F I N A L L Y !

I got to see the stone that started it all.

Tonight was Mike's surgery. We were at the hospital at 5:00 like they said, and the surgery was supposed to start at 7:00.

We waited... and waited...

until 9:00. From what I understand somebody came in and had some sort of emergency surgery so we had to wait for another operating room to open up. This time we were at Desert Banner. Plus this time we had a different surgeon. This guy was great... and he talked to ME! LOL, much unlike the other guy that neither Mike or I liked.

The surgery was supposed to take 45 minutes, and probably took 46. Dang, I like this doctor! The other guy told us it would take about 20 minutes and then 2 hours later came out to tell me that it was over. I was prepared this time too, with an arsenal of magazines. Even though I ended up spending much of the waiting time eating a late dinner, talking to some people on the phone and playing bubble breaker on Mike's phone. My high score: 510!! I'm very proud.

-- The stone hadn't broken up at all from the last surgery, but I got to see the sucker in a cup. Big piece, and a lot of little pieces. All blown up. It was fascinating. ;)

So I ended up getting home at midnight, and left Mike still in the recovery room. He's in good hands and there isn't anything I could do at that point.

Thank you to everybody for the well wishes, the prayers, the funny kidney stone stories (I'm glad some of you still had a sense of humor after it was all said and done.) the meals, the babysitting... everything. It has been a long and crazy 10 days.

Now I wish they would give the spouse of said patient the left over stuff that makes you loopy and tired right before surgery so I could have a nice long sleep too. ;) The kids will be up and bouncing around in about 6 hours. Aren't they supposed to sleep in now that school is out? It will be a short night.

rock climbing wall

Aw, now I want to write something smart and meaningful about 'reaching for your goals' and all that good stuff... but I can't do mush right now. Instead... this is what we did today and that is my little girl two stories above my head on a rock climbing wall. Awesome.

I had activity day with the church girls today. We went to a place in Gilbert that has a three story rock climbing wall, in air conditioned coolness. They all had so much fun!! Most of the girls had never done this before, and they all did great! A few of them made it all the way to the top, which I couldn't believe. They make it look really easy.

I am taking Trevor back this week since I saw him climb a rock wall at a school carnival once. He'll love this. The best is, it is $3 per child and they can climb for more than an hour if they want! I am sure we'll be doing this a lot this summer.

The pictures aren't that great unfortunately. :(





















One more little update. I know I haven't been around much because of everything going on in our house right now. Mike is going in for surgery tomorrow. Hopefully this will be the last of it, and I'm crossing my fingers for NO complications. Wish us luck!

Then hopefully things will be back to normal. As normal as can be at least! ;)

a little me time.

I decided no matter what I was going to scrap a little today. I haven't done it in a long time, and heaven knows the past week has been insane.

I know there seem to be a few layouts lately about Megan and clothes. I have to laugh at this a little because I realize this is the stage that we are in. She's very into clothes. Only I thought we had a few more years before this would get so big!

This layout turned out NOTHING close to what I had in my mind. I originally was going to go with orange and hot pink, with some blue in it. The photos just got lost with those colors, and I ended up with this much softer version. I like it. Even though it took me hours to do since I kept the original idea in my head. It's frustrating sometimes because this layout doesn't look like it took as long as it did! I know some of you know exactly what I mean when you sit there over a page forever!

Journaling says: I don't think there is an age limit when it comes to that irresistable urge to twirl. Like most girls, (including myself) when you put on a full skirt it is just fun!

We went to the mall to shop for some new clothes for our vacation and Megan loved this skirt. So much so that after a couple of times in the dining room on the ship, she wore it to the beach.

Now since I have completely ignored my children and the dog, I know I have a mess to clean up in the family room and kitchen. Piper discovered the garbage can, and when one of the kids came to tell me about it I just told them to put the can on top of the counter. Hey, it's officially summer vacation. ;)

last day of school and second time in the hospital! Yea!

From this:





















To THIS:





















I know it happens fast, but I was shocked seeing the difference between the first day of school picture, to today's picture. Yep... last day of school. Man, where did that year go?

Maybe it's the bangs. Megan decided she wanted to grow them out this year. Trevor looks different too. So '2nd grade' looking now.

The excitement this morning was electric. I'm not kidding. I passed by one of the crossing areas on one of the busier streets in the subdivision, and there were 3 boys holding a huge sign next to the crossing guard. It said:

HONK!! Today is the last day of school!!!!!

