Cheer Me Up, Emilee

Spring Break 2009

For Spring Break this year I went to visit Lu. It was so much fun. I was super curious to visit Lu because she and her husband have moved to a tiny town, and I wanted to know what it is like. After having gone there I have decided that I like it! Lu and I had fun watching movies (three of them in two days - one was Mr. Magorium, and I really liked it!! Lu has fabulous taste!). We also hiked up some rocks and ate lunch in the beautiful (although somewhat warm) sunshine, and I got a shade less white - yes! We also crashed her friend's camping trip one night and ate s'mores while listening to uncles talk about things like trying to make people "crap their diggers," a phrase I don't think I have ever heard before but find hilarious. We looked at the stars. And we talked - which is what we do best when around each other, I think. We also got to visit another former roommate of mine, which was great. Thanks, Lu!! You're the best!

Pi Day

Oh man! There are so many pictures I want to post because Emilee is so cute. Don't you just love these? She's getting bigger and fatter (that's allowed and welcome in babies), and she's smiling a lot more. She's even starting to try to talk, which I love.

To talk about something other than my niece, though, I will talk about Pi Day. 3.14 = March 14th, right? I was so excited that it was on a Saturday this year. Two of my roommate's and I spent the afternoon making pies, which you can see in the picture. I think it was my first time making pie, maybe. I made pecan, apple crumb, and chocolate pudding. My roommate made this really great top crust for one of the pies - she carved a Pi symbol into it. We had several friends over, and we all just ate pie and chatted. It was terrific! I was excited to hear that some of you and other who couldn't make it still ate pie in honor of the day. Not that we need an excuse to eat pie, but it just adds to the enjoyment if you're a nerdy math person, I guess.

Besides that, I have Spring Break this week, so I should have some adventures to post on next week, especially since I get to go see Lu!

Another Packed Weekend

This is what I did between Friday and today:

Birthday dinner at Oregano's - mmm!

City of Ember and cake

Breakfast with sister and her family

Cats in the Community service project

Stongbad - Marzipan answering machine (great!) and the Halloween costume commentary (Excellent! I highly recommend watching it if you haven't yet.)

Recess (which included Four Square and half an inning of kickball for me)

Dessert with Great Uncle and Great Aunt, et al

Swing Dancing

Church

Dinner with Roommate and Four Boys (it felt so home-y)

Quote of the day: "It took a long time to eat it - Jamie, I have big potatoes!" by Little Brother

Emilee

I almost missed writing this week. Since it's almost tomorrow, I will just say that today was a great day because I was able to see Emilee be blessed. Here's a picture of her in her little dress:

*Sigh

Full Day

It was such a full day today that I don't understand why I feel kind of sad, and yet I do. We had a stake conference this weekend. This conference was kind of special because the stake presidency was released and a new stake presidency was called. I wasn't expecting to know the new presidency, but one of the former counselors was called to be the new president, and the director of the Institute was called to be one of his counselors. When the new presidency was called, I felt that they truly are the men the Lord would have serve at this time - it is so comforting to receive assurances like that.

After the conference, a couple of my roommates and I, as well as a few friends, went to my roommate's parents' place for lunch and dessert. Apparently, someone had given her parents a lot of lemons, and Roommate's dad is an amazing lemon-meringue pie maker. And I have to agree - the pie was great! So was the lemonade that he had made to go with lunch. Not only that, but I love Roommate's parents.

Later in the afternoon, Bookend Boy and I went to visit a friend who is sick. She is a riot, and we had a fun visit with her. I also went visiting teaching this evening. Last of all, my Roommate unveiled the cheddar cheese she made a month ago. It tasted great!

So, why feel down after such a day so full of good friends, conversation, church, etc? I don't know (I mean, I have some guesses, but they're not good reasons). I guess I just need to count my blessings and feel better.

Valentine's & One Month of Emilee

It is late, and I really need to go to bed, but I had such a great Valentine's yesterday that I wanted to write about it. It didn't start out so well, which was my fault, but from about 7:00 p.m. on it was fantastic. These are the reasons:

1) I got to hang out with Emilee who was one month old yesterday. I read The Giving Tree to her. I'm sure you can imagine how attentive a one month old would be for that, but I thought I might as well start now. Emilee is so cool, and I'm so glad she is a part of my life. While I was holding her yesterday I thought about how I could just stare at her forever. She's great!

2) On my way home, one Bookend Boy called and asked me where I was. I was heading to Walmart, which I don't like, at the time. However, I knew why he was calling, thanks to a comment made by one of my Roommates earlier in the day, so I told him a street I was near. He replied, "So you're heading home?" "Yes." "Good. Your instructions are to continue driving home." Which I did. When I got home, I heard Bookend Boy and three of his friends at a different apartment. I hurried up to mine, wishing I had made myself more presentable that day. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. When we opened the door, four cute boys dressed in red shirts stood and serenaded us with several songs. Well, that certainly made my day smile. If I can figure out how to upload one of the videos from it, I will. Umm . . . strike that. I guess I will post a picture of them. When I figure out the video thing, maybe I will upload it.

3) My Roommate and I had a dance party. We danced for a couple of hours in our living room, and it was great! We called and invited some friends, but most of them left after a few minutes. However, Roommate and I danced the night away. It felt so good to just let loose for awhile, you know?

Valentine's Day is going to have to try pretty hard to beat this year's day.