Beehives and Burgers

For the past while or so, I've been serving as the 2nd counselor in our ward's Young Women's presidency. It's been extra fun, since I'm not teaching anymore, and I really enjoy the relationships I've been able to form with the girls. There's not very many of them, but they are all so unique, with amazing stories. Seriously, I continue to be impressed with their dedication, perseverance, and strong testimonies.

So one Saturday, I took the three Beehives, Rachelle, Chloe, and Courtney to Five Guys for lunch. I gave them the option of Panera, but since they're big fans of burgers and bacon, Five Guys was the clear favorite. We had a great time, and I was shocked that these little girls downed their loaded double burgers.





The funny thing about it all is that we went immediately to Target to try on and find cute summer dresses. I wish I had taken pictures of their fashion show, but you'll just have to trust me that they look adorable.

Mothers' Day and DHS Junior Prom 2010!!!

A few weekends ago, Justin, Marta, and I plotted with Annie and McKay to go surprise Mom for Mothers' Day. As I predicted, the little one ruined the surprise, but I give her props for not doing it until the day we arrived.

It was a perfect weekend. Annie and I woke up early to join Mom and her neighbor on a walk, followed by an intense game of tennis with Justin, Marta, Stafford, and Annie. After Annie left to pick-up McKay, Marta and I pulled it together and ended a great come-back by beating the boys 7-5. There are very few things in this world better than beating Stafford.

After some drive-thru DC's, we got ready and went to see Iron Man 2 with the fam. Pretty good flick, I must say. And since we were so close to Wegman's, Justin, Marta, and I joined Produce VIP Kevin Schmidt to pick up some supplies for Sunday's dinner. It was amazing to see him in his element. Dad owned that store.

We hurried back just in time to see Staff in all his prom glory. I think he was just a little embarrassed that Mom, Dad, Annie, McKay, Auntie Marta, and I all showed up at his friend's house to take pictures of our grown-up little boy. He looked great and so did his date. She had the best dress of the group, hands down.



Then Annie and I got in on the action. This picture says it all.



Staff went off to prom and we went home for ribs. At least we thought...we realized it would take too long to make, so we ordered take out at Chili's. C'mon, what's better than chips and salsa, tex-mex egg rolls, and CHILI's ribs?

Then, to top off the perfect day, we played a few games of Canasta while watching the Jazz game.

On Sunday, we hit up church and then came back to feast on an amazing dinner, made possible by Dad and Marta. Roast turkey, creamy mashed potatoes, balsamic asparagus, homemade rolls, and chocolate mousse with fresh raspberries for dessert. Yum!

Before I end this entry though, I must pay tribute to my wonderful mother. In the midst all the grief we give her and all the teasing she endures, we really do love her. In fact, as we dined, we also went around the table and offered up some thoughts on her respected strengths and qualities.

Possesses the desire to learn and serve.
Readily and lovingly welcomes others into her home.
Is a great teacher, voracious reader, scriptorian, and second mom.
Makes great meatballs.

Amen to all of these. Thanks for being a great mom, Mom.

Kelly's Wedding (and Vegas)

Yay for Tru! I was so excited to get to see him this time around. It was so much fun to have lunch at Rio with him and Meg (his mom). I think we ended up with more food on the floor than in our bellies...wait, maybe not, but close. Miss you guys!



Then I met Jamie for dinner. Of course it's always fun to hang out with her adorable kids, but it's also nice to have some alone time for girl talk. We had a lovely dinner and an awesome photo session in the car.





After Vegas, Meg and I drove up to St. George for the wedding weekend and for me to finally see the new home my parents bought. It's absolutely beautiful, and I really need to start taking advantage of it. Here's the view from the living room. Fields and cows? Yep - St. George.



More importantly, I got to meet Lincoln. It's a weird experience to go from one nephew (on my side of the family) to two, and I worried that I wouldn't love him as much as Parker. How wrong I was! Nothing but absolute adoration for them both.


Here are Parker and his daddy. He's getting to that age where he wants his parents but is also pretty independent. It's funny for me to watch, but maybe not as funny for Sam and Ashley. Fortunately, I was able to pull him away for a little bit to go and see the cows and horses. The walk lasted as long as we had M&Ms to feed the animals.


Kelly's (my cousin) wedding was held at her husband Mark's sister's home near Zion's. It was an absolutely breathtaking setting, elegant but laid-back...perfect for Kelly.



Cousin Dave "The Dentist" walking Aunt Marcie down the aisle.



Cousin Joey "The Marine" holding the rings...I think.



Uncle Mark walking Kelly down the aisle.



And finally...Kelly and Mark.



The interior of the home, reception-ready.



The Sam Schmidts savoring the specialness.

Dreamzzz...

It's a weird morning when I can't remember at least one dream, so this week, I decided to write down what I dreamed about each night. This is by no means a comprehensive list...sometimes I wake up remembering a dream and then fall back asleep again to forget is entirely.

