Primary Program

Z had his primary program this Sunday and he did so well. He sang loud and was very well behaved sitting up there in the choir loft. Well he always gets dressed up for church but this time he let me do his hair - which he usually doesn't do. So I got a few pics of him in his Sunday finest:

And a quick family shot!

(don't look too close - you can see his blue socks!)

Love

My cousin, who is about 5 months along in her pregnancy, recently experienced complications and was hospitalized with the possibility of losing this unborn child hanging over her head. This is scary time for her and everyone that loves her and this new baby. I worry about her a lot and the things she’s going to have to face. She will have challenges if the baby lives because he will most likely come early and will face problems associated with his preterm birth. She will have challenges if the baby does not make it and she has to deal with the loss.

While I am really worried about and what will ultimately happen in the near future, I did have the following thought while watching her with her husband the past two nights at the hospital:

My cousin will be ok because her and her husband love each other. The road ahead of them, regardless of which way it leads, will be one they travel together. I can see the uncertainty in both of their faces but I also watch as her husband instinctively reaches for her hand whenever they are in the same room or how she visible relaxes when he comes in. It is beautiful to see love written visibly across two visages, to see a love that transcends the physical, overcomes individual pain, and links two people in a supporting embrace.

So even though I don’t know what will happen, I know it will be ok.

Updates on my house

Ok so I did a lot of work on my house recently so I thought I'd update ya'll with some pics!

Here's my front way with my newly laid tile and entryway table and all that jazz:

This is my "wall o'pics:"

This is my finished storage bench (remember the previous posts... it looks so much better now!)

And this is Z holding it open for me so you can see how awesome it looks from the inside:

And just for fun, Z stole my camera and took this cute pic of Whit:

And one of himself:

Random

So I was cleaning house and found a camera that I let Z use. Well I was looking at the pictures on it and there's actually some kinda nice pics from the trip April, Z and I took to Nashville last spring.

This is from the balcony off our room overlooking the whole huge hotel:

I think this was in an airport:

Airport again:

He also did a lot of self-inflicted photography and this, I think, is the best of them:

He's so cute!! Finding these pictures was as good as finding a $20 bill stuffed in a jacket pocket somewhere!

Tagged

2 Tags for the Price of 1
8 Things I am passionate about:
1. My son
2. My job
3. Reading
4. Exercise
5. Music
6. Travelling
7. Creating
8. Doing things that I’ve never done before

8 Words or phrases that I say often:
1. Cuuuute
2. Whatever
3. Not too long King Kong
4. I love you this much
5. Let’s race
6. Ok
7. Thanks
8. Huh?

8 Things I want to do before I die:
1. Raise my son
2. Get the ugly wallpaper off the walls in my house
3. Live on the East Coast
4. Publish a book
5. Hang glide
6. Find inner peace
7. See a cure found for PC
8. Get my doctorate

8 Things I have learned
1. How to manipulate Access to create very pretty columnar output
2. Letting your kid believe in Santa makes Christmas magical
3. Some beliefs have to come at the expense of a comprehensive analytical understanding
4. Everyone wants validation, especially for their pains
5. Friends are the family you choose for yourself
6. Even if it is in style again, the 80’s look is not that attractive
7. Cleaning toilets suck
8. Sometimes you have to fake it till you make it

8 Places I would love to go or see:
1. Chicago
2. MIT
3. Hawaii
4. Alaska
5. Scotland
6. England
7. Italy
8. Spain

8 Things I currently need or want:
1. An irrefutable belief in things hoped for but not seen
2. To hold my baby tight
3. To walk on the beach
4. To live in New York
5. To finish reading the book I’m currently reading
6. To become an expert in the application PeopleSoft
7. To begin working on my masters
8. To get the ugly wallpaper off my walls

