Adventures in Babysitting (or I love being an Aunt)

I spent Christmas day and the day after with my sister Heather and her cute family. She asked me if I would take Josh up so he could stay with my other sister, Shannon. I was willing. Along the way, I seem to acquire a girl (Hennessey), another boy(Riley), a Scene it game, one Queen CD, and two Neil Diamonds. Destination: Midvale, UT. The adventures were about to begin.
The first stop on Adventureland was in Gunnison, UT (podunk) where I saw flashing lights in my rearview mirror. "Miss, do you know why I pulled you over?" "Was I speeding?" I answered sheepishly. "Yes!" "Do you know what the speed limit is?" "No" "It's 30!" "Oh, and I was going 40!" He asked where we were headed and noticed the kids all bundled up. Hey, if this gives my sympathy points--I ain't too proud. He then got my license, registration, and my dignity and headed back to his car. Moments ticked by and suddenly he was back at my door. He handed me back my license with the warning to watch the speed limits in small cities. I thanked him graciously and he then handed me (the best part of this story) two junior police officer badges for the kiddos! I then drove off slowly. Okay, so the adventures were off to a somewhat shaky start. We got home after what seemed like an eternity, watched Stardust and then went to bed. I was pooped! Or is it pooed?
Next day wasn't too eventful, but I did get a piece of mail that was addressed to the Parents of Megan Keeney. Riley thought this was about the funniest thing he had ever seen. He had to call his mom to tell her about the funny piece of mail I received. I tried throwing it up to Heaven to see if they would catch it, but apparently there isn't a direct post line to Heaven. Riley talked about it for days! We went to Winger's to eat and Hennnessey wanted me to go out with the cute teenager server. Hey, I may be willing to go younger, but give me a break. I threatened Henna with her life if she said anything to this dude. We went home, watched Hairspray--which I danced and sang to! Hennessey kept saying to me, "Um, can you just lip sync?" Rude little girl. I'm not that bad. After the movie was over, we danced and danced and danced. I even got Riley to dance with me! He may say that he's not a good dancer, but he has moves that could make the ladies swoon. It was fun to watch him join in. We danced for about an hour and a half! Whew! I then collapsed into bed.
Okay, this is getting long--the rest of the time consisted of Zoolights, The Game Plan (sigh), Burger King, Sledding, Thumbwars, Hangman in Church, Alana developing a crush on Riley (she wouldn't leave him alone--the first sign!), bubble baths,retainer cases, crashing grocery carts, Henna saying, "Thank you for making us spaghetti," plugged toilets, lost wallets, pop tarts, smelly lotions, Riley wanting to go to Vegas with Josh's money, lost patience, lunacy and much much more. It's always fun to have the kiddos come to my house and play, but it's always fun to have them leave too! I was in the kitchen and noticed that Riley was doing some wrestling move on Henna, when I asked him what he was doing he replied, "I'm hugging her!" Whatever little boy, but it made me laugh! They are great, rambunctous kids and I always enjoy my adventures with them. I just hope that they are preparing themselves to do some major babysitting when it's my turn to have babies! Love you oodles!

Just another sigh........

Now, Dont be alarmed by the following post! Patrick and Zac are both still on my top crunch worthy list, but they may have some competition! The competition: DWAYNE JOHNSON aka The Rock. I took my cute nephew, Riley, to go see the Game Plan and the entire time I think I was drooling. I believe there was a time or two that Riley had to force my mouth shut. Oh my........He is a good looking creature.

Oh, and if you are wondering how the movie was. I give it two enthusiastic thumbs up. I was laughing (and drooling) the entire time. I was trying to convince Riley to go see it again on Saturday, but he wouldn't budge! Dang! Well, I know what I will be doing on New Year's Eve. Happy sighing!

No Lovin' for Keri

Okay, relatively, this does not rank on the list of really important things to be concerned about. But I feel the need to comment on it nonetheless. The nominations for the Golden Globes came out yesterday, and one very fine movie was left off the list -- Waitress -- along with it's star, Keri Russell.

Now, I don't condone the behavior that occurs in the film, but it is still a well-acted, well-written show. You laugh; you cry; you wish for more. And Keri Russell is at her best (along with Andy Griffith in a great supporting role). Although the happy ending is not the one that's expected, it still warms your heart and leaves you with the feeling that good things can happen to people who end up in bad situations.

