There is sunshine in my soul today!!!  Finally, we have sun!!!  We really enjoyed the wonderful feel of warmth and sunshine, at least until once again, you guessed it rain!!!

Any sun at this point is a blessing.  I know, I know, we need the water.  After all we live in a desert, right?!  Is there a place where the desert becomes the next marsh?  We are there.  I tried to walk around my yard and was squishing through the grass.  How much water becomes too much, even for a desert?  

We bought a new piano this week, and Brig will begin piano lessons on Thursday.  If you can believe it she can hardly wait to get started.  I don't remember being this excited for my lessons, and my cousin Mckay is convinced lessons are extremely dangerous after 14 stitches.  Read Jodi's blog for that story!!  Having the opportunity to hear piano music in my home is really something I didn't realize we were missing until it was back.  Now we will have this joy (yes even while convincing Brig to practice, and enduring the attempts) for years to come.

I know you all think I have abandoned my blogging obsession.  I only wish it were that simple.  Instead life has gotten in the way of my lovely blog.  I was extended for a year on my sup job, it can be made permanent whenever they feel like it.  Probably when something really horrible needs to be done and they are looking for the sap to do it!!!  I get to move to another area at the facility and have been doing tons more training.

Brigitte made it through her spring show and now has a couple of weeks off while they clean the rink, yea!!!  Just my luck things would cool down so no warm weather to enjoy with the reprieve!!!

John finished his 3rd (yes 3rd) marathon and didn't do as well as he would like so he is now concentrating on the triathlons. He and Brig have been swimming like crazy to get ready.  

Brig is now out of school for the summer and started summer camp this week.  She is sooo excited so many of her friends are there again and the teachers all remembered her from last year.  She can't wait until her birthday, her best friend is in the activity days group with the older girls and Brig is left behind for another month.  Sucks to be young ( according to her, I would take it in a heartbeat )!!

We took a cruise to Catalina Island and then spent a couple of days at sea.  Once I was done being seasick we had a great time.  The kids camp was super fun and Brig made lots of new friends, I know, shocker!!  Catalina is gorgeous, totally loved it!  

When we got home from vacation, John still had a long weekend and needed a new project.  We couldn't get the wood we needed to finish all the floors, so we are in the middle of a bathroom remodel.  Our master didn't have a fan or a door between the bathroom and the bedroom.  We also had carpet throughout the bathroom that has now been replaced with tile.  Once we finish installing new lighting and patching the holes, we will be ready to repaint and that will include the closet, that they didn't paint and repainting the bedroom along with some new lighting in there too.  Ah, life in upheaval.  I wouldn't know any other way.

Just some fun photos from our vacation to Hoover Dam!

Have you seen the movie "Madhouse"?  Sometimes house guests are not the most welcome thing in the world.  The toll they take is high!!  I love my brother-in-law, but two strong willed women in one household simply doesn't work.  

Last night Adam and Maria moved into their own place for the last month they are here, and immediately I have begun to put things back to where I had them.  Brigitte quickly became her old self, curled up on the couch coloring instead of hiding out in her playroom.  

Trev and I have applied for the same promotion at work, talk about tough competition!!  Good luck to him.  Trev, you know I hope you get it but I hope I do too!!!  Were those narratives some of the hardest things you have ever done?!  Dang!!  

John is preparing for his final marathon.  He has really been doing well!!  Last weekend he ran 22 miles in 2 hours and 40 min.  After this marathon he is moving on to triathlons.  He will be able to spend more time with us while he trains.  He and Brigitte have already started spending more time at the pool together.  

We were just starting to really love spring beginning when the snow returned!!!  What the heck?!  I think it should just quit snowing after New Year's!!!  It doesn't look like the storms are over just yet either.  Has anyone started to see their tulips yet?  I was told we get one last storm after the tulips bloom.  Let's all look for the tulips!!!

Time flies when you're having fun!!! Happy Valentine's Day!! It really isn't a holiday we participate in, John is so good to me all year long that there really isn't a need for a once a year reminder that he still loves me.
We are enjoying our time with Adam and Maria while they are with us, possibly for another two months. Cindi and I planned a joint activity days activity this week that went really well. All the girls get along so great that the hardest thing for me is keeping their attention. They just want to play and visit with each other.
Monday Brigitte had a raging fever, of course I didn't believe her when for the previous week she had complained of a sore throat, so on a horrible snow day we are driving to the doctor's office. We watched people spinning donuts in front of us to find out that she had strep throat. O.k., maybe she really hasn't been feeling good for a while and I am the mother of the year that brushed off all her complaints. How do you know when they really are sick though and not just trying to get out of work?!
Last night we went to a college hockey game and my alma mater won!!!! Yay!!!! It was a total blowout!!! Before the game we all skated for an hour and Brig got to show off her moves. She had people on the ice applauding her and talking to her after the skating session. It really made her day!

Where does the time go? It's already been another week and I am amazed that it's flown by so quickly! Wednesday was sooooo busy, we had four birthdays!!!!! My very adorable niece Zoe was 1!!! My other very cute niece Morgan turned 6, and Brigitte's two friends both turned 10!!!! February 4th must be one of the busiest days in maternity wards!!!! Today my nephew had his birthday as well, Happy Birthday Christian, I hear you had quite the party!!!!

Thursday and Friday we were lucky enough to have Madysen and Harrison come and stay with us while their parents went to Cancun!! Lucky!!! Harrison hadn't been feeling well, he had strep and was on amoxycillin. Today he woke up with the worst rash!!! He was allergic to it!! I had never seen anything like it. The rash didn't bug him but I felt so bad!!

As this week ends and a new one begins, I was just appreciating how very blessed I am to have the life I do with the problems I face. After seeing some of the trials of others, I will take my own any day. I know I keep promising pics, but they really are coming!!! It's just a little too late to get them downloaded tonight!

John is back and had a blast.  Adam and Maria made it safely and today took Brigitte sledding.  Yesterday, the Winter Games began at the ice rink and Brigitte got to be a runner.  She really enjoyed seeing the behind the scenes of the competition.  Runners get to take the scores from the judges and take them to where all the competitors can see them.  Ten volunteer hours done, only six more to go!!  I was drafted into volunteering as well while waiting for Brigitte.  I got to man the table where the flowers and programs were sold.

This is a really quick update, but all I have time for this week!!  Pictures still to come, promise!!