Celebration!

We enjoyed attending the annual Allen USA celebration on Saturday.

Allen does their fireworks a week early and we always attend with the Garstkas and assorted friends and family.

Fred had just gotten back from Scout Camp, so he was exhausted.  If we had to do it all over again, we might have stayed home and watched a movie.  However, it's always fun to spend time with the ones you love!

The kids enjoyed shaved ice and for some reason had fun posing for me.  I told them to give me an action shot.  Jess went above and beyond.  I had about fourteen shots of her eating shaved ice.

So glad that we could spend a fun evening together.

That Time I Found a Man in My Backyard

Freddy Fortenberry (he really goes by Fred, I just like to call him that) was gone for the better part of a week and a half.  He was gone Wed, the 17th - the afternoon of Saturday, the 20th.  Then he set his alarm for 3:00 a.m.on Monday and left again and came home yesterday around noon.  All that time was spent with the young men from our church.  By the way, I know that he set his alarm for 3:00 a.m., because he forgot to turn it off and it went off again at 3:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning.  I might have been a little frustrated!

Yesterday, I had the extreme honor and pleasure of attending the baptism of my sweet eight year old friend, Avery Yeates.  Her mom, Cara, was texting me checking to make sure that I was going to be there.  I assured her that there was no other place that I would be!  I was ready ahead of schedule and even told her I would make a Hobby Lobby run for her, but it was deemed unnecessary.  Thank goodness, because I walked out of my house and almost wet my pants.

It all started when I heard a weed eater in my front yard.  I thought to myself, "Gee, our neighbor sounds like he is really close to us."  Then I wondered if maybe the city was mowing our yard for us.  But, dismissed that idea because Jonathan had "mowed at" the front yard on Wednesday, but didn't weed eat and it was a little stripey (is that a word).  However, I didn't think we were breaking any city codes.  I had been out in my driveway and had left the garage door up and still hadn't noticed anything.  

I had my purse in my hand and my cute little gift for Avery and was running out the door when I saw my gate opened.  I thought to myself, "That sure is weird!"  Then, I heard the weed eater and saw the back of a man in my yard.  I put my stuff down and went to investigate.  I saw his back and prayed, "I sure hope that is is Tony Palmer, because I don't have a Plan B."  What exactly would I do?  Call 911 and tell them that there is a strange man in my backyard doing yard work? 

Needless to say, it really was our friend, Tony.  He must have known that our son Jonathan would have done no work or substandard work.  He came and did Fred's yard work for him so he would have less chores to come home to.

When Tony turned around and I realized that it really was him, I just wanted to cry!  Not counting all of the bazillion things that my parents have done for us, I think that is a top 3 nicest thing anyone has ever done for us.

Tony asked me last week if Fred needed any help getting ready for Scout Camp.  I told him that I would let him know.  Of course, Fred said that he didn't need any help, so Tony just helped him out anyway by making sure that he had less to do yesterday.  I seriously wanted to cry (or maybe I did) all the way to the baptism.  How thankful I am for good friends that care so much about us!  It makes me realize that I need to be a better friend.  I think I always have the best of intentions, but maybe I'm not always great with the follow through.

Our family is certainly blessed!

P.S. I am going to die a slow, ugly, painful death for posting this picture.  Jessie hates this picture because she had been in the pool and her hair was drying and she has my swimsuit cover-up on over her t-shirt over a swimsuit.  I don't know how she came to be so layered!  I personally think she looks cute and I think that it is a darling picture.    I looked and looked for a picture of Tony and came up empty-- other than one of him and Kelly kayaking and thought this one was safer.  I thought I found one of Tony and a dolphin at Sea World.  I was impressed that Tony got to touch a dolphin.  I was like, "Wow, I really don't remember a dolphin getting so close to him at the dolphin tank."  Then I zoomed in and saw the Sea World logo on the guy's shirt and realized that it wasn't even Tony.  That would have been incredibly embarrassing to have used that picture.  I guess I need to make it a goal to take more pictures!

