I am happy

I put away the groceries, cleaned up lunch, and just rotated the laundry. Still need to put the clean sheets back on the bunk beds (not my favorite chore), but I have exactly 15 minutes until the Friday afternoon kid-fest begins. Since it's our only no-homework, no music lesson, no sports practice afternoon, all the kids will want to play with a friend. I'll give it about 2 minutes from the time they walk in before I hear it. "Mom, can I play with a friend?"

Today the answer will be a simple yes. The errands are done, the house is in good shape. I'm in a really good mood :)

I am happy today. It's only 2:12, and I feel like I've accomplished a lot. I'm looking forward to date night tonight. Not sure what we're gonna do, but any date with Ryan is a good one.

This morning I had a little "me" time. Ryan left early to go stay with his dad today (he's home from the hospital but still having a lot of issues with low blood pressure and dizziness/vertigo, so he needs someone around).

So I got the three girls to the bus, then came home and finished getting myself and Easton ready, then took him to the bus, then headed out early to make the most of my 3 1/4 hours alone...

After I finished my temple session, I still had an hour left before the kindergarten bus arrived, so I indulged and went to the nail salon. It seems like I rarely ever have an hour unspoken for, so it was a real treat. I've been thinking about getting my french nails put back on for a while now (they've been off for a year and a half and I kinda miss them. Ryan misses them a lot :) But I haven't been able to find a free hour in the last month. Then last week Ryan made some funny comment about how one of my goals for 2011 should be to get my nails done again, so I took it as a sign...

And I just have to say that my hands look beautiful. I know that's not at all humble to say out loud, but I LOVE THEM! My french nails are click-click-clickin away on the keyboard right now and I'm smiling all alone upstairs at my computer. Easton is out in the side yard with his tub of sand, a box, a handful of broken sticks and a bucket of rocks. He's the happiest kid on the planet right now.

OK, 2 minutes till the girls walk in. Better wrap it up.

The other reason I'm so happy is that I finally made it to Fresh and Easy. I know, I know, it's just a store, but really...I've missed it so much. I was spoiled for two years having one just around the corner from my house. When it went out of business last fall I almost cried. It's my all-time favorite grocery store. I finally depleted my huge stock of Fresh & Easy salsa and black beans that I stockpiled before my store closed its doors, and I've long since run out of my favorite fiesta corn chips, garlic tandoori naan bread, fresh squeezed OJ, ultimate cottage cheese, braided wheat pretzels and many other F&E delicacies I came to rely on. I don't know what took me so long, but I finally googled my favorite store and found out that they still had one open about 7 miles away (Recker & Brown). HoOOoooray!

So I gave the green chain my $98.03 today and came home with two cases of black beans, six jars of roasted chipotle tomato salsa, and a cart full of other gems. Ya, I know, it's the small things that make me happy.

Time's up. They're a minute late. Must be walking home slowly enjoying this amazing January weather. It's 70-something degrees outside and just too irresistible. I think I'll go shoot some hoops with Afty to get her warmed up for her first game tomorrow!

Happy Friday.

As of late

It seems like lately I can't buy five minutes to sit down and blog. I keep thinking that today will be the day, but then it's gone before it began and I am too tired to stay up another minute to write.

But now I have some time...

It's Friday night and three of my four kids are through the wash and rinse cycle and now lounging on the couches while iCarly entertains them before bed. The fourth is busy blogging herself. Ryan is at the hospital with his dad, who is not doing so well.

We were supposed to be up in Strawberry right now, hanging out with our Brown cousins at their cabin, playing games, eating the delicious-looking cookies I bought today on my Sam's Club run, and getting excited about a day in the snow tomorrow. We were all packed and fully loaded, ice chest and all. All the kids were in the suburban and we just said our prayer and kissed Ryan goodbye for the weekend. Afton was picking out the first flick for the car ride while I dialed my sister-in-law to see if they were already on the road.

Apologetically, she told me they weren't going tonight after all, and thought that we'd already gotten the word hours earlier through our husbands. Um, no...

So even though we were all super sad and I was frustrated that I'd spent the better part of my day readying our family for our weekend getaway, I can't really be mad. It was just a miscommunication in the midst of a crazy day and hour to hour changes in Bob's diagnosis. Ryan's dad went back to the ER today (he's already been there once this week, not to mention his various doctor visits) after a really horrible night last night. He's on home dialysis now and seems to be in the late stages of renal failure now based on all the challenges he's been having. The last few days have been particularly difficult, though, and they are hoping that during his hospital stay that they'll be able to regulate his chemical and hormonal levels and get him back to normal. He's not only suffering from incredible sleep deprivation due to his night dialysis and all the discomfort that brings, but they think he was over dialysized causing his sodium to be at critical levels, which is contributing to acute anxiety attacks on top of everything else. We are praying hard for him and hope that the doctors can work some magic.