8 People I tag:
1. April
2. Ashley
3. Kim
4. Ang
5. Whit
6. Tiffany
7. Allie
8. Jolyn

alphabet tag...
A. Attached or single? Single
B. Best friend? I have a lot of those.. depends on the situation
C. Cake or pie? Ice cream (does that count cause seriously... cake or pie?!?!?)
D. Day of choice? Friday
E. Essential item? Jacket/sweater
F. Favorite color? green
G. Gummy bears or worms? worms
H. Hometown? Lakeside, AZ
I. Indulgence? reading
J. January or July? January… for starting overs
K. Kids? 1
L. Life isn’t complete without? Zach
M. Marriage date? August 11, 2000 (divorce date, September 22, 2006)
N. Number of brothers & sisters? 4 brothers, 4 sisters
O. Oranges or apples? oranges
P. Phobias? Testifying in court
Q. Quotes? Que te via bien, Cuuuuute
R. Reasons to smile? Rain, my son, my friends/family
S. Season of choice? Fall
T. Tag some peeps! see above
U. Unknown fact about me? If I’m working on any project whether for work or fun or at home, I’ll dream about it at night until I figure it out and I can often come up with at least new ideas of how to approach a problem from my dreams
V. Vegetable? Bell peppers
W. Worst habits? Biting my lips
X. X-ray or ultrasound? I’ve never had an x-ray so it is on my list of things that would be fun to do someday. I wanna see what my bones look like
Y. Your favorite food? Ice cream
Z. Zodiac sign? Cancer

Today

Today I'm grateful for my job. My two bosses are really great and an enjoyment to work with. I started a project with the director of my office last week and finally got back to it on Thursday. I had to ask for some guidance at a few points in it working with data that I'm still not 100% familiar with but then was able to dump my data into Microsoft Access and manipulate into the desired output. I got an email last night shortly before leaving work from the requisitioning department asking that I add an additional field and it took me two extra hours to do it. I had to do an analysis of student tuition rates and write an equation that would look at that rate and determine whether or not the student was a part time or full time student and incorporate that data into my previously gathered data. Well about 5 equations, two queries and one report later (plus a bunch of failed attempts and a lot of messing around) I got it! It was all quite exciting!!

Today I ate a Paradise Bakery for the first time since leaving Tucson. I got free lunch because when I left Tucson, my job threw me a going away party and it was catered by Paradise Bakery and they were an hour late so we all got a free lunch. So I got to use that today and still got my yummy yummy Paradise Bakery cookie!! YUM!

Today I wore my first ever ASU shirt. I've been committed to this job but now I'm really committing. I have an ASU shirt (and I spent like three dollars on it!) It's so cute though it's a white polo shirt with a flower on it and the words ASU.

Today one of my co-workers brought bagels this morning. I got in the break room a little late but I was really hungry so I decided to go see what was left. I consigned myself to taking a raisen cinnamon bagel and when I bit into it, I discovered quite unexpectedly that it was chocolate chip! YUM!! Love chocolate!

Today when I went to lunch with my friend from work, we went to the Tempe Market place and parked way out at the end of the parking lot so we could get in a good walk and because there were no good parking spaces anyway. Well the car that had pulled in right before us had the cutest guy. Now talk about YUM!!

Today Is a Gift... That’s Why It’s Called the Present

If I knew that day on which I would die, I think my life would be spent preparing for that… making sure my son’s future would be taken care of, planning for the future, getting it all figured out.

But since I don’t know and lets face it… it could be tonight in my sleep or tomorrow or well whenever.

Something I need to remember a little more frequently.

So I need to figure out some new fun adventures to go on.

I have some frequently flyer miles that I need to use. I was thinking about jetting out to Alaska. New York would usually be my first choice but I will be in DC next March... which is not NY but kinda close so maybe I should try somewhere I haven't been yet.

I'm going back to Tucson later this month for my first visit back since I left and I can't wait to see my friends.

I'm going to find a weekend and take my son to the Phx Zoo.

I need to start some kind of classes again because when I'm not picking up new things I start to go a little nutty. I need my mind to over analyze school stuff instead of other stuff.

I'm going to do a 5K in December. Which isn't that big of a deal since it's only three miles but it's good for me to get out there and do something period.

This weekend I'm hoping to get my tile put down. I've always wanted to learn how to do it so there's no time like the present!

I think I've decided what I want to hang on one of my walls but don't have the foggiest as to where to find it so maybe I'll take a shot at creating it myself.

I gotta find more to do to keep life interesting and make sure I'm keeping my mind and body active.

And really wanna make sure that I keep peace with myself so that I can stay at peace with others too. I learned from a close friend in Tucson that our moral code is something we develop for ourselves and I know I have to live to my moral code. There are positive things all over in life to which I can turn to use as guideposts but the ultimate truths and reality in my world are shaped by my experiences and past. Which means that my life will always be uniquely mine. But even if no one ever fully understands me or sees my points or takes my side, it doesn't matter because I know that there are people in my life who do love me no matter what.

Life really is a gift and I'm grateful to be alive.