daddy daughter shindig . . .

Nicole took Greg on a date.
Not just an ordinary date, mind you, but an extraordinary superb one with her activity days' group of chums. Nicole looked absolutely adorable as a 'fair maiden' and Greg looked stunning as . . . well. . . as himself.

While they were gone, I was lucky enough to play Princess Memory with these beauties and enjoy their silliness over dinner. I'm such a blessed mama!


Nicole couldn't contain her excitement when they came home. They bobbed for apples, had pillowsack races, did something with music and numbers and most especially had a ton of fun. Not only did she surprise us with pumpkin pie and cookies, she shared her stash of goodies and prizes. That's my girl.

some normalcy . . .

Life is getting back to normal.

I think that is a good thing?

I am no longer fighting migraines...just really bad headaches--and the urge to scream. and my kids are trying to get used to the idea that I'm their mom again.

Life is good.

The birthday boy . . .

It was Greg's birthday, two days ago. Do you want to know how I celebrated?

I slept in until 10:40 am . . . . Greg got up early, woke Nicole up and got her ready for school, made breakfast, filled her lunch box, and drove her to school.

I ate a pancake . . . . Greg made the pancakes and oatmeal, did the breakfast dishes and got Kaydee ready for school.

I drew Natalie a couple of pictures . . . . Greg tried to get some work done, but had to take over drawing the pictures so I could lay down.

I took a 3 hour nap . . . . Greg played with Natalie and got her to take a nap, worked until Nicole came home, started her on her homework and picked up Kaydee from school.

I vacuumed the rug . . . . Greg ran to the post office to send off my package.

I ate a delicious dinner . . . . that Greg's mom made. While Greg helped the girls at the table with their plates and food. Then did the dishes.

I laid on the couch . . . . Greg got the kids ready for bed, then went to Costco to get some grocery essentials.

I put my kiddos to bed . . . . Greg went to Walgreens --twice. and waited nearly two hours to pick up yet another prescription for me.

I reacted to the new medicine . . . . Greg held me, trying to make it all better.

Happy Birthday my love.
I'm sorry.

That's not exciting . . .

Kaydee loves surprises.

and if you mix a surprise with her being the only one to know about it, Kaydee squeals with joy. Often times to get her to do things we bribe her with such things as telling her about a surprise that only she can know about, for at least the time being anyway. Today was no different.

Kaydee was in the tub before church and needed her hair washed...but there were very strong emotions against such an event. She was liking the tub too much to wash her hair and get ready for church. Greg, bless his heart, was trying to finish with his lesson preparations and get the girls ready all the while I am lazily lying in bed still. Since Kaydee was being less than agreeable and they were in a hurry, he decided to pull out the big guns... he had a secret surprise that was in the backyard that he had bought last night. She washed her hair right away.

When Kaydee got out of the tub she was allowed to go see the surprise. She ran to the back door and returned to Greg a few moments later with a dusgusted look on her face.



"That's just a BBQ dad, that's not really an exciting surprise."

pause

"But if it was a trampoline it would be..."

Greg and I thought it was a supberb surprise. -sigh-

an update: after lots of drugs and an MRI on my brain I've now decided that my migraine has now been downgraded to a major headache with nausea, sound sensitivety and loopeyness...which is much better than a migraine. I guess.

migraines suck . . . .

is the number of days I've had this migraine.










is the number of times they had to poke me at the urgent care to get an IV in me. I'm a hard stick. that was 5 days ago









is the number of times that I cried today.













Is the number of days left to prepare my sacrament meeting talk.
No, I'm not kidding.








I need this pain gone.

and another thing . . .

If anyone has any good ideas on how to cure a migraine . . . please please PLEASE let me know.

Six days of them are more than I can handle.
So far the following have not worked:

• Exedrin Extra Strength
• Advil Migraine
• Motrin
• Ice Pack on my neck
• Code Red Mountain Dew
• Hiding under two blankets, wearing sunglasses and plugging my ears.
• Making my kids whisper and tiptoe around me

Just keep jumpin . . . .