So Ryan and his siblings are at the hospital with their mom, keeping an eye on their dad. Everyone is tired and worried. Hopefully Bob can get some rest and get stabilized soon.

Shifting gears...

As of late (since I've been slacking on the posts)...

Ryan and I celebrated our 39th birthdays on Jan 4th and 8th. For our birthdays, we went shopping for new ski jackets and scored some sweet ones. We took Barrett & Afton with us up to Utah from Jan 5th - 9th to ski a couple days and attend my darling cousin, Amanda's, wedding in the Salt Lake Temple. What a great week we had up there. I need to post about that trip separately with the pics and details, but it was too much fun! The girls had a fantastic time (except for their last run on the last day when they both had good wipe outs), and so did we.

Afton had her first practice this week for her new basketball league, and she's super excited about that. She's on a co-ed team so I'm hoping she hangs tough. She's our little jock for sure - can't wait to see her out on the court. I also signed up all three girls for softball, which will start right after basketball ends. Easton wasn't at all interested in playing t-ball. I'm not sure what to make of that. On the one hand, I'm secretly thrilled since I hate t-ball and that would have made our crazy ball season life even more complicated, juggling four sets of practices and games instead of just three. But on the other hand, his insistence that he never wants to play baseball came as a huge shock to both Ryan and I. Who is this child we named Easton (after the Easton baseball no less?) Doesn't he know that not playing baseball is really not a possible outcome we ever contemplated? After all, he has baseball genes and baseball blood that runs thick and strong. For real? Never ever wants to play? We debated it with him for quite some time.

Me: "Easton, everyone in our family plays ball."
Him: "Except me."
Me: "No, even you. You will have a blast. All your sisters play ball, your dad and I play ball, your grandpas and grandmas played ball. Your cousins play ball. Everyone plays."
Him: "Except me."
Me: "Why don't you want to play, Bud?"
Him: "I just don't."
Me: "Well, maybe next year when you are six you'll be ready and want to get out there and play too. We'll keep practicing at the retention basin and get you ready for next year."
Him: "In case you forget next year, I still don't want to play. Never ever."

Oh my. And while I know that he is only five and could very very likely change his mind, he seemed so insistent. Never. Never ever. Hmmmm....

We dutifully attended four parent teacher conferences this week too, and a I squeezed in a day trip to Park City for some meetings (going back again next week also). All the kids are doing great. All three girls got straight A's and their teachers had such kind words to share. Ryan went to Easton's conference Tuesday since I was out of town, and they were generous in their praise as well. He's still having a few issues to work on, but half day kindergarten is treating him well overall.

And we finally de-Christmas'd the house this week. Well, almost. We still have to pack the naked tree back in the boxes and hoist it up on the shelf, but all the ornaments are off and packed away, as are all the rest of the house decorations inside and out. I know it's January 14th already, but that still isn't my record. We made it to the 20th one year. Truly, I thought I'd be all undecorated by New Year's this year since I had the week off between Christmas and New Year's, but Rowan's sick stint and hospital stay threw quite a wrench in those plans. Then we were just so busy the next couple of days, then off to Utah and been working ever since we got back. My visiting teachers came over on Wednesday to my still fully-decorated house. I was a little embarrassed, but they kindly suggested that I could just keep it up through Valentine's day now and call it our Love Tree. Good idea.

Not sure what else of significance I've missed posting about. Oh, I guess I totally missed blogging about Christmas. That's a biggie. Might not happen at this point. Hopefully I'll get our ski trip up soon. Life is crazy busy. This coming week will be no exception. Ryan and I are speaking in church a week from Sunday and both of us are teaching that day too (Relief Society and Deacons). And I'm prepping for a class I'm teaching at the Stake RS Women's Conference a couple of weeks later. I have a zillion thoughts all over the map with three topics in the works. I hope they all come together.

Finally...I managed to squeeze in a couple of runs this week. I've got a race two weeks from tomorrow and I've been slacking. Slacking for good reason, I suppose, but slacking nonetheless. Rowan's sickness, then I got sick, then work, Utah trip...Weds and today my runs were both slower than I'd like, but at least my lungs and legs didn't forget how to run.