Even the crossing guard was dancing around with her stop sign in the air. It was funny. People were honking like crazy! It was great. I wish I could have gotten a picture. I swear that kids were even walking across the field at a faster pace to get to their class lines. Remember how fun the last day was?? I'm even excited about having the kids home. (Remind me to re-read this entry during the summer when I hear the first, "I'm so bored!")

On another note, Mike is BACK in the hospital today. He wasn't feeling well yesterday afternoon and ended up in a lot of pain around dinner time. Plus he had a fever and was getting chills. He called the hospital and they told him to come back in. This time with a different urologist. That other guy was a quack. This new one promises to get it taken care of. A kidney stone should not take 5 days in the hospital, then ending up back there again. Thank you to Sharon (Mike's mom) for taking him in the middle of the night and sitting there with him. It was nice to know that somebody was there since I couldn't be. She gave me an update somewhere aroung 2:00 a.m. (I think.) I know it saved the kids a lot of stress that I was here this morning.

It's frustrating, but dare I say I'm getting a little used to being here by myself right now. :p

I have had tremendous support from the relief society in my ward. I tried not to let anybody know about what was going on because I felt like I was capable of making dinner. One of my friends found out through the kids, and all of a sudden I started having meals delivered. I have to say it really has helped out knowing that is one less thing to worry about at night.

Trevor thinks it is the coolest thing in the world. The boy loves food. Last night somebody brought by a quiche and a huge bag of cut up fruit. We all finished it up for breakfast this morning too. I am incredibly grateful.

So that is life in the Shums house today. :)

My dog has bling.

Ok, I know. Another dog post.

I can't help it this time because I think this thing is so darn cute.

Also, it probably has a lot to do with the fact that I have a hard time finding the letter 'M' at scrapbook stores or anywhere because of Megan and Matthew. It's always the empty spot.

So here I am at Petco the other day. I see shiny rhinestone letters and charms on a display. Sure enough... an empty space where the letter M should be. Figures. BUT... there was a letter 'P' !!! I couldn't resist it.

I have a thing when it comes to monograms or finding my name on anything. For years I couldn't find anything with my name spelled K-e-r-r-y. It was always Carrie. I was the one elementary school kid who didn't have a license plate on my bike because of the Carrie's in the world.

Every girl deserves a little shiny present every now and then, and Piper had to have one. Plus don't you think that the black collar is slimming and timeless? She looks FABULOUS don't you think????

Guess who is home! Well, sort of. His body is here, but he isn't exactly 'here.' He's awake in between pain killer doses for a few minutes.

I wasn't sure if Mike was coming home today or not. I had both boys with me (Trevor came home yesterday from school with a tummy ache, and I kept him home today.) We went to Jack In The Box and Petsmart. Since we were already on Val Vista I thought I'd stop by the hospital with them and see what was going on. Mike was pacing and ready to go.

So the strange thing is... the stone is still there. He had a cat scan yesterday and it shows that it is still the same size and still in there. Plus a stint now. Um, weren't they supposed to use a laser to break up the stone? Guess the surgeon forgot. He's kind of a dolt. He hasn't communicated with Mike at all since before the surgery.

So I'm a little nervous about him being home and the problem really hasn't been fixed. Hmmm. He has a call in to his doctor, so we'll see where we go from here.

Anyway...

The best part of leaving today was watching two separate couples taking new babies home. I saw one family in the elevator, and another family when I was waiting in the car for them to wheel mike down.

The doors opened and there was a new mom with dad holding the baby carrier. (Brown with pink polka dots! I soooo want a baby now just for the car seat!!! How cute!!!)

I watched dad go get the minivan, and then watched as a brand new person went out into the world for the first time. The first time outside, and past the hospital doors. I know, I always think to much about stuff like this. But wow, really what a cool thing if the baby only understood what a huge step that first day is.

You've been inside the walls of a hospital, you are totally equal with all of the other babies in the nursery around you, and then you go out into the real world. An official person now. A brand new life ahead of them! Every single thing is brand new!

I was thinking about this not long ago too. (It was when I was helping Megan clean her room and realized exactly how much stuff this 8 year old has accumulated.) Seriously, a baby comes into the world with nothing. Not a shirt, nothing. Before you realize it, this person has a room, furniture, clothes to put in there, toys, books, food, everything. It really is amazing. Then they only get more as time goes on. This whole circle of life thing is really pretty amazing.

I should have snuck into the nursery to go peek at them while I was there. Babies are so cute!!!!

Blahahvhhchlhelllech.

