Graduation

Tonight my neice graduates from high school. Last night, my other neice graduated from kindergarten. It's that time of year. Big changes for a lot of people. My baby gets his math trophy today. He completed all of his 50 in a minute tests. I'm so proud of him. I know when I was in second grade I didn't know my division problems up through the 9's. It's crazy! But, he worked so hard and did it! And today, he gets his reward. He is so excited. :0) And then tomorrow, he's no longer a second grader. It's over. Third grade here he comes. :0(

What is it about this time of year? So many changes all at once. School gets out, graduations happen, summer sports begin, people are getting married, {Ashlee will have her birthday}...it just gets crazy. I feel frazzled. There are so many things that are going on and that need to get done, I'm feeling pulled in 40 different directions.

Anyway...back to graduations. First of all...I'm not old enough to have a neice graduating from high school! But, my BIL is definitely old enough to have a daughter graduating...so I guess I'm stuck. :0)
Do you remember your graduation? In my high school they didn't have a valedictorian or salutatorian. Just a top 10. Weird huh? I was in the top 10. I walked with my friend, Travis. I had to nab him pretty quick because there were more girls in the top 10 than guys and I didn't want to be stuck walking with a chick. Graduates were supposed to be paired up boy/girl, but the top 10 sat on the front row and so we had to walk with each other. Yep...I got to him first. That's right! :0) And, I'm not sure why...but we were the first pairing to walk into the gym. The first of our class to enter the room. Nice, huh? And, because of this...I was the first to get a diploma. Oh yeah! At the end of the ceremony...to get all of the graduates out of their seats and together at the front of the room, they did this circular walk thing every year. Again..I was in seat #1, so I was in charge of leading the walk. In practice I did it perfect. At graduation....I was far too pump to try to keep a slower pace. I walked with the beat of the music, which was too fast, and ended up in the center of the room before everyone had made it up to the front. It was a mess. Oh well. Everyone made it up there anyway...and we tossed our caps up in the air. We were done! YAY! Then came the mess of trying to find where our hats had landed. :0) I found my hat, but the tassle was missing. Because I'm a snot...I picked up someone else's hat and stole theirs. Aren't I horrible? I couldn't NOT have my tassle. Yes, I'm a selfish brat. Or at least, I was when I was 18. :0) Ask my mom. :0)

I still remember so many things about that day. It was such an exciting time. High school was ending and we were off to live our lives. Such high hopes and optimism. I hope that's the way my neice is feeling. I know she's having a hard time right now. Going from childhood to adulthood is hard. Making big decisions for yourself and wanting to be independant, but still needing our parents....I don't envy her right now. I'm rooting for her though. She's a smart girl and she will figure it out.
Congrats to all the graduates out there! That will be me next year! Yahoo!

Come Home

A new song I thought I'd share with all of you. I love it. Listen and you'll see why. It's 'Come Home' by OneRepublic. Enjoy!

Basement Update

So, we are nearing completion! Finally! Hallelujah! Only a few minor things need completed. Because we were so close, we started moving stuff into the basement. Let me show you around!

This is the tv area. The windowsill still needs to be put in and the cover for the plumbing access. Otherwise...this part is DONE!

This is my computer nook. It was initially built to be a storage room, but as I explained before, the computer needed to be put downstairs. I love my nook. :0)

This will be my craft room. As you can see, this one will be a work in progress. The windowsill still needs installed in here as well. This means the installation of my desk space has to be put on hold. :0( He won't be able to reach the windowsill after the desk is put in. I'll keep you posted on how it goes in here. :0)
This is the main area of the basement. Jaysen went and got the pool table from our old house on Saturday and put it up. It needs refelted, so we can't play on it yet, but at least it's in place! :0) This pool table was my grandparents. They got a new one a few years back and gave this one to me. Score! This is the table I grew up with. That doesn't mean I'm good though. Trust me. It has seen better days.....but it was free! Can't beat that!
Yes! The toilet and sink are in! Wow! Crazy huh? I haven't gotten a real shower curtain up yet, just the liner. I can't decide what to do down here. I want it to be something fun, but don't want it to be too silly. You know? Any ideas?
Poor Landon is still camping out. The baseboards aren't installed in his room yet. So, his bed is in the middle of the floor. This is the one room I haven't been able to straighten up yet and it drives me crazy!
Sorry for the bad lighting in this picture. This is the play room. {Obviously} With my sons soccer shorts on the floor. {Nice, huh?} As you can see, it's not fully finished yet either. The main water valve is what you see in the corner there. Dumb house builder put it in the most retarded spot. Sigh. Anyway, we have to build a little cabinet around it, and the windowsill still needs to be installed.

