, "There's ABC! There's ABC!"

What a Way to Spend an Evening*

*Please sing the title as if you were singing the 2nd verse to the chorus of 9 to 5.

My friend, JD, said it better than I ever could, so I'm stealing this straight from his blog:

 "If you’re not a Dolly Parton fan, then don’t continue to read. (Actually, if you’re not a Dolly Parton fan then we probably shouldn’t be friends.)"

And really, truer words have never been spoken. 

I love Dolly. I love to hear her sing. I love to watch her act.

(There are about 5 movies that I will always watch when they are on TV.  Dolly is in 3 of them.
Steel Magnolias, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and 9 to 5.)

And speaking of 9 to 5, Jason took me to see 9 to 5 The Musical on closing night at the Hobby Center in Houston. 
I knew it was going to be good since JD and Shelley (TX Shelley, not CO Shelly) had already told me I would love it. But I really tried not to get my hopes up. I was super excited to see it, but at the same time I didn't want to be disappointed if it wasn't gooooood. 

This is what I looked like before the curtain rose.  This would be my I'm super happy to be here face.

And that smile didn't leave my face through the entire performance.

It was SO GOOD!

I loved it, loved it, loved it.

And I think the best way to describe how much I loved it would be to recount my phone conversation the next day with my friend, Caroline. (Caroline and I love all the same things.)

Me: Caroline! We have to talk about 9 to 5 The Musical!

Caroline: Ohhhhh! Was it so good?!

Me: It was amazing!

Caroline: Was the Violet and the candy striper scene in it? You know that's my favorite part! 

Me: It was! Everything we love was in it! But you're not going to believe this. They wear the same costumes as the movie. THE SAME COSTUMES, CAROLINE!

Caroline: You're kidding!

Me: No! But listen.

(Dramatic pause)

The Doralee character wears the blue leather coat with the white fur collar.

Caroline: Nooooo! I love the blue leather coat with the white fur collar!

Me: I know!

And the conversation went on like that for about 30 minutes. 

And if you're thinking "I have no idea what coat Jan's talking about." 

Well, as a little girl I thought it was the most beautiful coat I had ever seen in my life. And let's just be honest, if I could find that coat I'd put it on and strut around town today.

I had a hard time finding a picture of the blue leather coat. I could only find this one of Dolly wearing it, so I also included a picture of it from the musical.

 And if any of you would like a full reenactment of any scene, I'm happy to oblige! (blue leather coat optional)