That is still the sound in our house. Sometimes in stereo.

In my attempt to find the bright side or the humor in the situation, I realized how excited I am that all of the beds in our house have clean sheets, pillows and comforters. That is what happens when 3 out of 4 beds get puked in during the night.

Trevor just lucked out since he isn't sick, but he has clean sheets too.

Mike is still in the hospital. The stones were broken up by a laser, but haven't made an appearance yet. Without getting into TMI, he's not doing too good and is more than likely going to be having surgery again tomorrow. We can't keep things easy around this household you know. ;)

may I please have a little rant?

Because:

a.) I have earned it

b.) Somebody up there really doesn't like me right now.

So, Mike is still in the hospital. Hopefully he'll be coming home sometime tomorrow. I am exhausted from going back and forth to the hospital and doing the stuff that still hadn't gotten done while he was away for a month. Plus getting all of the laundry and stuff clean and put away from last week's vacation.

Yeah, thank goodness for a nice vacation in between. Because I am back to single motherhood while he is in the hospital.

Tonight.... Matthew starts to tell me he isn't feeling well. I go downstairs to get some medicine. Less than a minute later I am coming back up the same stairs and the dog pooped on the middle landing part. Ugh. Before I even look up and start to walk up the remaining 9 stairs I hear,

"Blahahvhhchlhelllech."

Matthew is at the top of the stairs throwing up. Then as I go to get a bucket for him in the bathroom I noticed he had done the same thing all over the bathroom floor. In less than FIVE minutes, I now had about an hour of clean up to do.

Then believe it or not, Megan is up in my bathroom throwing up. WTH???

All I was hoping for tonight was to watch a few episodes of CSI and Desperate Housewives.

Motherhood is grand.

I mean, I do love it. But did you ever think back when you were newly married that someday your entire life would revolve around poop, puke and other bodily functions of OTHER people? It is amazing how tough we get as time goes on.

Now, I'm trying to see the bright side of this whole thing. My steam clean machine has come out of the closet since getting the puppy. Now it just resides in the hallway. Piper hasn't had many accidents, but when she does it is easier to just fill this with hot water and clean it up. All I can say is thank goodness for technology. Thank goodness to Hoover for making something that cleans up puke and dog messes off of my carpet and tile.

Does anybody want to trade with me for awhile??? Pleeeeeease? ;)

E257

Yesterday was quite the day around here.

We have a running joke in our family and our neighborhood about how many times the fire truck E257 has had to come to our house. You know, the ambulance ride rewards card. If you get 9 punches, the 10th ride to the hospital is FREE! Haha!

Breathing trouble, seizures, anaphalactic shock, all that fun stuff.

I still swear that our other house that we lived in (same neighborhood, but 2 streets away) was built on an indian burial ground. That's when most of our bad luck happened.

BUT we have had a couple of calls at this house. Yesterday was one of them.

Long story short, Mike ended up in the hospital yesterday with a kidney stone. Not just a kidney stone, but based on the look of the nurses that look at his chart and the funky look they get on their face tells me that it is the mother of all kidney stones. 9 mm. Too big to pass, so he has to have surgery today.

I swear I have never seen him in so much pain. I think I have lost my standing of 'bad hurting' when even nurses who have had children say that kidney stones are 1000 times worse than childbirth without an epidural. I mean, how do you argue with that? This knocks me down a few levels when I'm trolling for an incredible mother's day present and I look with puppy eyes saying, "But I went through hours of labor and childbirth!!!!"

Piper

A Piper update. Have I mentioned that I love the snot out of this dog? She is so cool. She reminds me so much of our old dog Katie.

I swear she grew while we were gone. See those big feet in this picture? They get bigger everyday and then I worry about the rest of her catching up to them. She's in that funny, lanky stage right now where her legs are so long that she kind of runs sideways. (and somehow always right in front of me.)

She's having to slum it at our house this summer without a pool. Yep, our pool has been put off until next summer. So Mike brought home one of those hard plastic pools from the store the other day. She loves it, and and spends a lot of time in it. She also loves her dogloo. I'm sure you can tell the girl has it pretty rough. ;)

Last one! Random picture.

Here is proof that I really was there. One of the two pictures with me in it!

Believe it or not I have 300 pictures that I took during the week. :p

I promise not to post all of them. Haha! Thank goodness for blogs, and family members who have been wanting to see a few pictures. I at least feel like I have something written down from our trip.

It is hard to remember some of the little things when you are buried in the mountain of laundry after unpacking.

