i dont normally get flowers----but these were a wonderful surprise!
they sat next to me the whole way home from our show----made me smile the whole time!
...these were delivered to the hotel in San Antonio right after my show---i think they are the most beautiful flowers I have ever gotten! Jasmine & David surprised me with this lovely basket---to announce their baby! 20 years ago---almost 21----I sent our mothers a bouquet of flowers announcing we were pregnant with Jasmine!
5. his employees like him--they really really like him---i admire ambition---and david has always been ambitious in his career---and is very successful in it---and his employees admire him as a boss and as a compassionate listener.
8. he works hard---he eagerly accepts 'honey-do' assignments---gardens, handyman around the house, re-decorating with me...tearing apart waterbeds and throwing them out the bedroom window because he realized there were just too many parts to try to take it apart and then put it together and sell it from our front yard !
9. he is mature---he reads his scriptures and prays because he truly has faith and lives what he believes, he reads the Ensign and Church News because he enjoys them, he eats pretty healthy, goes to bed because he has to get up---never a lot of fanfare---just does what he is supposed to do because he wants to...Mosiah 5:2 
10. he loves me!
..in 8 weeks the band will be practicing---and the fun begins...not necessarily for the kids--but for me---enjoying a root beer/banana sno-cone up in the bleachers of Pennington Field (football stadium)---watching the band do the same 16 bars of music for 30 minutes....saying hi to the familiar faces I've seen for the past 9 years---parents mostly---some, like me, without a kid marching!...band nerds...marching band nerds.
...this is not your father's marching band---this is 300 kids moving in unison at 180 beats per minute...thats fast---with their toes up---and playing music at the same time---hard music---and forming very detailed and intricate designs. youtube it---check it out---to get me started during the summer I follow DCI---and how do you not know that stands for Drum & Bugle Corps International---same as marching band---just no woodwinds....and how do you not know that!
(picture is none of my kids---but it is the drumline from 2005!)
...football is big here in Texas---and arent we fortunate that we have something to watch before and after half-time--cause it's all about the band....and my family is fortunate to be in Bell's school area. Bell is the National Marching Band Champion 2007. Leah, Lyric & Jasmine all marched with the band...which has won gold or silver at State everytime since my kids started marching (yes---I take full credit for that) (Texas State marching band competition is only held every other year---a travesty, I feel).... 
I am a big Bell fan---but more a marching band fan....my favorite show ever isnt a Bell show. I love the process, I love watching the kids learn, I play marching band games on the computer and I cant wait for the Wii marching band game to come out---yes, there is one. I dont like cute shows from big schools, I dont like shows with tarps (the kids trip)---and I dont like Aaron Copeland's Simple Gifts (one year I swear I heard it in 10 shows).
yes---not two--and still not asian (see previous post)---but a boy it will be! and he will wear Old Navy (and apparently Steve & Barry's) Yay!
so, instead of browsing for generic baby stuff---i get to focus on MANLY baby stuff---but with frogs of course---Leah has had her 'bring baby home from the hospital' outfit for 4 years--and of course it is frog-themed! so I continue with her theme....
David helped me choose a laptop---yes--welcome to the 21st century, Meredith---it arrives this weekend!
and we shopped at Steve & Barry's- (do you see a theme in their outfits---i love this look!)--what a great store--and if the quality holds up, Ace & I are totally doing all his school shopping there...and you are right, Michelle---not much for women or girls--but for guys it is great!
took a quick jaunt up north to the land of my ancestors---Freeport, Il 
picked me up at the Clock Tower Inn (Matt works in Rockford)---we drove to mom's house--Matt walked in and chatted with mom while I walked into her kitchen and made noise---her reaction---not the "Oh My Goodness! What are you doing here! I am so surprised! How wonderful"---no it was "Oh! what are you doing here!"---thats it---she explained that it felt so normal to have me there---whatever. 
then the next night Eden called her and was chatting---that was my cue to open mom's door---so Eden could walk in! Eden got the reaction that I deserved! 
for mom's birthday we did her traditional Taco Bell birthday dinner! Taco Bell staff heard us singing to her (in harmony, thank you) so they brought her out the leis---not sure why Taco Bell has plastic leis---but it was funny---and she likes pie---so instead of birthday cake we had birthday pie
it was a lovely weekend just playing, eating out---lots---watching lots of movies---chatting with my cute nephews and their lovely mom, Shelley...
went to my home branch (now its a ward---my bro is bishop) and saw all the people that were adults when i was a kid---they are still adults---just really old now---what a great feeling---to walk into a ward and have people stream---yes---they streamed---almost formed a line---to hug me! one woman came up and introduced herself and said she felt like she should hug me because everyone else did! :) 
we visited my dad---mom goes over and talks to him---and prunes the grass around his headstone---my dad was a big hedger back in the day---so he would be very proud...
he would also love the view from his gravesite----a brand new Menards was built---which is a big Home Depot-type hardware store---and next to it is the first and only Super Wal-Mart in Freeport! His two favorite stores right across from him---
my mom is a fun lady---she's a dynamo---yes---at 40 twice you can be called a dynamo---in the RS presidency, on the homeowners association board, grows vegetables in pots, volunteers at the hospital----she shops for shoes (they only have one Payless there---INSIDE the shopko---poor Freeport!)--colors her hair a lovely red--- 
funny story---when she was 25 she decided to color her hair---she had 1 1/2 kids at the time---or maybe just 1---but she was a college graduate---so anyway---she got mercurchrome and put it in her hair!---to make it red! mercurchrome was used back then to help heal cuts---and it hurt--and turned the skin around the cut bright red---anyway her hair turned out HORRIBLE---she went to church with a scarf----but ever since then she uses Nice & Easy medium Auburn!---she has a color pencil ready so if she 'goes'---we can touch up her hair.