But I thought it would be interesting to keep track and see if there were any similarities and running threads, and to see if any of them came true.

Believe it or not, I've had a few of those - the most recent being a dream I had about my sister-in-law Ashley pregnant with another boy. Turns out that she didn't even know she was pregnant at that point (it was only like a week in to the pregnancy), and she did end up having a little boy - Lincoln in February.

Okay, so here's a brief account of what I dreamed about this week...

1.) I had 2 college dreams. One was that I hadn't been to any of my classes, and it was finals time. I was trying to figure out what books I needed to buy to pass them.

2.) In another I was at some vacation house with my family, and I was supposed to drive south to meet up with my friends Marta and Liz but was trying to figure out a way to tell them I'd rather just fly home.

3.) I had to protect a younger, child-like version of Dakota Fanning from terrorists, who had killed her entire family. One of my amazing strategies involved folding her up and hiding her in trash cans.

4.) Annie was talking about trying to commit suicide by jumping of a 2-story balcony. I remember looking up at her and telling her I was going to catch her. I also remember that she wasn't trying to kill herself because she was depressed - it was because she was bored and looking for something to do. When I got her down, she came into where Sam and I were hanging out, evidently in a Mexican restaurant. And Sam said, "She'll be fine. She loves Mexican." Sam was right - as soon as she heard the Mariachi band playing, she was fine.

5.) I remember a little side dream that somebody was jealous of me because I was able to have lunch with my friend, Kim, everyday.

6.) Oh and another side dream, I was making cake for people and needed cream cheese for the frosting. Alas, it was one of those frustrating dreams where there wasn't enough cream cheese, and people were starting to leave, and I was trying to convince them to stay because this cake was amazing. I then started brainstorming ways to stretch the frosting...one was with corn starch.

7.) Another dream included something of a high school reunion. I clearly remember seeing Callie and Megan, two girls I graduated with, and talking to Allyson and Ryan (two others). I ended up skipping this mentor class I was supposed to go to, but explained to the woman in charge that I didn't need to go because I wasn't going to be teaching next year.

8.) In the final dream I remember, I was sitting at a table with Justin (I think), and we saw our friend Kate and her sister getting tattoos.

Thoughts?

Interpretations?

Brenda and Her Boyfriend Brad

So a few weeks ago, Brenda brought her boyfriend, Brad, to my parents home in Pennsylvania. I teased Brad that it was kind of like meeting the family, even though none of us are related to Brenda. But seriously, it kind of felt that way. Justin and I have never met Brad, and neither have my parents or Stafford, so it had the potential of being quite awkward. Fortunately, Brad is outgoing, friendly, personable, and easy-going - all traits that fend well in the Schmidt house.

Especially easy-going. None of our plans went...as planned. For instance, we wanted to go to Cheesecake Factory for lunch but ended up at the food court. We wanted to find new jeans for Brad but ended up sending the boys in to Wegmann's to get ingredients for Sunday's dinner. Not a very exciting or glamorous weekend, but fun all the same. It may have even been life-changing for Stafford, since he finally beat me in a game of ping-pong.



Oh, and I can't end this post without giving Brad full credit for enduring all of Sue's not-so-subtle marriage comments. Not many people come out of that alive, Brad. Well done. Brenda's mom will seem like a real peach after that.

Snow Dayzed and Confused

Snow days aren't as fun when you work from home. I seriously can't believe I decided this would be the year that I would take a break from teaching, the same year that kids got over a week in a row off from school. So jealous. My work never stopped. In fact, it was probably one of the busiest weeks I've had since I started my new job in July.

Oh well, at least I had Marta to keep me company. Both of us madly typing away on our computers, mumbling under our breath, and pulling out strands of our unwashed hair.

Justin braved three days into his office, but when he was home, he was feverishly putting together the Mandalay Bay sign, the Luxor pyramid, and the Ex Calibur spires - all part of the 2,000 piece "Vegas at Night" puzzle we so wisely purchased before Snomaggedon.



I finally finished the puzzle when the other two had to return to the work force, but I have to give full credit to them. Although I did, in fact, put in the last few sections, I had spent most of the time prior to that taking orders from the Puzzle Masters, like "I need dark blue pieces with specks of purple!" and "Find me the ones with things that look like windows!"



Although the snow was slightly exciting while it lasted, I'm so glad it's gone, especially since it ended up costing me my first trip to a shady towing lot run by a man that looks like he should be running a shady towing lot.

Welcome Little Lincoln!

Yay! Let's hear it for one more nephew to absolutely adore! April can't come soon enough...



And for the record, let me just say that Justin and I are really nervous to bring kids into this world, when we look at the adorable little ones on both sides of our families. Big "little" shoes to fill indeed!

Maybe we'll make like Mama Madge and bring a baby back from our safari...