So, I'm a bit sad Keri didn't get any recognition for her work. She deserves it. I've seen the movie three times, and it gets better each time.

Oh, well. I guess there's always the Oscars.

"Dear Baby, I hope someday somebody wants to hold you for 20 minutes straight and that's all they do. They don't pull away. They don't look at your face. They don't try to kiss you. All they do is wrap you up in their arms without an ounce of selfishness in it."

Come on, does it get better than that?

Marie

Christmas Sweeties...

Christmas 2007 - O Nite Divine....

We took a romp around Temple Square after; looking for parking for over an hour, singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" on Mir's phone, planning our 12 days of Christmas, harassing some temple square couple missionaries, eating at Nauvoo Cafe, playing funny faces (I think Mindy won), taking funny thing-like glasses faces pictures, AND...finally going to see "The Restoration" movie at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, feeling the spirit and balling our eyes out. Whew...what a night! :)

It was a blast. The Beautiful Women Rock! We were minus- one of our very important members... who recently got busted for blogging about cranky-pants people at work... (I won't say who it is... :)

Which makes me think, we're single & we are AWESOME! I had a terrific experience recently at my ward Relief Society Party. Several single sister's mixed in with marrieds were sitting at a table waiting to partake of a feast when these two sister's in their late 50's came and sat down. Full of vibrancy, one of the women- Maryanne, introduced herself to everyone at the table and announced that she and her friend were single and proceeded to ask everyone else if they were single or married. I was sitting with a friend in the ward (we're both in our 30's, single, & incredibly awesome!...) answered first. "Yes, we're single"... Maryanne, proceeded to a married woman, "Are you single too?"... The married woman responds proudly, "No, I'm married." Maryanne replies sympathetically with a wave of her hand "Oh, that's okay! Don't worry about it... we're all friend's here"... hahahah!!!

My friend Melanie & I cracked right up! Melanie told Maryanne, "That's usually the response we get when we tell people we're single, I like you Maryanne. I'm going to start using that on people when they ask me if I'm single."... Maryanne meant no harm, but boy was that funny. The girl who was married was kind of apologetic about it too. So funny!... She didn't know any better, she just got married too young. :)

love you guys! You are THE BEST (said in Nacho Libre voice) :)

Those Darned Kids...

HEY SisterS! So fun to hear what's going on with you! I am in Idaho, missing out on fun 5k' s but not missing out on eating A LOT of food- It's gotten to the point where I'm in a constant state of fear of throwing up on myself... sad, yes. Also, true... :)

I have been spending the 'ole TDay with one my goodest friends and her family. All of which include, 4 young'ins. Kids are a funny bunch. So honest! That's what I like about them.

One of our other friends came for the Turkey Celebration and we decided that we needed the 6 and 7 year olds to walk on our backs while we layed on the floor. After all, eating all that food requires relaxation- and what better way than to teach young children to serve their elders (aka... us).

Now, my friend is a very active, yoga doing, wilderness treking- kind of girl- who is about half my size. Whilst lying on the floor, the 6 & 7 year old brother -n- sister pair walked on our backs. They were making a game of it, trying to devise ways of holding hands to balance and not fall off. I hear them start to communicate a plan (which sounds a lot like bickering :) "I'm much better at balancing, you go walk on the little one's back"... "No, I think I'll walk on the big one, you walk on the little one"... FYI - I'm the "Big One". Ha!

More than their wobley attempts and balancing (or running on my back) to get out the kinks... cracking up over being called "the big one" removed any stress I was feeling. That probably was the first time in a long time that being the "big one" felt like an asset. They both wanted to walk on me, I think because there was more of a surface space to work with. :) So here's my hommage to children and they're honesty. This picture I've included epitomizes their relationship as brother and sister... And probably what my relationship with EVERY man in the universe looks like. So here's to honesty, a cracked back, and TDay dinner!

Have a Goo' One! I sure will! Much Love!

