No I didn't get a nose job, I'm just a KLUTZ!!!!

I swear I do the weirdest things!!!!! The other night we got the boys a bunk bed. Matt was such a champ and had the thing almost built by the time I came home from my meeting. I tried to be helpful and decided to vacuum where the crib used to be. I was on my hands and knees using the little hose part of the vacuum to get the corners. I pulled on the cord a little bit to move it out of the way and instead pulled the vacuum down on my nose!!!!! I stopped and held it, I thought I would have a nice little bruise there. Matt asked what happened and when I looked up at him I was TOTALLY surprised when he said "Sar I think you need stitches!" WHAT!!!!???? I was simply vacuuming! So at 11:00 at night I drove myself to the after hours walk-in clinic. The doctor decided she wouldn't stitch it (thank goodness) but instead she put on steri strips that will hopefully be falling off in the next couple of days. I look like a NERD!!!!! Matt calls me Poindexter. Anyway it is quite embarrassing. Of course I had a PTA meeting, Young Womens, and a meeting with Luke's teacher the NEXT DAY! I wore sunglasses most the day. Why am I such a klutz???? I ran into one neighbor and she thought I got a nose job :)

I love U2!!!!!

Yesterday was supposed to be a normal day of school, baseball practice, etc. Until I got the phone call.....the phone call that made it a memorable day! My neighbor and great friend Liz who I speak of often, called to see if Matt and I wanted to go to the U2 Concert!!!!! Um, heck ya! Her friend had tickets and was not able to go and so she gave them to Liz who also could not go and so Liz gave them to us!!!!! Score! Despite the HOURS of traffic in Tampa, and us missing the opening band and U2's opening number, it was still a blast! I have always loved U2 and it was amazing seeing them in concert. At one point Bono, the lead singer, pulled this teenage kid up on stage for one of the songs and ended up giving him his glasses. Talk about cool!

Us when we thought we were going to be on time, if I would have taken it a while later Matt would not have been smiling, but gritting his teeth and pulling his hair out :)

They made the stage look like a big space ship. It had very cool effects, like the jumbo-tron (the screen) would stretch down and almost touch the stage. It would change colors through out the night and sometimes the top would shoot light up into the sky and it looked like it was being beamed up to the mother ship :) Very cool!

We were exhausted by the end of the night and didn't get home until after 2:00 a.m.! Well worth it!

Happy Birthday to Me! 9 Miles of fun!

I had a great birthday.....just before my birthday Matt slyly said "You'll never guess what I am getting you for your birthday!" Let me give you a little history so you know what a miracle the next part of my story is (it may seem boring to the rest of you, but I am very excited about this little tale) Ever since Matt and I have been married Matt is AMAZING at GUESSING what I got him for his birthday, Christmas, anniversary present, etc. Like when we were first married I thought I would be way original and get him a canoe. CANOE, I mean who guesses that???? Well when I said the famous "You'll never guess what I am getting you for your birthday" line he GUESSED IT!!!! I was so ticked off that I never really got him the canoe. It took the fun out of it that he guessed. Another time he guessed the tool box that I was about to buy. He guessed the sunglasses I bought, and the list goes on and on. He is amazing! So when Matt said the line I took a chance and guessed what I have been wanting most lately. I said a Garmin and Matt just about fell on the floor! He could not believe I GUESSED IT! He didn't think I even knew what a Garmin was! For those of you who don't, it is a watch for running that tells your speed, time, and distance. And it is GPS so it is very accurate. Needless to say, even though Matt was ticked I guessed, I was ELATED! So the morning of my birthday I wanted to test it out and I wanted to accomplish something I have not done, and so I set the goal of running 9 miles. I have thus far only run up to 8 miles and so 9 was my new goal. I am having to work up to longer distances because my friends and I are running in the Ragnar relay in November where I will have to run 3 legs over 2 days. My first leg of the race is 8.8 miles, the second is 3.6 and the third is 5.6. Anyway, I kind of slept in and woke to Emma saying she wanted to come lay in our bed for a little while. I looked at the clock and realized that I had slept in and in order to accomplish my goal I had to leave right then and there or I wouldn't get back in time to get the kids off to school in time. So I finally convinced Emma to go back to her bed and then I had to QUIETLY sneak (in the dark so Emma wouldn't see my light and want to come with me) and get dressed for my run. I tiptoed down stairs and had to sneak out of the house, quietly shutting the door behind me because Emma has radar ears. :) If she catches me then she has to ride her bike along side me while I run and I knew there was no way with 9 miles. So I was off! I felt like a teenager sneaking out of the house, not that I would know what that feels like, right mom??? :) It was a great run and I DID IT!!!! I did it in 1 hr. and 28 min. So my day started off great and continued on to be a wonderful birthday. My great friends Amy Lopez and Beckie Lowe took me to lunch AND Amy's husband John watched Gavin for me so we could go. Not only did he watch Gavin and Cooper, but also our friend Suzanne's little girl Maria! What an amazingly nice man to do all of that so I could have a great birthday, kid free! Thanks John!

I had Young Women's that night and the kids all sang to me and we had cupcakes. And then I had tons of calls from friends and family and tons of Facebook messages from old friends! Fun day!

