Where have you been man?!

Loyal fan(s) ... I took a sabbatical from writing because it has been a very busy week (yeah, right ... you were just out of subjects to blog about ... and besides, we're ALL busy. You seriously think it's just you who has "stuff" to do?! How aloof and conceited!)

Here's a recap (oh great, a travelogue ... zzzzzzzz ... bore-fest):

Saturday, 8/7

- I went to work early in anticipation of leaving early so that I could take my sons and my brother-in-law and nephew to Broncos open practice @ Invesco Field. Long story short, we went. Bob and I had a blast. The boys not so much. And then ... on the ride home ... Jazzmine (my car) kinda died. So at 9:30pm with no flashlight on the side of I-25 we sat waiting for my wonderful parents to come and tow us home. They had a flat tire so it took even longer (what horrible luck for them, I felt so bad). More on my car later.

Sunday, 8/8

- Grandpa Don was speaking in Sacrament Meeting so we all schlepped over to the Stake Center (Meadowland Building) and it was a very good meeting. There was a young woman that played a beautiful piano solo and it brought a very strong spirit in before Dad's talk about Temple attendance. It took forever to get out of there so we never made it to our ward.

- Once home I was able to spend the early afternoon working with my sweet (and sexy) wife to make her birthday cake (more of a dessert than a cake but whatever). We tried a new recipe using chocolate pudding instead of vanilla and apparently it was very yummy.

- Almost every family member came for Karen's Birthday Party around 7pm and then her sister Jodie stayed much later to watch some Leverage episodes (while Karen fell asleep). :)

Monday, 8/9 -- a.k.a. Karen's Actual Birthday

- I should mention here that I never went to sleep Sunday night. Myra was wide awake and when she finally went down around 4:00am I decided it was too late to sleep at all if we were going to get all the things done for Karen's birthday. This may have been a terrible idea. History will have to prove or disprove it.

- I'll let Karen blog (maybe she already did, I haven't had time to read much this past week either) about the whole day but here's a list of activities:

- Breakfast @ McDs - Parade of Homes with 3 kids -

- Lunch @ New Panda (Chinese) - Parade of Homes with 1 kid -

- Happy Hour drinks @ Sonic -

- Drop off kids @ Grandma's (thanks again Grandma Julie!) -

- Dinner @ Red Lobster - Watched episodes of the Office and Psych -

Tuesday, 8/10

- Blended Excellence day @ work. Was a mad rush to keep things moving to reward our great reps and deliver prizes. Then out early to go to Back to School (a.k.a. Meet the Teachers) night @ Ridgeview Elementary. Since we have 5 kids going to school there and they only had 3 sessions, Karen and I had to divide and conquer. I covered the boys classes in sessions 1 and 2 while Karen went to Brooklyn's class and then the Preschool session. We met in the gym for the final session (we held hands and got out early so it was great! Brilliant idea sweetie!)

- After a quick bite to eat (thanks for treating Pretty Lady!) my father-in-law brought me back home while Karen tended to the kids @ grandma's house (thanks Grandma Penny!) and we worked on my car.

- Shortly before 9:00pm my dad-in-law (thanks again Don!) brought me to the Stake Center so I could open the gym for basketball. 4 guys showed up ... and these are not the guys who will agree to play 2-on-2. So I grabbed a ride home (thanks Jeff!) and it was quickly bedtime.

Wednesday, 8/11

- Karen dropped me off for work and it was a relatively normal day.

- I coerced my buddy Bill (thanks man!) into giving me a ride home and through a miscommunication we agreed to leave very early (around 2:30pm) because he thought it was my early day. That's cool because then my father-in-law came over and we got much deeper into trouble working on my car.

- Karen and the kids went to the swimming pool (VGRA) and stayed very late to watch Finding Nemo on a projector for family swim. Karen said it was cool. A little sorry I missed that.

Thursday, 8/12

- Short day for work but I stayed longer because it was our Diversity and Inclusion Art Show Event. I helped with set-up and drink-making, etc. because I was not going to be able to "work" the event due to meetings, etc. It was very cool to hear some acoustic guitar players and singers (nice work Ryan "Sizzle Pizzle" and friends!) and the lemonade I made was excellent! :)

- Had a dentist appointment in the afternoon and that's just a whole 'nother blog. But I was there almost as long as I was at work ... for a cleaning! Nice office but almost 3 hours for a visit?! Are you kidding me?! Shoulda gone ahead and done the paraffin wax (huh?!)

- Karen and I kinda fell asleep (TMI Josh!) ... in separate chairs in the family room ... and Josh Jr tried to make dinner. He did good but he mixed milk with the eggs (normally good, but not if you're making Egg Burritos). I stumbled up to help and then after dinner Karen went to her pool board meeting while I watched the kids.

- I was talking with my neighbor and got some very good news (the only good news all week) about my car. He (Chad, of "Chad and Amanda and Ian" fame) is a machinist by trade and is pretty sure he can make me whatever part I need. I hesitated to just say "Let's do it!" but thanked him for the offer and plan to take him up on it if we cannot find the right piece(s) this weekend (see: Monday).

- I then selfishly watched several episodes of the Office until Karen was very asleep. Some seriously good episodes and my absolute favorite by far (literally laughing so hard many times during the episode that I had to pause the show and go back to watch what I'd missed when I stopped breathing).

Friday the 13th ... (cue the scary music)

- I was able to hitch a ride with Bill again (to and from work today ... thanks man!) but the rest of the day @ work is somewhat of a blur. Shadowed with one of my reps Gary, who brought me some peaches from his tree(s) ... really cool of him to do so ... I will enjoy them probably tomorrow morning.

- Tonight we're headed to Mindy's house (of Mindy and Tony and Ashleigh and Malyssa and Matthew fame) so I can edge her yard and maybe we'll play some games.

Whew ... okay, so now you're caught up for the week that wasn't blogged about. Don't you feel better just skipping this one blog instead of having to skip 7 of them?!

You're welcome my loyal fan(s) ... you ... are ... welcome! :)