AS PROMISED...

A quick update. Jeff stayed home from work yesterday. Now, normally, that wouldn't be worth talking about but it is the FIRST time in four years that he stayed home from work because he was sick. Having said that I will also let you in on a little secret. Today was the first day with my personal trainer. She's coming twice a week. Once during the week with only me and then on Saturday with all three 'girls'.
Andrea will be playing her last basketball game of the season on Thursday and I plan on being there. There is a big tournament on Saturday - I'll be there also but I have to work in the concession booth for a couple of hours during that time.
Andrea had a good time during our recent trip learning how to snowboard. Although she spent her time more vertically than horizontally!
We saw our favorite people while in Utah but noticeably absent in our pictures were C and M. Why don't I have a picture of them??
Our days were busy and filled with fun. Frank's French Fry Friday (held on Saturday) was how we started off our visit. We ate a LOT of french fries. Watch out McDonald's.
Snowboard lessons on Monday and it was a beautiful day with lots of snow. We also experienced a great snowstorm while we were there. I can see how shoveling out could get a little tiresome after so many snowstorms but we loved it for the short time we were there.
Saw Meghan in a wedding dress - THAT was fun. And had that amazing steak salad at a restaurant in Park City. I really needed that for some reason. Don't tell anyone but I licked the plate - not really - but I wanted to.
Saw the Denver Fam up close and personal. Watching those two boys is more fun that a movie any day of the week. We just sat there and watched them, and watched them and watched them. They made us laugh and I realized how I need to get them to my house where there aren't so many distractions so I can win their favor!
C F has gotten sooo tall and E F has braces! Everyone is growing up faster than I want them to. Slow down everyone. I need to catch my breath.
Well, I've blathered on long enough. Just catching you up on the details of our lives.
One last note of interest. Yesterday I made a chocolate cake with 1/2 tsp of cayenne. It was in the recipe and I was so curious. The kids liked it at first taste but there is a spiciness to it that you will either like or hate. Have you ever tasted those chocolates with chili flavor? It is kind of like that. If you are interested let me know and I'll send you the recipe. That should do it for today. Hopefully I'll have a little better focus next time.

Family Fun

I'm trying - I don't know what is wrong - but my pictures won't load. So, I'm going to bed (I'm sleeping downstairs tonight in a huge effort NOT to get whatever is going around). Rumor has it that Meghan is sick with the same thing. Jeff's even thinking about missing work tomorrow, now I know he's sick... I'll try again tomorrow. Promise!

OKAY!

You guys are relentless. When I get home from church I will post some pictures. Maybe the first one will be of Jeff - sick in bed! The first time in... I don't know how long that he is staying in bed because he is sick. Of course, he didn't tell me that he didn't feel good yesterday as we went out the whole day. He said he didn't tell me because I'd make him stay home... what am I - his mother??? I can't ever make him stay home when he's feeling well, how can I when he's sick. 3 hours and counting...

PICTURES COMING SOON!

A Moment of Weakness

Today I got up, got in the shower, washed my hair and got ready for what was going to be an early start and a little outing with my husband. Oops, Jeff gets a call and has to go into work. I wait around for a while then after a couple of hours I decide I'm going to dress down in my work clothes and get going. A friend called me just at that moment and asked if I wanted to go to a movie. A MOVIE - on a Wednesday - in the middle of the week - in the middle of the day! And I said YES! So we met at a local theatre and saw "Be Kind - Rewind". Don't bother. Even if you are a Jack Black fan, which I'm not, you probably won't like it. If you do go to see it and you do like it, let me know so I can get a better fix on you. It was stupid, plotless, and had so many loose ends that there wasn't an end - but it didn't matter because you were just glad it was over. So just a word of warning opt for something other than "Be Kind - Rewind". But I do recommend a crazy, unexpected Wednesday, with a movie and lunch with a great friend. That was great.

Traveling - Always an Adventure

If I could choose any superpower I think I would pick teletransportation (that's probably not a word) - remember in 'I Dream of Jeannie" or "Bewitched" when you would just nod your head or wiggle your nose and be where you want to be? That's the power that I want.

After reading JF's blog on traveling with her two little ones - I have to laugh. We also had a travel story but it really pales in comparison. We got up early and headed out the door, having packed the night before. I was a little concerned as I wasn't really sure what traffic would be like on a Friday morning at 7:30 - but it wasn't too bad, certainly not what I'm used to. We raced to the airport, pulled in to return the rental and realized that I hadn't filled up with gas. NOT GOOD. Fifty bucks later we are heading over to catch our flight. We tried to make it with carry on bags only except Andrea forgot that she had perfume and I forgot that darn green chili sauce I packed away. Neither one of us was willing to do without so we started over again and checked our bags.

Arrived in Phoenix with a small delay as it was raining - yes, bad weather at my 'sure thing' destination. When will I ever learn. We have several hours to spend in Phoenix and some VERY good friends who come to pick us up, give us goodies and take us out to our favorite mexican restaurant which was really good! We get back to the airport in time for our next flight which is about 9 hours long. Not fun but we are bearing up just fine.

Andrea sits down in the seat and promptly falls asleep - didn't wake up until we touched down in London. That's where our troubles started. Well, actually, they started as we were circling the airport, and circling, and circling and well you get the picture. We arrived over London at 12:15 but were not able to land for about an hour. I was soooo ready to get off that plane but they had other ideas. We sat around on the tarmac for at least another hour waiting for a spot to open up. Finally, they figured that out and we were informed that we were nowhere near our terminal and that we would have to wait for a bus to come meet us - another 30 minutes or so.

We get into the bus, drive around for a few minutes and the bus can't get through to the terminal so we are waiting again. I really have to go to the bathroom and I WANT OFF!!!

One good thing is that Andrea and I are signed up for the retinal scan so that we don't have to go through immigration we just hop on over to this little booth - have our eyes scanned and we are through! It is so cool. And it was great leaving behind that giant line for immigration.

We would soon make it up as we waited for our bags. How this happened I'll never know but they lost two containers of bags from our plane and it took a good 1 1/2 hours to get our bags - I knew I should of ditched that chili sauce. The gentleman that was waiting for us was not in a good mood and I don't blame him - neither was I. We finally made it home and as always it's good to be back.

Those are the little inconveniences of traveling but if I had to do it again to spend the week with the people I love - I would do it gladly (in about 4 months). See you soon!