VARSITY!!!

That’s right.  After only one season playing jr. varsity lacrosse for Columbus High School Belinda will be joining the VARSITY team this season.  First game is February 27th.  I’ll keep everyone posted as to the schedule.  Congratulations Bella!  We are so proud of all of your hard work.  You rock!

Girl Time

I love Teri and Sue.  My best girlies from high school.  I have Facebook to thank for bringing them back to me during a time in my life that I really needed them.  And even better, they needed me too!  It’s been a rough year for all of us and I think the fact that we have been out of each other’s lives for so long made it easier somehow to open up and be supportive in a way that those who have been with us more recently are not able.  It also helps that we have always been brutally honest with one another.  If you don’t have friends like that, get some!  Last weekend we stayed in a cabin at Callaway Gardens in the rain and just enjoyed being together.  We talked about the hard things but we also laughed and ate and walked and laughed some more.  It’s been almost 20 years since we last had that opportunity and it was just as easy and natural last week as it was then.  Thanks Sue and Teri for being there for me right now.  Sue, I loved your mom so much.  She always let us hang out and watch questionable movies, and fed us, and just loved us.  I know you must miss her terribly but you handle it with such grace.  Teri,  you are such a good mom.  You do not deserve what is happening to you but your faith that God has a plan for you and that you will come through this stronger and better is so inspiring.  I hope I grow up to be like both of you someday.  Here are some photos of our time at Callaway. 

Because it was raining the bird show was inside, and because that red-shouldered hawk can exert 165 pounds of pressure with each claw I did not use a flash.  Sue me!

 

We drove over to the chapel which was beautiful in the mist. 

Sue and I enjoyed taking pictures of the stained glass while Teri very patiently waited.

        

I love this picture of Sue and Teri.  They look the same as they did in school 20 years ago!  I’m very serious about that.  It’s so not fair!

See, here’s proof:

Brantley Turns 5. *and* The Prodigal Camera Returns.

I guess I should say “Brantley turned 5”.  Since my camera has been at the doctor I have not been able to upload my pictures from this month.  Sad, I know.   But as of a very friendly delivery from the FedEx gal about an hour ago, we are back in business!  Yippee!!

So, on to the big event:

Brantley’s favorite color is and always has been Purple.  So in honor of her birthday on January 7th, the rest of this post will be typed in purple.  We had a very last minute get together a couple of days before we left for Utah.  I was very pleased and thankful that her little friends (and their mommies) came through and made it a great celebration.  Here’s the whole crowd:

Some of the party highlights included pizza and games and:

A cookie as big as her head

Dad in a pink tiara

The Hedges :)  I’m pretty sure they have fun wherever they go!

Really great gifts from everyone.  Thanks y’all!  Here are just a few:

Kittens

Purple Tea Set

And what is this from Grandma?

 

I’ve never seen a kid so in love with fruit!  It’s like candy to her.  I actually find myself saying “Brantley, put that apple away!  You’ve had enough fruit today.”  Weird.

So, a little about Brantley at 5 years old.  She is bored for one thing. She would love to be at school with her sisters and does not think that I am very much fun.  We do manage to get along really well though when I’m not doing “boring mom work and cleaning and stuff”.  She loves to go to Grandma’s house and Nana’s house and I am so happy to have them so close so that she can have such a good relationship with both of them.  She loves animals, even her naughty dogs.  She talks and sings and moves all day long.  Even when watching a movie she is moving around and in and out of the room.  Brantley is the best little helper I have ever had.  She likes to unload the dishwasher, vacuum, and make her bed.  She never asks or waits to be asked, she just does.  She wants to be everyone’s best friend and is a very good friend to all.  She is tall and beautiful and has an infectious smile.  She is caring and sweet and I love her.  And right now she is asking if it is snack time, which it is, so see you later!

Coming Home!

Well, we did it.  We bought the kid a plane ticket to come home to visit!  She will be here over Valentine’s Day weekend.  I’m sure we will all be feeling the love! 

This is not just her first home visit but the completion of an enormous amount of work on her part.  Her therapist (and her parents) decided that she needed a little more motivation to move along in the program so we made the home visit dependant on achieving the next two phases.  She was pretty close to one of them, which she got last week,  but will only have three weeks to get the next one.  This involves some rather large and fairly emotionally taxing projects.  She was frustrated at first but when she realized we were really not going to back down she got busy.  She has become confident enough in herself to tell us to buy the ticket, even with the condition that she would have to pay us back any change fees if she doesn’t make it.

Come home and get warm, Sweetie!

  For those who are wondering what I mean by “phases” please visit the Solstice website page that explains it all in more detail.  Sierra will be in “Transformation” when she comes for her visit.  Please read about this phase of the program.  You will be amazed at the progress she has made.  I am so proud of her.

Click here:

Last words from Conan….

“If you work really hard, and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”

 

Amen to that.

Oh the HORROR!

My poor camera is sick!  I mean “going to the camera hospital” sick!  Why oh why!  It is so young with so much life before it.  Why will it not read my memory cards?  Why will it not format my memory cards?  Tomorrow it will be taking a little trip to New Jersey to find out why. 

I have a brand new niece being BORN tomorrow for crying out loud!  Bad timing. 

Oh well, it’s under two warranties so I’m really only bugged that it’s going to New Jersey without me.

 

(Hey Dad??  May I pretty please borrow your camera tomorrow?)

Home.

So it turns out I love to be home.  I like to travel, don’t get me wrong, but I also like to not travel.  This last trip to Utah turned into a long week for me.  We got an opportunity to take Sierra to the best orthopedic surgeon in the state who also happens to be a friend of Kendall’s dad.  He is very busy and usually books appointments months in advance but when Kendall’s dad called him about Sierra and asked if he could talk to her about her joint pain he said “sure, bring her to Orem on Monday morning and I’ll see her”.  Awesome, except that we are supposed to be on a plane on Monday morning.  So, we changed my ticket to Thursday just in case there was anything else he needed us to do for Sierra in the next couple of days.   It was a great appointment and Sierra loved him.  It was the first time she felt like someone was really listening to her and that in itself is very important.  She has a very common joint problem that affect teenage girls and needs some physical therapy.  She will be going three days/week for a month.  I took her back to Solstice on Monday afternoon and since there was nothing else that needed to be done I was looking at three days by myself!  Wow, I’m thinking this is going to be heaven.  And in a way I really needed it.  Tuesday I was sick but couldn’t stand the nasty air in the Salt Lake Valley due to the inversion  so I headed to Park City for some fresh air.  It was a nice afternoon and I’ve decided I could live in the mountains.  Wednesday I got a haircut at a great little salon we have found in Clearfield and then headed to Solstice for one more therapy session and an early dinner with Sierra.  Then I drove back to South Jordan for a movie with my sis-in-law.  By the time Thursday rolled around I was very done with alone time.  I’m so happy to be home again with my family. 

  ?That is SLC that you can’t see!OR? Which would you choose?

 

 

If you are  in the Salt Lake/Layton area and need want salon services I highly recommend Cultures.  

And what the cheap?!  I mean like 1/2 what the same services cost here in Columbus!

 

A  cute but very predictable movie.  I’d wait for the DVD if I were you.