Survivors

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Girls Camp with our beautiful and amazing Young Women from church.  If I don't post about anything else that I experienced, I want to write a post about the hike.  It was the hardest part of camp and it was my favorite part.

For starters, our camp theme was Spiritual Survivors:  Envision, Engage and Endure.  We set out on our hike on Wednesday.  The 1st and 3rd year campers were supposed to hike 3 miles and the and 2nd and 4th year campers were supposed to hike 5 miles.

I started out the hike, with our 1st year girls, Penny and Claire.  Jaiden also was with us from the beginning.  The hike was hot and we walked in a single file line for much of the beginning of the hike.

The scenery was beautiful and the company was nice.  The girls were sweet and positive.  Sydney always has a great way of keeping everyone positive.  We sang songs and talked as we walked.

The hike was nice and flat, so there were no complaints about the terrain.  We got to a certain point and we were able to fall alongside our entire ward.  Up until that point, the 1st year Beehives had been hiking together along with Jaiden.

At this point, we shuffled around and I ended up hiking with Katelyn, Jaiden and Anndie.  Those three weren't feeling super awesome.  Two of them were struggling with allergies or a cold or something like that, but they were troopers. 

Then, we were told that we needed to hike a little bit more to complete our 3 miles.  Up to this point, we had been on flat land.  To me, they took us up a mountain.  To the rest of the world, it was just a rocky hill.  We hit a watering station, but discovered that there was no more water.  My three hike mates were not feeling very well and moving slow.  We started realizing that our stake leaders weren't quite sure of where we needed to be going.  They kept telling us that we needed to go just a little bit farther.  Some of the stake leaders would radio to other stake leaders and ask question, but it was apparent that there seemed to be a little bit of confusion.  Everyone remained calm and positive, though.  The common consensus was that they were setting us up to get lost so that we could learn a lesson, since our camp theme was "Spiritual Survivors:  Envision, Endure and Engage." (That was not the case.)

My three hikers found an area with a lot of flat rocks and decided they needed to sit.  As we sat, we started seeing most of the groups pass us by.  I kindly but firmly let them know that we were going to get left behind if we didn't get moving.  Even though they felt terrible, they bravely started moving.  They hiked on even though we didn't seem to know where we were going, have enough water or feel good.

I had rationed the water in my water bottle and would open it up and pour it into the girls' water bottles.  They were so thankful.  Every time I would do this, Jaiden would get so upset.  She didn't want me giving away my water.  I had to make her take my water.  This touched my heart so much that sweet Jaiden would worry about me when she needed that water more than I did.  We hiked and hiked and finally ended up with a small group and made our way to a road.  We ended up outside of camp.  We sent word of where we were at.  (We weren't the only group that ended up in an oddball spot and had to be picked up and bused back to camp). We sat on the side of the road with girls we didn't know - hot, thirsty and tired.  But, my sweet trio - Jaiden, Katelyn and Anndie were so amazing and positive. They made sure that we took a Survivor Selfie while we waited.  We decided that we had lived the camp theme on that hike - "Spiritual Survivors - Envision, Engage and Endure."  That hike was hard and sometimes miserable.  But, we learned that we can do hard things and it is so much easier if we keep a positive attitude when we do them.

I sure do love those Young Women!  What a great example they are.

FNL

I follow two blogs and those two bloggers have a joint podcast that I listen to occasionally.  They often talk about Friday Night Lights.  As in they long for that show to come back.  I wondered what the big deal was.  Fred is away at Scout Camp this week, so Jessie and I started watching it on Netflix.  We are completely hooked.  We are 14 episodes into the first season.  Can I just say that the first season had 21 episodes?  That has to be some sort of world record!  It is going to take us forever to watch the entire series, but I think we can do it before the end of summer.  Jessie said that it is like DeGrassi but with football.  I don't know.  I can't even confirm or deny that, because the only show I watch is Bones and apparently I missed few episodes this season, because I didn't realize she was pregnant or he was gambling.  