Anyway...there is your update! We absolutely LOVE our basement. It's been nice to hang out down here. I am the reigning air hockey champ. If you'd like to challenge me....bring it on! :0) Once everything is completely finished I am totally having a party to celebrate. :0) It will be fabulous! You are all invited. I have a guest bedroom....I'll totally put you up for the night.

Indiana Jones?

SO, the hubby and I made it to the theater this weekend to watch the latest story in the Indiana Jones saga. Indiana Jones is now OLD. He is portrayed that way in the movie too. So, don't think they were going to try to fool you into thinking he was young still. :0) Though the movie was fairly good, I was left disappointed. It wasn't artifacty like the other ones. I don't want to ruin the whole thing for you, but the "magical" element that most Indiana Jones movies have behind the artifact was, well....dumb. It wasn't like the others.

It didn't help that the hubby and I watched a special on the SciFi channel last week about Crystal Skulls. So, there wasn't ever a real surprise for us. We knew what was coming. So, I think that might have ruined it for us. Oh well.

It was good though! Don't NOT go and see it because of my opinion. Most people have really liked it. Like I said, I think we ruined it for ourselves.

Next on my list of movies to watch? The next Will Smith movie. He's a superhero....a drunk superhero. It looks interesting. :0)

Cinderella

Was just introduced to this song and thought I would share it with all of you. It is a tear jerker...especially if you have a daughter of your own.

It is the music video followed by the story of how he wrote the song. If you make it through to the story portion, you will learn that he wrote this story for his two daughters. Unfortunately, the older of the two {she just turned 5 years old} just passed away. I'm sure this song means more to him now than it ever did before.

Anyway...enjoy the song. Have a fabulous weekend!

4 years and counting

I was a single mom. Because of this I had to work full time. My son was my entire life at that point and so dating wasn't really important to me. I worked all day, so my nights were dedicated to him. The only dating I did back then was blind dates. My friends would set me up with some guy and it would never make it past a second date. If there was no connection, it wasn't worth it to me to keep it going. Fun dating wasn't an option, because it took precious time away from my son. My neighbor set me up with a guy from one of her college classes. She said we were a perfect fit because I was a "Molly Mormon" and he was a "Norman Mormon". Ummm....ok. She obviously didn't know me as well as she thought she did. :0) She knew I loved to bake and that I loved family time. Apparently that makes you a Super-Mormon or something. {If that's the case...a lot of you that aren't Mormon now qualify as Super Mormon. :0) } Anyway, he came over...and brought his roommate along with him. What? And he came over at 10:00 pm. Ummm....3 year old son. Bedtime....he obviously had no clue. But, I figured I would endure him for a short period of time and he would then graciously leave. It didn't happen that way. He was oblivious to my hints for him to leave. And the conversation? He bore his testimony to me and talked about how his mission made him strong. What? On the first date? Sigh....my son tried to throw him a ball, and he didn't even know how to interact with the kid. He was clueless. The date was HORRIBLE. Blind date hell is how I like to refer to it. I swore I would never go on another blind date after that.

I was an assistant manager at an apartment community at that time. It was after this horrible experience that one of my residents {who I knew from high school} told me that her cousin {who I also went to high school with} had someone she wanted to set me up with. Really? Are you kidding me?

I was such a snot. I told her that I would think about it, but that my answer would be no if his name was Jason {I had already dated a couple of them since getting divorced. I figured they were bad luck} or if he was divorced {because when couples divorce it's always the mans fault right? Can you tell that I was still a little bitter towards men? And how hypocritical could I be? I was divorced for heaven's sake!} I really think I just didn't want to go through another horrible blind date again. Another guy that wouldn't cut it. It was kind of depressing. I had actually just resigned myself to being ok with being a single mom forever. It wouldn't be so bad right?

I ended up saying yes even though his name did turn out to be Jaysen {at least it's spelled differently right?} and he was divorced. I honestly wasn't holding out much hope. I told my friend from high school that we had to double date because there was no way I was going alone with some stranger. So, on October 9, 2003 we all went to Chili's for dinner {Jaysen picked me up at my house though} and then we went bowling. I tied him. Best game I've ever bowled...124! At that point we separated from my friend as they had to get home to their babysitter. Jaysen and I went to Dairy Queen for dessert and stayed there until they closed. I still wasn't sure about him after that first date. We went out again a week later. This time it was just the two of us. We went to see a Nicholas Cage movie and then out for dessert afterwards. We talked for hours again. He liked 80s music. I was intrigued. I still wasn't sure if I liked him or not, but knew there was something. I figured even if we ended up really good friends, it wouldn't be a loss.

