Today is my brother’s birthday. He would have 48 today. He passed away in 2005.
I was trying to come up with a post to sum up Bruce…
and then I saw my sister’s post.
I knew it wasn’t possible to top that tribute.
If you are easily offended or judgmental please don’t click.
If you have a sense of humor please click away!
I may have mentioned this before, but when I started my blog I had no idea I would “meet” so many friends. Two bloggy friends that have become friends IRL are Linda and Bren.
Every year about this time Linda comes to visit her daughter at ASU for the weekend and makes time to get together with Bren and me. It is the perfect time of the year because they both celebrate their birthdays within days of each other so we have something to celebrate…besides just spending time together.
Last night was our GNO. I love getting together with these sweet friends. Since Linda’s time is pretty busy while she is here and Bren and I both have little kidlets we usually get together just for dessert. I always feel a little bad for our server when we show up. We aren’t going to eat very much and we are going to spend the rest of the evening just sitting there talking and laughing…and expecting refills of water. We do tip pretty well to make up for it.
As much as I enjoyed spending time with these two I have to admit the highlight of my night was when I came home to this little note from Einstein.
I usually only see Linda on her trip to visit her daughter. But this summer we had a bonus visit. Unfortunately Bren wasn’t with us, but I did have some extra people along to join the fun…well really I was just tagging along with them.
While I was visiting my sister this summer Linda just so happened to be travelling through Utah and she was going to be there on a day that Niece had a doctor’s appointment.
So Niece and I…and Ham and Kira and Sergio left Idaho way before the butt-crack of dawn to get Niece to the doctor.
She had her little visit and we had the rest of the day to goof off.
And where else would a blogger from AZ and a blogger from CA and a blogger from ID meet?
That’s right…Cafe Rio in American Fork, UT.
It was the first time Linda and Niece had met face-to-face, but the connection these two have is pretty special.
They are both pretty amazing ladies and I am glad they let me intrude on the visit. And by intrude, don’t I look like Gigantor between these 2.
I am glad Ham was there to crash the party also.
Oh and Kira and Sergio too.
And what would a bloggy get-together be without people taking pictures…of people taking pictures of people taking pictures of people they have just met.
Ham had enough of the picture taking and was headed to throw himself in traffic.
Linda’s daughter is going to graduate this year so maybe next year Bren and I, and maybe Niece will have to make a road trip to visit her.
But Ham is definitely staying home.
The Vacation starts here.
After a day of resting from the road we were ready for some fun. We loaded up a couple of suburbans and headed to The Gateway.
A few of the girlies headed out to play in the splash pad. Emma and Chloe were prepared for the water fun, but not having a swimsuit didn’t stop LaLa from having just as much fun.
Here are sweet Chloe and LaLa. Not do they look like each other this way.
They look pretty similar from this angle also.
I love how when her tights got wet you could see the monkeys on her underwear.
This is my Sweetie Sister-in-law Karen. She was kind enough to open her house to the invasion of not only the kidlets and I, but my sister and her daughter and son-in-law. Not to mention that she has 4 kiddos of her own. It was a crazy full house.
While we were at The Gateway we split up and did a little shopping.
Look how good Niece was looking, and this is just a month after her transplant.
My first job a million years ago was as a contracted travel agent for Union Pacific Railroad.
I always loved when I got to go into the Depot (this is when it was closed to the public) so it was nice to get to go and see inside the beautiful building again.
It was fun to share that little bit of my history with the kidlets.
After a long day of fun we were tired and headed back to the suburban I got the cute shot of LaLa.
Friday was National Wear Red Day for women's heart health. This is a cause that is very near and dear to me.
The Girlies and I were proud to wear red.
We wore red for: My maternal Grandmother who passed away when she was 38. My Mom who passed away when she was 52. My Sister and her remarkable story. My Aunt who just celebrated 8 years since her heart transplant. My Aunt who died in the recovery room after surgery to repair a hole in her heart.
None of these women suffered from “typical” heart disease, but that doesn’t mean heart related issues haven’t affected our family. The first time I went to a cardiologist he looked at me like I was crazy to come and see him when I was so young, until he heard my family history. And that isn’t even taking into account my Dad’s side of the family.
When David’s sister Jules came over on Friday night she and Miss T were in red also. It made me happy!
I know I want my heart to be healthy so I can be around for a long time!
Our Hearts. Our Choice.
Speak Up to save lives at GoRedForWomen.org.
On a less serious note, I love the shirts I found for the Girlies for this day. They couldn’t have been more perfect. Red with a pink sequined heart and a steal at $4. Gotta love Target and their Valentine’s Day clothes.
I know. I know. I am a day late.
Here is our pitiful little plan for this week:
I am trying really hard to avoid relying on take-out on scouts Wednesday, but this week scouts is earlier and the time between when Big Daddy gets home and I need to leave with the boys is really close.
What do you do when you need something quick with very little clean up time?
A couple of weeks ago I tried a new recipe for Spicy Orange-glazed Drumsticks…not a big hit at my house. I think it would have been better to marinate the chicken before cooking, but my kids didn’t like it at all. They kept saying that they wanted it to taste like Panda Express Orange Chicken. Then on Saturday we found this at Costco:
I am going to try this trick for my chicken and see if the kidlets like it better.
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