I mostly just aspire to be Tami Taylor and I love Smash's mama.  Jess and I both really like Landry.  He is our favorite.  He reminds us of Willard from Footloose.  I'm probably the last person on earth to watch this show, but if you have never watched it, I think you should check it out on Netflix.  Plus, the Dillon Panthers' school colors are Blue and Gold!

P.S.  Aren't you proud that I made a Footloose reference instead of a Steel Magnolias reference?

I Used to be an Eagle

I posted the cute story about Sophie Hudson being overdressed for her son's Family Night at Scout Camp earlier this week.  You can go here to read it. Since we are a family that is so heavily involved in Scouts, I could totally relate to her story.  For some reason it reminded me of getting conned into a BBQ dinner with my husband and the Moffitts.

As I've posted before, Fred and Rod participated in Wood Badge which is a very big deal.  There was a dinner for the participants.  I feel pretty sure that our husbands set us up.  Now, I love Ruth and Rod, so I don't hold any grudges, but I think it was very tricky.  I'm not exactly sure, but I think Rod told Ruth something like, "Hey, Fred and Donna are going to the BBQ, why don't we go, too?" and Fred told me the same thing and that is how we all four ended up at this BBQ that really should have just been Fred and Rod.  (If that is not the case, then I owe those boys a very big apology!)

Now, in Sophie's story she imagined a picnic with lights strung across like in Parenthood.  Well, I may or may not have imagined a classy little BBQ that was Ewing style-- as in the Ewings from Dallas.  Only, the BBQs on Dallas normally took place outside during warmer temps and this was definitely winter, so I imagined it to be in a heated barn-like structure.  I also imaged it to be decorated super cute with red and white gingham tablecloths.

In Wood Badge, you are divided into patrols and each patrol is assigned a "critter."  Fred was an eagle and Rod was a buffalo.  I know, I didn't even pretend to try to understand.  The dinner was held at a Boy Scout Camp in Dallas.  On the drive, the men were in the front and the women were in the backseat. The men were talking about their "chants."  Fred lets loose with his patrol's chant about eagles.  Then, Rod tells us that he WROTE his patrol's chant.  Impressive, huh?  Well, we then hear his chant that is all about buffaloes.  It was well written, but as you can imagine, anything that has to do with buffaloes is just weird.  At this point, sweet Ruth pipes up from the backseat and says something like, "Gee, honey, that is really great."  The way she said it was heartfelt.  I remember thinking right there at that moment, I need to stick with this woman, because she is an exceptional wife!  I wondered if she might give me wife lessons, because I felt inadequate next to her.

We arrived at our BBQ that was nothing like an event that the Ewings would hold.  The dinner was held in a metal building that might have been heated, but I sure didn't feel the heat.  We sat on cold metal folding chairs.  The building was so cold that I never took my coat off-- the entire night. If there were decorations at all, they certainly paled in comparison to what I had laid out in my head.

I'm sure the speakers were interesting, but Fred is the Scout, so the topics were a little lost on me.  Mostly, Ruth and I talked about how the Scout uniforms should be redesigned.  Khaki is not an attractive color and what is up with those green pants?   It was very reminiscent of Clairee's interview on KPPD in the Devil's locker room.  (In case you don't know, that is a Steel Magnolias reference.)

The best part of the night came at the very end.  They asked the Wood Badge participants to gather in their patrols.  Which means they were grouped by their "critters."  They stood around the room in a circle.  Once they got up, it felt like Ruth and I were the only ones not standing.  We were smack dab in the middle of the room-- looking so out of place.  It was a strange feeling.  I felt like E.T. must have felt like when he was trying to get back to his homeland.

Then, each patrol chanted their chant.  I thought they were done.  But, no!  Then, they sang a song.

I used to be a Beaver, 

And a good old Beaver too. 

but now I've finished beavering,

And I don't know what to do.

I'm growing old and feeble,

And I can Beaver no more.

So I'm going to work my ticket while I can.

