Karrie is so very...

Remember those lotion commercials?

Last Friday was my very dear friend Karrie's birthday, so this post is dedicated to her! (I am a week behind - don't take it personally Karrie!) Karrie is:

Kind

Adorable and awesome

Really super sweet

Rad (we are from the 80's!)

Ideal friend

Exceptional

That was kind of silly, but nonetheless all true. Karrie has been a terrific friend to me for practically as long as I can remember. I don't remember which year we met, but I know I have pictures of Karrie from our 6th day 50's party, so it's coming up on three decades. Wow - I am making us sound old. I still remember the surprise birthday party for you at your house when we all jumped out to yell "Surprise !" and you freaked out, climbed into the bathtub and cried you were so shocked!

Karrie is a loyal, considerate, thoughtful, honest, friend who anybody would be lucky to know. Karrie is great mom who loves her family and her friends with all her heart and puts others first. Karrie is so organized, that if I can't remember a date something special happened in my life from years ago, I can just call her and she'll have it written down somewhere! Ya gotta love that in a friend - she is like my own personal memory keeper!

I am blessed to have Karrie in my life and want her to know that I will always strive to be the kind of friend to you that you have been to me. I love you - you're the beatn'st!!

Me, Karrie, and our baby boyz!

Pretty in Pink

I couldn't resist taking a picture of Layne and posting it here...I love him in this shirt, and you know, only Real Men can wear pink!



And just to prove that he is a 'real man' here is a picture from yesterday, which you SHOULD NOT look at if you love animals...

What would you do with 10 kids?

Melissa and her kids - five just like me - came for a visit over Labor Day weekend. It was so much fun to have them here and the weekend went by much too quickly. I love that our kids get along so well. Even though they hardly ever get to see each other when they do get together it's almost as if no time at all has passed.

Oh my!

Saturday night was Delaney's first church dance. I'm still in a little bit of shock that not only is she old enough to attend dances, but that she actually did attend a dance ...

with BOYS!

(To all my girlfriends...

remember our days at church dances?

I do ~ vividly!)

When I told her I wanted to take her picture she was incredulous. Nevertheless, I did and she survived.

While Delaney was getting ready to go Layne and I were talking about her going to the dance and he was just joking around and stuff. Then after I returned home from dropping her off, he said, "Where did you go?" I told him I dropped Delaney off at the dance. He said, "WHAT? You were serious about that?"

Layne is in total denial about his daughter growing up!

School Days...

This was our first full week of the new school year. I have kids at all three schools now plus one at the School of Mommy (Everett.)

Delaney started high school. I know, hard to believe, huh? I drove to the school at the end of the first day, saw the junior/senior aged boys standing outside and told her I was going to home school her now! (Those boys are big and look like men!)

Cooper is in 7th grade now. He is most happy to be done with 6th grade he said...that was a hard adjustment for him because 6th grade goes to the middle school. So we moved here, he started at a new school in 5th grade, then the next year for 6th he had to go to another new school. I think he feels more settled now. In this photo he's actually happy ~ that expression on his face is just from the sun in his eyes!

Brody is my little man who is starting 3rd grade. I think he's happy that he finally lost his two front teeth this summer ~ everybody else seems to start losing them in kindergarten! His teacher this year is supposedly very strict and rumor is she is a 'yeller' so we'll see how it goes. He did complain to me yesterday that "Third grade is so hard. Every time we come in from recess we have to work!" Hmmmm...

Nash started kindergarten. He asked me, "Do I really have to go every day?" The first two days were a struggle, but now he is happy to go and has already made new friends. Luckily, his best bud is in his class ~ that really helps.

Look at Layne - looks good doesn't he? He is getting way skinny. Layne's classes changed a bit this year. He won't be teaching Spanish, which he will miss, but he will be teaching Honors Language Arts as well as regular Language Arts. In addition he will be teaching a journalism class and working on the yearbook with the students.

Happy Birthday Sheri!

Today is my friend Sheri's birthday. I remember meeting Sheri clear back in P.E. class at South Junior High School in good old Anaheim. Later in our senior year at Katella High we had three classes together and we became really good friends that year. After our high school days Sheri and I were roommates for what I realize now was just a short while, but we had so much fun together. Then I moved to New York and when I was ready to move back home, Sheri came back east and drove across the country with me. That was such a great trip and Sheri, now every time I hear Garth Brooks' song "Two of a Kind" I think of you and that great cross-country adventure! (I didn't even know who Garth Brooks was before then.) Sheri is a great friend, a good listener, a super hard worker and a wonderful mom to her young family.

Sheri - I hope you have a wonderful day ... I miss you and can't wait to see you sometime soon!

Me and Sheri on the last day of high school - 1988

Tracy and Sheri somewhere in the middle of the USA - 1991

Leftover hair...

Recently I was on a trip with my friend Melissa, and one day when she was getting ready, she told me she was just going to do "Leftover Hair." I had never heard of that before. Of course I've had those days when my hair still looks good enough and I don't have to wash and style it all over again, which always saves time. Unfortunately it doesn't happen that often for me. But regardless, I had never heard that it had a name before. I was wondering if anybody else knows about this special name for these hair days? I started thinking of this recent revelation this morning when I woke up and realized my hair was still nice and straight from yesterday and since I was running late it was so perfect. It just makes me happy to be able to just say to myself..."I'm gonna do leftover hair today!"