my life's best moments have all taken place at small town parades

i remember the white mountains. i remember camping with family and fishing with with cousins. wearing only swimsuits with creek soaked tennis shoes, bare feet on gravel. i remember my father's lap, their father's hands laying down dominoes. patsy cline. grandma's garden, the smell of packed dirt. i remember walking to church on sundays. rope swings on saturdays. blonde-haried ponytails, freckled faces, scraped knees, cap gun wars, battleship in family campers and hoodies in july.

i remember small town parades.


the thrills -- the midnight choir

yes, please.

last day of summer school. finals. flipping through flash cards. leo the lion says ger. and getting phased (woah. so phased) off Discovery.

just barely heard them for the first time (thank you chelsea) a few hours ago and i've already played through the album 3 times.

the album is burned and tucked snuggly into our road trip tunes stack to carry us away to cooler weather and cleaner skies. let the summer of oh-nine officially commence, starting.....now.

(happy 4th of july.)

discovery -- osaka loop line

T-minus 9 weeks

(which in parenting time feels a little more like 9 days.)

what? you don't do this with your friends?

dear kayleen,

number three is almost here and the nesting spurt you so carelessly boasted about lasted approximately 5 days. good job. the house is in shambles, new crib still in its box and there's a permanent imprint of your butt slowly forming on the corner cushion of your couch. but that's okay, being prepared and/or productive has never really been your style of doing (or not doing) things anyway. the idea of making something special for friend's and family's new arrivals has crossed your mind. you've pulled out your sewing machine, made patterns and intended to start cutting fabric at least 5 times this past month. but that's as far as you ever got. -- where you lack in follow-through you make up for with good intentions. a small gathering was held in baby girl's honor yesterday and you realized a few things: nothing makes you come to terms with how little amount of friends you actually have more than making an invite list. nothing. the friends you do have, you love. when your sisters gather in one place you all become obnoxious (and slightly offensive). the sisters you do have, you love. if you complain loud enough over the years about how parents dress their daughters, then you'll receive an influx of baby wipes at your little girl's shower. despite their name, skinny jeans do not give off the illusion of being skinny. -- at 7 months pregnant, it's quite the opposite actually. no matter how close a friend may be, touching another lady's belly will always feel uncomfortable and slightly creepy. always. (i wouldn't recommend ever letting that happen again.)

xo-
me

striped socks & neck ties

sentiments from my father: "everything i own has either been broken, peed on or pooped on."

his goal may have been for us to feel bad for him, or it may have actually been intended that we see the senselessness in placing any real value in the finer things in life.

i prefer to think it was the latter.

happy father's day. 2009.

we're usually this patriotic

lelly has turned 2.

and he's already acting his age. sad.

we had a small celebration (if you can call it that) in his honor.

the theme was "$38.00 at the dollar store", featuring the genius behind ring pops, animal hats and american flag cakes.

it was a real classy time with some pretty classy people.

i've been studying a lot...

and there are a few people around here that might have noticed.
"now my head is dead like yours."* -- owen

*which is profound in so many different ways.

forever is a long, long time when you've lost your way

[in class on break]

dear summer school,

seriously?

you sounded like such a good idea at the time. what happened? you've officially sucked my summer away and the debilitating guilt i feel about leaving the boys with a sitter for more than 20 hours a week was only slightly lessened after owen told me that he in fact likes it when i "go and get gone". -- he doesn't know what he's talking about, summer school, he's miserable without me.

and you should have warned me to never try to take a science in 5 weeks. the amount of info i need memorized in only the first 4 days has already made me cry. you're going to put me into labor, i know it.

the only light at the end of the tunnel for me is knowing that after this month, when i'm finally done with you, all of my prereq courses will be complete. which means no more school until next year. (joy)

i really, really hate you.

(but i love the 12 minute drive to phoenix it takes to get to you. best part of my day.)

kayleen

ps. could you please let the just-out-of-HS girls who attend you know that just because you start before 10 am does not mean they get to show up in their jammies. it's unsightly.