Bests and Worsts

It was the best of weeks; it was the worst of weeks.

Back in the golden days of blogging, my sister and I would write posts about the best and worst part of our weeks. I haven't done it in years, but I have had just such a week that showcased my embarrassing incompetence tucked in with the kinds of redeeming things that make life fine.

note: for perspective and clarification sake, this particular week happened two weeks ago.

Let's start with my moments of embarrassing incompetence. I have two, in the same week. I was a superstar that week. First off, I lost my credit card at a gas station. I have never lost my credit card before and the person who happened to find it decided they wanted to get some gas of their own, in three different gas stations, all on me. Sweet. Who uses a credit card that isn't theirs?? I know. That is a naive question. But thankfully, our credit card takes care of fraud charges. Unfortunately, that is only the first of two majorly dumb moments by me.

The second is potentially more costly. I backed our minivan into a parked car. Sweet. I was going super slow, and was actually in the middle of a seven point turn, and what resulted was a scratch in my bumper and a small, barely noticeable dent in the door of the other car. So I had to leave a note (because I am not the kind of person who puts dents in cars and then drives away and I am not the kind of person who uses other people's credit cards). Grrrrrr. That's all I have to say about that.

I did have a couple of high points that week, too. It was the week we went to Busch Gardens, and it was so much fun to watch my kiddos enjoy the rides (okay, mostly I watched Claire enjoy the rides, and Morgan just tolerate them). The second thing that week was a girls night I had with some gals from the ward. I hosted it here at my house and I was excited to have a good night of talking, laughing, swedish fish, and getting to know the woman here better. It didn't disappoint. I had such a good time and it was so refreshing. And. . . they all showed up with gifts for baby boy. My friend, Amy, had arranged a surprise baby shower for me. I was so surprised and touch. Not only was it very helpful in getting ready for the baby, but also it meant a lot to me that I have friends here that wanted to celebrate with me the coming of our little one.

That is comforting. It made the things that didn't go so right that week seem not quite so important. Thank you Amy.

The Lost Art

There is so much to Halloween nowadays. Back in the day you just went trick or treating once, where you went door to door, rang on doorbells. You know, you really had to work for your candy. Nowadays, you have the trunk or treat at the church, the school party, the trick or treating at dad's work, and then finally the night of trick or treating, but by that point you have so much candy in the house, you start wondering if you are actually a share holder in the amalgam business. I seriously don't like trunk or treats and here is why. It's just a line of kids, moving slowly with their hands and bags (sometimes pillowcases, darn teenagers) held out, waiting mindlessly for some guy in a witch hat to put candy in their bag. Where is the sport in that? There is no walking up patio steps, no ringing doorbells, no sing song "trick or treat" and "thank you", no preening in your costume at each house as the old ladies try to guess what kinda princess/scary murderer you are. It's over in 20 minutes at trunk or treats. Why don't they just spare us the assembly line and hand each of us a bag of candy as we pull through the parking lot? We don't even have to stop. A drive-thru trick or treat is just as sporting.

Do I sound cynical? A week of non-stop eating candy has done that to me.

I made the girls costumes this year- loved Morgans, wished I wouldn't have attempted Claire. Claire wore hers to the trunk or treat and then the rest of the week I let her wear a dress up dress with wings. Morgan really got the concept of trick or treating this year. She thinks it is the best idea in the whole world, that she dresses up in a costume and people hand her candy. She wakes everyone morning and nap, demanding more chocolate.

{A sweet moment, Claire helping Morgan feel better after she fell and skinned her knee}

{An awkward moment, just trying to get a sisters picture}

As much as I love Halloween, I am glad it is over. And that it is now November. I am having a baby in November. Who will most likely be born on a sugar high. Sorry, baby boy.

Happy Halloween

Busch Gardens 2009

Debi Downer

Maybe Morgan has an incredible memory and remembers the last time we went to a pumpkin patch. Maybe Morgan is a lot like me and likes festive things to be really festive. Or maybe Morgan is a Debi Downer.