It was such a fun week, and I'm so glad that we all had this time together. Especially after the month that Mike was gone. We all got to do separate fun things that we wanted to do, but still spent a lot of time together. That is my favorite thing about cruising.

Speaking of, Princess just sent me an email for an upgrade on balcony cabins. Hahahaaa!

Cabo, part 3

Bear with me, blogger won't let me do more than 4 pictures at a time. Ugh.

Megan is going to be one extreme sports kind of girl. I can tell.

She wanted to go parasailing, and we had just enough time before we had to catch our tender back to the ship.

I couldn't believe she wanted to do it. She said she had so much fun though. There she is, up there with Mike.



<-- Matthew and a cute little turtle whistle that nana bought for him.























<-- cleaned up and leaving Cabo.

Cabo, part 2

While I sat on the beach, just a few feet away from where the jet ski rental place was... Mike took each of the kids out for a little bit on the ocean. They all had a blast.











<-- see that little speck? That's Mike and Trevor.













Matthew LOVED the jet skis! I was really happy that he did because I wasn't sure what he was going to think about it. He kept saying he wanted to do it since he kept hearing how fun it was from his brother and sister from the last trip here.

Day 6, Cabo, part 1

CABO is awesome. This was the best day ever according to all of us. I'm always bummed that whatever cruise we are on, the time is always short in this port. Someday we are going to have to just come down and stay in one of the hotels and stay for a few days.

Man, and this place changes every time we come to it. It is amazing.

We only had about 5 hours in port, and so much time is spent getting on the tender and then taking water taxis to get to the beach. I found a guy (or the guy found me rather) that was renting umbrellas and lounge chairs. He parked me in a pretty good spot to watch the kids playing in the water. (No jellyfish either! LOL!)



I'm looking at these pictures I took and wondering where everybody is! I swear, there were a ton of people on the beach, and playing in the water on boats, jet skis, parasailing, fishing boats heading out, tenders and everything. This really is a playground for water sports. I love the picture of Matthew with our ship in the background.

a couple pictures from jellyfish beach

<-- before the dead jellyfish sighting and subsequent freak out.

















(below) Matthew with the BEST stick in Mexico. He found this on the beach and wouldn't let it go. This stick went everywhere with us for the rest of the cruise. Except maybe, camp carnival and the dining room. But every now and then he'd still ask, "Where is my stick?!?!" You just have to love boys.

It now lives in a prominent place on his dresser. ;)

Day 4, Mazatlan

I was really excited about Mazatlan. The last time just Mike and I took this ship we went riding on the beach. As much as I had been around horses, the beach was the one place I've always wanted to ride one. I had to wait 34 years. Megan, well she had to wait 8.

The boys decided they wanted to go too. I was really proud of Trevor, he did great. He finally got enough courage to trot and he loved it.

Matthew started out on his own horse and was smiling like crazy when he was first put up on it. Then about five minutes later, he started that silent cry of total paralyzing fear. His head was on the saddle horn with his hands over his eyes. So I ended up riding with him. It was fine, but it had been a long time since I've been on the butt of a horse like that. I think he felt a lot better having me with him. He loved to trot and laughed about that. About half way into the ride he had enough and was ready to go back. We had promised them some time at the beach later in the day, and apparently he had a one track mind.

Megan was awesome! That girl took off and cantered up and down the beach. Mike was with her most of the time, but she loved to run as far as she could then turn the horse around to run back to where I was walking along with the boys. She smiled the entire time. The pictures are weird because this is my small pocket camera. I wish I would have taken my good one. :(

I handed Matthew off to one of the trail people. She was a sweet Mexican lady who loved kids. Then I got a chance to gallop a little myself. Megan and I raced a few times. That was really weird to be running along side of her, but SO much fun!! (Hence the bad, blurry photo that I took while cantering next to her.)























































After riding we went back to the ship to get bathing suits and head out for lunch. There was a place that we had been to a couple times before that was right on the beach and had good food. It is in an area called the Golden Zone, with a lot of resorts and shopping. The last time we were there with the kids the day was perfect, so we wanted to take them back.

This time, there were little jellyfish on the beach which immediately freaked Trevor out. He wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with that beach. So, we headed back to the ship. Which was fine because we were all getting tired and we didn't have as much time in Mazatlan as we did in PV. Plus the next day was Cabo, with the best beaches!!