OK, now I've reached the point where gravity is winning the battle with my eyelids and I'm bobbing and weaving at the laptop. That's a sure sign I've gotta hit the hay.

Hmmm...

Maybe next week's family home evening lesson should focus on humility...just thinking out loud here...

She's Back

Here's our sweet Rowan, spending her Christmas break from school in Cardon Children's Hospital at Banner Desert. Thankfully, it was just a few days, but that was three days more than we wanted. Between the sickliness on Monday, the multiple doctor appts on Tuesday, and the hospital stay, the week was pretty much gone before it started.

The pediatric opthamologist she saw on Tuesday referred her over there on Wednesday after a couple of doses of antibiotics Tues and Weds morning didn't seem to be touching the infection. In fact, she was getting rapidly worse.

The pediatric emergency room got her in pretty quickly (within an hour), and she went straight to a triage room. There, she was showered with gifts by the nurses who were sad (along with Rowan) that she was spending her 7th birthday in the hospital. I was sad too. It was pouring cats and dogs outside while we sat cooped up inside the emergency room floor with no windows to the world. We were kind of sad and lonely together. And super bored.

Miss Rowan was very brave as they stuck her vein with a big needle and drew lots of blood for testing. Only a few tears were shed. They started her on IV fluids and gave her some Motrin for her fever. They took her in for a CT scan of her brain, which showed infection and swelling in her soft tissues around the eye and her sinuses, but no absessess of infection behind the eye or any foreign matter.

Then we waited and waited and waited for a couple more hours in this room on the emergency floor with all the patients who'd already been through triage too but were waiting on the next step. Waiting with six other families of sick kids and babies and siblings of those kids....in a room too close for comfort for six families. In a room filled with some lethargic kids hooked to IV's, some crying babies, a couple kids running around in only a diaper while their parents looked on, the smell of McDonald's fries and chicken nuggets about to make me toss my cookies. In a room where I was the only one speaking English and where the cartoons playing non-stop on TV overhead were making me nutty.

Until...the nurse finally came in and took a look at my face and knew that I was going nuts. She kindly said, "You know that Rowan's already been admitted, right? We're just waiting for a bed to free up." Nope, no one told me that. Thankfully, we only had to wait a few more minutes before she took us to a private room in the ER where Rowan started her IV antibiotics until her room upstairs was ready. Rowan and I were starving by then and had already eaten through my purse stash of granola bars and emergency crackers we stashed before leaving the house. Ryan came to the rescue with some food, and then we finally made it up to Rowan's room around 8:00 or so that night.

We loved our surprise visit that night from Bishop Uncle Jim. What a treat for Rowan! Rowan showed him her IV attachment to her arm, and Bishop told Rowan that he had one of those attached to him for EIGHT MONTHS while he was in the hospital with his cancer treatments. Rowan's eyes got big as she processed eight whole months...we were so grateful we were only there for a few days!

Here's our cutie pie sporting her IV on Thursday, with her eye looking marginally better.

The kids all came over to visit for a while on Thursday morning, and were happy to see that she was being well taken care of. Easton loved the "nourishment" station out in the hall where he could get awesome hospital ice to snack on, not to mention little cartons of orange sherbet ice cream from the freezer. Nice. Barrett and Afton and I cruised down to the cafeteria while Ryan stayed with Rowan, and they were duly impressed with all the food selections we had to choose from. In the world of a kid, those things are pretty cool.

After we were both sick of watching TV, we tried to kill time in the room by doing crafts. Grandma Cheri brought over some wood ornaments for Rowan to make and she also played with the fashion stencil set, courtesy of the nursing staff. Grandma Cindy, Corinne, and cousin, Lily, also came to visit and bring her birthday presents, as did our primary president and super awesome neighbor, Louisa LeSueur. (I think Rowan secretly enjoyed all the attention).

We put a puzzle together (actually, it was pretty much all me killing time while Rowan watched Disney Channel). Thanks, Grandma Cheri, for bringing it over. I texted her a picture once I was done, and she offerred to bring me some Buzz Lightyear puzzles she had in her stash. But I declined and decided to bust out my new Baldacci book, Hell's Corner, that Ryan got me for Christmas.

The hospital food was pretty so-so (and some pretty nasty), but at least the breakfasts were good. It's kinda hard to screw up breakfast...

Rowan and mom with matching wrist bands...