We went on a field trip with Claire's school to a pumpkin patch nearby. If you are comparing it to any of the pumpkin patches from Pittsburgh, it was lame-o, small, underwhelming, boring, and did I mention lame-o? But that's just me. Claire enjoyed it. Most of the kids enjoyed it. Morgan. . . well. Let's let the pictures do the talking:

{Here is Claire and her big feet, pleased to be posing next to a giant pumpkin face}


{Now here is Morgan. This isn't a random pictures. This is her, with me begging her to look up. She refuses and continues for several minutes to look down dejected}

{Hayride. . . still no smiles from the Morgsters}


{Here are some of the girls in Claire's class, looking so happy. Notice Morgan, though. Still no smile. She is probably looking at the rock, thinking, "This rock is having more fun than I am."}


{But can you blame her? Look at this thing. This was the only activity, beside the hayride, for the kids to do. It was a dirt hill, with a couple of 5 ft slides on it. Major lame-o!}


{And this is how Morgan felt about it. She stood that way, making that exact face for about five minutes}

What Benjamin Franklin Didn't Know

When I was Philadelphia, in the Benjamin Franklin Museum (major snoozer), I saw a big quote on the wall that said, "Speak little; do much", from Poor Richard's Almanack. My first thought was--obviously he has never been on a girls trip.

Poor Richard, indeed.

It has been over a week since I returned from the rock-awesomest girls trip ever and I still have a grin on my face. In the last few, harried weeks of Pittsburgh, as everyone was preparing to move, we made a desperate pact to meet up somewhere for a girls trip so it wouldn't be so sad to say goodbye. And six months later, after about 273 emails, some backing out and jumping back in, to the joy of all involved, it came to fruition, in sunny Orlando.


Nine girls, all moms, four pregnant, three nursing, two photographers, and a double batch of German Pancakes. It was heaven.

{Libby, Amy, Me, Gina, Jana, Debi, Elise, Rachel, and Melanie}

There isn't a lot to outline as far as an itinerary went. We chose Orlando so we could sit outside at the pool all day and talk. We talked and talked and talked and laughed our butts off (that's just figuratively, as you can tell from the pictures, mine is bigger than ever). We had late nights, late mornings, and anytime we tried to go somewhere, even if it was just to the pool, we were slowed down by gabbing. We were making up for six months of lost time and lost conversations. And since I don't know how to really tie it in, I will just come out and say it- we also had a craft night- making flowers and hair bows. No joke. We did.

It was so wonderful to see so many of my friends again. They are truly so much fun to be around and I can't wait to see all of them again. I also wish, for just one day, we could of had our kids with us, so that the kids could see each other and I could see how all of them are growing and forgetting all about me (sigh). But I knew my kids were at home, enjoying some time with daddy. Cody was great about taking the kids and all the responsibilities that went with them. The first night I was back home, as we were settling into bed, Cody said something pretty profound.

"You know, motherhood. . . everyday is like Groundhogs Day."

I think he was referring to the movie, and not the actual holiday, because then that really wouldn't make sense.

It was just what I needed. It was the best girls trip . . . ever . . . well, at least until the next one.

{We went to a couple outlet stores. Here I am, trying on some subtle accessories.}

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All photos courtesy of Photos by Melanie. You can see more of her Orlando pictures here.

Cracked Bell

Last week was a busy, traveling week. I visited 5 states and was only home for one day. Being 35 weeks preggers, I had to get the traveling bug out of me for the rest of the year. The first part of the week, I was in Florida, but I will post more about that trip later. The second trip I went on was to Philadelphia for a wedding. We left early Friday morning, and in less that five hours, drove along the eastern shore of VA, Maryland, Delaware, and arrived in Pennsylvania at one of the most beautiful places you could ever envision living in during the fall-- Chadds Ford, PA.

The wedding was nice; Cody was a groomsman and wore a tux, and I fought desperately to keep two unruly girls quiet during the ceremony. Claire kept whispering rather loudly, "This is boring. Weddings are so boring."

The next morning, we took off to Liberty Square in Philadelphia to check out some American history, but it was raining, I am a lazy 35 weeks pregnant, and Independence Hall was 'sold out', so we only stayed about an hour before we decided we'd seen enough and headed home. My favorite part of the whole trip was the drive along the eastern shore. I didn't see any ocean, but the whole drive is through beautiful, picturesque farms and rural towns. So beautiful!

I had to force myself to take pictures just to document that we visited Philly. They are lame pics but at least generations to come can look at them and agree, they are lame.