Then they repeated it with all the rest of critters:

Bobwhite 

Eagle
Fox
Owl
Bear
Buffalo
Antelope
Crow

At that point, I really felt like E.T. trying to phone home!  When it was over, my sweet friend Ruth (the one that I want to take wife lessons from) looked at her husband and said "I will never go with you to one of these events ever again."  In my head, I was saying, "Yeah, preach it, sister!"  But, I think I really said, "Me, too."  Just so you know, I still want to take wife lessons from her, because I think she is the greatest wife, ever.  No one should have to sit through that.  I want to be supportive, but it is too hard to be supportive when you are freezing.  

P.S.  Some people relate everything in life to Seinfeld or Friends.  I have one friend that can relate anything and everything to Everybody Loves Raymond - yes, that's you, Tanya!  But, as you can tell,  everything circles back around to Steel Magnolias for me!

Fish Tales

The men in my life were at High Adventure last week.  Tropical Storm Bill threatened to put a damper on the fun, but they were out on the Coast fishing by Thursday.  Jonathan left with his leaders on Monday morning and by that evening he was in Austin having the best time ever swimming at McKinney Falls State Park.  The next morning, they had to move out due to the bad weather.

Fred was super excited, because he and his friend were going to meet them on the Coast for some fishing.  If you know anything about Fred, then you know he loves to fish.  He was so excited for this day.  The plan was for Fred and his friend to drive down on Wednesday.  The boys were having trouble finding a campsite on Wednesday due to all the flooding.  The leaders posted this picture on Wednesday.  Our tent is the blue one on the right.  It looks like it is going to take flight at any moment.

Fred started taking boys out fishing on Thursday.  He had so much fun and so did the boys.  To Fred, there is nothing better than fishing.  There was a time in our lives that we truly lived that Brad Paisley song I'm Gonna Miss Her.  The first time I heard that song, I wasn't sure if I liked it or not, because it hit way too close to home.  I can't tell you how many family functions Fred missed to go fishing.  We like the new and improved Fred, but I know that he misses fishing!  I have a feeling he caught the fishing bug while he was out there with the boys.

I know that Jonathan had the time of his life fishing with his dad.  It will be a special memory that he can carry with him always.  Fred was gone Wednesday - Saturday last week with Jonathan and then he will be gone Monday - Saturday of this week for Scout Camp.  We miss him, but to see Jonathan's awkward smile with this fish is completely worth it!

I Heart Willie and You Should, Too

This is my PSA to you, because we must surely be friends or family, if you are reading this.  Don't walk, run to your iPhone (or other device) and download Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard's album, Django and Jimmie.  I have been listening to it since the beginning of June, when it came out, and I just LOVE it.  I love every song on the album and that is rare for me. 

Which songs are my absolute favorites, you ask?  (So, you didn't really ask, but I'm going to tell you anyway.) 

Unfair Weather Friend 

(Don't you just love a good song about friends?)

Missing Ol' Johnny Cash

(Who doesn't love and miss Johnny Cash?)

Live this Long

(Wouldn't we all take better care of ourselves if we knew better?)

Okay, really I just love them all!

So, go!  Download it or buy the CD-- if you're old school.  You'll thank me for it.

The Perils of Vanity

So, Fred left this morning at 3:45 a.m. to take 7 boys to Scout Camp!  He will be doing Scoutmaster stuff until Saturday.  In honor of his week at Scout Camp, I wanted to post this story, because it made me laugh really hard.  I thought it was so funny that I read it to Fred.  When I read it the second time, I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe.  Fred was laughing, but I'm not sure if he was laughing, because I was tickled or if he really thought the story was that funny.

There is an author/blogger that I like.  Her name is Sophie Hudson and she lives in Birmingham, Alabama.  I was reading this story about her son, Alex, going off to Scout Camp for the first time.  It made me laugh so hard that I practically cried.  Mostly, because it is funny and also because it reminded me of this time that my friend, Ruth and I accompanied our guys to a BBQ dinner for all of the Wood Badge participants.  Let's just say that our experience was very similar to Sophie's Family Night experience at Scout Camp.  I thought we were going to a nice BBQ dinner and it was nothing like that at all.  We didn't have to hike to our dinner.  However, like Sophie, we were definitely overdressed.  Maybe, I'll write a post about it.