We were super thrilled when Rowan's nurse came to check on her around lunchtime on Friday. Rowan had finished eight rounds of IV antibiotics and the doc said that she was looking great and that we'd be able to leave that day! Hooray! Hooray! Heading home for New Year's Eve!

Before we left later that afternoon, the nurse took Rowan to this awesome toy closet (which looked like a toy store) so Rowan could choose a couple of parting gifts. Super sweet. She went home with a full nail polish set and of course, a giant stuffed orange shark because, really, who doesn't need one of those?

We spent New Year's Eve at home with the family, eating Tia Rosa's take out, watching Rowan open her presents, and playing a bunch of games. Rowan had a full on melt-down that evening as I'm sure she was exhausted from the lack of hospital sleep, just like me, and not feeling herself with all that medication in her body. She's still such a peanut - only 46 pounds. Thankfully, she crashed early and after 12 1/2 solid hours of sleep Friday night without a peep, she woke up Saturday morning like a new woman.

Now she's on oral antibiotics for two weeks, but she is doing fantastic. Looking great, feeling great. No more fever. No more swelling. The redness is gone. Smiles. A little sass. Just the way we like it :)

The Saddest Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday, Miss Rowan! I wish you looked this happy today on your big seventh birthday. I wish you were getting ready to have all your girlfriends over for your "Girls Day Out" party at 11:30. I wish that you were bursting with anticipation about opening your pretty packages. I wish...I wish...I wish...that you were all better.

But instead, you are the saddest birthday girl today. Today, you are battling your sinus infection or whatever it is and your pediatricians keep calling to check on you. I just got off the phone with them again and emailed them this picture. They want you to come back in again today for another check.

Is this the saddest birthday girl you've ever seen or what? I love you, Rowan. Thanks for letting me be your mom and giving me this opportunity to take care of you. You've been melting my heart lately...

She's a Wreck

Our little soon-to-be seven year old, Rowan Sue, is a wreck. She's had quite the week. It started a week ago Monday. She came home from her cousin Lily's birthday party and collapsed on our living room floor at 7:15. She was out like a light in about 30 seconds. The next day, the fever started and she had some minor cold symptoms. Then it was low grade fevers off and on for the next couple of days, general lethargy, weak appetite. She rallied a bit on Thursday and early Friday, but on Christmas Eve night, she was fading again. We noticed a cold sore forming on her sweet lips.

She opened her presents on Christmas with little enthusiasm. She did manage to eek out a couple of smiles that day, but she was far from her typical self. By the time we got home from our day's worth of visiting late Christmas night, she was wiped out and had another cold sore forming. I had no idea what they were from. None of our family has ever had cold sores before. Sunday she went through the normal motions and was unusually quiet. No smiles. Wouldn't eat more than a couple of bites at any meal. We all spent Monday together doing errands, and stuff around the house, and ended the daylight hours at the church parking lot trying to get Easton to ride his bike (which he did, by the way, but not without some tears from the "big" fall).

Rowan was miserable yesterday afternoon and evening. Teary, emotional, tired, sickly looking. I was getting really worried about her, then the fever hit hard. She started complaining that her head hurt and her eyes looked so sick. She took some Motrin and Ryan and Bob gave her a blessing last night. She broke out her first smile in two days about a half hour later. She and I got on the internet and started researching "how to treat a cold sore" and then I headed to CVS to consult with the pharmacist. I came home with a couple of topical things for her lips and then she hit the hay.

Awake at 4:00 am, totally crying and holding her head. Telling me it felt like someone was poking a pencil in her eye and pounding on her head. Miserable. More Motrin for the fever. At 7:00 am, her eye was swelling and getting red, one of the "danger signs" to watch for (per the trusty internet) when you get cold sores, because if they spread to the eye, it can lead to blindness. YIKES! At 7:55, we started calling Mesa Pediatrics and finally got through a little after 8:00. By the time we got to their office at 9:00, her left eye was swelling more and looking worse by the minute. The docs huddled for a pow wow and we got a second opinion. Not looking good. No, really?

Then came the referral to the pediatric opthamologist. She slept for four hours straight between doctor visits and wouldn't eat a thing. Thankfully, the eye doc did a full exam and found no "herpetic legions" on her eye, which is fantastic, but said that he believes she has a serious bacterial sinus infection simultaneous with the fever blisters, the combination of which is making Rowan miserable. He started her on antibiotics. I am generally against them, but we conceded as her infection appeared to be advancing quickly and is dangerously close to her brain and eye. Rowan hasn't been to the doctor in years (literally). We might have had one other visit by one kid this past year, but I'm not even sure about that. We are a pretty healthy clan.