Thankfulness

1. That I didn't burn my townhouse down last Sunday when I was trying to get all Betty Crockerish and cook some downhome breadsticks in the oven...by placing the butter in the oven while on the phone...butter overflowed and what ensued was a mist of smoke... the smoke alarm and fanning smoke with cookie sheets as guests arrived...thanks to my good friends Mir and Megs for laughing with me (or at me) and assisting in the fanning process also to our neighbor Dion who let me cook my half baked breadsticks in her oven...so I guess the multitasking should be kept out of the kitchen....thanks for eating the food and not complaining I'm learning how to be a good housewife, but I think Megs makes the best stay at home roommate so I will leave the homemaking tasks to her (except crochetting around burp rags)

2. For my friends who got up at the butt crack of dawn 6AM on a freakin' Holiday in the fridgid cold to run The HUMAN RACE 5k for a good cause....Marie I can't forget your serenade "Its the final countdown" and "its just another manic monday" thanks Scott for driving us in your warm car and for not making us run as fast as you did...I would have died killed over...Jodi we missed you hope you get feeling better

3. For my WONDERFUL family...we can have fun no matter what we are doing like watching a movie...Kirt I can still hear your laugh during Enchanted when the Prince James Marsden pops out of the manhole...and the talking chipmunk...thanks for always being fun and easy to talk to..thanks mom for putting last minute plans for the movie together. I am grateful I have a family I can laugh with, sing with, pray with, play with, and just hang out and talk with...it was a wonderful Thanksgiving and thanks to Corinne's friend Lacey who taught us a new card game and my cute little grandma and her sincere prayer of gratitude for her family and the free country which we live in...Melissa thanks for helping us remember and write down what we are thankful for...I love my wonderful family...thanks for loving me unconditionally

4. My Heavenly FAther who loves me and helps me to understand my value who I am and what my potential is and for his son who paid the price for my mistakes that I may change have peace and love in my life

5. And I am thankful I don't have EVERYTHING I want so I can look forward to blessings coming in the future....

Grateful list

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I thought that because it is Thanksgiving, that Iwould jot down my grateful list. I have lots to be thankful for, but I will try and limit it to just a few (or so)

1. The first one has to be The Gospel Of Jesus Christ. What kind of person would I be without it? It truly is the wind in my sail, which propels me forward. It gives me hope when all else fails. It lets me know that I have worth and value--nothing else can give you that. It gives me the courage to push forward when I feel afraid to do so. And because of the Good News---I know that I get to see my mom and dad again and oh, how I long for that glorious reunion. Nothing, but nothing can replace that. I am indeed grateful.

2. I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father (maybe they should be in the first). I know they love me. I am grateful that I have the chance to better understand my relationship with them. I am grateful for the things which they have blessed me.

3. My Family!! I love them oodles and oodles. I, Megan, having been born of goodly parents......I know my parents weren't perfect, but I look at the kind of person that I am today and I give gratitude for them, mostly my mom for she raised four wonderful kids on her own and did a pretty good job at it! I love my brother and sisters. I was blessed with a wonderful childhood and most of my great memories included my siblings. Course, I am still a bit miffed that Michael cut my fingernails off in the middle of the night, but I still love him. I love getting together with them. We have so much fun. I miss them when I don't get to see them as much. I truly feel like Heavenly Father put the four of us together because He knew what things we would be faced with and knew that we would watch out for each other. Thanks!

4. My friends! I love them all so much. Again, Heavenly Father has blessed me abundantly in this area. He gave me friends that would love me no matter what. I am grateful to them for showing me kindness and including me in their families lives. It means more to me than I can ever express. And.....we have way too much fun. I have enjoyed this journey because my friends are crazy and kooky like me! You all are wonderful and beautiful. And, Camille I am grateful that you came and talked to me after my Sunday School lesson. Thanks for your persistance in being my friend. "Because I knew you I have been changed for good!"

5. I'll just jot down a few here: my job, my warm bed, chapstick, lotion, Mister Rogers, Neil Diamond, hot chocolate, funky jewelry and tights, kisses from nieces and nephews, kisses from boys, emails, laughter, warm showers, exclamation points, running, ipods, Jeremy Bills (he makes my hair look sassy), co workers, road trips, cheap tickets, footloose, Zac Efron, Patrick Dempsey, dancing, library, books, blankets, Hennessey's giggle, oatmeal, gum, nail polish, autumn leaves, my education, Christmas season, home and visiting teachers, Bishoprics, smiles, people who let me merge in traffic, skirts, pajamas, pictures, music, toilets, Stella (my car--she's a trooper!), blogging, general conference talks, laughing so hard you almost pee your pants, dancing in Gold's with Kristin, dreams, strawberry shortcake nightlights, chocolate, flirty, food and on and on and on!

Thank you all for being a part of my life!