We had a great 38th birthday celebration for my brother, Damon, over at my dad's house this past Sunday. My Dad made dinner and we all got to be together.
Here is me holding my 4 month-old nephew, Landon.
Drew and Lacey having a blast together as they are inseparable...
Me and my brother along with Drew not wanting to take a picture.
After we arrived home, David got this shot of Drew standing in his shoes.
Last Friday night the Elders Quorum put on the Pinewood Derby for our ward. Since David is in the presidency, he was in charge of some of it. So, we made it a family event by making two cars - one for Drew and David made one for me. Drew picked out light blue for his car and they were supposed to find orange for mine (UT color) but there wasn't any orange spray paint so they chose pink. We put the number 15 on Drew's car since he was born June 15 and the number 23 on mine for my birthday as well. Then we put stickers with Drew's name on both sides of his car and we put the name of our ward, Silver Pines, on my car.
Drew had an absolute blast. He ran his car on the track over and over and loved saying, "Ready, set, GO!" My pink car actually came in 2nd place overall - how fun! I know since this is a scouting event, I will have many more of these derbies to attend but I really liked it since it was my first one to see.
This is just a part of his excitement here...
So, it appears that Kinsey is a bit predictable... Fortunately, I am luscious...
You're Chocolate
You embody the perfect blend of sweetness and seduction. You personality is just as luscious and irresistible as chocolate ice cream. You have a flirty, melty attitude that's easygoing and delicious. You appreciate luxurious, extravagant things, like the way ultra-soft fabrics feel against your skin. Some people want to hog you all to themselves, but you find ways to make everyone feel special.
Am I REALLY this boring? The sad thing is that I took this quiz twice and put my second-choice answers in as well and it still came out the same!!!
The other night David came home very late from school (around midnight) saying he had just won premier movie tickets to "Baby Mama" off the radio. That's right, he called a radio station on his way home and was actually the right caller to win the prize. So, last night I canceled a client so I could get off early to go with David to the movie and we hired a babysitter. David dressed up (in his one pair of nice jeans he only wears for nice occasions) with a collared shirt and off we went on our mid-week date!
The movie was pretty funny. We love SNL (Saturday Night Live) and these ladies are from there. I always like a movie that makes me laugh out loud and this one did for sure. Definitely worth seeing although I am not sure any movie is worth paying $9/person anymore but that is just me. Since we only had to pay for babysitting, it was well worth it! I loved being on the date with David and getting time just us together holding hands in a movie theater. After our date night which honestly is only once a month at this point, I recommit myself to having it more often! :)
When we came back from NYC, we went to pick up Drew at my mom's house. We stayed one night with him there until we drove back home the next morning. We were able to catch a few moments of fishing with Drew. He has a Lightening McQueen fishing pole he got for his birthday last year from David's dad right before he died. Here is a fun family photo my mom's husband, Sam, took as we were fishing in Lake Jackson.
Okay, so I stole this picture from April's blog - THANKS, April and April's dad for taking the picture. Here's the story...
So, this NYC trip came up on me fast and I was booking our broadway show at the last minute as well as dinner reservations, etc. I had just been way busy with work, a new job endeavor I've taken on recently, and even remotely thinking of our upcoming move. So, I didn't even have Glenn and April's contact information when we went to NYC... anyway, we stayed in a hotel right by the world financial building where Greg (the groom) works as well as where the rehearsal dinner was. When we walked through it on Friday night, David turned to me and said, "I bet this is where Glenn works." (Later, we find out this is true!) and again, I was so kicking myself we didn't get in touch with April and Glenn before we left so we could see them! A little background on how we all know each other is that we were in the same ward in Utah when we lived there. April and I worked in the primary together and she also watched Drew for me one day a week after he was born so I could complete my internship. She was such a lifesaver and I will always be so grateful for her help during that time.
okay, so to finish the story... on Saturday, we had lunch in this building right next to our hotel on the way back from our Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island adventure. As we were heading back to our hotel room, I hear a child cry out (and as every mother knows when you are away from your little one even on vacation you notice everyone else's children) and I look at the little girl who cried out and recognize her as Miriam! No kidding I knew it was Miriam and I look up to the parent and see Glenn pushing her along in a stroller! I am dying by this point because of all the people in NYC, we actually ran into our friends. It is still unreal as I am relating the story. Anyway, David walks up to Glenn (April and Rebekah headed towards a public restroom) and says, "Hey man, can I borrow $50?" Glenn turns around and it was hilarious to watch the smile on his face as he recognized it was David. Too funny. We got to catch up with Glenn and April and their precious daughters, Rebekah and Miriam. It was such a neat experience. And yes, we all had our cameras with us and didn't take any pictures, but luckily April's dad just took this one as we were all talking. FUN!
