Ha ha!!

So irreverent and bad. Too freaking funny.

They're home! They're home!

My wonderful brother is home!! I'm so freaking happy too! He's all growed up! :D I told you he was big! That's me, the dork with the sunglasses on. ;) (L2R: Matthew, Katie, Adam, me, Dad, Mom, Roxanne) One happy family full of nerds happy to get the biggest nerd home. LOL I'm still kicking myself for not getting a photo of ALL the people that came to see him home. My aunt Robin flew down from the Bay area an hour earlier to see him come home and see my other cousin, Ammon, speak at HIS farewell tomorrow (he's leaving for New Zealand in 2 weeks I think). My uncle John came on his lunch break (he is working on the construction going on at LAX) and my cousins Ammon, Joshua, Amy and Kristal all came too. He was so happy to see everyone. It had been about 3 years since Adam saw Josh since Josh had been out a year on his mission when Adam left.

He was also touched by the sign. He asked how long it had taken me to make it. I told him 3 hours... and it was close to it! It took me much longer than I thought it would to cut all those letters out by hand! It's a Harry Potter font I'd found online a while back and thought it totally fit the space theme I had picked for it (Adam LOVES science fiction). I versa-marked little planets and shooting stars on the letters too once I got them secured onto the poster. I then used my MM paints and cheap foam stamps that I picked up at Michael's to finish it off. I'm rather happy with the overall effect though. (You can click on the pictures to make them a little bigger).

Michael's homecoming was just as fantastic! My mom drove the sibs down to the airport to see him come home too. What a crowd! L2R: Mom, Sarah (sil), Matt (bil), Aaron (bil), Trena (sil), Hal (fil), Melissa (mil), Michael, Matthew, Roxanne, Liam (nephew). Kate and I are down in front. Allison and Liam were very tired of standing around taking pictures so they didn't want to hold still for this one. FYI: Sarah, Aaron, Michael and Matthew are all the siblings... Matt, Trena and I married in. ;) That's my HUGE family... well... immediate families anyway. One day I'll post pictures from our wedding that will show you what kind of extended family I have! LOL

In closing I'll just leave a cute photo of Matthew and Michael. They both ended up serving missions in Boise, Idaho. For family members to serve the same mission is rare, but 2 siblings is crazy! Michael said that there were at least 2 other elders serving with him in the mission that also had older brothers who were sent there. Crazy!!

Adam is coming home!!

My younger brother (who is much bigger than me) is coming home tomorrow. He’s been serving a 2-year mission for our church in Jackson, Mississippi. He’s actually been all over the state and in parts of Texas but that’s where his mission office is located. I’m so excited that I get emotional every time I think about it. I’m so proud of him. It’s hard for him to accept change so the fact that he’d have to move around a lot and to an entirely different part of the country for 2 years means a lot. Then he spends all his time dedicated to the church and talking to strangers all day about his beliefs. I know I couldn’t do it.

He’s met many wonderful people and I can’t wait to hear all about it from him directly. He’s only been able to write letters, email once a week and call home 2 times a year (Christmas and Mother’s Day). His last phone call got me. He didn’t sound like a little boy anymore, he’s a man now. I feel old just thinking about it. I didn’t think I’d miss him as much as I have either. I didn’t think we were that close, but when it came time for him to actually leave, I sobbed like a baby. I haven’t allowed myself to think of him much as it gets the water works going, but I REALLY have missed him!! It’ll be so nice to see his goofy faces and get a bear hug again tomorrow.

Matthew’s brother, Michael, comes home on Friday too. So much fun and family excitement! I’ll have a ton of photos to post later this week. I’m making a sign for both boys (well, I’m helping my SIL make Michael’s). We bought them leis to give them when they get off the plane… or really when we see them in baggage. LOL I’m so excited!!

Who can dance?

So You Think You Can Dance. I made fun of this show last year. It came out the same time as Dancing with the Stars and I wasn't going to get sucked into yet another reality TV craze. This year, Matthew was flipping through channels and landed on the first episode of SYTYCD. I teased him about it... and was sucked in by the 2nd 1/2 hour. We've watched every episode since (well, except for the week of the top 8... we went to the movies and friends for dinner those 2 nights).

The current top 4 is who I would have picked. If anyone out of these 4 win this week, I'll be happy. Much happier than I was with the results of American Idol this year at any rate. Benji is my favorite though. He's a doll!

It's been awhile

And that's because I totally lack anything to say but negative gripings about work... and I refuse to blog that stuff anymore.

Dooce quotes that made me giggle today:

Some mothers would be mortified, and I felt a little bit of that, but the strongest emotion I felt was gratitude. I was so glad that there wasn’t someone nearby taking photos because then I would have to explain why I let you smoke cigarettes. And the truth is pretty simple, really: We’re country. My Mama used to let me smoke cigarettes while I sat on her lap in the front seat of a moving vehicle. Many times she would accidentally hit a raccoon with the car, and we’d take it home and put it in the refrigerator. No big deal.

Leta, one day you are going to be someone’s boss, and they are going to have a hard time resisting the urge to write about you on their website.

Someday I'll be able to articulate the need to poke my eyes out with a hot poker as well as she can. I actually felt that way yesterday. Once a month during church they'll have essentially "open mic night" during the main meeting. It can be very cool to hear other people's uplifting stories/experiances, or just what's going on with everyone (makes you count your blessings too). It also opens the doors for the crazies to get up there and talk. Yesterday was a day of crazies. Usually the crazy people are interesting though. Not yesterday. And what's worse than sitting in a meeting where you're forced to listen to boring people talk? Being forced to listen to boring crazy people talk. Bet you didn't know those exhisted eh? Neither did I.

I'm going to hell now. Not just for my previous comments... but because I pulled out my camera while all this was going on and took some really cute pictures of my neice playing with my BIL at the end of the pew too. Right there in the chapel. Yes... I did at least turn off the flash and that cute little fake shutter noise it makes when you take a picture.

Matthew got a great one of her yesterday at his mom's. The neighbors have a plumeria tree and sometimes the flowers will drop into my in-law's yard. We put one in her hair and she looked so stinking cute. He managed to get her to 1) hold still long enough to take a picture and 2) even got her posed. It'll make a great layout. I recently got a cute mini-kit off of Sweet Genevieve's blog that will go perfectly. I've already made a cute LO of her and her brother playing in the yard with it. The two LO's will look great side by side. I'm gonna buy the full kit though for this photo. I need some of the extra cute embellishments that go with it.

As I speak about all this cool stuff... I realize that I really need to update my slider. (It's along the bottom for those of you that haven't ever noticed lol) Maybe I should really just get one for the side of my page. *shrugs* I just don't want it across the top because they're kinda big. I also need to get my butt in gear and make a header for my page too. *sigh* Who wants to give me a lesson in HTML?