Sharing

I'm posting this picture now because this sort of thing RARELY happens lately:

Mini-Graduation ceremony

Even though most of us have another semester to complete (August 1 if it kills me), we have been invited to walk with the other 2011 graduates at Westminster College. Because we are the first PROJECT BASED MBA group to ever go through the program, we were given a special little party.

Here I am getting my gift from Ken Meland, one of my favorite program coaches:

And, here is almost the entire PMBA OCTanner group. I'm in the back, and barely visible, but that's just the way I like things:

(Sort of in order, L-R: Nhat, Tom, Michael, Lauren, 1/2 of Rob's head, Zac, Ethan, Zlatina, Me, Dave, Jenni, Chris, 1/2 of Cody's head, Kathryn, Juli, Cameron, Jolene, Tricia, Karen, Paula, Stephanie, Genevieve, Michele)

I'm over the hill

If 40 was the hill, then I've crested it and I'm headed down the other side. No skinnier, no wealthier, but there sure is a lot more love! My birthday was wonderful. I had to work, of course. My birthday never seems to fall on a weekend whereas Bub's always seems to. (Very irritating.) After my 7-mile run, I got a phone call from home. It was much earlier than Bub ever calls me, so I thought that something was wrong - totally forgetting that it was my birthday. Instead, it was the boys calling to sing to me which made me cry. They sounded so sweet. It was great.

Then, after a day of well-wishing co-workers, I headed home. As soon as I walked in the door, the boys jumped out of their hiding space and screamed "Happy Birthday" and "Surprise" about 15 times while dancing around like little crazy people. They were so excited. I couldn't help but laugh. There was a vase of tulips from the garden, and a card that they had made themselves. (Very impressive.) I showed them the "snuggly, cuddly" blanket that Carol B. had made for me, and they wanted to try it out immediately. So, we sat on the couch under the "snuggly, cuddly" blanket for about 15 minutes - hiding under it, sitting close, giggling, whatever. And, then I heard about the "snuggly, cuddly" blanket all night long from Peanut.

We then had dinner - pancakes since the boys chose what to eat. They were topped with a fresh strawberry puree and were pretty darn tasty! It reminded me of the strawberry shortcake that my mom always made for my birthday when I was in high school. (Awww... Tugging at heart strings) Then, there were pictures - with the phone camera since I STILL can't find the digital, (Grrrr....) and then a bath for me.

We finished up the night with finger painting, our own versino of Dancing with the Stars, playing with the bird characters from the movie Rio, crashing some trains, brushing teeth, and story time where I was falling asleep while telling the stories! (Must have been the "snuggly, cuddly" blanket we were under.)

It was a great night.

(Doesn't she have pretty eyes? And, I look tired. Proof that I'm over the hill.)



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Spring harvest

Keeping up with tradition, my dad came over yesterday to till my garden for my birthday. I had to clean a few things up before he did it. While cleaning, I found some peas that had seeded from last year. I dug them up and set them aside. I hope that they last until Wednesday so that I can get them back in the ground. I also found some carrots that had either grown over the winter (because they were all ridiculously small last fall) or had seeded and started to grow. Either way, we didn't want to waste them. The Peanut helped me find and dig them up; they are nice and sweet! Here he is proudly displaying some of the little veggies:

Opera, old school

Through a friend at work, I came into possession of the album of Les Miserables. The boys sat in the recliner and listened to it as much as we would let them over the weekend.

Isn't culture cute?

and then, one more thing

So, I was up at 4:15 in order to go for a 17 mile run this morning. I had to get something in my stomach and wait around for my digestive system to wake up because there is nothing more uncomfortable than being on a run when THAT happens. So, anyway, I'm reading a book (fiction - great change from all the business crap I have to read all semester), and the furnace makes an awful sound before refusing to work altogether AGAIN. I switched it on, off, on, off to no avail. Anyone that knows my past in South Salt Lake will know how I feel about fire, so I COULD NOT leave the house, long run be damned.

A different part is now broken. Of course. So, I made Bub call the furnace people since she has been making all of the arrangements so far, and they are going to fix it again. What we really need is a new furnace (obviously).

Then, as I was taking a bath, I remembered that both dogs need shots, and Sadie needs to be spayed.

Then, I had myself a little feeling-sorry-for-myself cry-fest for about five minutes.

It's making day #5 with no sugar a bit harder. I'm still starting meat-free May today. Shit. Why not? Maybe the good karma of not eating anything with a mother will come back to me in a decent way.