Date #3 was exactly a week after date #2 and exactly two weeks after date #1. It was like he wanted to make sure to give the "proper" amount of time in between them. It was during this date that I knew. Which was scary. He accidentally met my son that night. I hadn't introduced them yet because I didn't want Landon to get to know him if he was just going to disappear. But, there was a flood in one of the apartments and so I had to go take care of the emergency call after work. I rushed home to get ready and Jaysen showed up right after I did. I told him to sit down and wait because I needed to touch up a bit. Landon came out with his little basketball and Jaysen taught him how to "slamma jamma". It was adorable. Anyway...our 3rd date was great. He knew I loved photography and so he took me out to Shoshone Falls and gave me a photography lesson {he has a degree in it} with his fabulous camera and all the lenses and cool gadgets that went with it. Afterwards he took me to Sunsations, which is a spa, and hung out for an hour while I got a massage from a masseuse there. He paid for it. :0) And after that we went out to Johnny Carinos for dinner. {Italian...my favorite!} Again...we talked until they were closing. They had to kick us out. It was a fabulous date.

After that, I lost ten pounds. I was stressed out. Have you ever heard about people praying to know if the person they are dating are "the one"? I didn't do that. I prayed that if he wasn't the one that God would make him go away. I was scared because I knew I was falling for him and I didn't want to get hurt again. It was a horrible feeling. Luckily I had a friend that talked me through it and I made it through it. Jaysen never went away. And I'm so glad.

We were married May 22, 2004 in the Boise Temple. It's been four fabulous years. We added a new member to the family since then and are now complete. Landon and I weren't meant to be alone. We needed Jaysen and Kenzee to finish the circle. My heart is so full of love for this man who completely changed my world. He opened my heart up again, when I didn't know if I could let it. His unconditional love for me amazes me. His spunk makes life fun. His compassion and love for our children is truly one of the sexiest things about him. :0) I love him more and more every day. I can't wait for the years to come!

Just a couple of things....

First of all...congrats to David Cook for winning Season 7 of American Idol. He did a bang up job this season and won me over. I'll admit I didn't want to like him. But his originality and rock edge were hard to NOT like. You know? Plus, he fixed his ugly hair. This picture doesn't do him justice at all. This was from the beginning of the season when it was ugly. It's so much better now. And the soul patch is gone. Whew!

And then, I must tell you...I am typing this post.....

in my basement.

Yes, that's right. The computer has been moved into our little nook downstairs. It's perfect sized for our computer desk, filing cabinet, and bookshelf for my school stuff. I may just live in here. I'm on the computer enough....

I am loving this whole moving in process. Maybe because we're not really "moving", but finally able to fully unpack and put things away. And I can do it little by little at my own pace and do it in an orderly fashion. You know...the PROPER way. Instead of piles of boxes everywhere. This is way better.

Final thought here....

We had a friend over for dinner tonight. He's been a friend of Jaysen's since high school. I met him when Jaysen and I were dating. Awesome guy. He's been having a rough time this last year. My heart has gone out to him, but we haven't been able to connect because he's "Jaysen's friend". That sounds weird. What I mean is...though we get along great, it's more like acquaintences, even though it's been over 4 years. Tonight though....we were chatting and we found a link....a common thread....and he lit up! It was awesome. I know this sounds wierd....and I'm rambling here...but he immediately changed. It was like a switch. He realized I knew a little bit more about what he was going through than most. He wasn't alone.....and I love that I was able to help him see that. Maybe I really am going into the right profession. :0) He was so excited he left and came back and brought us movie bucks. It was so funny! :0) We thought he had left for the night, so when he walked back in I made fun of him. {Because that's what I do} He knew we were going to the movies this weekend and so he went and got them for us as a thanks for dinner. {We've fed him numerous times....}

I don't know if any of that even made sense...or if maybe you are wondering why I rambled on about it. It was just a real warm fuzzy for me tonight. I am going into Psychology and to know that I really can make a difference and help others to feel better is amazing. I can do this! And, I made a friend in the process. He's not just Jaysen's friend anymore! :0)

I hope you have a fabulous evening. Don't forget to watch So You Think You Can Dance tomorrow night! It's almost as good as American Idol!