Spring Break Update

After a long, restful Spring Break, I am finally back into the groove of life and I will regale my stories from the past week!-As many of you know, last Sunday was my beloved Mimi’s 94^th birthday. I’ll reiterate that…94!!! Wow! We began the day by joining her at church, which alone brightened her day. At church, I happened to see my old swimming teacher, who couldn’t believe that I was turning nineteen. I had a nice chat with her before we left for home. We ended up having Mimi over for a wonderful lunch of roast and mashed potatoes with cake to top it all off! As a sidenote, I would like to mention that I made my very first angel food cake from scratch, with the egg whites & cream of tartar. I had my parents’ guidance, but I was still excited to add yet another thing to my cooking repertoire!

(Cole & Andy were napping during this picture.)

-Monday was another part of my birthday celebration. Tevis was so sweet as to take me to Stillwater for Eskimo Joe’s. Like I mentioned before, he left for his dad’s on Tuesday morning, so that was the best time for him to celebrate my birthday with me. The whole experience was great, from him driving through the mud in his little car to get me, to the great conversations we had on the way to & from Stillwater. I had a wonderful evening with him. Oh yes, as for what he got me… Personally, I thought that him taking me to Joe’s was gift enough, but as per his mom’s insistence, he got me a nice wall clock for my dorm, because he didn’t know if I had a downstairs clock or not. I loved that he thought of something practical, since I, too, appreciate practicality. Also, while we were at Joe’s, he got his little sister a cute sundress and he got me a shirt. Like I said, I had a great night with him that I wouldn’t trade for anything!

-Of course, Wednesday was my birthday! I was able to spend the day with Cody and Kyle, which was quite nice. They greeted me with pictures that they had drawn for me, multiple “happy birthdays”, and “I love yous”. Nothing beats that! They also helped my mom and I do a little bit of spring cleaning. We had a great day together.

-Wednesday night was my birthday supper, which included my favorites—chicken alfredo, Caesar salad, green beans, garlic bread, and Italian cream cake. Thanks to my mom and Emily who really got it all together at the end, when things got a little bit crazy! As for presents, I got a couple of shirts from my parents, a super-comfy pajama set from Emily’s boys, a pizza cutter & crossword books from Gina’s crew, and, in a surprise twist, I will also be getting an iPod Nano from Gina & Emily in the coming weeks! I am really excited about the iPod, since I love listening to music so much, and I have never owned an mp3 player of any sort! I loved all of my presents, but I loved getting to be with my family the most of all. I am truly blessed!

(Cole & Wyatt were MIA for this picture.)

-Back in November when my family went to the silent auction for Cody & Kyle’s school, my mom happened to win a photography package from Motophoto. She decided to use this package to get pictures of Gina & Emily’s boys. Because it was the easiest time to coordinate it, the pictures were done last Thursday. I just have to say, those photographers really earn their money. All five boys were “spirited”, if you get my drift, but in various ways. The only real snag in their session was the semi-meltdown that Andy had. Thankfully, we got the issue resolved, and their pictures turned out just great! It will be a tough decision to decide which pictures to order when the time comes.

-Friday ended up being a pretty good day. I had received an invitation to join Scotty, Emily, and their crew for a trip to the zoo, but my mom ended up going in my place because I was invited to a movie night at Tonisha's house with her and Mary. Although I know that I missed out on a boatload of fun with the Moody clan, I did have a nice time with my friends.

-I finally got my TOMS on Friday night, and I was SO excited to get to wear them. Well, it turns out that I will have to wait to wear them for just a little while longer because they were too big and I had to send them back to exchange for a smaller size. If I'm lucky, I'll receive them in the next week or two, but until then, I'll live. If I didn't have my heart so set on them and I hadn't spent a bit of money on them, I would've just given them to Gina, because not only did they fit her perfectly, they also looked adorable on her. (Hmm, maybe I have found a gift idea for later!) Oh well, one day I will have my shoes; perhaps this is reminding me to be patient and not so materialistic...just a thought.

-Speaking of Gina, I also got to do something that I have wanted to do for a very long time. I got to drive her Camaro!!! She hasn't driven it in quite some time, since it really isn't too conducive to carseats and whatnot. Anyway, she finally got it up and running, and she stopped by my house on Saturday night to see if I wanted to take it for a spin, and I naturally agreed. I was very cautious when driving, because I definitely didn't want to do anything to mess up her car. Regardless, I had a great time!!!

-You all know how much I love to read. Lately, my love has been passed on to my parents. In all honesty, my mom enjoys reading probably as much as I do, as she is usually reading something. This love rekindled when Gina got my mom “Heaven Is For Real” for her birthday. (My mom is in love with that book, by the way, and has since purchased copies for Mimi, my Aunt Pat, and a few other people.) Like I mentioned a few weeks ago, I read “The Help”, so I decided to buy my mom a copy since she has expressed some interest in the book and I really didn’t get her much of a birthday present. She is about one hundred pages in, and she is hooked. Every once in a while, she asks me questions about the plot line, and I have such a hard time not spilling the beans about everything! I’m so glad that she loves it! In an odd turn of events, my dad has started reading “Heaven Is For Real”. My dad reads some, but he isn’t as avid a reader as my mom or I are. Also, most of his reading was limited to Louis L’Amore books, Patrick McManus books, or random magazines/newspapers. As much as my mom loves this book, she never told him that “he had to read it”. The other day, my mom and I came home from Mimi’s house, and we saw that he had that book setting by his chair with a bookmark in it. Gradually, he has made his way through the book, and I am interested to hear what he thinks about it when he is done.

-Speaking of books, I have had quite the upswing in books that I have read in the past few weeks. Thanks to Tonisha, I have read another Nicholas Sparks book, and she got the other book of his that I haven't read for my birthday. (I should note that she is anxiously waiting for me to finish that book so that she can borrow it.) I also read "Night" by Elie Wiesel. It definitely isn't light reading material, but it was a good, thought-provoking book nonetheless. In a twist of serendipity, when I was at the library checking out "Night", I saw that they have a bookshelf of books that they are selling to raise money for the library. They were all very reasonably priced, with the most expensive book being maybe a dollar, if not less. As I peered through the shelf, I happened upon the only Robert Fulghum book that I haven't read yet. Since it cost only fifty cents, I decided that it would be mine! Hooray for good books!

-As a note on this week, I am slowly getting back into my groove of school. I only have five weeks left, including this week, so I am definitely on the downhill slide! Fall enrollment opened on Monday, so I got into my advisor's office as soon as my schedule allowed, and I am enrolled! I will be in thirteen hours, which isn't too much, but will be somewhat challenging. My hardest classes will be Calc II and Physics I (which has a lab), but I am looking forward to my electives of Late British Literature and Bowling. It should definitely be an interesting semester for me!

I hope that all is well, and that you continue to have a good week!