At 9:45 tonight, she said she was feeling somewhat better, the fever had gone down, but the swelling seems to be getting a little worse. I've been taking pictures to track it. The pediatrician has called our house twice already to check on her. They are all a little worried, right along with me, as she looks so bad. She's sleeping now, as I should be, and I pray that those tiny chewable pills will work their magic and get to her infection fast.

Tomorrow is Rowan's birthday. We had to contact all her little girlfriends and let them know her "Girls Day Out" party was cancelled. So sad. But she's in no shape for guests. We'll just have to reschedule once she's on the mend, which I pray is ever so soon.

Five More Days

The countdown is on. Five more days...

I have most of my wrapping still to do.
I think I still have a couple of small things to pick up, but I need to check my list.
Then check it twice.
But only one more work day this week, then I'm off for a week.
How sweet is that?
When I come back, I only work one day next week.
Then one day the week after that.
Then on to Utah for a little ski vaca and wedding action.
I'm super stoked.
Four work days in three weeks.
I could get used to that.
I think.

The kids are giddy about Christmas. They've been negotiating the waking time for the big day. I'm saying 7:00, but they've got the push on for 6:30. I might give in.

No one has tried to guess their reindeer name yet, but that's probably because there aren't very many packages under the tree yet. We've got Dasher and Cupid and Comet and Blitzen this year. I'm hoping that tonight or tomorrow night will be "the night" where I stay up wrapping until the wee hours. There's always gotta be one of those. Every year I swear that I'll "wrap as I go", but it never happens. Why break tradition now?

We had a great busy week last week. Relief Society progressive dinner, Rowan's 1st grade Christmas program, Easton's kindergarten program, Barrett & Afton's piano recital's and donut fry, Easton's gingerbread house decorating at school, the Ward Party and all the prep for that, a wedding reception, a bridal shower, some good runs, two birthday parties, Barrett's Christmas party at Katy's, Christmas open house at our new neighbor's Saturday night, a wonderful church service with lots of Christmas music and great speakers, and a special dinner at Mike & Shari's and FHE last night.

Whew.

The ward Christmas breakfast turned out so fun. Great food, festive decorations, good music, spectacular ward friends and neighbors! And Santa came with all his bells and glory and the children were thrilled. What a fun day we had. It was my last gig as the ward activities director. Someone else will get to lead the charge for next year's parties. I'm moving on and settling into my new jobs as the ward music chairperson and RS teacher. I think I'm gonna really like both of the new callings. This Sunday is my second lesson and I've now officially joined the choir. I sang in it on Sunday and I have to say that it was actually really fun. The musical talent in our ward is amazing. Amazing.

I must confess, I'm pretty excited for this week too. In case I don't make it back to blog before Christmas, Merry Christmas!

Monopoly & Bunks

Last night at the Brown house...

Ryan and the girls played a marathon game (two actually) of Afton's new "Build It Monopoly" game that she got for her birthday. It's been updated for modern times. Boardwalk and Park Place have been replaced with the new hip "districts", and you can no longer procure a piece of real estate for $380. Nope, we're talking millions now. The small bill in the bank is $10k. Some things cost upwards of $7 million. There are new hazards like power plants and sewer stations and prisons to diminish the value of your properties and make them "unrentable." You can build industrial or residential. You can pay $1 million to the planning and zoning department and get perks.

Yep, it's Monopoly for the present day. And our kids are diggin' it.

Meanwhile, the two youngers colored more Christmas pictures to add to our already fantastic display of kid art covering the office french doors. And they colored and fully assembled their very own "dream" book using the stash of scratch paper we keep handy for just such crafty occasions. Truly, I was impressed. Each page, illustrated by Easton and narrated by Rowan, expressed things they dream about in pretty amazing detail. Things like chocolate and monsters and Christmas morning and camp outs and bunk beds...

Ahhhh...that brings us to the newest addition to the Brown house. Yes, we got new furniture for Easton's room. Actually, it is now Easton and Rowan's room, and Afty Cakes is beyond stoked to finally get her own room. Rowan & Easton are sharing the new bunks - a twin over full number - plus two new dressers and a cool ladder desk. Their room looks super sharp and they are seriously loving it. All the kids are really. There's something a little magical about bunks. Kids are drawn to them. I about died day one just trying to sheet them up. I broke two nails and skinned my hand. Broke into a full sweat by the time I was done climbing up and down, moving the dang ladder back and forth. Lifting the mattresses. Tuck here, tuck there. Heaven help them to not wet their beds. I don't think I can handle sheet changing more than every few weeks.