We went Jumpin'.

We had a ton of fun.

Thank goodness for friends' birthdays and Monday night discounts :)

and yes, I know... I have no pictures of us actually jumping.
But at least I remembered to take pictures before everyone drove off, right?

Gloria's . . . oh and a girl's night out

If you ever find yourself in downtown Provo, you should definitely make it a point to visit Gloria's Little Italy. I am in love with this little gem of a restaurant. It seriously has the best Italian food ever made and their authentic Gelato is heaven and worth every penny.

Gloria's Little Italy is so good, in fact, that when I took some of my chums out to eat the other night I overrode their decision on where to go-- even after I told them that I was NOT going to decide this time. Ya, I'm that kind of friend. Hopefully they forgave me? Especially after how awesome the waiter was and how incredible the food tasted . . .

Other than the bossy driver (me) the girl's night out was awesome. I had tons of fun catching up and chatting with the amazing ladies that I am lucky enough to call friends. One of the highlights? When Kehaulani admitted that she had a nap before we left . . . she knows how late I like to keep her up talking. :)

and I forgot to take pictures. grrr.

my brother got married . . .

My brother got himself sealed to the most darling girl ever. I am so extremely excited to have Rachel Nellie join the family.

The Blessed day's re-cap:

Even at 5:12 am..... yes, 5:12 am! I could tell it was going to be a beautiful September day. 5:12 am was supposed to be when I was finishing up my girls hair to be picture ready for the day. However, 5:12 am was the time I got out of bed panicked because I had slept in. I can't even imagine what time Rachel got up to get ready for her 7:00 am wedding at the Salt Lake Temple.

6:54am was the time that Greg dropped my girls and me off on the North side of Temple Square so he could park the car. The girls and I then proceeded to RUN down the street and around the corner to find the entrance to the temple, let me tell you doing this in 3" high heels and herding 3 little girls is no small feat. I dropped the girls off with their cousins in the 'youth room' in the Temple's waiting room, had the nice temple worker look and scan my recommend and SPEED WALKED as reverently as I could to take off my shoes and entered the room where my youngest brother would be sealed to his bride for all time and eternity--with just minutes to spare. But not to worry... my sister was running just as behind and she and her husband walked in about five minutes after me. Her lame excuse? One of her kids threw up. I thought my sleeping in was such a better reason to be late ;)

Greg came hurrying in right after Boyd and Rachel (The groom and bride) walked in. My husband, the hero for parking the car, looked so handsome rushing in like that. Oh how I love that man!

The sealing was absolutely wonderful. I got teary eyed like I always do when I feel the LOVE that our Father in Heaven has for us.

Afterward, I retrieved my kids from the waiting room and headed outside for pictures.




I seriously think Natalie thought the photo session was for her.



(this picture brought to you by my brother Dave making silly faces behind the picture taker)

And in between the pictures, I made paper super frogs...... A LOT of paper super frogs.

11:00am came around and it was time for the chow. The food was set, we were just waiting for everyone to show. We waited,

and waited

and w a i t e d

and had a blast doing it. The kids ran around, played with the napkins (hopefully their own), and eyed the dessert table. and we chatted.


We had rolls and salad and whipped jello salad and baked potatoes and the most amazing ham-- I was told the ham cooked for 14 hours wrapped in spices and 7 layers of aluminum foil. It was delish! Oh and the desserts.... YUM!

And for those that were wondering if Greg actually had fun at the Wedding Breakfast . . .

He SURE did!

The reception was just as lovely. It was so fun to see relatives and ol' neighbors and friends. Rachel's parents yard looked fabulous and the weather couldn't have been better. The food fantastic. I even got blamed for decorating my brother's car. As for pictures, I was a slacker.... do you blame me? I was up at 5:12am.

Oh and Boyd . . . . if you are reading this . . . .
I didn't touch your car ;)