Day 3, Puerto Vallarta

We weren't sure what we were going to do in Puerto Vallarta at first. The night before we were discussing what we wanted to do. There was a cool excursion that went into the rain forest where you could swim in a waterfall. I guess Predator was filmed there. They also had this beautiful area over the waterfall where you could eat lunch. It sounded like fun, but really, probably more fun for mike and I then for the kids.

I think they would have had fun, but then we found out about this waterpark that a few other families were going to. Once we mentioned 'water park' there was no turning back to a boring old waterfall. ;) Not only was this a waterpark with slides and pools, but they had dolphin shows and seals.

The kids had SO much fun. This park had probably 15 different slides, a lazy river to tube in, and one incredible slide that we called the flusher. Mike and I have actually seen it on the travel channel before as a 'must do waterslide' on the best waterparks in the world. It was 6 stories high, and you go down a long curved part (the colon, haha!) until you get spit out into this enormous toilet bowl looking thing (the size of a house) with swirling water. You swirl around a few times until you finally get dropped about 4 feet into another pool. Now I know from experience what some unfortunate goldfish feel like when they are being 'returned to the ocean.'

We spent all day there. I have a ton of pictures from that day, but really how many more slide pictures can you stand? I promise we did many other things in the other cities that we stopped at. I'll post those pictures soon.

I don't know if you can see it well, but that is Matthew popping out of one of the slides into one of the several pools they had. The best thing was each slide ended in a pool that was only about 4 feet deep, so my two non swimming boys were able to run up and down to their heart's content without mom having to panic about them drowning. Plus there were probably about 50 people at this park all day. Apparently this is their off season. It worked out amazingly well for us since we could see the kids wherever they were.
















After several hours at the waterpark, and all of us tired from the sun, water and climbing up to the tops of the towers, we went back to the ship.

We were leaving at 10:00 that night, so we had a long day in Puerto Vallarta. We dropped the boys off at camp carnival and took Megan back out to have lunch. We ate at a nice place not too far from the ship, on the third story of an open air restaurant. The breeze was nice, and we just sat staring at the ocean. I had the best guacamole and chips, and bottled mexican coke. Trust me, coke aficionados, in Mexico it is made with cane sugar, so it tastes SO much better than coke here. It's always a treat when we are there.

Back to the ship, a nice shower and long nap, dinner and then watching us leave later that night from the balcony. Our room was several decks above where the harbor pilot climbs down and jumps from our ship onto the small boat waiting for him once we got out to sea. This was fun to watch as we left each port, but the pilot in PV was the best. He jumped off and had a to go plate full of cruise food! Then he stood on the front of the small boat and waved while everybody cheered. I think this guy must love his job and the attention that he gets. He was funny.

more soon!

day one and two

<--- waiting to board the ship. I think Matthew was in full vacation mode.

The first two days on the ship were sea days. I love sea days. I take full advantage of the fact that my kids love the kid’s programs on the ship so they are usually gone for a few hours during different blocks of the day. I take a lot of naps. Sometimes I don’t even mean to, but I’ll fall asleep pretty much anywhere where I am stationary for more than five minutes.

Trevor had been asking since we got on the ship when the waterslide was going to open. So when it finally did we took the kids out on deck for a couple of hours. It was pretty cold on the first day, but the second day as we were in Mexico was much better. My kids were great since I could pull up a deck chair and watch them slide down from 3 decks above. Then they'd get out and run back up the stairs to the top again. Mike even went down a couple of times. I'm a wuss, and stuck to towel duty.

Both days we spent a lot of time at the slide or the pool. Trevor became somewhat of a celebrity because of it. He had the funniest scream when he would go down. A lot of people would stop to watch him, give him a high 5 or ask him if the slide was awesome. One time I was in an elevator with all three kids and an older woman asked me if he was the little boy from the slide. I answered yes, and she told me that she couldn't help but get a picture of him because she laughed for hours watching him and she wanted to remember him. Trevor would make a great cruise director since he was all over the place making friends.





















The food is always good on the ships, but man this time everything was incredible. I spent the first couple of days trying to be really good, but I soon gave in once I found the pasta station at lunch. One whiff of garlic and that was it. I think I had pasta with garlic and alfredo sauce everyday after that. Plus my own little chocolate lava cake for dessert every night. Mmmm. Man do I miss that cake.

more in a bit!

bye carnival pride.

We're home.

I am in the process of putting 220 pictures from one camera on to the computer, then I have to find the small camera and put about 100 more photos on here too.

The washing machine is already going too. (sshh... I actually kind of missed doing my own laundry!!)