Here is Sophie's story.  I hope you think it is as funny as I did:

Alex has been at camp all this week. It's his first time to stay a week at overnight camp, so I spent most of last Friday and Saturday going through the packing list and running to the store and trying to make sure he had everything he needed for the week. This is why I will forever refer to last weekend as THAT TIME TARGET TOOK ALL OF OUR MONEY.

So I got the boy packed, and after our usual Sunday routine of church and Chuy's, we took him to the drop-off spot and said our good-byes. I was determined to keep everything LIGHT and BREEZY and FULL-O-CHEER, but I really shouldn't have worried because he wasn't even a little bit upset about leaving us. He was excited about being with his buddies and fired up about an adventure run / mud obstacle course that they were doing on Monday. So, you know, BYE FELICIA.

Last night (Wednesday) was Family Night at camp, so David came home from work early and we left the house around 3:30 in the hopes that we'd be at camp by 5. I knew it was going to be hot because so far the month of June DOES NOT PLAY, so I wore some super-thin / comfy palazzo pants and the thinnest tunic-style t-shirt I could find in my closet. I mean, yes, it's hot, but I wanted to look cute-ish for the family dinner, and IN MY HEAD I thought that we would be at some sort of picnic shelter located mere seconds from our car.

Why did I think that? Well, I have no idea. It was just the mental image I'd created when David first mentioned Family Night, and I may have also envisioned lots of lights strung through the trees sort of like what you see in the Bravermans' backyard on Parenthood.

Well, we were about 45 minutes into our drive when David mentioned that he didn't know whether Alex would be with us on the hike or not, and I promise you that my head whipped around and I said, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, HIKE? I AM UNFAMILIAR WITH THIS TERM." 

He said, "Didn't you read the email? We have to hike to the campsite."

I stared at him for several seconds before I said, "No. No, I didn't read the email. The email was very long and I'm not sure if you've noticed but I'M WEARING WEDGES."

Then I pointed to my shoes for emphasis.

He asked where I thought we'd be having our picnic, and I calmly explained DUH, AT A PICNIC SHELTER, LIKE AT THE PARK, and then I pointed to my shoes again and he got very tickled.

Well.

As soon as we got to the campground, Alex and his buddies were walking through the parking area, and he looked so happy and was so quick to tell us how much fun he was having. Then he said, "Hey! I can hike with y'all to the campsite!" and I looked at David and Alex looked at me and I pointed to my shoes and then I kid you not it started to rain.

Thankfully the rain didn't last long at all - just enough to stir up some good steam - and we started our hike. THROUGH THE WOODS. While I was wearing palazzo pants and a tunic. Sporting some serious statement earrings. Carrying my sassy little Noonday tote bag and the 7-layer salad I'd made for the festivities. 

I texted Melanie later and told her that I felt a little bit like Mrs. Howell on Gilligan's Island. I mean, I certainly don't relate to the Howells on a cash money level or anything like that, but I was really just a hair shy of carrying a clutch bag and wearing pearls.

In other words, I looked absolutely ridiculous.

By the time we made it to the campground 14 or 42 minutes later, I was drenched in sweat. It was like I'd arrived on the Survivor island in my street clothes and the first item of business was an elimination challenge featuring a relay race that culminated in a wood-chopping contest. 

Eventually, though, I started to cool down, and we set up our chairs and visited with some of the other families. Alex showed us his tent (I may or may not have seized his battery-operated fan to help me cool down a bit), he told us about everything they'd been doing, and my mama heart was so relieved that he was having a blast and totally in his element that I was able to ignore the fact that my hair looked like I'd just finished up at the shampoo bowl at Truvy's Salon. 

After dinner and some more time catching up and talking, David said it was probably time for us to head back home. We gathered up all our stuff, hugged our boy good-bye, and then I remembered that if I'd had to hike to the campsite, I was going to have to hike back to the car. And honestly, it wasn't *that* far - maybe 1/2 mile - but the wedges on dirt and clay and hills and gravel? NOT THE BEST OPTION.