Keely, Kinsey, Blake (a guy from our high school that actually went to business school with the groom) and Catherine Ives (a childhood friend of ours who also knew Mara very well)
Kinsey and David at Chelsea Piers
Keely and Kinsey
Kinsey, Keely, Shari (Mara's twin sister and matron of honor), Mara and Catherine
David and I in front of the Statue of Liberty
David on the ferry with the statue in the background
David took this picture and i thought it was really good of the statue with the clouds in the background - we actually waited in line for 2 hours to go on the ferry because there was so much fog in the morning they wouldn't go anywhere until it cleared!
Kinsey and Keely inside Ellis Island
Ellis Island
Keely and I at the rehearsal dinner that had on Friday night
Me and David
Mara (the bride) and Keely
David at the United Nations building
David and Kinsey at UN building
David in front of Rockefeller Center
Trump Building with David and I.
Keely in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Me in front of statue of George Washington.
David in front of the New York Stock Exchange.
Remember Seinfeld's reference to the Soup Nazi? Here is the place where that all started. NO SOUP FOR YOU! :)
Our hotel was very near the World Trade Center site so we actually saw it a few times over the weekend. I actually think they may be building now (just the foundation) instead of cleaning up... and they will be building this building in its place. It is still hard to think about what happened here and so very sad reflecting on it all.
A lot of construction is taking place and barriers put up so you can't really see what is going on but we did get to see this memorial. This is my sister, Keely, standing in front of all the names on the wall. They appropriately title it, "The Heroes of September 11."
A great view of Times Square up ahead. This is our view from where we ate Thurs night on our trip to NYC. We ate at Ruby Foo's which was a great Sushi place. Notice P.Diddy's ad up in the right hand corner...
First night in NYC, we went to see Hair Spray! It was fantastic!!! Although we were 45 minutes late because our plane was delayed, I am glad we went and made it to about 2 hours of the show. The theater was so quaint that the seats were great and the singing was amazing. We did get to see George Wendt who was "Norm" from Cheers as Tracy's mom and Tevin Campbell (remember him as a teenage R&B singer?) as one of the main characters. Anyway, I loved it and we went for sushi after the show at Ruby Foo's, a place Mara had recommended to me. It was quite tasty! All in all, a wonderful beginning to our weekend in the Big Apple...
What a weekend! We left on Thursday for New York City and got back Sunday evening. What for? Well, my childhood best friend, Mara Grossman, got married! Here we are together after all the festivities (more pictures to come!) and it was such a wonderful celebration.
Mara moved to Houston when we were in 2nd grade. She and her family left after 5th grade (yes, right when I was entering junior high) for NYC and have been there ever since. Our friendship has lasted 25 years! She is very special and dear to me and it is amazing when I see her how I feel like we have never missed a beat! I LOVE YOU, MARA, and thanks for such a fantastic weekend!
So, I am getting my hair cut today and I receive a call from David. He tells me that we have the most precious boy in the whole world (we often say this to one another). He then proceeds to say that he just sneezed and Drew said out of the blue, "Bless you, Daddy." So sweet! It is amazing how they pick up on everything! :)
This is an attempt at me and Drew getting a picture together for Easter... my brother took it and it was better than anything I got so I chose to post it here.
This past weekend Drew and I went to Austin for Eli's (our nephew) 8th birthday party. David went to North Carolina for the MBA Games where business schools all over the country raised money for the Special Olympics and competed in various competitions. David took the camera so I don't have pictures of the birthday party but it was fun!
Eli will be getting baptized next month so we can't wait for that! :)
So, I got an email from my "chair" or the professor I worked closely with at BYU during my doctoral program saying my dissertation finally got published. She sent me the article electronically so here is the first page! I had known it was accepted over a year ago, but it took this long to get it in the journal. I have another article I was published on but not first author like this one. It is very exciting to see!
We went to The Woodlands Monday to meet up with one of my dearest friends, Mandy, and her children Roan and Mali. Mandy and I met our sophomore year at UT as pot-luck roommates and she has been one of my best friends since. She was in my wedding and I was in hers, she had Roan a month before I had Drew and there is nothing like getting to see her and spending time together with our kids. It just makes me sad that we don't live closer but we have managed to see each other each year even though she lives in San Francicso. The boys played in the water and also in the big grassy field.
Roan was not really wanting to get his face wet but they both liked the water.
Roan and Drew after lunch in front of the turtle statue. It really was such a beautiful day!
So, David's start date with Cooper has changed... it was moved up a few weeks. He will now start June 26 which for some reason puts more stress about it all. I thought we both had the whole month of June off to enjoy but truly I would have had to take the month off to get ready to go. Most of our stuff is packed - all the various things I haven't seen for 2 years. But the things we use everyday and the things we have opened over the past few years are scattered about the house and in my office across the street. I feel like packing them now but we are using them, ugh. Then, the question comes of when I move the stuff out of my office on may 31st, where does it go? Where do we put the desk and library? I think I am just feeling a little overwhelmed today by the thought, so I'll just stop thinking about it all... :)