We had such a wonderful vacation. It was honestly one of the best ever. The kids had such a good time, the weather couldn't have been any more perfect, and the things that we did were awesome. I'll have a lot to write about.

I'm trying to get back into normal mode now. I'm so spoiled... where is Ronald with the dinner menu? And will there be a cabin steward to pull down the bed and leave a chocolate on my pillow tonight???? ;)

As fun as it was, it does feel good to be home.

Happy mother's day to all of my mommy friends out there! I hope today has been a relaxing and nice one for all of you!

more later!

Love .... exciting and new....
come aboard...
we're expecting yoooou!

Set a course for adventure
your mind on a new romance

The loooove boat....
soon will be making another run
the love boat
promise is something for everyone....


I'm packing today. Packing and singing this song over and over in my head! I can't wait, and the kids can't wait. I keep hearing, "Remember when we'd ask you how many days were left until the cruise and you would say 65? Now it is ONE!!"

Adios to my muchachos. See you soon!

I've been tagged

I have been tagged! This is a lot harder than it seems to come up with 7 random things about yourself. Like I said before, especially when you don't see yourself as being all that interesting in the first place! But here is mine:



1. I love to fill out questionnaires. I do. I have no idea why, but I always love when I get that clipboard at a new doctor’s office and I get to sit there and fill out pages, or filling in stuff for the kid’s school. I don’t think I will ever tire of that. Or at least until I can’t see or write anymore.


2. I have owned two horses in my life. One named Sundance, and the other named Ali. I used to barrel race and jump. I was quite the equestrian! I also had a donkey name Rudy for awhile, who used to live in the barn with Ali to keep her company.


3. I absolutely cannot pull a cotton ball out of a bottle of medicine. I can’t stand the feel of it, and have to have somebody else do it. Blah. I get a chill just thinking about it. Thank goodness I’ve never been in a life or death situation because of a cotton ball yet.

4. When I was a baby I was burned by a sparkler that somebody threw off of a pier. It fell on my face. I am guessing this could be why I really hate those things now or anything to do with fireworks.

5. I say a quick prayer every time I see an ambulance, fire truck or airevac.

6. I met Mike the first day of our senior year in high school. I parked next to him because I had a 65 Mustang, and so did he. Serendipity.

7. My first kiss from a male other than a family member was Bono. Seriously. When I met U2 he gave me kiss right on the lips. Pretty freaking cool huh???


Now, since Lisa took everybody I would normally tag…. I’m going to go with Laura, Karen, Kaelene, Shanna (who knows everybody and their brother so she’ll have no trouble thinking of people tag. Haha!)

AND guess who showed up at my front door at 9:00 last night?!?!? I had gotten a call earlier in the day that Mike was going to stop in Moab for the night. The phone rang at 9:00 and at first I was kind of mad that he wasn't asleep so he could leave early in the morning. Then the doorbell rang, and I thought "Who in the hell is here at 9:00??" Seriously not thinking it was him. Yay! He actually surprised me this time... believe me, I am the hardest person to surprise!!

random

Happy May Day! Not that I grew up with the tradition of May Day, but I always liked the idea. Living in Arizona doesn't make it easier to keep this cool day going either, since it is already heating up. - I wish I could leave little baskets of flowers on my neighbor's doors. So instead, I'm leaving this pretty flower on my blog. :)

First of all, I noticed on my little ticker below that HALLOWEEN is exactly 6 months away from today! That is hard for me to believe, but I am pretty excited about that. Which means 5 months until I can get all of my cute pumpkins out again since I always get them out on the first of October.

Second... guess who is on his way home today!?!?!? Finally... Mike is coming home from Colorado. I feel like I have lost my right arm since he was away for an entire month. I have to say that I really am the luckiest girl to have found him so early in my life. We have pretty much grown up together, and we really are the best of friends. I also realized how much he really does do around here. (Don't tell him this, because I know I'll still have to get on him about picking some things up once he gets back!) I'll cut him some slack. But.. life feels complete again. That last month sucked. Plain old sucked.

THIRD... As a reward for a month by ourselves... this weekend we head to California to board the Carnival Pride. Seriously, of all the cruises we have been on, this one is the best with the kids. The ship is gorgeous, and the kids have always had the best time. This will be our third trip on this ship. Believe it or not we even have the same cabins that we had the last time! I'm looking forward to a week of just being a family, and having a ton of fun together.

Last... I have been tagged by Jen, Maddy and Lisa! So I'll have to think of 7 random things about me. I don't think I'm that interesting... so it is going to take some thought. I'll do that later today. :)