Finally - mercifully - I made it back to the car, and I hadn't even sat down in my seat before I cranked the A/C all the way up to FREEZE & STUN. I tried to pull my hair off of my face but was unfortunately without a clippy, so I just held the wet, soggy mess off of my neck and let the A/C work its magic. And make no mistake: the time at camp was so worth it because it did our hearts a world of good to see Alex thriving in that environment. However, I've already decided that when we go back for Family Night next year, I will be wearing a ventilated fishing shirt, shorts, and some shoes that are suitable for hiking. BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO HIKE, YOU SEE.

Silver lining? I probably lost six pounds.

So, what do you think?  Was it as funny as I promised it would be?

Father's Day Tribute

Happy Father's Day to all the sweet men in our lives!  How blessed we are to have strong, amazing men around us that love us so much.

We love our Scoutmaster Fred.  He is the best husband and dad around. He spent Wednesday through Saturday of last week in Galveston with our young men (14-18) from church helping them to have a fun fishing adventure.  He came home excited with lots of tales about the boys.  He had a day and a half to recuperate and then he leaves at 3:45 a.m. tomorrow morning for Scout Camp with our 12 and 13 year old boys.  We'll say goodbye to him tonight and then we'll see him on Saturday. The boys just loaded up their gear and they are excited about camp.  Fred enjoys working with those boys so much!  I am so thankful that Jonathan has been able to share his Scout experiences with Fred.  I also love that Fred continues to love the boys and love Scouts even though Jonathan has moved on up to the next group. 

I love my dad and the kids love their Grady.  When I was growing up, I remember thinking that I had the smartest dad in the whole wide world.  I would get him to help me with math, because lets face it, I am math deficient.  He would walk me through the problems and then I would go to school where I would see my teacher working them a completely different way.  Thinking that my dad must surely be smarter, I would raise my hand in class and declare, "But, that's not the way MY dad showed me how to do it."  I think my very favorite teacher, Mrs. Hannon had a talk with my mom and told her that it would be best if Dad no longer help me with my homework.  I also thought that Dad could fix or build anything.  He built us a multi-level playhouse, for Pete's sake, complete with a sand box and a slide. He fixed my car often.  I also knew that he would help me out of any scrapes.  In college, he drove to Denton when my Ford Tempo died (and, I mean died) on Eagle Dr., and some sweet, greasy men towed me to a gas station and kept my car overnight.  I don't think people really do that anymore. Lastly, he is the king of silly sayings or Dadisms, as I call them.  They don't make sense to anyone, but him.  For instance, I have migraines and I often say, my head hurts.  His reply is always, "A head like that ought to hurt."  Why does he say that to his sick daughter?  (I mean, he has been saying that since I was a little girl.)  I have no idea, but I wouldn't trade him for the world.   

I love my brother and I am so proud of the father that he has become.  He has the cutest 5 year old little girl, Lainey.  They are pregnant with their 2nd daughter.  He is such a fun uncle.  My kids adore him and he is an amazing father.  He tells bad jokes that are in no way funny.  So much of who he is, he inherited from my dad.  His upstanding character and his dumb jokes.

I love these special men in my family!  I hope they have had a wonderful day.  These are just a few of the special men in our lives -- the ones that I happen to share a last name with (or my maiden name).  We hope all of our family and friends had a wonderful Father's Day today.

Twenty and Counting

This picture was taken at a company event just a few short weeks after I started

Today is my twentieth anniversary at Nouveau.  My how time flies.  Don't start doing the math, but here is how it all stacks up.  I had been out of college exactly one year when I started at Nouveau.  One month after I hired on here, I celebrated my first wedding anniversary.  Fourteen months after I started, I had my first child.

I pretty much experienced every one of my firsts right here at Nouveau!  My first time to take a trip on an airplane.  You guessed it.  Headed to Bentonville.  By myself.  I remember being so worried about finding the right gate that I forgot to be worried about the flight itself.  Turns out that I'm not a nervous flyer.  Just one that suffers from a little nausea.  The entire flight I prayed that I wouldn't throw up.