But they're great for forts. Most of our linen closet has already toured their room in the tent parade in just three short days. Barrett has managed to sneak in the last two nights to sleep with Easton on the bottom full size bed under the guise that "she forgot to put clean sheets on her bed." Um, hummm....

So the bunks are a hit. We still have some rearranging to do in Afty's room now that she's minus one extra full sized bed. It feels enormous. Hopefully, the troops will be happy in their new digs, and Rowan won't make Easton crazy with her...her, um, everything. Messiness, 'tude, sassy pants. We'll see. So far, so good.

More Afty...many moons ago

In celebration of Afton this week, I just thought I'd post a handful of retro pics from her early days. These ones made me smile.

I remember this snow trip vividly. It was Afton's first time tubing up in Flagstaff, and she was amazing. She'd just turned four, but I swear she hiked up the big hill 100 times, over and over and over, and would just fly down with no fear. It was so fun to watch.

Afton with her baby sister, Rowan, back when we lived in our Gilbert house. Almost seven years ago now since this one was taken. Holy cow.

Afton has always wanted to be what she wanted to be for Halloween. Never really open to suggestions. Never what I thought she should be. She just knows. When she was almost three, she was super into the Blue Clues show. Hence, she wanted to be Blue, the main dog, which I thought was a little wierd, but then again, Blue is a girl on the show. But then she dressed up like Scooby Doo a couple years later (when Barrett was Daphne.)

Tonight we were at Water & Ice for our FHE treats after decorating Grandpa Reid's Christmas tree. Afty ordered her absolute favorite: a scoop of chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone. Her face looked just like this tonight. Really. That's just how she eats it. I think it must taste better when you go at it full bore, no regard for the chocolate mustache (or beard for that matter). Too funny.

Our awesome little Afton Kate. Our only brown-eyed kid. GC affectionately refers to her as her "Brown-Eyed Beauty" and I couldn't agree more.

My Newest Double Digit Kid

Here she is.

Miss Afton Kate Brown.

Code name "Afty Cakes."

She's newly ten.

Ten and fabulous, that is.

We enjoyed Sunday dinner at our house to celebrate with the family. Grandma Cheri made this killer giant cupcake using her new handy dandy pan. It was the maiden voyage for the oversized delight and it turned out great. Aunt Jayme brought her famous homemade cheesecake too, and it did not disappoint.

Grandma Cindy & Grandpa Steve bought Afton a new hoodie (which she is sporting here and which she has been wearing non-stop since she opened it on Saturday morning.) She also got a new pair of Vans, thanks to the lean mean shopping machine, also known as GC, or Grandma Cindy, who hit two Journeys, two Tilly's, one Van's store, and who knows how many others until she could finally procure the must-have style that Afty fell in love with. Sadly, they were too big, so we're hoping to find a half size smaller this week.

Grandma Cheri & Grandpa Bob scored with a new Build It Monopoly game and an inside smore maker with all the fixins. I'm sure that will be a huge hit in our house.

On Saturday, Afton's actual birthday, we all had a blast at Afty's cosmic bowling party at Brunswick. She invited five girlfriends for some cosmic bowling, pizza, and some arcade fun. It was such a score for me too, since all we had to do was show up and let the party hostess take over. No prep, no extra house cleaning, no game planning, no cooking. I just had to drive. And pay. What a screamin' deal. I'm thinking I like that kind of party...I like it a lot...Plus I got to bowl and did pretty dang good if I do say so myself. I bowled a mean 152, although that still wasn't enough to pass Grandma Cindy, who scored in the 170's. But then again, she is a bowling pro and bowled three games in her new Friday morning bowling league the day before. Yes, GC just filled the fourth spot on a team and joined a bowling league with a few of her good friends, and I am really excited for her. She hasn't bowled on a league since I was a little girl, but she's always loved it.

Riley, Barrett, Lily, Afton, Kelly & Sydney at the party

Easton had too much fun bowling, but he also loved playing some air hockey with his daddy afterwards. I'm not sure who was having more fun...Easton or Dad.

Happy Birthday my sweet Afton. We love you so much. Thanks for being a remarkable girl. Funny as heck, so sporty, beautiful voice, truly creative, ultra smart, super obedient, and good to the core. What would we do without you? I can hardly believe you're a double digit kid now. Oh, where did the time go?