Girlfriend Getaway

It was sort of like an extension of Mother's Day.  

And by the way, my Mother's day was wonderful.  I took an after-church nap while Jon dressed the kids in aprons and enlisted their help to create a nice meal for me.  This is such a sweet gesture because if you know my husband, then you know that cooking is not his usual thing.

Everything turned out great! 

The next day, while I was scrambling to balance work, cleaning, cooking and all the other "mom" duties by myself, I grumbled out loud, "I want Mother's Day back."

Well, I only had to carry on for three short days before I got all the respite a mother could wish for.

Last summer, my dear friend, Tracy, moved to Arizona.  Tracy and her family were some of the first people we met when we moved to Washington.  They were like the social planners of the ward.  Tracy was always arranging playdates, planning campouts and hosting dinners and parties at her house.  Even after she moved to a neighboring community a few years later, Tracy continued to regularly invite many of us from her old ward over for lunches and get-togethers.  

Then she moved really far away.  Almost as soon as she moved to Arizona, she was planning a trip for some of us girlfriends to come for a visit.  Though it was tricky finding a weekend that would work for all of us, we eagerly accepted her invitation. 

She is the hostess with the mostess.  Her home is ah-maze-ing!

Our whole family was lucky enough to visit back in February, when the girls competed in Phoenix.  We had a wonderful week-long visit.  This girls' trip was equally as wonderful but totally different.  I'm so lucky that I got to go back.

Tracy's backyard is like a resort.  We spent a lot of time by the pool.

And chatting around the fireplace:

Tracy grilled us some burgers for a lunch served at her swim-up bar.  Isn't she adorable?

Left to right: Stephanie, Camille, Anna, Me, Tracy and Jackie

When the sun got too warm, we slid into the pool to cool off.

We sometimes got a little crazy, too.

Look at Anna's toe touch!  Impressive, huh?  I promised I touched my toes, too.  The picture just didn't capture me at the height of my jump. :)

There's a little bench under the waterfall:

One evening, we rode Segways while we watched the sunset.  It was a blast!

A short hike to Hole in the Rock gave a pretty nighttime view of the city:

After a delicious pizza dinner, we went for decadent ice cream treats.

On Sunday Camille and I discovered that we have matching skirts.  Luckily I brought another dress that I changed into so that we weren't matchy-matchy at church.  

I styled the hair of each of Tracy's girls for church so I had to get a picture with them.  Cute girls.  Made me miss mine.

Brinkley, Kennedy, Me and Madison

After church we visited the Mesa temple.  

There's a wonderful visitor's center on the temple grounds.  We watched a beautiful movie about families and cried as we thought of those we'd left at home.

Soon enough, it was time to leave the cacti and return to the evergreens.  This is Tracy's guest house:

Beautiful, right?  Her entire home is decorated as lovely as this room.  Our accommodations were deluxe.  But I was ready to return to my simple life and be with my family.

I knew I was almost home when I saw this out of the window of the airplane:

While I was away, the family was having all sorts of fun.  Jon and Caleb went on a father and sons campout.  Alyssa had a blast eating candy for dinner in between walking laps at Relay for Life.  (A huge thank you to our very generous family members that helped her raise funds for this event!) And Natalie got to have a sleepover with Emma and her two favorite babysitters of all time, Megan and Paige.  There was scarcely any time to miss me.

What a wonderful weekend filled with fond memories!

Not Your Everyday Stylist

Alyssa was in desperate need of a haircut.  I have a regular hairdresser that I quite enjoy, but trying to find an appointment that coordinates both of their limited availabilities is difficult.  For that reason, when we find ourselves with a few spare minutes in Alyssa's schedule, we kinda have to go to whomever can take us at that very moment.

Friday evening found Caleb and Jon at the Mariner's game and Natalie at a birthday party.  I needed to make a purchase at the mall so I decided to take Alyssa on a mother-daughter shopping trip and squeeze in a haircut, too.

JC Penney salon.  I'd been to one--though not this exact one--at some point in my life and it seemed a decent place for a simple straight-across, trim-up-the-ends cut.  So I called for a late afternoon appointment and they could get us in in 45 minutes.

We checked in at the front desk and the receptionist said she would let our stylist know we had arrived.

A few minutes later a senior man wearing black orthotics came shuffling around the corner.

"This old man just finished getting a haircut," I thought.  I wondered silently if the stylist that had just finished up with him would be coming to get us shortly.

Imagine my shock when he called out Alyssa's name and then escorted us to his styling station.  

What?  This is our stylist?  Is it even appropriate to call him a stylist?  Everything about it just seemed wrong.

The situation soon went from awkward to awkward-er--maybe even awkward-est--when he asked Alyssa to stand while he sat in the chair to get a different angle on things!

It wasn't a good haircut.  Even I, with my untrained eye, can see some inconsistencies in length.  And it was altogether much shorter than Alyssa wanted.  She couldn't stop tugging at the ends and I knew she was terribly disappointed, though her personality is so darn easy that she scarcely said a word about it.

So you know what made it all better?  A beautiful gluten-free, salted caramel cupcake and getting to pick out a new outfit. 

Still, she definitely won't want another haircut anytime soon and she'll likely be leery of a senior citizen with shears.

Dynamo

Being a substitute in Natalie's school means I get to see her often in the halls, but a school rule prohibits me from ever subbing in her class.  Perhaps it's because the principal fears a parent might give their own child an unfair allotment of attention or maybe the child would be distracted by having their parent be the teacher?  Whatever the reason, in Nat's case, it's probably for the best.

One day, I was a substitute for another second grade teacher who happens to be Natalie's walk-to-read teacher.  So, for a short 45 minute period, I got to teach my own daughter reading.  After school, I asked her what she thought of having me as her teacher.

"Well, it's OK," she said unenthusiastically.  "But you're just a little too...what's the word?...dynamo."

"Dynamo?  What do you mean?"

"It was our word of the day once.  It means...oh let me think...it means...well, it's the opposite of monotone."

"I'm too dynamo?  Isn't dynamo a good thing?  Monotone would be boring."

"Well, yeah, it's a good thing.  You're just a tiny bit too dynamo."

Shoot.  I thought she was going to say I was the best teacher she'd ever had.  Instead, she was quite possibly embarrassed by me.

Well, it turns out she just might have inherited some of my dynamo-ness.  She recently brought home a book her classmates wrote the week she was the class VIP.

Look what some of them said about her:

Like mother, like daughter.  

Being dynamo isn't a bad thing, is it?

Birthday Raincheck

Because we were in Spokane for her state meet, Natalie missed Emma's birthday party.  This was actually the second year in a row that her state meet caused this conflict.  These two share all of life's milestones so missing a birthday just doesn't feel right.  Last year, Natalie got a private redo of Emma's party.  This year we planned a special birthday outing to celebrate.

First, they got their nails done:

Then they got lollipops and cake pops:

Then, the next day, I took the girls for some self-serve frozen yogurt.  They had both received gift certificates to our local yogurt shop for their birthdays.

Natty said, "It's the best day of my life two days in a row!"

Yeah, outings with Emma are kinda like that.  Like the best days of her life.

Happy Birthday, Emma!  We love you.