Goodbye to a dear friend

Tonight I just found out about the passing of our dear friend Jeff Whetman. He was our Home Teacher and great friend and has been battling cancer for over a year now. It still doesn't seem real that he is gone and in my mind it is like a video being played over and over of little snap shots of him at various moments. The Whetman family has been SO strong and great examples to us all of how to deal with trials with grace, faith, and gratitude. I have become so close to them over the past year as there have been times that I have been able to stay in their home to help take care of their sweet little two year old Maria (my friend Amy is like Maria's second mother and took the most beautiful pictures of her while she was taking care of her). Luke, Emma, and Gavin have also become so attached to their family and every evening prayer they gave mentioned Jeff in it. I never saw Suzanne lose faith and she was always so positive, even when the doctors said there was nothing more they could do and they were sending Jeff home for his last days on earth, Suzanne accepted God's will and her faith turned to Heavenly Father that he would give her the strength to go on with this outcome. I don't know how she remained so strong and put together. The other night when I dropped off dinner to their family Suzanne was there meeting with someone. I don't know if it was a doctor or someone about funeral plans. Anyway I slipped in and dropped off the food and then slipped out not wanting to interrupt. Shortly after I got home that night there was a message on the machine with Suzanne thanking me and complimenting me on what a beautiful meal it was and going on and on about how grateful she was. I know she had a million things to do, chase around a 2 year old, take care of her dying husband, make sure her teenagers homework was done, the list goes on and on, but she took the time to call. I hope that if ever I go through a trial as enormous as the one she is going through right now, that I will remember to have a grateful heart and take the time to thank people for the smallest things like a simple meal.

I will never forget poor Jeff getting up in Sacrament meeting about a month or two ago to bear his testimony. He walked up there like a frail old man with a patch over his eye and had to stop every few sentences to grab the pulpit and steady himself and catch his breath. He still spoke with such eloquence, and conviction of his love of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We also got to see him in the temple 2 months ago, he spent the whole day there doing family names and by the time we saw him he could barely stand. I think he knew his time here was coming to a close.

He has always been so proper and impressive. He was in the Navy and LOVES flying planes. (the above picture was taken about 5 years ago as Jeff and Suzanne were going to the Navy Ball and left their boys to stay with us for the evening). Often times his Home Teaching lessons had stories related to his experiences. After his service in the Navy he was an airline pilot. But shortly after 9/11 he had to switch careers and was "behind a desk" as he would put it for a few years. Right before he found out he was sick he came to visit our house beaming as he told us he was finally going back to doing what he loved, flying. He was back to being a pilot but shortly after his battle with cancer began.

He was our Elder's Quorum President in our ward years ago and Matt had the opportunity to be in his Presidency. I know Matt learned a lot from him, as did I. Matt had the opportunity 2 weeks ago to sit by Jeff's side and talk to him and read scriptures to him. What a tender moment. We love you Jeff and will try our hardest to help your family through the trials that lie ahead as they mourn your absence here on earth! Thank goodness for the knowledge we have that FAMILIES ARE FOREVER!!!!!!

What a great CONFERENCE!!!

I LOVE Conference weekend! It was so nice to sit and listen to all the talks and feel rejuvenated. It was interesting that so many of the talks were on love and Matt mentioned that last night at Priesthood they talked about controlling your anger. I wonder if the First Presidency had hidden cameras in our house leading up to Conference :) Just kidding, I have actually been so much better lately about relaxing and not flying off the handle with the kids :) In fact I have really been enjoying my time with them and have loved laughing at all the cute things kids do and say. Conference helps me to enjoy those moments even more because it just puts life into perspective that much more. I will have to get out my notes when it's not so late to put down all my favorite talks and quotes. I do know right off the top of my head that I was really impressed with Elder Bednar's talk and the emphasis on staying CONSISTENT....that will be in my head every night when I would rather just throw the kids into bed without scriptures and prayers!

Game Ball #2!!!!!!

Luke is still LOVING baseball. Both last week and this week he got to play catcher a couple of times during the game. He looked so darn cute in the catcher gear. AND Matt got to be the ump last game. Poor guy it was the hottest day we have had in a long time! He was dying out there, but he too looked cute in the ump gear :)

Yesterday at Luke's game he got 2 OUTS!!!!! Right in a row! He was playing out fielder and he scooped up the grounders and tagged out the runners! The coaches asked what I fed him that morning :) He was so excited, and when he got to the dugout he hollered over to me and stuck his little hand out of the fence for a high five :) After the game the coach had all the kids together to talk to them and asked them who they thought the game ball should go to...they all yelled LUKE! And pointed to him. The coach reminded them that he already got the game ball once and asked if that was fair and they all yelled YES! So the coach gave out 2 game balls, one to Luke and the other to our little pitcher. What a fun day for him!

We played two of the kids from our ward yesterday, one of them is one of the kids Luke tagged out.

My cute little catcher

Oooo my cute little catcher and umpire :)

I love visitors!!!!

It was so fun to have my Aunt Lori and Uncle John come into town! They were here visiting some friends and we got to go out to eat with them one of the nights. It was a great visit. We went to one of our favorite restaurants, Bahama Breeze and the kids were on their best behavior, thank goodness!