Oy, where to start when there's nothing to report...

 This morning Hazel was hit by a jeep and I used my super human strength to lift it off of her.  Granted, it was a power wheels and I may or may not have laughed at the situation even though Hazel was crying. I didn't mean to.  I know that being hit by a car is not funny, but it was a power wheels and the little neighborhood girl behind the wheel is so darn cute, so it was kinda funny.
Barring the circumstance for being in Utah last week, I had a wonderful trip.  It is bittersweet to lose a Grandparent but I am sure it brought him tremendous joy to see every single one of his 4 children, spouses, 19 grandchildren in attendance, and a number of great grandchildren.  I spent the weekend with both of my parents and all 6 siblings.  It was heavenly.  I took Hazel with me and since she is so easy going, she all but watched herself while I basked in being one of nine again.  I snuggled up against my Mom and Dad and sisters (brothers didn't get the snuggles, just the fond acknowledgments.)  I loved seeing cousins that hadn't been seen in years, lots of years.  I love and adore every, single cousin.  They are amazing people and I just felt so blissful being in their company.  I'm sure the funeral home was surprised to have to push the party of people out of the funeral home so they could close up and we wore out our welcome the next day after the funeral at the luncheon.  We just didn't want to say goodbye to each other.
There were plenty of tears but they were mostly happy.  Happy to be a part of such a legacy.  Happy to have known such a happy, kind, generous and fun man.  Happy at the knowledge and comfort that the gospel brings.  Where in the world would I be without it, how do people cope with the big stuff and the everyday stuff without a little perspective?  I am grateful for it.  He will be missed, no doubt, but he sure left behind an amazing posterity.

 Sunday just happen to be Mo's birthday so we had a family dinner with the sibs and Grandma.  I loved it, the food, the company, the setting, perfect.

 And this lady.  She is amazing and strong and good.  I am grateful for her.

I had to throw this one in here too.  This is my long lost twin cousin.  Only she is twice as pretty and ten times as talented.  Oh, if I could only play the violin like her.  I think her two songs that she played at the funeral were the most beautiful and tear-producing.
I wish I had more pictures, but that seems to be what all my siblings are saying.  I know there is a picture out there of all the sisters crammed on the couch with Mo laying across the top of us like a lap blanket...just try and picture it in your head.

But now it's back to the grindstone.  I came home to a clean house and happy girls that had been completely taken care of by their Dad.  I am grateful for have a husband that doesn't flinch at the responsibility of doing hair, taking girls to and fro and doing it well.  It made my trip amazing and relaxing, knowing that all was well at home.  I will admit that tonight was the first night of the week that I actually made dinner for the fam.  And it may have taken me until today to get around to "getting back in that saddle" of laundry, dishes and housekeeping in general but I am back, and glad to be so.
I wish I had more pictures to share but I just enjoyed being there and didn't take too many.  Maybe I will share more if anyone gets around to sending me some.
Besides that we have had the starting of Halloween (at least the candy comas) and are gearing up to face the cold tonight for real trick or treating (am I a total loser of a mother because I don't really like Halloween?  It's fun and all but I don't care for going door to door OR handing out candy and trying to have a reaction to all the costumes coming to the door.  You can only say "oh, how cute is that?" a million times before it starts to sound rehearsed.)  I am feeling ultimately unmotivated, more on that later, much later.
In the meantime, we had our good friends in town this last weekend.  We took in a show and some tours and it was lovely to have an adult day out.  Really, the only effort I have is to share pictures and perhaps a short explanation (short being a relative term, you understand.)
We started with a tour of the pentagon but I have zero pictures because they are boring like that there.  It is fascinating, and man, the stuff that goes on there, crazy.  But Clark did a good job on our tour.

 Next stop was the capital building where a friend was able to give us what we like to call, the VIP tour.  This is us on the Speaker of the House's balcony.  We felt pretty special, especially because we will forever be immortalized in a dozen different people's pictures from below...heh, they thought they were witnessing someone famous coming out onto the balcony.  But really, it was just us, taking in the coolest view of the mall ever.
The rotunda.  Seriously, the detail and amount of decor in this place was amazing.  It was built so long ago-we saw bullet holes in a column from an attack during the war of 1812, seriously, so cool.  This place was amazing and we are so grateful to our friend Dan for taking the time to take us around.
We know people with awesome jobs.  Now I just gotta find me a member of the secret service for a tour of the white house and I will be satisfied.

 This is what happens when you tell two fully grown men to pose for a picture.  I told you I would post it no matter what.  Nerds.

 And the evening ended with Les Miserables.  I love this music.  I love this play.  I love this story and I may love the book, if I ever get it finished.

We don't look that different, right?  And I have no clue why our arms are behind our backs so don't ask.  You do crazy things when you are 20 I guess.  We saw the second half the night before we got engaged (traffic getting into NYC prevented us from getting there in time to see the whole thing.)  It only took us 11 and 1/2 years to get back and see the whole thing.  Incredible.

Oh yeah, and it snowed on Saturday.  That was not very awesome.

Thank you at humoring me at my attempts to blog after such an absence.  But for heavens sake people, my laundry is barely getting done these days...and ask my family how many home cooked meals they have had in the last couple of weeks (not many.)  Oh wait, I already outed myself on that one.
Now, do I cuddle up on the couch and nap at 8:40 in the morning or go to the gym?
Decisions decisions decisions.
PS We finally replaced the camera whose battery door has been hanging by a thread for a year and the new one is crappy with a capital C.  We got it through rewards points so we probably should have known better.  No returns.  Junk.  I hate that.