My first time to pass out?  Trip to Atlanta for a Walmart meeting.  We were waiting for our table at dinner and I apparently lost consciousness for a few minutes.  I had a real Steel Magnolias moment, because one of the ladies we were traveling with advised that they have me drink orange juice.  Only, I am not diabetic and I wasn't going all Shelby on them.  I was just sitting there calmly trying to figure out how I ended up on the floor.  I was also checking to make sure that I was not wearing a dress, because that would be so embarrassing.  My co-workers were hungry.  When our table was ready, they just pulled me up off the floor and walked me to the table and fed me some steak.  No visit to the doctor.  They did call my room periodically to make sure that I was still alive.  Oh, and they made me call Fred and tell him what happen.  His response?  "So?  What am I supposed to do?"  I love that man.  He really tells it like it is on most days.

I developed and broke a hard core Coke habit while working here.  We're talking HARD CORE.  I lived for my Cokes.  I don't even know how many I drank a day.  Cokes are a quarter a piece at this amazing company.  They were a quarter on the day that I walked into the old building on Chennault 20 years ago and they are still a quarter today.  Do you know what that means?  One dollar and I have FOUR Cokes, people!  Years ago, I decided to break the habit, because I drank so many it was ridiculous.  Now, I only have an Excedrin habit.   I feel you judging me.  Please don't.

I have seen my babies grow up.  One is about to be 19 and the other is 15.  I have seen my co-workers' babies grow up.  I have seen sweet friends pass away and the family members of friends pass away.

I've said goodbye to so many good, good friends as they've moved on to new adventures.  That is always so hard.  I miss so many of the people that I've worked with through the years, but I know that they are doing bigger and better things.  I am grateful for their friendship and for all the time that we worked together.  I am grateful for all that they taught me.

I said goodbye to Pat and Evan.  The amazing couple that founded Nouveau.  They taught me so many things.  I enjoyed working with Pat and learning from her.  Most everything I know, I feel that I learned from her.  I owe so much to her.

I am so thankful for where Nouveau is today.  For the wonderful people that I work with and the fun projects that I get to work on each and everyday.  I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to have spent the last 20 years right here.

Cutting Edge

I was getting my nails done a couple of months ago and noticed that two teenagers came in and asked for white nail polish.  The next day a couple of our girls at church had white polish on their nails.  So, I asked them if white is the in-thing.  They told me that EVERYBODY gets white.  To which I replied that I didn't think I could rock the white.  It's just a bit, well, white.  They were very encouraging and assured me that I could totally get my nails done in white.  Every couple of weeks they would check my nails and they were always a very boring color, except for the time I let the nail lady paint my toes orange.  I just did that because I never have my toes exposed and I was proving a point to Jessie that I can be adventurous.

Well, I wanted to be super cool for camp, so I went with white finger and toe nails.  It doesn't get more cutting edge than that.  Me and about three of the Mia Maids (the 14-15 year old girls at church) have white nails, so I'm feeling pretty good about myself.  I'm such a follower.  Don't be a follower, girls!

And, I Rejoiced

Last Friday, I rejoiced because it was the last day that I had to get up early and take the boy to seminary.  This morning, I rejoiced that I only have one more breakfast and one more lunch to make before school is out.  Next Friday, I will rejoice that Driver's Ed is over (only I will have spent much of my week at Girls' Camp) except for the drive times.  The girl is helping out with summer school at TSAS all month.  I will be rejoicing at the end of June that I no longer have to cart her around.

I feel like a poor excuse of a parent for all of this rejoicing.

And, I really feel like a poor excuse of a parent when I realized that all the boy expects or wants for breakfast is a cup of chocolate milk and 3 little donuts.  Therefore, why would one rejoice that she gets a summer long break from preparing breakfast?  I don't really know and I don't care.  I'm just tired.  So, judge me. Mock me.  I'm excited to have a break!  I will be rejoicing.