"Mommy, (as he's patting my chest and snuggled next to me) I love you..... and I was waiting for God to make you for me."


I LOVE this little man. He knows just how to melt my heart.

And to top it all off, he was sick today so I got to stay home with him. I look back on it now and I'm so blessed to have a job that I can be a Mommy first. It wasn't what I was anticipating when we were finishing breakfast and I'm 10 min. from starting my day when DJ exploded with vomit! But he was fine the rest of the day so we got a lot of cuddling in and had a number of funny conversations (Did you know that Uncle Toronto on Land Before Time was a "boogerbutt"? Yeah, we watched too many movies and took a nap together too.

Quality time with my boy.

A working mom really needs these days every once in a while... minus the vomit!

I just have to say that I felt like royalty yesterday. Thank you to all who wished me a wonderful day, came by, sent cards, gifts, flowers...everything meant so much. I feel like God has gift wrapped all of you and sent you to me just when I needed you. What more could a gal ask for! And a special thank you to my man. BJ, your words meant so much to me. I am walking a princess' dream by your side. I love you S.M.

Here's another blessing in my life... Robyn has joined the blog world!!!! Please welcome her- she's already got a great start. Check out her pictures of the coast! Many of you might recognize her. She is an amazing woman of 5 children, quiet but hilarious and my official running partner. She is an inspiration to me and just like many of you were, she was placed into my life at His perfect timing. She also does a wonderful job taking care of DJ and getting my kids out the door to school.

A few weeks ago I had just finished getting ready in the morning and sat down to get my shoes on (so we could hopefully leave on time) when DJ comes and puts his arms around my neck for a hug and kiss. He looks up to me with the biggest smile on his face and says, "Mommy, you and Robyn are a lot alike." I said, "Oh yeah, why do you think that?" He says, "Yeah, you both are beautiful." That's my boy! He knows just what to say!

Welcome to the blog world Robyn! I'm so happy you're doing this! By the way, our run tonight was the longest I've ever ran without stopping! 5.8 miles! Yeah baby! (sad but true)

Well we had more than a few things in mind... but here's just a summarized version.

• We dropped off the kids at BJ's parents on Sat. morning and had a nice visit with them. I think they were just as excited about their weekend as we were. Which makes it more pleasant to leave them :)
• As we were driving home we passed Legends Casino (which we've done hundreds of times) and it dawned on me we have never been in there before. So feeling like we have no agenda for the day, we stop off to look around. We both put a $10 bill into a slot machine. Mine went crazy. Let's just say in a matter of 3 minutes I was at $75. You should have seen BJ's eyes all huge saying "Cash OUT"! So we left after about 10 minutes with some money in our pockets. I had about $70 and BJ had $.02 from the experience!
• Shopping in the Tri-Cities was more fun than I expected. I now have an ipod Nano with the Nike chip for my shoe. Can't wait to start running with Lance Armstrong!
• We came home late and rented some movies. Watched one that night. (It had Robin Williams in it so we laughed a lot!)
• Woke up for early service on Sun. (I don't know why, because I've always wanted to sleep in and go to 2nd service because it's the kids that motivate us and they weren't there) BJ said he just liked the idea of getting started with the day. Ooooohh Kayyyyy...
• After church we went for a walk together that was farther than our mailbox, Nice.
• We snuggled and watched "The Ultimate Gift". This is a very good movie! It will make you feel good and you will cry too.
• I had a good run with a friend (Kristie, you did awesome!) But I didn't have my chip or Nano up and running yet so Lance didn't come with us.
• Home just in time to shower and head to our TobyFriends union! I'm hoping Shannon sends me some of the pictures from last night. It was soooooo much fun! Toby climbed over the seats, I got to shake his hand and help him climb into our row and he stood on Angela's and my seat to sing. What an experience. As I'm breathing on TobyMac and singing along with him, I suddenly became aware that the spot light was also on me and I don't think I'm singing the right words. So I stopped singing.
• I'm sure BJ and Darrin will never be the same again :)
• We're heading up today to pick up the 3 blessings in my life. I missed them like crazy and wanted to snuggle with them so badly a few times but I know it's good to take opportunities like this for both them and us. Thank you Fred and Grace! You mean so much to our children and to us!
• One last thing. BJ got a call around 3 this morning that the alarm was going off at his school. He figured it was a penguin artwork that fell off the wall so he decided to go check it out by himself. I didn't have a good feeling and tried to stop him but that wasn't happenin'. He felt it was nothing since things fall down and set the alarm off all too often but I just didn't like the feeling I had about the whole thing. So I prayed from the moment he left until he called me. There was actually an intruder! While BJ was checking the doors he saw a man inside and then that man ducked down. Luckily BJ had Moon Security on the phone while doing this and they sent the police. Scary! I'm so glad he didn't surprise the guy and walk into the same place as him. God was listening. The guy was obviously looking for something inparticular because he was searching staff offices and he was on foot. So he didn't want computers or heavy items. He totally destroyed 3 doors too. He must have wanted it really bad!
• I've spent time thanking Jesus for His protection and presence!
• Feeling overwhelmed right now. What a weekend! I didn't touch the laundry or house work and this might be "catch up" day!

I haven't posted any pictures of my girls' weekend in Vegas... so here's a few.

This is a very HUGE mall that has a fashion show every hour. The cat walk and stage retract into the floor when it's over. Pretty cool to see. I hadn't seen one in person before. Great way for the stores in the mall to showcase their outfits. Smart!



Brenda wanted me to look like I was having fun. How'd I do?



She had a limo pick us up one of the nights. to take us to the strip. I hadn't been in a limo since she and I were together in Hawaii during college. Quite impressive!


We went to a store in that fashion show mall called "White House, Black Market". Everything piece of clothing in there is black and white. Hence the outfits.

I won all of Brenda's money back (and about $50 more) at the blackjack table and stopped. I'm so glad I was playing with sympathetic people at the table. They helped me out a lot!!

Her step daughter was at New York New York with a wedding party so we hung out with them for a while and went into an Irish pub. That was an experience!

Over all, I had a great weekend with a great friend. And when I got home I had 4 people who missed me terribly and it showed! It pays to get away once in a while!