"In or Out?"

Justin said, "Roach, are you in or out?" I said, "In". A few other people said "in" too. He held up a spoon and said, "Okay, we are going to pass this to each other. When it's your turn to hold the spoon you have to put some food on it, then pass it to the next person. If any food falls off while you are holding the spoon, you're out and you have to eat EVERYTHING on it."

You can't tell from this picture but the spoon had a heap of lovely food on it: at least 1 tsp. salt, sugar, cottage cheese, onion, a beet, thousand island dressing, sweet relish, you get the picture. . . 

Guess who dropped something?

Guess how disgusting it was?

Very.

I love his face in these pics.

   

Unexpected Goodbye

This is personal stuff, but I just have to send it out there. Maybe I'm pretending he'll read it.
But I just found out a spectacular human being, and dear friend, Justin Kinnaird, died today. I don't know how it happened. I don't know why it happened. I have so many mixed emotions right now. The one that rules them all is sadness. So many memories. This was a person who was kind to everyone. He was generous. He was hilarious. I cried so many times because he had me in stitches. We went on trips together, small spontaneous ones. Vegas, Lake Powell, Salmon. Our performing group at Ricks toured the northwestern U.S. and Canada. So many memories. We wrote a boring English paper together with Suzy on whether or not St. John's Wort was effective.  Who cares? He, Suzy and I spent hours in his "men only" dorm room listening to music and goofing off. We spent more time joking around than giving it any real effort. We loved to sing together. He loved it when I sang, "I have dreamed." He was always ready to pay a compliment and make a person feel worthwhile. He was always ready to see humor in any situation.
Laughter, music, more laughter. Good Friendship.

I was bawling in the kitchen tonight, trashing myself because I've been such a bad friend.
Distance, it happens. And I didn't really do anything to stop it. Then again, neither did he.
But Alfonso said that life goes on. We head down our different paths. Just because those paths don't always coincide doesn't mean our memories weren't real or our friendship isn't true.

My path has led me here.
His path has led him home.
We can still be and always will be friends. Always.
I pray that God will love him, hug him tight, and help him know that I care.

And as for the distance, I do have regret.
Regret.
My choir teacher, Ms. Webb always told us to "Live without regrets"
I never thought to ask her,
What if we mess up and end up having regrets?
What if our friends die?
How do we resolve regrets then?

Now there's a good question that I can't answer tonight.

What I can do:
I can pray for him.
I can pray for his family.
I can hope for his happiness.
I can recall our many memories with fondness.

I can still see him in his mom's living room that afternoon, I turned to leave and he gave me my coat and said with New York accent and a smile, "Don't be a stranger."


You'll be missed.

 

Happy Thursday

I've been having a rough little while and Alfonso knows it all to well. Tonight he walked in the door with these flowers & chocolate. I was speechless. Still am.

He told me that the cashier at the supermarket asked him,
"Birthday or Anniversary?"

 

Alfonso answered,

 

"Thursday."

 

Guys take notes. Pardon me while I gush, but this man knows what he's doing. He is the absolute most thoughtful person I've ever met. He knows how to make everyday count. And I'm thankful for every single one.

 

Happy Thursday.

January 2014. . .

So December was insane. January is okay in my book. If there's too many pictures of Mia, I'm sorry, she's just so cute and growing so fast. Faster than anyone else in the house. Gotta capture everything I can. Right? Here's a few things we've been up to:

Mia wanted to be a princess so she put on her crown cousin Austin made her
and the cape cousin Eric gave her.
Ta-daaaa!
 

Check out her adorable cape! Thanks Aunt Lindsay!

Ben played a duet with his friend at school, Logan.
Their band the Beatles' Apprentice. They played "Hey Jude" It was AWESOME!!!

Mia got a (long overdue) big girl bed.
She loves it and to be honest, so do I.

This is what happens when you mix Stk Conference with Stickers and two cuties.
Ben is such a good sport and an awesome brother.

More "Conference" Stickers.

Will and Mia in her rocking chair. My two babies :)
 

Burger King. Free crowns. Cinnabons. You can't go wrong.

I tried to think of a good caption, but I think this picture stands pretty well on it's own.

I Can't Help Myself

Santa Claus was extra insightful this year and brought a ballet outfit for mia to wear to dance class. Tonight, she finally tried it on for size. All I can say is,  seriously? SERIOUSLY???!!!

I. Can't. Handle. The. Cuteness.

 i I think we'll keep it. . . and her.

Day 4

This virus sucks. 5 out of the 6 of us have it or have recently had it. But it hits little people the hardest. Poor Mia. Has anyone else had this? Fever, headache, sore throat, cough, runny faucet of a nose, lethergy. All in one nasty ruthless bundle. 

Avoid it people.

It be nasty.

Help Meg!!!

This is my cousin Tammy's sweet little girl, Meg. They need help. Please read her story and try to help them in any way you can. Sharing, funding, support or lodging while the procedure is done in New York. Let me know if you have any questions. THANK YOU!!!

Fundraising with GoGetFunding

Happy New Years.

From our house to yours. 

 p.s. the last picture was taken last night at the Instacare. She was so excited to meet the doctor. While laying on the table she said a few times, "This is gon' be so ossum." She was right ;) fortunately the strep test was negative.